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A pair of teenagers share a intimate, gentle moment at the local high school’s outdoor pool after hours. While they drift as one, suspended beneath the night sky in the quietness of the evening, the scene portrays the fleeting, heady excitement of teenage love, completely caught up in the moment, consequences forgotten.

Approximately half an hour into Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc, it became clear these scenes are the core of the film. The love story took center stage, and all the background details and backstories I had gleaned from the series’ initial episodes proved to be largely irrelevant. Despite being a official installment within the franchise, Reze Arc offers a easier entry point for newcomers — even if they missed its single episode. The approach has its benefits, but it also hinders a portion of the urgency of the film’s story.

Developed by Tatsuki Fujimoto, Chainsaw Man chronicles Denji, a debt-ridden Devil Hunter in a world where Devils embody particular evils (ranging from concepts like getting older and obscurity to terrifying entities like cockroaches or historical conflicts). When he’s betrayed and murdered by the criminal syndicate, he makes a pact with his loyal companion, Pochita, and comes back from the dead 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, Denji encounters a new character — a alluring barista hiding a lethal secret — igniting a heartbreaking confrontation between the pair where love and existence intersect. This film picks up right after season 1, exploring the main character’s connection with his love interest as he wrestles with his emotions for her and his devotion to his manipulative superior, his employer, forcing him to choose between desire, loyalty, and self-preservation.

A Self-Contained Romantic Tale Amidst a Larger Universe

Reze Arc is inherently a romance-to-rivalry story, with our imperfect main character the hero becoming enamored with Reze almost immediately upon meeting. He’s a lonely boy seeking love, which renders him vulnerable and up for grabs on a first-come, first-served. As a result, in spite of all of Chainsaw Man’s intricate mythology and its large cast of characters, Reze Arc is highly independent. Director Tatsuya Yoshihara understands this and ensures the romantic arc is at the center, instead of bogging it down with filler recaps for the new viewers, particularly since such details is crucial to the overall plot.

Regardless of Denji’s imperfections, it’s hard not to sympathize with him. He is after all a teenager, fumbling his way through a reality that’s warped his understanding of morality. His intense longing for affection makes him come off like a lovesick puppy, although he’s likely to growling, biting, and causing chaos along the way. His love interest is a perfect pairing for him, an effective femme fatale who finds her mark in our protagonist. You want to see the main character earn the affection of his love interest, even if she is clearly hiding something from him. So when her real identity is unveiled, you still can’t help but wish they’ll somehow succeed, although internally, it is known a positive outcome is not truly in the cards. Therefore, the tension fail to seem as high as they should be since their romance is fated. This is compounded by that the movie serves as a direct sequel to Season 1, allowing minimal space for a love story like this amid the darker developments that fans are aware are approaching.

Stunning Visuals and Artistic Execution

The film’s visuals seamlessly blend traditional animation with 3D environments, delivering stunning visual appeal prior to the action begins. Including cars to tiny office appliances, digital assets add depth and detail to each scene, allowing the animated figures stand out beautifully. In contrast to Demon Slayer, which frequently highlights its 3D assets and changing settings, Reze Arc uses them less frequently, particularly evident during its action-packed climax, where such elements, while not unattractive, become easier to identify. These fluid, dynamic environments render the film’s fights both visually bombastic and remarkably easy to understand. Nonetheless, the technique shines brightest when it’s invisible, improving the dynamic range and motion of the hand-drawn art.

Final Thoughts and Wider Considerations

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc serves as a good point of entry, probably resulting in first-time audiences pleased, but it also has a drawback. Presenting a self-contained story restricts the stakes of what should feel like a sprawling animated saga. This is an illustration of why continuing a popular anime season with a film isn’t the best approach if it undermines the franchise’s general storytelling potential.

Whereas Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle succeeded by tying up multiple seasons of animated series with an epic film, and JuJutsu Kaisen 0 avoided the issue entirely by serving as a prequel to its popular show, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc charges forward, perhaps a bit foolishly. However that doesn’t stop the movie from being a great experience, a terrific introduction, and a unforgettable love story.