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A pair of teenagers experience a private, tender moment at the local secondary school’s outdoor swimming pool late at night. While they drift as one, suspended beneath the night sky in the stillness of the night, the sequence captures the ephemeral, exhilarating excitement of teenage romance, completely caught up in the present, consequences overlooked.

About 30 minutes into The Chainsaw Man Film: Reze Arc, I realized these scenes are the heart of the film. The romantic tale became the focus, and every bit of contextual information and backstories I had gleaned from the series’ first season proved to be mostly unnecessary. Despite being a canonical entry within the series, Reze Arc offers a easier entry point for newcomers — regardless of they haven’t seen its prior content. The approach has its benefits, but it simultaneously limits some of the tension of the movie’s story.

Developed by Tatsuki Fujimoto, Chainsaw Man follows the protagonist, a debt-ridden fiend fighter in a world where demons represent specific dangers (ranging from ideas like Aging and obscurity to specific horrors like insects or historical conflicts). After being betrayed and murdered by the yakuza, Denji makes a pact with his faithful devil-dog, Pochita, and comes back from the dead as a part-human chainsaw wielder with the power to completely destroy Devils and the terrors they represent from existence.

Thrust into a violent struggle between devils and hunters, the hero meets a new character — a charming coffee server hiding a lethal secret — igniting a tragic clash between the pair where affection and survival collide. This film picks up immediately following season 1, exploring Denji’s relationship with Reze as he wrestles with his emotions for her and his loyalty to his controlling superior, his employer, compelling him to decide among desire, faithfulness, and self-preservation.

A Self-Contained Love Story Amidst a Larger Universe

Reze Arc is fundamentally a romance-to-rivalry story, with our imperfect main character the hero falling for his counterpart right away upon introduction. He is a lonely young man seeking affection, which renders him vulnerable and up for grabs on a first-come, first-served. Consequently, in spite of all of Chainsaw Man’s complex mythology and its large cast of characters, Reze Arc is highly self-contained. Director Tatsuya Yoshihara recognizes this and ensures the romantic arc is at the center, instead of weighing it down with unnecessary summaries for the new viewers, particularly since such details really matters to the complete storyline.

Despite Denji’s imperfections, it’s difficult not to feel for him. He is after all a adolescent, stumbling his way through a reality that’s distorted his understanding of morality. His intense longing for affection portrays him like a infatuated puppy, even if he’s prone to growling, biting, and causing chaos along the way. Reze is a perfect match for him, an compelling femme fatale who targets her prey in our hero. Viewers hope to see the main character earn the affection of his love interest, even if she is obviously concealing a secret from him. Thus when her true nature is revealed, audiences can’t help but hope they’ll somehow succeed, although deep down, you know a happy ending is not truly 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 serves as a direct sequel to the first season, leaving little room for a romance like this amid the more grim developments that fans know are coming soon.

Stunning Animation and Artistic Execution

This movie’s visuals seamlessly blend traditional animation with computer-generated settings, delivering stunning visual appeal even before the excitement begins. Including cars to small office appliances, digital assets add depth and texture to every shot, making the 2D characters stand out beautifully. Unlike Demon Slayer, which often highlights its 3D assets and shifting backgrounds, Reze Arc uses them less frequently, most noticeably during its action-packed finale, where such elements, while not unattractive, are more apparent to identify. These fluid, dynamic backgrounds make the film’s fights both spectacular to watch and surprisingly easy to follow. Nonetheless, the method excels most when it’s unnoticeable, improving the vibrancy and movement of the hand-drawn art.

Concluding Thoughts and Broader Implications

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc serves as a solid starting place, likely resulting in first-time audiences satisfied, but it additionally carries a downside. Presenting a self-contained story restricts the tension of what should feel like a sprawling animated saga. It’s an illustration of why continuing a popular anime season with a film isn’t the best approach if it weakens the franchise’s general storytelling potential.

Whereas Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle succeeded by concluding multiple installments of anime television with an epic film, and JuJutsu Kaisen 0 sidestepped the issue completely by serving as a prequel to its popular show, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc advances boldly, maybe a slightly foolishly. But this does not prevent the movie from proving to be a great experience, a terrific point of entry, and a memorable love story.