🔗 Share this article

Two teenagers share a private, gentle moment at the local secondary school’s outdoor pool late at night. While they drift as one, suspended under the night sky in the stillness of the evening, the scene portrays the fleeting, exhilarating excitement of teenage romance, completely engrossed in the moment, consequences forgotten.

Approximately half an hour into The Chainsaw Man Film: Reze Arc, it became clear these scenes are the core of the film. Denji and Reze’s romantic tale took center stage, and all the background details and backstories previously known from the anime’s first season turned out to be mostly unnecessary. Despite being a canonical installment within the series, Reze Arc provides a easier starting place for newcomers — regardless of they haven’t seen its single episode. The approach has its benefits, but it also hinders some of the tension of the film’s story.

Developed by the original creator, Chainsaw Man follows the protagonist, a debt-ridden fiend fighter in a world where demons embody particular evils (including concepts like getting older and Darkness to terrifying entities like insects or World War II). After being betrayed and killed by the criminal syndicate, Denji forms a contract with his faithful devil-dog, Pochita, and comes back from the dead as a chainsaw-human hybrid with the ability to permanently erase fiends and the horrors they signify from reality.

Plunged into a brutal struggle between devils and hunters, the hero encounters a new character — a alluring coffee server concealing a lethal mystery — sparking a tragic clash between the pair where affection and survival collide. The movie picks up right after the first season, delving into Denji’s connection with Reze as he wrestles with his feelings for her and his devotion to his controlling boss, Makima, compelling him to decide among desire, loyalty, and self-preservation.

A Self-Contained Love Story Amidst a Broader World

Reze Arc is fundamentally a lovers-to-enemies story, with our imperfect protagonist Denji becoming enamored with his counterpart right away upon meeting. He is a isolated boy seeking love, which makes his heart unreliable and easily swayed on a first-come, first-served. Consequently, in spite of all of Chainsaw Man’s intricate mythology and its large ensemble, Reze Arc is very independent. Director the director recognizes this and guarantees the romantic arc is at the center, rather than weighing it down with filler recaps for the new viewers, especially when such details really matters to the complete plot.

Regardless of the protagonist’s flaws, it’s hard not to sympathize with him. He’s still a teenager, fumbling his way through a reality that’s warped his understanding of right and wrong. His intense longing for affection portrays him like a infatuated puppy, although he’s likely to growling, snapping, and causing chaos along the way. His love interest is a perfect match for him, an effective femme fatale who finds her mark in our protagonist. You want to see the main character earn the affection of his love interest, despite she is clearly hiding something from him. So when her true nature is revealed, audiences can’t help but hope they’ll in some way succeed, even though deep down, it is known a happy ending is not truly in the plan. Therefore, the stakes fail to seem as high as they ought to be since their relationship is doomed. It doesn’t help that the film serves as a immediate follow-up to the first season, leaving little room for a romance like this amid the darker developments that followers are aware are approaching.

Stunning Visuals and Technical Craftsmanship

This movie’s graphics seamlessly blend traditional animation with computer-generated settings, delivering impressive visual appeal prior to the excitement kicks in. Including cars to tiny desk fans, digital assets add depth and detail to every scene, making the 2D characters pop beautifully. Unlike Demon Slayer, which frequently showcases its 3D assets and shifting settings, Reze Arc uses them more sparingly, particularly evident during its explosive climax, where those models, though not unappealing, become easier to spot. These smooth, ever-shifting environments render the movie’s battles both visually bombastic and remarkably easy to understand. Still, the technique excels most when it’s unnoticeable, improving the vibrancy and movement of the hand-drawn art.

Concluding Thoughts and Broader Considerations

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc functions as a good starting place, likely leaving first-time audiences satisfied, but it also has a drawback. Presenting a standalone story limits the tension of what ought to seem like a expansive anime epic. This is an example of why following up a successful television series with a film is not the best strategy if it weakens the franchise’s overall storytelling potential.

While Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle found success by tying up multiple installments of anime television with an epic movie, and JuJutsu Kaisen 0 sidestepped the problem entirely by serving as a backstory to its well-known show, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc advances boldly, perhaps a bit recklessly. But this does not prevent the film from being a enjoyable time, a terrific point of entry, and a unforgettable love story.