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A pair of youngsters share a private, tender moment at the local secondary school’s open-air swimming pool after hours. While they drift together, hanging under the night sky in the quietness of the evening, the scene captures the fleeting, exhilarating excitement of teenage love, utterly caught up in the present, ramifications overlooked.

Approximately 30 minutes into Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc, it became clear such moments are the core of the movie. Denji and Reze’s love story took center stage, and every bit of background details and backstories I had gleaned from the anime’s initial episodes turned out to be mostly irrelevant. Despite being a canonical entry within the franchise, Reze Arc offers a easier entry point for first-time viewers — even if they haven’t seen its single episode. This method has its benefits, but it also hinders a portion of the urgency of the film’s story.

Developed by Tatsuki Fujimoto, Chainsaw Man follows Denji, a debt-ridden fiend fighter in a universe where demons embody particular dangers (ranging from ideas like Aging and Darkness to terrifying entities like cockroaches or historical conflicts). After being betrayed and murdered by the criminal syndicate, Denji makes a pact with his loyal devil-dog, his pet, and comes back from the dead as a part-human chainsaw wielder with the ability to permanently erase Devils and the horrors they signify from existence.

Thrust into a violent struggle between demons and hunters, Denji meets Reze — a alluring barista concealing a deadly secret — igniting a heartbreaking clash between the two where affection and existence collide. This film continues immediately following the first season, delving into Denji’s relationship with his love interest as he grapples with his emotions for her and his loyalty to his controlling boss, his employer, compelling him to choose between passion, faithfulness, and self-preservation.

An Independent Love Story Within a Broader World

Reze Arc is inherently a romance-to-rivalry plot, with our fallible main character Denji becoming enamored with Reze almost immediately upon introduction. He’s a lonely boy seeking love, which renders him vulnerable and up for grabs on a first-come basis. Consequently, in spite of all of Chainsaw Man’s complex lore and its extensive cast of characters, Reze Arc is highly self-contained. Filmmaker the director understands this and guarantees the romantic arc is at the center, rather than weighing it down with filler recaps for the uninitiated, particularly since such details is crucial to the complete plot.

Despite Denji’s imperfections, it’s difficult not to feel for him. He’s after all a teenager, stumbling his way through a world that’s warped his understanding of morality. His desperate longing for love makes him come off like a lovesick puppy, although he’s prone to growling, biting, and making a mess along the way. His love interest is a ideal pairing for Denji, an effective seductive antagonist who finds her mark in our protagonist. Viewers hope to see the main character win the ire of his affection, despite Reze is clearly hiding a secret from him. So when her true nature is revealed, you still cannot avoid hope they’ll somehow make it work, even though internally, it is known a happy ending is never really in the plan. Therefore, the stakes don’t feel as high as they ought to be since their relationship is doomed. This is compounded by that the film serves as a direct sequel to Season 1, allowing little room for a love story like this amid the more grim events that followers know are coming soon.

Breathtaking Visuals and Technical Execution

The film’s visuals effortlessly combine 2D animation with 3D environments, delivering impressive visual appeal prior to the excitement kicks in. Including vehicles to tiny office appliances, 3D models enhance realism and detail to every scene, allowing the animated figures stand out beautifully. Unlike Demon Slayer, which frequently highlights its 3D assets and changing settings, Reze Arc uses them more sparingly, particularly evident during its explosive climax, where those models, while not unattractive, become easier to identify. These smooth, ever-shifting environments render the film’s fights both spectacular to watch and remarkably easy to understand. Still, the method shines brightest when it’s invisible, enhancing the dynamic range and movement of the 2D animation.

Final Thoughts and Broader Implications

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc functions as a good starting place, likely resulting in new fans pleased, but it also has a downside. Presenting a self-contained narrative restricts the stakes of what ought to seem like a expansive anime epic. This is an example of why continuing a popular television series with a film isn’t the optimal strategy if it undermines the series’ overall storytelling potential.

Whereas Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle succeeded by tying up multiple seasons of animated series with an epic film, and JuJutsu Kaisen 0 sidestepped the problem entirely by serving as a backstory to its well-known series, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc charges forward, maybe a bit recklessly. However that doesn’t stop the movie from proving to be a enjoyable experience, a excellent introduction, and a memorable romantic tale.