Chainsaw Man: Reze Arc – A Beautiful, Heartfelt Film That Perfectly Adapts One Of Chainsaw Man’s Best Arcs
My country is lucky enough to get an early release for Chainsaw Man: Reze Arc, and I was able to catch it in theaters a few days ago. This is the first anime movie that I have watched, and combined with the unbearably long wait between this and Chainsaw Man Season 1, I went into this with high expectations. Those expectations were met, and I can give this movie a confident 8.5/10. The main takeaway that I have from this film is that it does some things excellently, like having a heartfelt emotional core, beautiful animation, and a banger score (Kenoshi Yokenzu went crazy with IRIS OUT). This movie also moves at a very brisk pace with its 1 hour 40 minute runtime, which can feel rushed at times but overall creates this adrenaline-rush feeling of excitement and dread. There’s also plenty of comedic moments sprinkled throughout, which doesn’t take away from the depressing nature of its overall story. On the whole, this is an amazing film and a great continuation of Season 1’s story, and is definitely worth the watch for both anime fans and casual viewers alike.
Good films are meant to stick with you for a long time, and Reze Arc definitely accomplishes that. This film is incredibly powerful in that there are jarring tonal and genre shifts between different acts and sequences. The first half is basically a rom-com, as it shows Denji slowly getting closer with Reze while attempting to grapple with his lingering feelings for Makima. The rom-com segments of this film are genuinely so sweet, which makes the second half hit that much harder. These sequences represent Denji’s simple wish for a peaceful, idyllic existence, where he runs away with Reze, goes to school, has fun at festivals, and lives his perfect life. This is what he truly wants, and there’s this lingering sense of sadness and loss even as you walk out of the theater that this life is something that he will never be able to have. The repeated mention of the “country mouse and city mouse” also has far more significance than you might think. While Denji claims to be like the city mouse and Reze says she’s like the country mouse, these dynamics are switched in the film. While Denji wants nothing more than the security of feeding on grains in the countryside, Reze is the city mouse, always hungry for power, determined to take Denji’s heart and willing to do anything in order to acquire it.
As mentioned previously, this is a very emotional film, and there are so many heartfelt scenes that give us a deeper glimpse into the tragic nature of Denji’s psyche that we weren’t really able to see in Season 1. While in the show he was portrayed as a sad, oblivious goofball, here he is presented as a genuinely tragic character, someone who longs for love and companionship from people who only seek to use him for their own personal gain. Denji is manipulated by both Makima and Reze, who both take different approaches to making him give them what they want. Makima is more subtle in her approach, as she takes him out on a date and drip-feeds him her “affection”. On the other hand, Reze is incredibly blunt, as she suddenly enters Denji’s life and appears to have genuine feelings for him. While I had always been suspicious of Reze’s intentions since her first interaction with Denji (seriously, you’re gushing this much over some street rat you just met?), and even more so when she effortlessly took down the sadistic black market assassin, it was still heartbreaking to see Denji’s reaction to her betrayal. At that moment, we can see that Denji is truly broken, as he just kneels there in shock, waiting for Reze to finish the job. It isn’t until Beam saves him that he snaps out of this trance, and even then it takes him until the end of the second act before he truly commits to killing Reze. This is made all the more tragic by the fact that at this stage of the film, Reze still sees Denji as little more than a means to an end, while to Denji she was everything. I’d like to believe that the absence of Aki, Power, and basically any of the other side characters during the first act is meant to reflect this notion, as Denji’s entire life is occupied by his feelings for Reze and Makima.
Looking back, it’s apparent that there’s a lot of foreshadowing for Reze’s eventual betrayal. Throughout the first half of the movie, she’s always the one making the move and guiding Denji, whether it be talking to him in the cafe, teaching him to swim, and even pulling him around the festival. Even when we don’t realize it, she’s always the one in charge. However, in an awesome parallel to the swimming scene, Reze is finally defeated in the water, as Denji is now the one who takes control of the situation and pulls the two of them into the depths. Despite Denji’s victory over Reze, the tone of the movie remains bleak, largely thanks to its gut-wrenching ending. As Denji and Reze washed ashore on a beach after going underwater, Denji naively asks Reze if she still wants to run away with him. Of course, Reze says no and leaves, leaving Denji heartbroken. If that was the ending of the movie, I would have left the theater satisfied. Unfortunately, Fujimoto decided to ruin my entire day by having Reze have a change of heart at the last second and return to Denji. What should have been a happy ending for the two of them is completely destroyed when Makima intercepts her right as she spots Denji sitting in their cafe meeting spot, just out of reach. Makima orders the Angel Devil to impale her with a metal rod, brutally killing her. This is the true tragedy of the film, as Reze dies alone and full of regret, while Denji moves on believing that Reze never had any feelings for him. We see how much this affects Denji in the film’s end-credits scene, where he waits at the cafe until closing time. The truly devastating part is that he genuinely believed Reze would come back for him, as he had already packed his bags and prepared a bouquet of flowers. I was so close to just straight up bursting into tears in the theater, and this is genuinely the saddest I’ve been coming out of a movie since Guardians Of the Galaxy Volume 3 (I actually cried during that film).
On a lighter note, this film’s animation is genuinely incredible. On a $4 million USD budget, the quality of the animation is unreal, and surpasses most of whatever stuff Hollywood is making these days (aside from Spiderverse). The color palette is so fun and vibrant, creating a really cool effect that really lets them pop and stand out. The action scenes are some of the best animated sequences I’ve ever seen, and there’s just so much going on that it creates this raw, intense adrenaline-rush effect that’s just so cool to experience. You genuinely feel immersed in all the action and explosions, and it really feels like the manga coming to life. The soundtrack is also amazing, with many of them becoming permanent additions to my Spotify playlist and IRIS OUT being stuck on repeat in my head. Overall, this is an amazing film that would be an absolute 10/10 masterpiece if it weren’t for a few key nitpicks.
In terms of negatives, there are a few notable ones that I wanted to address. Firstly, I feel like this film is structured in a way that feels more like an extended TV episode than anything else. It does very little when it comes to expanding the actual overall story, and after a three-year wait I expected more from this movie plot-wise. Additionally, some elements of the plot aren’t very well-explained, and as someone who’s never read the manga there are lots of things that just left me confused. For example, the significance of Denji’s heart is never explained, the Tornado Devil just suddenly shows up in the third act and dies, and new side characters like Beam and the Angel Devil aren’t really given proper introductions. This brings me to my next point, which is that this film is heavily Denji-focused, and leaves very little room for side characters. Power doesn’t have a meaningful role at all, while Aki is forgotten about until the third act. New characters like Beam and the Angel Devil also feel tacked on, and don’t really serve a purpose within the story. The overall plot has also not been driven forward much, and we have gained basically no insight into plot points like the Gun Devil or Makima’s true motivations. While this may not be an issue for manga readers, I feel like this input from someone who’s never read the manga could provide some additional insight into the flaws that hold this movie back.
Overall I loved this movie, and it sets an incredibly high standard for future anime movies. Aside from a few gripes I have with this film plot-wise, this movie is an excellent dark tragedy that manages to translate a lot of Fujimoto’s crackhead ideas incredibly well. This film is a heartfelt emotional rollercoaster, and it’s definitely worth the watch in my opinion.
