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A pair of teenagers share a private, tender instant at the local high school’s open-air pool late at night. While they drift as one, hanging beneath the night sky in the quietness of the night, the scene captures the fleeting, exhilarating excitement of adolescent romance, completely engrossed in the moment, consequences overlooked.

About half an hour into The Chainsaw Man Film: Reze Arc, I realized such moments are the heart of the movie. Denji and Reze’s love story became the focus, and every bit of contextual information and character histories previously known from the series’ initial episodes turned out to be mostly irrelevant. Despite being a official entry within the franchise, Reze Arc provides a more accessible entry point for first-time viewers — regardless of they haven’t seen its single episode. The approach has its benefits, but it also hinders some of the urgency of the movie’s narrative.

Developed by the original creator, Chainsaw Man follows Denji, a debt-ridden fiend fighter in a world where demons represent specific dangers (including ideas like Aging and Darkness to terrifying entities like insects or historical conflicts). When he’s deceived and murdered by the yakuza, he forms a contract with his loyal companion, Pochita, and comes back from the dead as a chainsaw-human hybrid with the ability to completely destroy fiends and the horrors they represent from reality.

Plunged into a brutal struggle between devils and hunters, the hero encounters Reze — a charming barista hiding a lethal mystery — sparking a tragic confrontation between the two where love and existence collide. The movie picks up right after the first season, delving into the main character’s relationship with Reze as he grapples with his feelings for her and his loyalty to his controlling boss, Makima, forcing him to decide among desire, faithfulness, and self-preservation.

A Self-Contained Love Story Within a Larger World

Reze Arc is fundamentally a romance-to-rivalry story, with our fallible protagonist the hero falling for his counterpart almost immediately upon introduction. He’s a lonely boy seeking love, which renders him unreliable and up for grabs on a first-come basis. Consequently, in spite of all of Chainsaw Man’s complex mythology and its extensive ensemble, Reze Arc is very self-contained. Director the director recognizes this and ensures the love story is at the forefront, rather than weighing it down with unnecessary summaries for the new viewers, especially when none of that really matters to the overall storyline.

Despite the protagonist’s flaws, it’s difficult not to feel for him. He’s after all a adolescent, stumbling his way through a reality that’s warped his understanding of morality. His intense longing for affection portrays him like a lovesick puppy, although he’s prone to growling, snapping, and causing chaos along the way. Reze is a perfect match for him, an compelling seductive antagonist who targets her mark in our hero. Viewers hope to see the main character earn the affection of his affection, despite Reze is clearly concealing something from him. Thus when her real identity is unveiled, you still can’t help but hope they’ll in some way make it work, even though deep down, you know a happy ending is never really in the cards. As such, the tension don’t feel as high as they should be since their relationship is doomed. This is compounded by that the movie acts as a immediate follow-up to Season 1, allowing minimal space for a love story like this among the darker developments that fans know are approaching.

Stunning Visuals and Technical Craftsmanship

This movie’s visuals seamlessly blend 2D animation with computer-generated settings, delivering impressive visual appeal prior to the excitement kicks in. From vehicles to tiny desk fans, 3D models enhance realism and texture to every scene, making the 2D characters pop beautifully. Unlike Demon Slayer, which frequently showcases its 3D assets and changing settings, Reze Arc uses them more sparingly, most noticeably during its action-packed climax, where such elements, while not unattractive, become easier to identify. These smooth, ever-shifting backgrounds render the movie’s battles both spectacular to watch and surprisingly simple to understand. Nonetheless, the technique shines brightest when it’s invisible, improving the vibrancy and movement of the 2D animation.

Final Thoughts and Wider Considerations

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc functions as a solid starting place, probably leaving new fans pleased, but it also has a drawback. Presenting a self-contained story restricts the tension of what should feel like a expansive anime epic. It’s an example of why continuing a successful television series with a film is not the optimal approach if it undermines the series’ general storytelling potential.

Whereas Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle found success by concluding multiple installments of anime television with an grand movie, and JuJutsu Kaisen 0 avoided the issue entirely by serving as a backstory to its popular series, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc charges forward, perhaps a bit recklessly. But this does not prevent the movie from proving to be a great time, a excellent introduction, and a memorable romantic tale.