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Two youngsters share a intimate, tender moment at the local secondary school’s open-air swimming pool after hours. While they drift as one, hanging under the night sky in the stillness of the evening, the scene captures the fleeting, heady thrill of adolescent love, completely engrossed in the present, consequences forgotten.

Approximately 30 minutes into Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc, it became clear such moments are the heart of the movie. Denji and Reze’s romantic tale became the focus, and every bit of background details and character histories I had gleaned from the series’ first season turned out to be largely irrelevant. Despite being a canonical installment within the series, Reze Arc offers a more accessible starting place for newcomers — regardless of they missed its single episode. The approach has its benefits, but it also hinders some of the tension of the movie’s narrative.

Created by Tatsuki Fujimoto, Chainsaw Man follows Denji, a indebted fiend fighter in a universe where Devils represent particular evils (including concepts like Aging and obscurity to terrifying entities like insects or historical conflicts). When he’s betrayed and murdered by the criminal syndicate, Denji forms a contract with his loyal devil-dog, his pet, and comes back from the dead as a part-human chainsaw wielder with the ability to completely destroy Devils and the terrors they signify from reality.

Plunged into a brutal struggle between demons and hunters, Denji meets Reze — a charming barista hiding a deadly secret — igniting 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 wrestles with his emotions for her and his devotion to his controlling boss, his employer, compelling him to choose between passion, loyalty, and self-preservation.

A Self-Contained Romantic Tale Within a Larger Universe

Reze Arc is inherently a lovers-to-enemies story, with our imperfect main character the hero becoming enamored with his counterpart almost immediately upon meeting. He’s a lonely young man seeking affection, which makes his heart vulnerable and up for grabs on a first-come, first-served. As a result, despite all of Chainsaw Man’s complex mythology and its extensive ensemble, Reze Arc is very independent. Filmmaker the director recognizes this and ensures the romantic arc is at the forefront, rather than weighing it down with filler recaps for the uninitiated, particularly since none of that really matters to the overall plot.

Despite the protagonist’s flaws, it’s difficult not to feel for him. He is after all a adolescent, fumbling his way through a reality that’s distorted his sense of right and wrong. His intense craving for love portrays him like a lovesick puppy, even if he’s prone to growling, biting, and causing chaos along the way. His love interest is a perfect match for him, an compelling femme fatale who finds her mark in our hero. You want to see Denji earn the affection of his love interest, despite Reze is obviously concealing something from him. Thus when her real identity is unveiled, audiences can’t help but hope they’ll in some way make it work, although deep down, it is known a happy ending is not truly in the cards. Therefore, the stakes fail to seem as high as they should be since their romance is doomed. It doesn’t help that the film serves as a direct sequel to Season 1, allowing minimal space for a love story like this among the darker events that followers know are coming soon.

Breathtaking Visuals and Technical Craftsmanship

This movie’s visuals effortlessly combine traditional animation with 3D environments, providing stunning visual appeal even before the excitement kicks in. From cars to tiny desk fans, digital assets enhance realism and texture to every shot, allowing the 2D characters pop beautifully. In contrast to Demon Slayer, which frequently showcases its 3D assets and changing settings, Reze Arc uses them more sparingly, particularly evident during its explosive finale, where those models, though not unappealing, are more apparent to identify. These fluid, ever-shifting environments render the film’s battles both visually bombastic and surprisingly simple to understand. Still, the method shines brightest when it’s unnoticeable, enhancing the vibrancy and movement of the hand-drawn art.

Final Thoughts and Broader Considerations

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc functions as a solid point of entry, probably resulting in new fans satisfied, but it additionally carries a drawback. Presenting a standalone narrative limits the stakes of what should feel like a sprawling anime epic. This is an example of why following up a successful anime season with a film is not the optimal strategy if it weakens the franchise’s general storytelling potential.

While Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle succeeded by tying up several seasons of anime television with an grand movie, and JuJutsu Kaisen 0 sidestepped the issue completely by serving as a backstory to its well-known show, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc advances boldly, perhaps a slightly recklessly. But that doesn’t stop the movie from being a great experience, a terrific point of entry, and a memorable romantic tale.