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A pair of youngsters experience a private, tender moment at the local secondary school’s outdoor pool after hours. While they drift together, hanging beneath the night sky in the stillness of the evening, the scene portrays the ephemeral, exhilarating excitement of adolescent romance, utterly caught up in the present, ramifications forgotten.

About half an hour into The Chainsaw Man Film: Reze Arc, it became clear these scenes are the heart of the movie. The love story became the focus, and all the contextual information and character histories I had gleaned from the series’ initial episodes proved to be largely unnecessary. Despite being a canonical entry within the series, Reze Arc offers a more accessible entry point for first-time viewers — regardless of they missed its prior content. This method brings advantages, but it also hinders some of the urgency of the movie’s story.

Developed by Tatsuki Fujimoto, Chainsaw Man chronicles the protagonist, a debt-ridden fiend fighter in a universe where Devils represent specific dangers (including ideas like Aging and Darkness to terrifying entities like cockroaches or historical conflicts). After being betrayed and murdered by the yakuza, he forms a contract with his loyal companion, Pochita, and returns from the deceased as a chainsaw-human hybrid with the ability to completely destroy Devils and the horrors they represent from existence.

Thrust into a violent struggle between devils and hunters, Denji encounters a new character — a alluring coffee server concealing a lethal secret — igniting a heartbreaking confrontation between the pair where affection and survival intersect. The movie continues right after the first season, delving into Denji’s connection with Reze as he wrestles with his emotions for her and his loyalty to his manipulative boss, Makima, forcing him to choose between desire, faithfulness, and self-preservation.

An Independent Romantic Tale Amidst a Larger World

Reze Arc is inherently a romance-to-rivalry story, with our imperfect main character the hero becoming enamored with Reze right away upon meeting. He is a isolated young man seeking love, which makes his heart unreliable and easily swayed on a first-come, first-served. As a result, in spite of all of Chainsaw Man’s intricate lore and its large ensemble, Reze Arc is very independent. Director Tatsuya Yoshihara recognizes this and guarantees the romantic arc is at the center, instead of weighing it down with filler recaps for the uninitiated, especially when such details is crucial to the complete storyline.

Regardless of the protagonist’s imperfections, it’s hard not to feel for him. He is still a teenager, stumbling his way through a reality that’s distorted his sense of morality. His intense craving for love portrays him like a lovesick puppy, although he’s prone to growling, biting, and causing chaos along the way. Reze is a ideal pairing for Denji, an effective seductive antagonist who finds her mark in our hero. You want to see Denji win the ire of his love interest, even if she is obviously hiding something from him. So when her real identity is revealed, you still cannot avoid wish they’ll somehow succeed, even though deep down, you know a happy ending is never really in the plan. As such, the tension don’t feel as intense as they ought to be since their relationship is fated. It doesn’t help that the film serves as a immediate follow-up to the first season, allowing little room for a romance like this amid the more grim developments that fans are aware are coming soon.

Breathtaking Visuals and Technical Execution

The film’s graphics effortlessly combine traditional animation with computer-generated settings, providing impressive eye candy even before the action kicks in. Including cars to tiny desk fans, digital assets add depth and detail to each shot, making the animated figures stand out strikingly. Unlike Demon Slayer, which often highlights its digital elements and changing settings, Reze Arc employs them more sparingly, particularly evident during its action-packed finale, where those models, while not unattractive, become easier to spot. These smooth, ever-shifting backgrounds render the movie’s battles both spectacular to watch and surprisingly easy to follow. Nonetheless, the technique excels most when it’s unnoticeable, improving the vibrancy and movement of the hand-drawn art.

Final Impressions and Wider Implications

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc functions as a solid point of entry, likely resulting in new fans satisfied, but it additionally carries a downside. Presenting a self-contained narrative restricts the stakes of what should feel like a sprawling anime epic. This is an example of why continuing a popular anime season with a film is not the optimal approach if it weakens the series’ overall storytelling potential.

Whereas Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle succeeded by concluding multiple seasons of animated series with an epic film, and JuJutsu Kaisen 0 sidestepped the problem entirely by acting as a prequel to its well-known show, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc charges forward, maybe a slightly foolishly. But that doesn’t stop the movie from proving to be a enjoyable experience, a terrific point of entry, and a memorable romantic tale.