The Chainsaw Man movie is perfect for newcomers, but may leave fans feeling frustrated

Two youngsters share a non-public, tender second on the native highschool’s out of doors pool after hours. As they float collectively, suspended beneath the celebs within the quietness of the night time, the scene captures the fleeting, heady thrill of adolescent love, fully caught up within the second, penalties forgotten.

About half-hour into Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc, I noticed these scenes are the center of the movie. Denji and Reze’s love story took middle stage, and all of the background particulars and character histories I had gleaned from the anime’s first season turned out to be largely irrelevant. Regardless of being a canonical entry throughout the franchise, Reze Arc presents a extra accessible entry level for newcomers — even when they haven’t seen its single episode. The strategy has its advantages, however it additionally hinders a few of the urgency of the movie’s story.

Created by Tatsuki Fujimoto, Chainsaw Man follows Denji, a debt-ridden Satan Hunter in a world the place Devils embody particular evils (starting from ideas like Getting older and Darkness to particular horrors like cockroaches or World Warfare II). When he’s betrayed and killed by the yakuza, Denji makes a pact along with his loyal devil-dog, Pochita, and returns from the lifeless as a chainsaw-human hybrid with the facility to completely erase Devils and the horrors they symbolize from existence.

Thrust right into a violent wrestle between devils and hunters, Denji meets Reze — an enthralling barista hiding a lethal secret — sparking a tragic conflict between the 2 the place love and survival collide. The film picks up proper after season 1, delving into Denji’s reference to Reze as he wrestles along with his emotions for her and his devotion to his manipulative boss, Makima, forcing him to decide on between need, loyalty, and survival.

Reze Arc is inherently a lovers-to-enemies story, with our fallible protagonist Denji falling for Reze virtually instantly upon introduction. He’s a lonely boy in search of love, which makes his coronary heart unreliable and up for grabs on a first-come, first-served foundation. Because of this, regardless of all of Chainsaw Man’s advanced lore and its massive forged of characters, Reze Arc could be very self-contained. Director Tatsuya Yoshihara understands this and ensures the love story is on the forefront, slightly than bogging it down with filler recaps for the uninitiated, particularly when none of that actually issues to the general plot.

Regardless of Denji’s flaws, it’s onerous to not sympathize with him. He’s nonetheless a youngster, in spite of everything, fumbling his method by means of a world that’s warped his conscience. His determined eager for affection makes him come off like a lovesick pet, even when he’s vulnerable to barking, biting, and making a large number alongside the way in which. Reze is an ideal pairing for Denji, an efficient femme fatale who finds her goal in our protagonist. You need to see Denji win the ire of his affection, even when Reze is clearly hiding one thing from him. So when her true nature is revealed, you continue to can’t assist however hope they’ll by some means make it work, regardless that deep down, a cheerful ending is rarely actually within the playing cards. As such, the stakes don’t really feel as excessive as they need to be since their romance is doomed. It doesn’t assist that the movie acts as a direct sequel to Season 1, leaving little room for a romance like this amid the darker occasions that followers know are coming quickly.

Picture: Sony

The movie’s visuals seamlessly blend 2D animation with 3D environments, delivering gorgeous eye sweet even earlier than the motion kicks in. From vehicles to tiny desk followers, 3D fashions add depth and texture to every scene, making the 2D characters stand out fantastically. Not like Demon Slayer, which continuously showcases its 3D property and shifting backgrounds, Reze Arc makes use of them extra sparingly, most noticeably throughout its explosive finale, the place these fashions, whereas not unattractive, grow to be simpler to identify. These fluid, ever-shifting backgrounds make the movie’s battles each visually bombastic and remarkably simple to comply with. Nonetheless, the method shines brightest when it’s invisible, enhancing the dynamic vary and movement of the 2D animation.

Chainsaw Man – The Film: Reze Arc serves as a very good level of entry, possible leaving new followers glad, however it additionally has a disadvantage. Telling a self-contained story limits the stakes of what ought to really feel like a sprawling anime epic. It’s an instance of why following up a successful anime season with a movie isn’t the most effective strategy if it undermines the franchise’s total storytelling potential.

Whereas Demon Slayer: Infinity Fort discovered success by tying up a number of seasons of anime tv with an epic movie, and JuJutsu Kaisen 0 averted the difficulty solely by appearing as a prequel to its standard sequence, Chainsaw Man – The Film: Reze Arc prices ahead, maybe a bit foolishly. However that doesn’t cease the movie from being a good time, a terrific level of entry, and a memorable love story.