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Two teenagers share a intimate, gentle instant at the neighborhood high school’s open-air swimming pool after hours. As they float as one, suspended under the night sky in the quietness of the evening, the sequence captures the fleeting, exhilarating excitement of adolescent love, completely caught up in the present, ramifications overlooked.

About 30 minutes into Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc, I realized such moments are the heart of the movie. Denji and Reze’s love story took center stage, and every bit of contextual information and character histories previously known from the series’ initial episodes proved to be mostly irrelevant. Although it is a canonical entry within the franchise, Reze Arc offers a more accessible starting place for newcomers — even if they missed its single episode. This method has its benefits, but it also hinders some of the urgency of the movie’s narrative.

Created by the original creator, Chainsaw Man follows the protagonist, a debt-ridden Devil Hunter in a universe where Devils represent specific evils (including concepts like getting older and Darkness to specific horrors like insects or World War II). When he’s deceived and murdered by the criminal syndicate, he makes a pact with his faithful devil-dog, Pochita, and comes back from the dead as a part-human chainsaw wielder with the power to permanently erase Devils and the terrors they represent from existence.

Plunged into a brutal struggle between devils and hunters, Denji meets Reze — a alluring barista concealing a lethal mystery — sparking a tragic confrontation between the two where love and existence intersect. This film continues right after season 1, delving into Denji’s relationship with his love interest as he wrestles with his feelings for her and his devotion to his controlling superior, Makima, compelling him to choose between desire, loyalty, and self-preservation.

A Self-Contained Romantic Tale Amidst a Larger World

Reze Arc is inherently a lovers-to-enemies story, with our fallible main character Denji becoming enamored with Reze almost immediately upon introduction. He’s a lonely young man seeking affection, which renders him vulnerable and up for grabs on a first-come basis. Consequently, despite all of Chainsaw Man’s intricate mythology and its extensive ensemble, Reze Arc is very self-contained. Filmmaker the director recognizes this and guarantees the romantic arc is at the center, instead of 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 sympathize with him. He is still a adolescent, stumbling his way through a reality that’s warped his sense of right and wrong. His desperate longing for love makes him come off like a infatuated puppy, although he’s prone to growling, biting, and making a mess along the way. Reze is a ideal match for Denji, an effective femme fatale who targets her prey in our protagonist. Viewers hope to see Denji win the ire of his affection, even if she is clearly hiding something from him. Thus when her true nature is unveiled, audiences can’t help but hope they’ll somehow succeed, although deep down, it is known a positive outcome is not truly in the cards. As such, the tension don’t feel as intense as they should be since their romance is doomed. This is compounded by that the film acts as a direct sequel to Season 1, allowing minimal space for a romance like this amid the more grim developments that fans are aware are coming soon.

Stunning Animation and Artistic Craftsmanship

This movie’s graphics effortlessly combine traditional animation with 3D environments, delivering impressive eye candy even before the action kicks in. Including vehicles to small desk fans, 3D models add depth and detail to each shot, making the animated figures stand out beautifully. Unlike Demon Slayer, which frequently showcases its digital elements and changing backgrounds, Reze Arc uses them less frequently, particularly evident during its action-packed finale, where such elements, while not unattractive, are more apparent to identify. These fluid, dynamic backgrounds render the film’s battles both visually bombastic and remarkably simple to follow. Still, the technique excels most when it’s unnoticeable, improving the dynamic range and movement of the hand-drawn art.

Final Thoughts and Wider Considerations

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc serves as a good starting place, likely leaving new fans satisfied, but it additionally carries a drawback. Telling a self-contained story limits the tension of what should feel like a expansive animated saga. This is an example of why following up a successful television series with a movie is not the optimal strategy if it weakens the series’ overall narrative possibilities.

Whereas Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle succeeded by concluding multiple installments of animated series with an epic movie, and JuJutsu Kaisen 0 sidestepped the issue entirely by acting as a backstory to its popular series, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc charges forward, perhaps a slightly foolishly. But that doesn’t stop the movie from proving to be a great time, a terrific point of entry, and a unforgettable romantic tale.