🔗 Share this article

A pair of teenagers experience a private, gentle instant at the neighborhood high school’s open-air swimming pool late at night. As they float as one, suspended under the night sky in the stillness of the night, the scene portrays the fleeting, exhilarating excitement of adolescent love, utterly engrossed in the present, ramifications overlooked.

Approximately 30 minutes into The Chainsaw Man Film: Reze Arc, it became clear such moments are the core of the movie. The love story became the focus, and all the background details and backstories I had gleaned from the anime’s initial episodes turned out to be largely irrelevant. Although it is a official entry within the series, Reze Arc offers a easier starting place for newcomers — even if they missed its single episode. The approach brings advantages, but it also hinders a portion of the urgency of the film’s narrative.

Developed by the original creator, Chainsaw Man chronicles Denji, a indebted fiend fighter in a universe where demons represent particular evils (including ideas like Aging and obscurity to terrifying entities like cockroaches or historical conflicts). After being betrayed and killed by the yakuza, Denji forms a contract with his faithful companion, his pet, and comes back from the dead as a part-human chainsaw wielder with the ability to permanently erase fiends and the terrors they signify from existence.

Plunged into a violent struggle between devils and hunters, the hero encounters a new character — a charming coffee server concealing a deadly secret — igniting a tragic clash between the two where affection and survival intersect. The movie picks up immediately following the first season, exploring the main character’s relationship with Reze as he grapples with his feelings for her and his devotion to his controlling boss, Makima, compelling him to decide among desire, loyalty, and self-preservation.

An Independent Romantic Tale Within a Broader Universe

Reze Arc is fundamentally a lovers-to-enemies story, with our imperfect main character the hero becoming enamored with his counterpart almost immediately upon meeting. He’s a isolated boy looking for affection, which makes his heart unreliable and easily swayed on a first-come basis. As a result, despite all of Chainsaw Man’s complex lore and its extensive cast of characters, Reze Arc is highly self-contained. Director Tatsuya Yoshihara understands this and guarantees the love story is at the center, rather than bogging it down with filler recaps for the new viewers, especially when such details is crucial to the overall storyline.

Despite the protagonist’s flaws, it’s hard not to feel for him. He’s after all a adolescent, fumbling his way through a world that’s distorted his sense of morality. His intense craving for love portrays him like a lovesick dog, although he’s likely to barking, snapping, and making a mess along the way. Reze is a perfect pairing for Denji, an effective femme fatale who finds her mark in our protagonist. Viewers hope to see the main character earn the affection of his love interest, even if Reze is clearly hiding a secret from him. Thus when her true nature is unveiled, audiences cannot avoid wish they’ll somehow succeed, even though internally, it is known a positive outcome is never really in the cards. Therefore, the stakes fail to seem as intense as they ought to be since their romance is fated. This is compounded by that the film acts as a direct sequel to Season 1, allowing little room for a love story like this among the darker developments that fans know are approaching.

Breathtaking Animation and Artistic Execution

The film’s graphics effortlessly combine traditional animation with 3D environments, providing impressive eye candy even before the excitement begins. From vehicles to tiny office appliances, digital assets enhance realism and texture to every shot, allowing the 2D characters stand out beautifully. Unlike Demon Slayer, which frequently highlights its digital elements and changing settings, Reze Arc employs them less frequently, particularly evident during its explosive finale, where such elements, while not unattractive, are more apparent to spot. Such smooth, dynamic backgrounds make the movie’s battles both visually bombastic and surprisingly simple to understand. Nonetheless, the technique shines brightest when it’s invisible, improving the dynamic range and motion of the 2D animation.

Concluding Impressions and Broader Considerations

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc serves as a solid starting place, probably leaving first-time audiences pleased, but it additionally carries a drawback. Telling a standalone story limits the stakes of what should feel like a expansive animated saga. This is an example of why continuing a popular anime season with a movie isn’t the optimal approach if it undermines the franchise’s general narrative possibilities.

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