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Two youngsters share a private, gentle moment at the neighborhood high school’s open-air swimming pool late at night. While they drift together, suspended under the stars in the stillness of the evening, the sequence captures the ephemeral, exhilarating thrill of adolescent love, completely engrossed in the moment, consequences forgotten.

Approximately 30 minutes into The Chainsaw Man Film: Reze Arc, I realized these scenes are the core of the movie. Denji and Reze’s love story took center stage, and every bit of background details and backstories previously known from the anime’s initial episodes proved to be mostly irrelevant. Despite being a canonical installment within the franchise, Reze Arc offers a more accessible entry point for newcomers — even if they missed its prior content. This method brings advantages, but it also hinders some of the tension of the film’s story.

Developed by the original creator, Chainsaw Man follows the protagonist, a debt-ridden fiend fighter in a world where demons embody specific evils (ranging from concepts like Aging and obscurity to specific horrors like insects or World War II). When he’s betrayed and murdered by the criminal syndicate, Denji forms a contract with his loyal companion, his pet, and returns from the dead as a chainsaw-human hybrid with the power to permanently erase fiends and the terrors they signify from reality.

Plunged into a brutal struggle between demons and hunters, the hero encounters Reze — a alluring coffee server concealing a deadly secret — sparking a heartbreaking clash between the pair where affection and survival collide. This film picks up immediately following the first season, exploring Denji’s relationship with his love interest as he grapples with his feelings for her and his loyalty to his controlling superior, Makima, compelling him to choose between desire, faithfulness, and self-preservation.

An Independent Romantic Tale Within a Larger Universe

Reze Arc is inherently a romance-to-rivalry story, with our fallible protagonist Denji falling for Reze almost immediately upon meeting. He’s a lonely young man looking for love, which makes his heart vulnerable and up for grabs on a first-come basis. As a result, in spite of all of Chainsaw Man’s intricate lore and its extensive cast of characters, Reze Arc is very independent. Filmmaker Tatsuya Yoshihara recognizes this and ensures the romantic arc 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.

Despite Denji’s flaws, 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 infatuated dog, even if he’s likely to growling, snapping, and making a mess along the way. His love interest is a ideal pairing for him, an effective femme fatale who targets her prey in our protagonist. You want 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 unveiled, you still can’t help but wish they’ll in some way succeed, even though deep down, it is known a happy ending is not truly in the cards. Therefore, the stakes don’t feel as intense as they should be since their romance is fated. It doesn’t help that the movie acts as a direct sequel to Season 1, leaving little room for a romance like this among the darker developments that followers are aware are approaching.

Breathtaking Visuals and Technical Craftsmanship

This movie’s visuals seamlessly blend 2D animation with computer-generated settings, delivering impressive visual appeal prior to the excitement begins. From cars to tiny office appliances, 3D models add depth and texture to each scene, making the 2D characters pop beautifully. Unlike Demon Slayer, which frequently highlights its 3D assets and shifting settings, Reze Arc employs them more sparingly, particularly evident during its explosive finale, where such elements, while not unattractive, become easier to identify. These fluid, ever-shifting environments make the movie’s battles both visually bombastic and surprisingly simple to understand. Still, the method shines brightest when it’s unnoticeable, improving the vibrancy and movement of the 2D animation.

Concluding Impressions and Broader Considerations

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc functions as a solid point of entry, likely leaving first-time audiences satisfied, but it also has a drawback. Presenting a self-contained narrative restricts the stakes of what should feel like a expansive animated saga. It’s an illustration of why continuing a successful anime season with a movie is not the optimal strategy if it undermines the franchise’s overall storytelling potential.

Whereas Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle succeeded by concluding several installments of animated series with an epic movie, and JuJutsu Kaisen 0 avoided the problem entirely by acting as a prequel to its well-known series, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc advances boldly, maybe a bit foolishly. But that doesn’t stop the film from being a enjoyable experience, a terrific introduction, and a memorable romantic tale.