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A pair of teenagers share a intimate, gentle instant at the neighborhood secondary school’s outdoor pool after hours. As they float as one, suspended under the stars in the stillness of the night, the sequence portrays the fleeting, heady excitement of teenage love, utterly caught up in the present, consequences overlooked.

Approximately 30 minutes into Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc, I realized such moments are the core of the movie. The romantic tale became the focus, and every bit of contextual information and backstories I had gleaned from the anime’s first season proved to be mostly irrelevant. Although it is a official entry within the series, Reze Arc offers a easier entry point for first-time viewers — even if they missed its prior content. This method brings advantages, but it also hinders some of the tension of the movie’s narrative.

Created by Tatsuki Fujimoto, Chainsaw Man follows the protagonist, a debt-ridden fiend fighter in a world where demons represent particular evils (ranging from ideas like getting older and Darkness to terrifying entities like cockroaches or World War II). When he’s betrayed and killed by the yakuza, Denji makes a pact with his loyal devil-dog, his pet, and comes back from the deceased as a part-human chainsaw wielder with the power to permanently erase Devils and the horrors they represent from existence.

Thrust into a brutal conflict between devils and hunters, Denji encounters a new character — a alluring barista hiding a deadly secret — igniting a heartbreaking clash between the pair where love and survival collide. The movie picks up right after the first season, exploring Denji’s connection with his love interest as he grapples with his emotions for her and his loyalty to his controlling superior, his employer, compelling him to choose between passion, loyalty, and self-preservation.

A Self-Contained Romantic Tale Within a Broader Universe

Reze Arc is fundamentally a lovers-to-enemies plot, with our fallible main character Denji becoming enamored with Reze right away upon introduction. He’s a lonely boy looking for love, which renders him vulnerable and easily swayed on a first-come, first-served. Consequently, in spite of all of Chainsaw Man’s intricate lore and its extensive cast of characters, Reze Arc is highly self-contained. Director Tatsuya Yoshihara understands this and ensures the romantic arc is at the center, instead of bogging it down with filler recaps for the uninitiated, especially when such details is crucial to the complete plot.

Regardless of the protagonist’s imperfections, it’s difficult not to feel for him. He is still a teenager, stumbling his way through a world that’s distorted his understanding of right and wrong. His intense longing for affection makes him come off like a lovesick puppy, even if he’s likely to growling, biting, and causing chaos along the way. His love interest is a perfect pairing for Denji, an compelling seductive antagonist who finds her mark in our hero. You want to see the main character win the ire of his affection, despite she is obviously hiding a secret from him. Thus when her true nature is revealed, you still can’t help but hope they’ll in some way succeed, although deep down, you know a positive outcome is not truly in the plan. As such, the tension don’t feel as intense as they ought to be since their romance is fated. It doesn’t help that the film acts as a immediate follow-up to the first season, leaving little room for a romance like this amid the more grim developments that followers know are coming soon.

Stunning Visuals and Technical Craftsmanship

This movie’s graphics seamlessly blend traditional animation with computer-generated settings, providing stunning eye candy even before the action begins. From cars to small office appliances, digital assets add depth and detail to every shot, making the 2D characters stand out beautifully. In contrast to Demon Slayer, which frequently highlights its 3D assets and shifting backgrounds, Reze Arc employs them less frequently, particularly evident during its explosive climax, where those models, though not unappealing, become easier to identify. Such fluid, dynamic backgrounds make the movie’s battles both spectacular to watch and remarkably simple to understand. Still, the technique shines brightest when it’s invisible, enhancing the dynamic range and motion of the 2D animation.

Final Impressions and Broader Considerations

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc serves as a good starting place, likely resulting in new fans satisfied, but it also has a downside. Presenting a standalone story limits the tension of what should feel like a expansive anime epic. This is an example of why following up a successful anime season with a film is not the optimal approach if it weakens the series’ general narrative possibilities.

While Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle found success by tying up several seasons of anime television with an epic movie, and JuJutsu Kaisen 0 sidestepped the problem entirely by acting as a backstory to its popular show, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc charges forward, perhaps a bit recklessly. However that doesn’t stop the film from proving to be a great time, a terrific point of entry, and a memorable romantic tale.