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A pair of teenagers experience a intimate, gentle instant at the local high school’s open-air swimming pool after hours. While they drift as one, suspended under the night sky in the quietness of the night, the sequence captures the ephemeral, heady excitement of teenage romance, utterly caught up in the moment, consequences overlooked.

About 30 minutes into The Chainsaw Man Film: Reze Arc, it became clear such moments are the core of the film. The love story took center stage, and all the background details and backstories previously known from the series’ first season proved to be mostly unnecessary. Although it is a official entry within the series, Reze Arc offers a easier starting place for newcomers — regardless of they missed its single episode. This method has its benefits, but it also hinders a portion of the tension of the movie’s narrative.

Developed by Tatsuki Fujimoto, Chainsaw Man chronicles Denji, a debt-ridden Devil Hunter in a world where demons embody particular dangers (including ideas like Aging and obscurity to terrifying entities like cockroaches or World War II). After being betrayed and killed by the criminal syndicate, Denji makes a pact with his loyal companion, Pochita, and comes back from the deceased as a chainsaw-human hybrid with the power to permanently erase fiends and the terrors they represent from existence.

Thrust into a violent struggle between demons and hunters, the hero meets a new character — a charming barista concealing a lethal mystery — sparking a tragic confrontation between the pair where affection and survival collide. The movie picks up immediately following season 1, delving into the main character’s connection with Reze as he wrestles with his feelings for her and his loyalty to his manipulative boss, his employer, forcing him to decide among passion, faithfulness, and self-preservation.

A Self-Contained Love Story Within a Broader Universe

Reze Arc is inherently a lovers-to-enemies plot, with our fallible protagonist Denji falling for his counterpart almost immediately upon meeting. He is a lonely boy seeking love, which makes his heart unreliable and up for grabs on a first-come basis. As a result, despite all of Chainsaw Man’s complex mythology and its large cast of characters, Reze Arc is very independent. Director Tatsuya Yoshihara understands this and guarantees the love story is at the forefront, instead of weighing it down with filler recaps for the new viewers, particularly since such details is crucial to the complete storyline.

Despite Denji’s flaws, it’s difficult not to sympathize with him. He’s still a teenager, fumbling his way through a reality that’s warped his sense of morality. His desperate craving for affection portrays him like a lovesick puppy, even if he’s prone to growling, biting, and causing chaos along the way. Reze is a ideal pairing for him, an compelling femme fatale who finds her mark in our protagonist. Viewers hope to see the main character earn the affection of his love interest, despite she is clearly hiding a secret from him. Thus when her true nature is revealed, you still cannot avoid wish they’ll in some way succeed, even though internally, it is known a happy ending is not truly in the cards. Therefore, the stakes don’t feel as intense as they should be since their relationship is fated. It doesn’t help that the movie serves as a direct sequel to the first season, leaving little room for a romance like this among the more grim events that followers know are coming soon.

Breathtaking Animation and Artistic Execution

This movie’s visuals seamlessly blend 2D animation with 3D environments, providing impressive eye candy prior to the excitement kicks in. From cars to small desk fans, digital assets enhance realism and detail to each shot, making the 2D characters pop strikingly. Unlike Demon Slayer, which often showcases its digital elements and shifting backgrounds, Reze Arc uses them more sparingly, most noticeably during its explosive climax, where those models, while not unattractive, are more apparent to spot. These fluid, dynamic backgrounds make the film’s battles both visually bombastic and surprisingly simple to understand. Still, the method shines brightest when it’s invisible, improving the dynamic range and movement of the 2D animation.

Final Impressions and Wider Considerations

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc functions as a good starting place, likely leaving new fans pleased, but it also has a downside. Presenting a self-contained story limits the stakes of what should feel like a sprawling animated saga. This is an example of why continuing a successful television series with a film isn’t the best strategy if it undermines the series’ general narrative possibilities.

Whereas Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle found success by tying up multiple installments of anime television with an epic movie, and JuJutsu Kaisen 0 sidestepped the issue completely by acting as a prequel to its well-known show, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc advances boldly, maybe a slightly foolishly. However that doesn’t stop the movie from being a great time, a terrific point of entry, and a memorable romantic tale.