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Two teenagers experience a intimate, gentle moment at the local high school’s outdoor swimming pool after hours. While they drift as one, hanging under the stars in the quietness of the night, the sequence portrays the ephemeral, heady excitement of adolescent romance, completely engrossed in the present, consequences forgotten.

Approximately half an hour into Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc, I realized these scenes are the heart of the film. Denji and Reze’s romantic tale took center stage, and every bit of background details and backstories I had gleaned from the series’ initial episodes turned out to be largely unnecessary. Although it is a canonical entry within the series, Reze Arc offers a more accessible starting place for newcomers — regardless of they missed its single episode. The approach brings advantages, but it also hinders a portion of the urgency of the movie’s narrative.

Developed by the original creator, Chainsaw Man follows the protagonist, a debt-ridden Devil Hunter in a universe where demons embody specific evils (including concepts like Aging and Darkness to terrifying entities like insects or World War II). When he’s betrayed and murdered by the criminal syndicate, he forms a contract with his faithful companion, his pet, and comes back from the deceased as a chainsaw-human hybrid with the power to completely destroy fiends and the horrors they signify from reality.

Plunged into a brutal conflict between devils and hunters, Denji encounters a new character — a charming coffee server hiding a lethal secret — sparking a tragic clash between the pair where love and existence collide. The movie picks up immediately following the first season, exploring the main character’s relationship with Reze as he grapples with his emotions for her and his devotion to his controlling superior, Makima, forcing him to choose between desire, faithfulness, and survival.

A Self-Contained Romantic Tale Amidst a Broader Universe

Reze Arc is fundamentally a lovers-to-enemies plot, with our imperfect main character Denji falling for Reze almost immediately upon introduction. He is a lonely young man looking for love, which makes his heart vulnerable and easily swayed on a first-come basis. Consequently, despite all of Chainsaw Man’s complex mythology and its large ensemble, Reze Arc is very independent. Filmmaker the director understands this and ensures the romantic arc is at the center, instead of bogging it down with filler recaps for the new viewers, particularly since none of that is crucial to the overall plot.

Despite Denji’s imperfections, it’s hard not to feel for him. He is still a teenager, fumbling his way through a reality that’s distorted his sense of right and wrong. His desperate longing for love makes him come off like a lovesick dog, although he’s likely to barking, biting, and making a mess along the way. His love interest is a ideal pairing for Denji, an compelling femme fatale who finds her prey in our hero. Viewers hope to see Denji earn the affection of his love interest, even if she is clearly hiding a secret from him. Thus when her real identity is unveiled, audiences can’t help but wish they’ll in some way succeed, although deep down, you know a happy ending is not truly in the cards. Therefore, the stakes fail to seem as intense as they ought to be since their relationship is fated. This is compounded by that the film acts as a immediate follow-up to the first season, leaving little room for a romance like this among the more grim events that followers are aware are approaching.

Breathtaking Animation and Artistic Execution

The film’s visuals seamlessly blend 2D animation with 3D environments, delivering impressive eye candy prior to the excitement kicks in. Including cars to small office appliances, 3D models enhance realism and detail to every shot, making the animated figures stand out strikingly. Unlike Demon Slayer, which frequently showcases its 3D assets and changing settings, Reze Arc employs them less frequently, particularly evident during its explosive finale, where those models, while not unattractive, are more apparent to identify. Such fluid, ever-shifting backgrounds render the movie’s battles both visually bombastic and remarkably easy to follow. Still, the technique excels most when it’s invisible, improving the dynamic range and motion of the hand-drawn art.

Concluding Impressions and Wider Considerations

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc functions as a solid starting place, likely resulting in new fans pleased, but it additionally carries a downside. Presenting a self-contained story limits the stakes of what should feel like a sprawling animated saga. It’s an example of why following up a successful television series with a movie is not the optimal approach if it undermines the franchise’s general narrative possibilities.

Whereas Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle found success by tying up several installments of anime television with an epic movie, and JuJutsu Kaisen 0 sidestepped the issue completely by acting as a backstory to its well-known show, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc advances boldly, maybe a slightly foolishly. But this does not prevent the film from proving to be a great experience, a terrific point of entry, and a memorable romantic tale.