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A pair of youngsters experience a intimate, gentle instant at the neighborhood high school’s outdoor pool after hours. As they float as one, hanging under the stars in the stillness of the night, the sequence portrays the ephemeral, exhilarating thrill of adolescent romance, completely caught up in the present, consequences overlooked.

About 30 minutes into Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc, I realized such moments are the heart of the film. The love story took center stage, and all the contextual information and character histories previously known from the anime’s first season turned out to be largely irrelevant. Although it is a canonical entry within the series, Reze Arc provides a more accessible starting place for first-time viewers — regardless of they haven’t seen its prior content. The approach brings advantages, but it simultaneously limits some of the tension of the film’s narrative.

Created by the original creator, Chainsaw Man chronicles Denji, a debt-ridden Devil Hunter in a universe where demons represent specific evils (ranging from ideas like getting older and Darkness to terrifying entities like cockroaches or historical conflicts). When he’s betrayed and killed by the criminal syndicate, Denji forms a contract with his loyal devil-dog, Pochita, and returns from the deceased as a chainsaw-human hybrid with the ability to permanently erase fiends and the horrors they signify from existence.

Thrust into a violent conflict between devils and hunters, the hero meets a new character — a alluring barista hiding a lethal mystery — sparking a tragic clash between the pair where affection and survival intersect. The movie picks up immediately following the first season, exploring Denji’s relationship with his love interest as he wrestles with his feelings for her and his devotion to his controlling boss, Makima, forcing him to decide among desire, faithfulness, and survival.

An Independent Love Story Amidst a Larger World

Reze Arc is inherently a romance-to-rivalry story, with our imperfect protagonist the hero falling for Reze right away upon meeting. He’s a lonely boy seeking love, which makes his heart unreliable and up for grabs on a first-come basis. Consequently, in spite of all of Chainsaw Man’s complex lore and its extensive ensemble, Reze Arc is very independent. Director Tatsuya Yoshihara recognizes this and ensures the romantic arc is at the center, rather than weighing it down with filler recaps for the uninitiated, especially when none of that really matters to the overall storyline.

Regardless of the protagonist’s imperfections, it’s hard not to feel for him. He’s after all a adolescent, fumbling his way through a reality that’s warped his understanding of morality. His desperate craving for affection portrays him like a lovesick dog, even if he’s prone to growling, snapping, and making a mess along the way. Reze is a perfect match for Denji, an effective femme fatale who finds her prey in our protagonist. You want to see Denji earn the affection of his affection, despite she is obviously hiding something from him. Thus when her true nature is unveiled, audiences can’t help but hope they’ll in some way make it work, even though deep down, it is known a positive outcome is not truly in the plan. As such, the stakes don’t feel as high as they ought to be since their relationship is doomed. It doesn’t help that the movie acts as a immediate follow-up to Season 1, allowing minimal space for a romance like this amid the darker developments that followers are aware are coming soon.

Stunning Animation and Artistic Craftsmanship

The film’s visuals effortlessly combine traditional animation with 3D environments, providing stunning eye candy even before the action begins. Including cars to tiny desk fans, digital assets add depth and detail to every shot, making the animated figures pop strikingly. In contrast to Demon Slayer, which often showcases its digital elements and changing settings, Reze Arc uses them less frequently, particularly evident during its action-packed climax, where such elements, while not unattractive, are more apparent to identify. These smooth, ever-shifting environments render the movie’s battles both visually bombastic and surprisingly simple to follow. Nonetheless, the technique excels most when it’s invisible, enhancing the dynamic range and motion of the 2D animation.

Final Impressions and Wider Considerations

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc serves as a good starting place, probably resulting in first-time audiences pleased, but it additionally carries a downside. Telling a self-contained story limits the stakes of what should feel like a expansive anime epic. This is an example of why continuing a popular anime season with a film isn’t the best strategy if it weakens the franchise’s overall storytelling potential.

While Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle found success by concluding several installments of animated series with an epic movie, and JuJutsu Kaisen 0 avoided the issue completely by serving as a backstory to its well-known series, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc charges forward, perhaps a slightly recklessly. However this does not prevent the film from proving to be a great time, a excellent point of entry, and a unforgettable romantic tale.