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Two teenagers share a private, tender instant at the neighborhood secondary school’s outdoor pool late at night. As they float as one, suspended beneath the night sky in the quietness of the night, the scene captures the fleeting, heady thrill of adolescent romance, completely caught up in the present, consequences overlooked.

Approximately half an hour into The Chainsaw Man Film: Reze Arc, it became clear such moments are the core of the movie. Denji and Reze’s romantic tale became the focus, and every bit of background details and character histories previously known from the series’ initial episodes turned out to be largely unnecessary. Although it is a official entry within the series, Reze Arc offers a easier entry point for newcomers — even if they haven’t seen its single episode. This method has its benefits, but it simultaneously limits a portion of the tension of the movie’s story.

Created by Tatsuki Fujimoto, Chainsaw Man follows the protagonist, a indebted fiend fighter in a universe where demons represent specific evils (including concepts like Aging and Darkness to specific horrors like insects or historical conflicts). After being deceived and murdered by the yakuza, he makes a pact with his loyal devil-dog, Pochita, and returns from the dead as a chainsaw-human hybrid with the ability to permanently erase fiends and the terrors they represent from existence.

Thrust into a violent conflict between devils and hunters, the hero meets Reze — a charming coffee server hiding a deadly mystery — sparking a tragic confrontation between the two where love and existence collide. This film continues right after the first season, exploring Denji’s relationship with Reze as he grapples with his feelings for her and his loyalty to his controlling boss, his employer, compelling him to decide among desire, faithfulness, and self-preservation.

A Self-Contained Love Story Amidst a Broader World

Reze Arc is inherently a romance-to-rivalry plot, with our fallible protagonist Denji becoming enamored with his counterpart right away upon meeting. He’s a lonely boy seeking affection, which renders him unreliable and up for grabs on a first-come basis. As a result, despite all of Chainsaw Man’s complex mythology and its large cast of characters, Reze Arc is highly self-contained. Filmmaker Tatsuya Yoshihara recognizes this and guarantees the love story is at the forefront, rather than bogging it down with filler recaps for the new viewers, particularly since such details really matters to the overall storyline.

Regardless of Denji’s imperfections, it’s difficult not to sympathize with him. He is still a teenager, fumbling his way through a world that’s distorted his sense of morality. His intense craving for love makes him come off like a lovesick dog, even if he’s prone to barking, snapping, and causing chaos along the way. His love interest is a ideal match for him, an compelling femme fatale who finds her prey in our protagonist. You want to see the main character win the ire of his love interest, despite she is obviously concealing something from him. Thus when her true nature is unveiled, you still can’t help but wish they’ll in some way succeed, although deep down, you know a positive outcome is not truly in the cards. As such, the tension don’t feel as high as they should be since their relationship is doomed. This is compounded by that the movie acts as a direct sequel to Season 1, allowing minimal space for a love story like this amid the darker developments that fans know are approaching.

Stunning Animation and Artistic Execution

The film’s graphics seamlessly blend 2D animation with 3D environments, providing impressive visual appeal even before the action begins. Including cars to tiny office appliances, 3D models add depth and texture to every shot, making the animated figures stand out beautifully. Unlike Demon Slayer, which often highlights its digital elements and shifting backgrounds, Reze Arc employs them more sparingly, most noticeably during its action-packed finale, where such elements, though not unappealing, become easier to identify. These fluid, dynamic backgrounds make the film’s fights both spectacular to watch and remarkably simple to understand. Still, the technique shines brightest when it’s invisible, improving the dynamic range and movement of the 2D animation.

Final Impressions and Wider Considerations

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc serves as a solid point of entry, probably leaving first-time audiences satisfied, but it also has a drawback. Telling a self-contained narrative limits the stakes of what should feel like a expansive animated saga. It’s an illustration of why following up a popular television series with a film is not the best approach if it undermines the series’ overall narrative possibilities.

Whereas Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle succeeded by tying up several seasons of anime television with an epic film, and JuJutsu Kaisen 0 sidestepped the problem entirely by serving as a backstory to its well-known series, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc advances boldly, maybe a slightly recklessly. However this does not prevent the film from proving to be a enjoyable time, a excellent introduction, and a memorable love story.