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Two teenagers experience a private, tender instant at the neighborhood high school’s outdoor swimming pool after hours. While they drift as one, suspended beneath the night sky in the quietness of the night, the scene captures the ephemeral, heady thrill of adolescent romance, completely engrossed in the moment, consequences forgotten.

About 30 minutes into The Chainsaw Man Film: Reze Arc, I realized these scenes are the heart of the movie. Denji and Reze’s love story became the focus, and every bit of contextual information and character histories previously known from the anime’s initial episodes turned out to be largely unnecessary. Although it is a canonical installment within the franchise, Reze Arc offers a more accessible entry point for first-time viewers — regardless of they haven’t seen its prior content. This method has its benefits, but it also hinders some of the tension of the film’s narrative.

Created by Tatsuki Fujimoto, Chainsaw Man chronicles the protagonist, a debt-ridden Devil Hunter in a universe where demons embody specific dangers (ranging from concepts like getting older and Darkness to specific horrors like insects or World War II). When he’s betrayed and killed by the criminal syndicate, he forms a contract with his loyal devil-dog, Pochita, and comes back from the dead as a chainsaw-human hybrid with the power to completely destroy Devils and the horrors they signify from reality.

Plunged into a brutal struggle between demons and hunters, Denji meets a new character — a alluring barista hiding a lethal mystery — igniting a heartbreaking confrontation between the pair where affection and survival collide. This film continues immediately following the first season, delving into the main character’s relationship with his love interest as he grapples with his feelings for her and his loyalty to his manipulative superior, his employer, compelling him to choose between desire, loyalty, and self-preservation.

An Independent Love Story Amidst a Broader World

Reze Arc is fundamentally a lovers-to-enemies plot, with our imperfect protagonist the hero becoming enamored with Reze almost immediately upon meeting. He is a isolated young man seeking affection, which renders him vulnerable and easily swayed on a first-come, first-served. Consequently, in spite of all of Chainsaw Man’s complex mythology and its extensive cast of characters, Reze Arc is very self-contained. Director Tatsuya Yoshihara understands 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 really matters to the complete plot.

Despite the protagonist’s flaws, it’s hard not to feel for him. He is after all a adolescent, stumbling his way through a world that’s warped his understanding of morality. His intense craving for love makes him come off like a infatuated puppy, although he’s prone to barking, biting, and causing chaos along the way. Reze is a perfect pairing for him, an compelling femme fatale who finds her prey in our hero. You want to see Denji win the ire of his love interest, even if Reze is clearly concealing a secret from him. Thus when her true nature is revealed, you still can’t help but hope they’ll somehow succeed, although deep down, it is known a positive outcome is never really in the cards. As such, the stakes fail to seem as high as they should be since their romance is fated. It doesn’t help that the film acts as a direct sequel to the first season, allowing minimal space for a romance like this amid the more grim events that followers know are coming soon.

Stunning Visuals and Artistic Craftsmanship

This movie’s visuals seamlessly blend traditional animation with 3D environments, providing stunning eye candy prior to the action begins. Including vehicles to small desk fans, digital assets add depth and texture to each shot, making the 2D characters pop strikingly. In contrast to Demon Slayer, which often showcases its 3D assets and changing backgrounds, Reze Arc uses them more sparingly, most noticeably during its action-packed climax, where those models, while not unattractive, are more apparent to identify. Such smooth, dynamic environments render the movie’s battles both spectacular to watch and remarkably simple to follow. Still, the technique excels most when it’s invisible, enhancing the vibrancy and motion of the 2D animation.

Final Thoughts and Wider Considerations

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc functions as a solid starting place, probably resulting in new fans pleased, but it additionally carries a downside. Telling a self-contained narrative restricts the stakes of what should feel like a expansive animated saga. This is an illustration of why following up a successful television series with a film is not the best strategy if it undermines the franchise’s overall narrative possibilities.

Whereas Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle succeeded by tying up several installments of anime television with an epic film, and JuJutsu Kaisen 0 sidestepped the issue entirely by serving as a backstory to its well-known show, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc charges forward, perhaps a slightly recklessly. However this does not prevent the movie from being a great time, a terrific introduction, and a memorable love story.