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A pair of teenagers share a private, gentle moment at the local secondary school’s outdoor swimming pool late at night. As they float together, hanging beneath the night sky in the quietness of the night, the sequence captures the fleeting, exhilarating thrill of adolescent romance, utterly caught up in the moment, ramifications overlooked.

Approximately half an hour into The Chainsaw Man Film: Reze Arc, it became clear such moments are the core of the film. The romantic tale took center stage, and every bit of background details and character histories I had gleaned from the anime’s initial episodes proved to be largely unnecessary. Despite being a canonical installment within the series, Reze Arc provides a more accessible starting place for newcomers — regardless of they haven’t seen its single episode. This method brings advantages, but it simultaneously limits a portion of the urgency of the movie’s narrative.

Developed by Tatsuki Fujimoto, Chainsaw Man follows Denji, a debt-ridden Devil Hunter in a world where Devils embody particular evils (ranging from ideas like Aging and obscurity to terrifying entities like cockroaches or historical conflicts). When he’s betrayed and murdered by the yakuza, he forms a contract with his faithful devil-dog, Pochita, and comes back from the dead as a part-human chainsaw wielder with the ability to permanently erase fiends and the terrors they represent from existence.

Thrust into a violent conflict between devils and hunters, Denji encounters a new character — a alluring coffee server hiding a lethal mystery — sparking a tragic confrontation between the two where affection and existence intersect. This film continues right after the first season, exploring Denji’s relationship with his love interest as he wrestles with his feelings for her and his loyalty to his manipulative superior, his employer, forcing him to decide among passion, loyalty, and self-preservation.

A Self-Contained Romantic Tale Within a Larger Universe

Reze Arc is inherently a romance-to-rivalry plot, with our imperfect protagonist Denji becoming enamored with Reze right away upon introduction. He’s a lonely boy seeking love, which makes his heart unreliable and up for grabs on a first-come, first-served. As a result, despite all of Chainsaw Man’s intricate lore and its extensive ensemble, Reze Arc is very independent. Filmmaker Tatsuya Yoshihara understands this and ensures the love story is at the forefront, rather than bogging it down with filler recaps for the uninitiated, especially when such details is crucial to the complete plot.

Regardless of Denji’s flaws, it’s hard 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 desperate craving for affection portrays him like a infatuated dog, even if he’s prone to barking, biting, and making a mess along the way. Reze is a ideal match for Denji, an compelling femme fatale who targets her prey in our protagonist. Viewers hope to see Denji win the ire of his love interest, even if she is obviously hiding a secret from him. Thus when her true nature is unveiled, audiences can’t help but wish they’ll somehow succeed, even though deep down, you know a positive outcome is never really in the cards. As such, the tension fail to seem as intense as they should be since their romance is fated. This is compounded by 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 approaching.

Stunning Visuals and Technical Execution

This movie’s visuals effortlessly combine 2D animation with 3D environments, providing stunning visual appeal even before the action kicks in. From cars to tiny desk fans, 3D models enhance realism and texture to every scene, making the 2D characters stand out beautifully. In contrast to Demon Slayer, which frequently showcases its 3D assets and shifting settings, Reze Arc uses them less frequently, most noticeably during its explosive climax, where such elements, while not unattractive, become easier to spot. Such smooth, ever-shifting backgrounds render the movie’s fights both visually bombastic and remarkably simple to follow. Nonetheless, the method shines brightest when it’s unnoticeable, improving the dynamic range and motion of the 2D animation.

Concluding Thoughts and Wider Considerations

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc functions as a good point of entry, probably leaving first-time audiences satisfied, but it additionally carries a downside. Telling a standalone story limits the tension of what should feel like a sprawling animated saga. This is an example of why following up a popular television series with a movie isn’t the best approach if it undermines the franchise’s general storytelling potential.

While Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle found success by concluding multiple installments of animated series with an epic film, and JuJutsu Kaisen 0 avoided the issue entirely by serving as a prequel to its well-known show, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc charges forward, maybe a slightly recklessly. However this does not prevent the film from proving to be a great time, a excellent introduction, and a memorable romantic tale.