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Two youngsters experience a private, tender instant at the local high school’s open-air swimming pool late at night. As they float together, hanging beneath the night sky in the stillness of the evening, the scene captures the fleeting, heady thrill of teenage love, utterly caught up in the present, consequences forgotten.

Approximately 30 minutes into The Chainsaw Man Film: Reze Arc, it became clear these scenes are the heart of the movie. The love story became the focus, and every bit of background details and backstories I had gleaned from the series’ first season proved to be largely irrelevant. Despite being a canonical entry within the franchise, Reze Arc offers a more accessible starting place for newcomers — even if they haven’t seen its single episode. This method has its benefits, but it simultaneously limits some of the tension of the film’s story.

Created by the original creator, Chainsaw Man chronicles Denji, a debt-ridden Devil Hunter in a world where Devils embody specific evils (ranging from ideas like Aging and obscurity to terrifying entities like insects or historical conflicts). When he’s deceived and killed by the criminal syndicate, he makes a pact with his loyal devil-dog, Pochita, and comes back from the deceased as a part-human chainsaw wielder with the power to completely destroy Devils and the horrors they represent from reality.

Plunged into a brutal struggle between demons and hunters, Denji encounters a new character — a charming coffee server concealing a lethal mystery — sparking a heartbreaking clash between the two where affection and survival collide. This film picks up right after season 1, exploring Denji’s relationship with Reze as he wrestles with his emotions for her and his loyalty to his manipulative boss, Makima, forcing him to decide among desire, loyalty, and self-preservation.

An Independent Love Story Amidst a Larger Universe

Reze Arc is inherently a romance-to-rivalry story, with our imperfect protagonist Denji falling for Reze almost immediately upon introduction. He is a isolated young man seeking affection, which renders him vulnerable and easily swayed on a first-come, first-served. Consequently, in spite of all of Chainsaw Man’s intricate mythology and its large cast of characters, Reze Arc is very self-contained. Filmmaker the director understands this and ensures the romantic arc is at the center, rather than weighing it down with filler recaps for the uninitiated, especially when such details really matters to the complete storyline.

Despite the protagonist’s imperfections, it’s difficult not to feel for him. He is after all a teenager, fumbling his way through a reality that’s distorted his sense of right and wrong. His desperate longing for love portrays him like a lovesick dog, even if he’s likely to growling, biting, and causing chaos along the way. Reze is a ideal match for him, an effective femme fatale who finds her prey in our hero. Viewers hope to see Denji win the ire of his affection, despite she is clearly concealing something from him. So when her real identity is unveiled, audiences cannot avoid hope they’ll somehow succeed, although deep down, it is known a happy ending is not truly in the cards. Therefore, the tension don’t feel as high as they ought to be since their relationship is doomed. This is compounded by that the movie serves as a direct sequel to Season 1, allowing little room for a love story like this among the more grim events that fans are aware are approaching.

Stunning Animation and Technical Execution

The film’s visuals seamlessly blend traditional animation with computer-generated settings, providing stunning eye candy even before the action kicks in. Including vehicles to tiny office appliances, digital assets enhance realism and detail to each shot, making the 2D characters pop strikingly. In contrast to Demon Slayer, which frequently highlights its digital elements and changing settings, Reze Arc employs them less frequently, particularly evident during its action-packed finale, where such elements, though not unappealing, are more apparent to spot. Such fluid, ever-shifting environments make the film’s battles both spectacular to watch and remarkably simple to follow. Still, the method excels most when it’s unnoticeable, enhancing the vibrancy and movement of the 2D animation.

Final Thoughts and Wider Considerations

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc functions as a good starting place, likely resulting in first-time audiences pleased, but it also has a downside. Presenting a self-contained narrative limits the stakes of what ought to seem like a expansive animated saga. It’s an example of why continuing a popular anime season with a film isn’t the optimal strategy if it weakens the franchise’s general storytelling potential.

While Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle succeeded by concluding multiple seasons of animated series with an epic film, and JuJutsu Kaisen 0 avoided the problem completely by serving as a backstory to its popular series, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc advances boldly, perhaps a slightly foolishly. However that doesn’t stop the movie from proving to be a enjoyable experience, a terrific introduction, and a memorable love story.