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Two teenagers share a intimate, gentle moment at the local high school’s open-air pool late at night. As they float together, hanging under the night sky in the stillness of the night, the sequence portrays the ephemeral, heady excitement of adolescent love, utterly engrossed in the moment, ramifications overlooked.

About half an hour into Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc, I realized these scenes are the core of the film. Denji and Reze’s love story became the focus, and every bit of contextual information and character histories previously known from the anime’s initial episodes turned out to be largely irrelevant. Although it is a official entry within the franchise, Reze Arc offers a more accessible entry point for newcomers — regardless of they haven’t seen its single episode. This method brings advantages, but it also hinders a portion of the tension of the movie’s story.

Created by the original creator, Chainsaw Man chronicles Denji, a debt-ridden Devil Hunter in a universe where demons represent particular evils (ranging from ideas like getting older and Darkness to terrifying entities like cockroaches or historical conflicts). When he’s deceived and killed by the criminal syndicate, he forms a contract with his faithful companion, his pet, and returns from the dead as a chainsaw-human hybrid with the ability to completely destroy Devils and the terrors they signify from reality.

Plunged into a brutal conflict between devils and hunters, the hero encounters a new character — a charming barista hiding a lethal mystery — igniting a tragic clash between the two where love and survival collide. This film continues immediately following season 1, exploring the main character’s relationship with his love interest as he wrestles with his feelings for her and his devotion to his manipulative superior, his employer, forcing him to decide among desire, faithfulness, and survival.

An Independent Romantic Tale Amidst a Broader World

Reze Arc is inherently a romance-to-rivalry story, with our imperfect protagonist the hero becoming enamored with Reze right away upon introduction. He’s a lonely boy looking for affection, which renders him unreliable and easily swayed on a first-come basis. Consequently, despite all of Chainsaw Man’s intricate lore and its extensive ensemble, Reze Arc is very self-contained. Director Tatsuya Yoshihara understands this and guarantees the romantic arc is at the forefront, rather than bogging it down with filler recaps for the new viewers, especially when none of that really matters to the overall storyline.

Regardless of Denji’s imperfections, it’s difficult not to feel for him. He is after all a teenager, fumbling his way through a reality that’s distorted his sense of right and wrong. His desperate craving for love portrays him like a infatuated puppy, even if he’s prone to growling, snapping, and causing chaos along the way. His love interest is a ideal pairing for Denji, an effective femme fatale who finds her mark in our hero. Viewers hope to see Denji earn the affection of his love interest, despite Reze is clearly concealing a secret from him. So when her true nature is unveiled, you still cannot avoid hope they’ll in some way make it work, although deep down, you know a positive outcome is never really in the plan. As such, the tension don’t feel as intense as they should be since their romance is doomed. This is compounded by that the movie serves as a immediate follow-up to Season 1, allowing little room for a love story like this amid the more grim events that fans are aware are coming soon.

Breathtaking Animation and Technical Execution

The film’s graphics seamlessly blend 2D animation with 3D environments, delivering stunning eye candy even before the excitement begins. Including vehicles to small office appliances, 3D models enhance realism and texture to every shot, making the animated figures pop strikingly. Unlike Demon Slayer, which frequently showcases its digital elements and changing settings, Reze Arc uses them more sparingly, particularly evident during its explosive climax, where those models, while not unattractive, are more apparent to spot. These fluid, dynamic backgrounds render the film’s fights both spectacular to watch and remarkably easy to follow. Nonetheless, the technique shines brightest when it’s unnoticeable, improving the dynamic range and movement of the hand-drawn art.

Final Impressions and Wider Implications

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc serves as a good starting place, likely leaving first-time audiences pleased, but it also has a drawback. Presenting a self-contained narrative restricts the stakes of what ought to seem like a sprawling anime epic. This is an illustration of why following up a popular anime season with a film isn’t the optimal strategy if it weakens the franchise’s overall storytelling potential.

Whereas Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle succeeded by tying up several seasons of anime television with an grand movie, and JuJutsu Kaisen 0 sidestepped the issue entirely by serving as a prequel to its well-known series, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc charges forward, maybe a bit foolishly. However this does not prevent the movie from being a enjoyable experience, a terrific introduction, and a memorable love story.