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A pair of youngsters share a intimate, tender moment at the neighborhood high school’s outdoor swimming pool late at night. As they float together, hanging beneath the night sky in the quietness of the night, the sequence captures the ephemeral, heady excitement of teenage romance, completely engrossed in the present, ramifications forgotten.

Approximately half an hour into The Chainsaw Man Film: Reze Arc, it became clear such moments are the heart of the film. The love story took center stage, and every bit of background details and backstories previously known from the anime’s 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 first-time viewers — even if they haven’t seen its single episode. The approach has its benefits, but it also hinders a portion of the tension of the movie’s story.

Developed by the original creator, Chainsaw Man chronicles the protagonist, a debt-ridden Devil Hunter in a world where demons embody specific evils (ranging from ideas like Aging and obscurity to terrifying entities like cockroaches or World War II). After being deceived and killed by the yakuza, Denji makes a pact with his faithful companion, Pochita, and returns from the dead as a part-human chainsaw wielder with the ability to permanently erase Devils and the terrors they signify from reality.

Plunged into a brutal struggle between devils and hunters, the hero meets a new character — a charming barista hiding a lethal mystery — sparking a heartbreaking confrontation between the pair where love and existence collide. This film continues right after season 1, exploring the main character’s connection with Reze as he grapples with his emotions for her and his loyalty to his manipulative superior, Makima, forcing him to choose between desire, loyalty, and self-preservation.

A Self-Contained Love Story Amidst a Broader Universe

Reze Arc is fundamentally a lovers-to-enemies plot, with our imperfect main character Denji becoming enamored with Reze right away upon introduction. He’s a lonely young man looking for affection, which makes his heart unreliable and easily swayed on a first-come basis. Consequently, despite all of Chainsaw Man’s intricate mythology and its large ensemble, Reze Arc is highly independent. Filmmaker Tatsuya Yoshihara understands this and guarantees the romantic arc is at the forefront, rather than weighing it down with filler recaps for the new viewers, especially when none of that is crucial to the complete storyline.

Regardless of Denji’s flaws, it’s hard not to feel for him. He’s still a teenager, stumbling 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 infatuated dog, although he’s likely to growling, biting, and making a mess along the way. His love interest is a perfect pairing for Denji, an effective femme fatale who finds her mark in our protagonist. Viewers hope to see Denji earn the affection of his love interest, even if she is clearly concealing a secret from him. So when her real identity is unveiled, you still cannot avoid hope they’ll somehow succeed, even though internally, you know a happy ending is not truly in the plan. As such, the stakes fail to seem as high as they should be since their relationship is fated. This is compounded by that the movie acts as a immediate follow-up to the first season, leaving little room for a love story like this among the darker developments that fans know are coming soon.

Stunning Animation and Artistic Craftsmanship

This movie’s visuals seamlessly blend traditional animation with computer-generated settings, providing impressive eye candy prior to the action begins. From vehicles to tiny office appliances, digital assets enhance realism and detail to every scene, making the 2D characters stand out strikingly. Unlike Demon Slayer, which frequently highlights its digital elements and changing settings, Reze Arc employs them more sparingly, most noticeably during its explosive climax, where such elements, while not unattractive, are more apparent to identify. Such fluid, dynamic environments render the film’s fights both visually bombastic and surprisingly easy to understand. Nonetheless, the technique shines brightest when it’s unnoticeable, improving the dynamic range and motion of the hand-drawn art.

Concluding Thoughts and Wider Considerations

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc serves as a good starting place, probably leaving first-time audiences pleased, but it also has a downside. Presenting a standalone story restricts the stakes of what should feel like a expansive animated saga. This is an illustration of why following up a popular anime season with a movie is not the best approach if it undermines the franchise’s overall storytelling potential.

While Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle found success by tying up several seasons of anime television with an grand movie, and JuJutsu Kaisen 0 avoided the problem entirely by acting as a prequel to its popular series, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc advances boldly, maybe a bit recklessly. But this does not prevent the film from being a great experience, a excellent point of entry, and a unforgettable love story.