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Two teenagers share a intimate, tender moment at the local secondary school’s open-air pool late at night. While they drift as one, hanging under the stars in the quietness of the evening, the sequence portrays the ephemeral, heady excitement of adolescent love, completely engrossed in the moment, ramifications overlooked.

Approximately half an hour into The Chainsaw Man Film: Reze Arc, it became clear such moments are the heart of the film. Denji and Reze’s romantic tale became the focus, and every bit of contextual information and backstories I had gleaned from the anime’s initial episodes turned out to be mostly irrelevant. Although it is a canonical entry within the franchise, Reze Arc offers a more accessible starting place for first-time viewers — even if they haven’t seen its prior content. The approach has its benefits, but it also hinders some of the tension of the film’s narrative.

Developed by Tatsuki Fujimoto, Chainsaw Man chronicles the protagonist, a debt-ridden Devil Hunter in a universe where Devils represent specific evils (ranging from ideas like Aging and obscurity to specific horrors like insects or World War II). After being betrayed and killed by the criminal syndicate, he makes a pact with his faithful companion, Pochita, and returns from the dead as a chainsaw-human hybrid with the ability to completely destroy fiends and the terrors they represent from existence.

Plunged into a brutal struggle between devils and hunters, Denji encounters Reze — a alluring barista hiding a lethal mystery — sparking a heartbreaking clash between the two where love and survival intersect. This film continues immediately following season 1, exploring the main character’s connection with his love interest as he wrestles with his feelings for her and his loyalty to his controlling boss, Makima, forcing him to choose between desire, faithfulness, and survival.

A Self-Contained Romantic Tale Within a Larger Universe

Reze Arc is inherently a lovers-to-enemies plot, with our fallible protagonist the hero falling for Reze almost immediately upon meeting. He’s a lonely young man looking for affection, which renders him vulnerable and easily swayed on a first-come, first-served. As a result, despite all of Chainsaw Man’s intricate lore and its extensive cast of characters, Reze Arc is very independent. Director the director understands this and guarantees the love story is at the forefront, instead of weighing it down with filler recaps for the new viewers, especially when such details really matters to the overall storyline.

Despite Denji’s flaws, it’s hard not to sympathize with him. He is after all a adolescent, fumbling his way through a world that’s distorted his sense of right and wrong. His desperate craving for love makes him come off like a lovesick dog, although he’s prone to barking, biting, and causing chaos along the way. His love interest is a perfect match for Denji, an compelling seductive antagonist who finds her mark in our protagonist. You want to see the main character win the ire of his love interest, even if she is clearly concealing something from him. Thus when her real identity is unveiled, audiences can’t help but hope they’ll in some way succeed, although internally, it is known a positive outcome is not truly in the cards. As such, the tension fail to seem as intense as they ought to be since their romance is fated. It doesn’t help that the movie serves as a direct sequel to Season 1, allowing little room for a love story like this amid the more grim events that fans are aware are approaching.

Breathtaking Animation and Technical Execution

The film’s visuals effortlessly combine 2D animation with 3D environments, providing stunning eye candy even before the action kicks in. From vehicles to tiny office appliances, 3D models add depth and detail to each scene, making the 2D characters stand out strikingly. In contrast to Demon Slayer, which often highlights its 3D assets and changing backgrounds, Reze Arc uses them more sparingly, most noticeably during its action-packed climax, where such elements, while not unattractive, are more apparent to identify. These smooth, dynamic environments make the movie’s battles both spectacular to watch and remarkably easy to understand. Nonetheless, the method shines brightest when it’s unnoticeable, improving the vibrancy and movement of the hand-drawn art.

Concluding Impressions and Broader Considerations

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc functions as a good point of entry, probably resulting in new fans satisfied, but it also has a drawback. Presenting a standalone narrative limits the tension of what should feel like a sprawling animated saga. This is an illustration of why continuing a successful television series with a film is not the best approach if it weakens the franchise’s overall storytelling potential.

While Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle found success by tying up multiple installments of animated series with an epic movie, and JuJutsu Kaisen 0 avoided the problem entirely by acting as a backstory to its well-known show, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc charges forward, maybe a bit recklessly. But that doesn’t stop the film from being a enjoyable experience, a terrific introduction, and a unforgettable love story.