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Two teenagers share a private, gentle moment at the local high school’s open-air pool after hours. While they drift together, hanging under the night sky in the stillness of the night, the scene captures the fleeting, exhilarating excitement of adolescent love, completely engrossed in the moment, consequences forgotten.

About half an hour into The Chainsaw Man Film: Reze Arc, it became clear these scenes are the core of the film. Denji and Reze’s romantic tale became the focus, and every bit of background details and backstories I had gleaned from the series’ initial episodes proved to be mostly irrelevant. Although it is a canonical installment within the franchise, Reze Arc provides a more accessible starting place for first-time viewers — even if they haven’t seen its single episode. The approach brings advantages, but it also hinders a portion of the tension of the film’s story.

Created by Tatsuki Fujimoto, Chainsaw Man follows the protagonist, a indebted Devil Hunter in a world where demons represent specific evils (including concepts like Aging and Darkness to specific horrors like insects or World War II). After being betrayed and murdered by the yakuza, he forms a contract with his faithful companion, his pet, and returns from the dead as a part-human chainsaw wielder with the ability to completely destroy Devils and the terrors they signify from existence.

Thrust into a brutal conflict between demons and hunters, Denji encounters a new character — a alluring barista concealing a lethal secret — igniting a tragic confrontation between the pair where love and survival collide. The movie picks up right after season 1, delving into the main character’s connection with his love interest as he wrestles with his feelings for her and his devotion to his controlling boss, Makima, forcing him to decide among passion, faithfulness, and self-preservation.

A Self-Contained Romantic Tale Amidst a Broader Universe

Reze Arc is inherently a romance-to-rivalry story, with our imperfect protagonist Denji becoming enamored with Reze right away upon introduction. He is a isolated boy seeking affection, which renders him vulnerable and up for grabs on a first-come, first-served. Consequently, in spite of all of Chainsaw Man’s intricate lore and its extensive ensemble, Reze Arc is highly independent. Director Tatsuya Yoshihara recognizes this and guarantees the romantic arc is at the center, rather than weighing it down with filler recaps for the new viewers, particularly since none of that really matters to the overall storyline.

Regardless of Denji’s flaws, it’s difficult not to sympathize with him. He is after all a teenager, stumbling his way through a reality that’s distorted his understanding of morality. His intense craving for affection makes him come off like a infatuated puppy, although he’s likely to growling, snapping, and causing chaos along the way. Reze is a perfect pairing for Denji, an compelling seductive antagonist who finds her prey in our protagonist. You want to see Denji win the ire of his love interest, despite she is obviously concealing something from him. So when her real identity is unveiled, audiences cannot avoid wish they’ll in some way make it work, even though deep down, you know a happy ending is never really in the plan. Therefore, the tension don’t feel as intense as they should be since their romance is doomed. It doesn’t help that the film serves as a direct sequel to the first season, allowing little room for a romance like this amid the darker events that followers know are coming soon.

Stunning Animation and Artistic Execution

The film’s graphics seamlessly blend traditional animation with 3D environments, delivering stunning eye candy prior to the action kicks in. Including vehicles to tiny office appliances, 3D models enhance realism and detail to each shot, allowing the animated figures pop strikingly. Unlike Demon Slayer, which often highlights its digital elements and changing settings, Reze Arc employs them more sparingly, particularly evident during its explosive climax, where such elements, though not unappealing, become easier to spot. Such fluid, dynamic backgrounds make the movie’s battles both spectacular to watch and remarkably easy to follow. Nonetheless, the method excels most when it’s unnoticeable, enhancing the dynamic range and motion of the hand-drawn art.

Final Impressions and Wider Considerations

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc functions as a good point of entry, likely leaving new fans pleased, but it additionally carries a drawback. Telling a standalone narrative restricts the tension of what should feel like a expansive anime epic. This is an illustration of why continuing a successful anime season with a movie is not the best approach if it undermines the franchise’s general narrative possibilities.

Whereas Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle found success by tying up multiple installments of anime television with an epic movie, and JuJutsu Kaisen 0 sidestepped the problem completely by serving as a prequel to its popular show, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc charges forward, maybe a slightly foolishly. However that doesn’t stop the film from being a enjoyable time, a excellent introduction, and a unforgettable romantic tale.