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Two youngsters experience a private, tender instant at the neighborhood secondary school’s open-air swimming pool after hours. While they drift together, hanging under the stars in the quietness of the evening, the sequence captures the fleeting, heady excitement of adolescent love, utterly engrossed in the present, consequences forgotten.

Approximately 30 minutes into Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc, I realized such moments are the core of the film. The romantic tale became the focus, and all the background details and backstories I had gleaned from the anime’s initial episodes turned out to be mostly irrelevant. Despite being a official installment within the series, Reze Arc offers a easier entry point for newcomers — regardless of they haven’t seen its single episode. The approach has its benefits, but it simultaneously limits some of the urgency of the movie’s narrative.

Developed by Tatsuki Fujimoto, Chainsaw Man follows the protagonist, a debt-ridden fiend fighter in a world where Devils embody particular evils (ranging from ideas like getting older and Darkness to specific horrors like insects or historical conflicts). When he’s deceived and killed by the criminal syndicate, Denji makes a pact with his loyal companion, his pet, and comes back from the deceased as a part-human chainsaw wielder with the power to completely destroy fiends and the terrors they represent from reality.

Plunged into a violent conflict between devils and hunters, Denji encounters Reze — a charming barista hiding a lethal mystery — igniting a heartbreaking clash between the pair where love and survival intersect. This film continues immediately following season 1, delving into Denji’s relationship with Reze as he wrestles with his feelings for her and his devotion to his controlling boss, his employer, compelling him to decide among passion, faithfulness, and survival.

An Independent Love Story Within a Larger Universe

Reze Arc is inherently a lovers-to-enemies story, with our imperfect protagonist the hero becoming enamored with Reze almost immediately upon meeting. He’s a lonely young man looking for affection, which makes his heart unreliable and up for grabs on a first-come basis. Consequently, in spite of all of Chainsaw Man’s complex mythology and its extensive cast of characters, Reze Arc is highly independent. Filmmaker Tatsuya Yoshihara recognizes this and ensures the love story is at the forefront, instead of bogging it down with filler recaps for the new viewers, particularly since such details is crucial to the overall storyline.

Despite Denji’s flaws, it’s difficult not to feel for him. He is after all a adolescent, fumbling his way through a reality that’s warped his understanding of right and wrong. His intense longing for love makes him come off like a lovesick puppy, although he’s prone to growling, snapping, and causing chaos along the way. Reze is a perfect pairing for him, an compelling femme fatale who finds her mark in our hero. Viewers hope to see the main character earn the affection of his love interest, even if she is obviously hiding something from him. So when her true nature is unveiled, you still can’t help but wish they’ll somehow make it work, although internally, it is known a positive outcome is never really in the cards. As such, the tension don’t feel as intense as they should be since their relationship is fated. This is compounded by that the film serves as a immediate follow-up to the first season, leaving minimal space for a romance like this among the darker events that followers are aware are approaching.

Stunning Animation and Artistic Craftsmanship

The film’s graphics seamlessly blend 2D animation with computer-generated settings, providing stunning visual appeal even before the action kicks in. From vehicles to tiny office appliances, 3D models add depth and detail to each shot, making the animated figures pop beautifully. Unlike Demon Slayer, which often showcases its 3D assets and shifting backgrounds, Reze Arc employs them more sparingly, particularly evident during its explosive climax, where those models, though not unappealing, become easier to identify. Such smooth, ever-shifting backgrounds render the movie’s fights both spectacular to watch and remarkably easy to follow. Nonetheless, the method shines brightest when it’s invisible, improving the dynamic range and motion of the hand-drawn art.

Concluding Thoughts and Broader Implications

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc serves as a solid point of entry, likely resulting in first-time audiences satisfied, but it also has a downside. Telling a standalone story restricts the stakes of what ought to seem like a expansive anime epic. It’s an example of why continuing a popular anime season with a movie isn’t the best approach if it weakens the series’ general narrative possibilities.

While Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle found success by tying up multiple installments of animated series with an grand film, and JuJutsu Kaisen 0 sidestepped the problem entirely by acting as a backstory to its popular series, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc advances boldly, maybe a slightly foolishly. But that doesn’t stop the film from being a great experience, a terrific point of entry, and a unforgettable love story.