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A pair of teenagers experience a private, gentle instant at the neighborhood secondary school’s open-air pool after hours. As they float together, suspended under the night sky in the stillness of the night, the sequence captures the fleeting, heady excitement of teenage romance, completely engrossed in the present, consequences forgotten.

Approximately half an hour into Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc, I realized such moments are the core of the film. The love story took center stage, and all the background details and character histories I had gleaned from the series’ initial episodes turned out to be mostly unnecessary. Although it is a canonical entry within the franchise, Reze Arc provides a easier entry point for newcomers — 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 story.

Developed by Tatsuki Fujimoto, Chainsaw Man follows Denji, a indebted fiend fighter in a world where demons represent particular evils (ranging from ideas like Aging and obscurity to terrifying entities like insects or historical conflicts). When he’s betrayed and killed by the criminal syndicate, Denji makes a pact with his faithful devil-dog, his pet, and comes back from the dead as a part-human chainsaw wielder with the power to completely destroy fiends and the terrors they signify from reality.

Plunged into a brutal struggle between demons and hunters, the hero encounters a new character — a alluring coffee server hiding a deadly secret — igniting a heartbreaking confrontation between the two where affection and survival intersect. The movie continues right after season 1, exploring Denji’s connection 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.

A Self-Contained Romantic Tale Within a Larger World

Reze Arc is fundamentally a romance-to-rivalry plot, with our imperfect main character the hero becoming enamored with Reze right away upon meeting. He is a lonely boy seeking love, which makes his heart vulnerable and easily swayed on a first-come basis. Consequently, in spite of all of Chainsaw Man’s complex mythology and its extensive ensemble, Reze Arc is highly self-contained. Director Tatsuya Yoshihara recognizes this and guarantees the love story is at the center, rather than weighing it down with unnecessary summaries for the uninitiated, especially when none of that really matters to the complete plot.

Regardless of the protagonist’s imperfections, it’s hard not to feel for him. He’s after all a teenager, fumbling his way through a world that’s warped his understanding of morality. His intense craving for love portrays him like a lovesick dog, although he’s likely to growling, biting, and making a mess along the way. Reze is a perfect pairing for Denji, an effective femme fatale who finds her prey in our protagonist. Viewers hope to see the main character win the ire of his affection, even if she is obviously hiding a secret from him. So when her true nature is revealed, you still can’t help but wish they’ll somehow succeed, even though deep down, you know a happy ending is not truly in the plan. Therefore, the stakes don’t feel as intense as they ought to be since their romance is fated. This is compounded by that the movie serves as a immediate follow-up to the first season, allowing minimal space for a romance like this among the darker developments that fans know are coming soon.

Stunning Visuals and Artistic Execution

This movie’s visuals seamlessly blend 2D animation with computer-generated settings, delivering stunning eye candy even before the action kicks in. From vehicles to tiny desk fans, 3D models enhance realism and detail to every shot, making the animated figures pop beautifully. In contrast to Demon Slayer, which frequently highlights its 3D assets and changing settings, Reze Arc employs them less frequently, particularly evident during its explosive climax, where those models, while not unattractive, are more apparent to spot. These fluid, ever-shifting backgrounds render the movie’s fights both visually bombastic and surprisingly simple to follow. Still, the method shines brightest when it’s invisible, enhancing the dynamic range and motion of the hand-drawn art.

Final Impressions and Broader Considerations

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc serves as a solid point of entry, likely leaving new fans satisfied, but it also has a drawback. Telling a standalone story limits the stakes of what should feel like a sprawling animated saga. This is an example of why following up a successful television series with a movie is not the optimal strategy if it undermines the series’ general narrative possibilities.

While Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle found success by concluding multiple installments of anime television with an grand movie, and JuJutsu Kaisen 0 avoided the problem entirely by acting as a prequel to its popular show, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc charges forward, perhaps a bit foolishly. But that doesn’t stop the film from being a enjoyable experience, a terrific point of entry, and a unforgettable love story.