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A pair of youngsters share a intimate, tender moment at the neighborhood secondary school’s outdoor swimming pool late at night. While they drift together, hanging beneath the stars in the stillness of the night, the sequence captures the ephemeral, heady excitement of adolescent love, utterly engrossed in the present, consequences forgotten.

Approximately half an hour into The Chainsaw Man Film: Reze Arc, it became clear these scenes are the heart of the movie. Denji and Reze’s romantic tale took center stage, and every bit of contextual information and backstories I had gleaned from the series’ initial episodes proved to be largely irrelevant. Despite being a canonical installment within the franchise, Reze Arc offers a easier starting place for newcomers — even if they haven’t seen its prior content. The approach has its benefits, but it also hinders a portion of the urgency of the movie’s story.

Created by the original creator, Chainsaw Man chronicles Denji, a indebted fiend fighter in a world where demons represent particular dangers (ranging from concepts like getting older and Darkness to specific horrors like insects or World War II). After being deceived and murdered by the yakuza, Denji makes a pact with his faithful 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 terrors they represent from reality.

Thrust into a brutal struggle between demons and hunters, Denji meets Reze — a charming barista concealing a lethal mystery — sparking a heartbreaking confrontation between the two where love and existence collide. This film continues immediately following the first season, delving into the main character’s relationship with his love interest as he wrestles with his feelings for her and his loyalty to his controlling superior, his employer, compelling him to choose between desire, faithfulness, and self-preservation.

A Self-Contained Romantic Tale Amidst a Larger World

Reze Arc is inherently a lovers-to-enemies story, with our imperfect protagonist Denji becoming enamored with Reze almost immediately upon meeting. He’s a lonely young man looking for love, which renders him unreliable and easily swayed on a first-come, first-served. As a result, despite all of Chainsaw Man’s complex lore 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 weighing it down with unnecessary summaries for the uninitiated, especially when none of that really matters to the complete storyline.

Regardless of the protagonist’s flaws, it’s difficult not to feel for him. He’s still a teenager, fumbling his way through a world that’s distorted his sense of right and wrong. His intense longing for love 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 seductive antagonist who finds her mark in our hero. You want to see Denji win the ire of his affection, even if she is obviously hiding something from him. So when her real identity is revealed, audiences can’t help but wish they’ll in some way succeed, even though deep down, it is known a happy ending is never really in the cards. Therefore, the stakes fail to seem as high as they ought to be since their relationship is fated. This is compounded by that the film serves as a direct sequel to the first season, leaving minimal space for a love story like this amid the more grim developments that fans know are approaching.

Breathtaking Animation and Artistic Execution

The film’s visuals effortlessly combine 2D animation with 3D environments, providing stunning visual appeal prior to the excitement kicks in. Including vehicles to tiny desk fans, digital assets add depth and texture to every shot, allowing the animated figures stand out strikingly. In contrast to Demon Slayer, which often highlights its digital elements and changing backgrounds, Reze Arc employs them more sparingly, particularly evident during its explosive finale, where such elements, though not unappealing, are more apparent to spot. These fluid, dynamic environments render the film’s fights both spectacular to watch and surprisingly easy to understand. Nonetheless, the method shines brightest when it’s invisible, improving the vibrancy and movement of the hand-drawn art.

Concluding Impressions and Wider Implications

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc serves as a good point of entry, probably leaving new fans pleased, but it additionally carries a downside. Telling a standalone story limits the stakes of what ought to seem like a sprawling animated saga. It’s an example of why following up a successful anime season with a film is not the best approach if it weakens the series’ overall storytelling potential.

Whereas Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle succeeded by tying up several seasons of animated series with an grand movie, and JuJutsu Kaisen 0 sidestepped the issue completely by serving as a backstory to its well-known show, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc advances boldly, maybe a bit recklessly. But this does not prevent the film from being a great experience, a excellent introduction, and a unforgettable romantic tale.