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A pair of youngsters share a private, gentle moment at the neighborhood secondary school’s open-air pool after hours. As they float as one, suspended beneath the night sky in the quietness of the night, the scene portrays the ephemeral, exhilarating thrill of teenage love, utterly caught up in the present, consequences forgotten.

About 30 minutes into Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc, I realized such moments are the core of the movie. Denji and Reze’s romantic tale became the focus, and all the background details and backstories I had gleaned from the series’ initial episodes turned out to be largely unnecessary. Despite being a official installment within the series, Reze Arc provides a easier entry point for newcomers — regardless of they missed its single episode. This method brings advantages, but it simultaneously limits some of the urgency of the movie’s story.

Developed by Tatsuki Fujimoto, Chainsaw Man follows Denji, a indebted Devil Hunter in a universe where Devils represent particular evils (including ideas like Aging and Darkness to specific horrors like insects or historical conflicts). After being deceived and murdered by the criminal syndicate, he forms a contract with his loyal companion, Pochita, and comes back from the deceased as a chainsaw-human hybrid with the ability to permanently erase Devils and the terrors they represent from reality.

Thrust into a brutal struggle between devils and hunters, Denji meets Reze — a charming coffee server hiding a lethal mystery — igniting a heartbreaking clash between the pair where affection and existence intersect. The movie picks up right after season 1, delving into Denji’s relationship with Reze as he grapples with his feelings for her and his devotion to his controlling superior, Makima, compelling him to choose between desire, loyalty, and survival.

A Self-Contained Romantic Tale Amidst a Broader Universe

Reze Arc is inherently a lovers-to-enemies plot, with our imperfect protagonist the hero falling for Reze almost immediately upon introduction. He is a isolated boy looking for love, which makes his heart unreliable and up for grabs on a first-come, first-served. Consequently, despite all of Chainsaw Man’s complex lore and its extensive ensemble, Reze Arc is highly self-contained. Director Tatsuya Yoshihara understands this and guarantees the love story is at the forefront, rather than weighing it down with filler recaps for the new viewers, especially when such details really matters to the overall plot.

Regardless of Denji’s imperfections, it’s difficult not to sympathize with him. He is still a teenager, fumbling his way through a reality that’s warped his sense of right and wrong. His intense longing for love portrays him like a infatuated puppy, even if he’s prone to growling, snapping, and causing chaos along the way. Reze is a ideal match for him, an compelling femme fatale who targets her mark in our hero. You want to see Denji win the ire of his love interest, despite Reze is clearly concealing something from him. Thus when her true nature is revealed, audiences cannot avoid hope they’ll somehow make it work, although deep down, it is known a positive outcome is never really in the plan. Therefore, the stakes fail to seem as intense as they should be since their romance is doomed. This is compounded by that the film acts as a immediate follow-up to the first season, leaving little room for a love story like this among the more grim developments that fans know are approaching.

Breathtaking Visuals and Technical Execution

The film’s graphics seamlessly blend traditional animation with 3D environments, delivering impressive eye candy even before the action begins. From cars to small office appliances, 3D models add depth and detail to every scene, making the 2D characters pop beautifully. Unlike Demon Slayer, which often highlights its 3D assets and changing backgrounds, Reze Arc uses them more sparingly, most noticeably during its explosive climax, where those models, while not unattractive, are more apparent to spot. These fluid, ever-shifting backgrounds make the movie’s fights both visually bombastic and remarkably easy to understand. Nonetheless, the technique excels most when it’s unnoticeable, improving the dynamic range and movement of the hand-drawn art.

Final Thoughts and Broader Considerations

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc functions as a solid starting place, likely leaving new fans pleased, but it also has a drawback. Telling a standalone story limits the stakes of what should feel like a sprawling anime epic. This is an example of why following up a popular television series with a movie isn’t the optimal approach if it undermines the series’ general narrative possibilities.

While Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle succeeded by tying up several installments of anime television with an epic movie, and JuJutsu Kaisen 0 sidestepped the problem completely by acting as a backstory to its popular series, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc charges forward, maybe a slightly recklessly. But this does not prevent the movie from proving to be a enjoyable experience, a terrific introduction, and a memorable romantic tale.