🔗 Share this article

Two youngsters experience a private, gentle moment at the local secondary school’s outdoor swimming pool late at night. While they drift as one, hanging beneath the stars in the stillness of the night, the sequence captures the fleeting, exhilarating thrill of teenage love, completely engrossed in the present, ramifications overlooked.

Approximately 30 minutes into The Chainsaw Man Film: Reze Arc, I realized such moments are the core of the movie. Denji and Reze’s romantic tale took center stage, and every bit of background details and character histories I had gleaned from the series’ initial episodes proved to be mostly irrelevant. Although it is a official entry within the franchise, Reze Arc provides a easier starting place for first-time viewers — even if they haven’t seen its single episode. This method brings advantages, but it simultaneously limits some of the urgency of the film’s narrative.

Created by Tatsuki Fujimoto, Chainsaw Man follows the protagonist, a debt-ridden fiend fighter in a world where Devils embody particular evils (ranging from concepts like getting older and Darkness to specific horrors like insects or World War II). When he’s betrayed and murdered by the yakuza, Denji forms a contract with his loyal devil-dog, Pochita, and returns from the deceased as a chainsaw-human hybrid with the power to permanently erase fiends and the terrors they signify from existence.

Thrust into a brutal struggle between devils and hunters, the hero meets a new character — a alluring barista concealing a lethal mystery — igniting a heartbreaking clash between the pair where affection and survival intersect. The movie continues right after season 1, exploring the main character’s relationship with his love interest as he wrestles with his emotions for her and his devotion to his manipulative superior, his employer, compelling him to choose between desire, faithfulness, and survival.

An Independent Romantic Tale Amidst a Larger World

Reze Arc is inherently a lovers-to-enemies story, with our fallible protagonist the hero falling for Reze right away upon introduction. He’s a lonely boy seeking affection, which renders him vulnerable and up for grabs on a first-come, first-served. As a result, despite all of Chainsaw Man’s complex mythology and its large ensemble, Reze Arc is very independent. Director Tatsuya Yoshihara understands this and ensures the romantic arc is at the center, rather than weighing it down with filler recaps for the uninitiated, especially when none of that is crucial to the complete plot.

Regardless of Denji’s flaws, it’s difficult not to feel for him. He is still a adolescent, fumbling his way through a reality that’s distorted his understanding of morality. His desperate longing for love makes him come off like a lovesick puppy, even if he’s likely to barking, snapping, and causing chaos along the way. His love interest is a perfect pairing for him, an compelling seductive antagonist who targets her mark in our protagonist. Viewers hope to see Denji earn the affection of his affection, even if she is clearly hiding a secret from him. So when her real identity is unveiled, you still cannot avoid wish they’ll somehow make it work, even though internally, you know a positive outcome is not truly in the cards. Therefore, the tension fail to seem as high as they should be since their romance is doomed. This is compounded by that the movie serves as a direct sequel to the first season, leaving little room for a love story like this among the darker developments that fans are aware are coming soon.

Stunning Visuals and Technical Execution

The film’s visuals seamlessly blend traditional animation with 3D environments, providing stunning eye candy even before the action kicks in. Including vehicles to small office appliances, 3D models add depth and texture to each scene, allowing the animated figures stand out strikingly. In contrast to Demon Slayer, which often showcases its digital elements and changing settings, Reze Arc uses them more sparingly, most noticeably during its action-packed climax, where those models, though not unappealing, are more apparent to identify. Such smooth, dynamic backgrounds render the movie’s battles both visually bombastic and surprisingly easy to understand. Nonetheless, the technique shines brightest when it’s unnoticeable, improving the dynamic range and movement of the 2D animation.

Concluding Impressions and Broader Considerations

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc functions as a solid starting place, probably resulting in new fans pleased, but it also has a downside. Telling a standalone narrative limits the tension of what should feel like a expansive animated saga. This is an illustration of why continuing a successful anime season with a movie is not the best approach if it undermines the franchise’s general storytelling potential.

Whereas Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle found success by tying up several installments of anime television with an epic movie, and JuJutsu Kaisen 0 avoided the problem entirely by acting as a backstory to its popular show, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc advances boldly, maybe a bit recklessly. But this does not prevent the movie from being a great experience, a excellent point of entry, and a memorable romantic tale.