For the first time, Chainsaw Man slashes his way onto the big screen in an epic, action-fueled adventure that continues the hugely popular anime series in Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc. Denji worked as a Devil Hunter for the yakuza, trying to pay off the debt he inherited from his parents, until the yakuza betrayed him and had him killed.
As he was losing consciousness, Denji’s beloved chainsaw-powered devil-dog, Pochita, made a deal with Denji and saved his life. This fused the two together, creating the unstoppable Chainsaw Man. Now, in a brutal war between devils, hunters, and secret enemies, a mysterious girl named Reze has stepped into his world, and Denji faces his deadliest battle yet, fueled by love/lust in a world where survival knows no rules. He may have finally found true love, beyond Makima.
Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc began with the same cliffhanger at the end of Chainsaw Man Season 1, but led to Denji waking up from a dream about it. Denji, Aki, and Power’s story picked up with them hungover from a night of drinking and probably their usual playful rowdiness. One of the coolest parts about Season 1 was how many film references there were. From the character design, character actions, to the camera framing and shots, Season 1 included references to The Big Lebowski, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, and so much more.
This opening scene made me think about The Hangover movies because Denji’s whole apartment was trashed, with the three of them sprawled all over the place. Fans of the show are familiar with the catchy music intro and outro, and the film also featured a fun intro called ‘IRIS OUT’ by Hikaru Utada and Kenshi Yonezu. The score matched the varying levels and pacing of this anime movie. There were soft, sometimes jazzy, piano and violin notes in the heartwarming moments, while the thrilling, action beats featured upbeat J-pop instrumentals.
Even though it has been about three years since the first season, the animation throughout Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc not only held up its distinct style but amplified it for the theatre experience. From changing aspect ratios, interesting pseudo crane shots indoors, to hyper stylized colouring, this film had it all. The colouring especially stood out in specific action set pieces where they chose to make the sky fully red.
This allowed blood to be different colours, such as blue and green, in a similar way that Zom 100 handled blood in that show. The red sky reminded me of how JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable changed the colours of the sky multiple times throughout different scenes to set different moods. Additionally, director Tatsuya Yoshihara thoughtfully dropped symbolic representations of Chainsaw Man’s complex characters and what they were going through. It was subtle touches of showing a spider trapping a butterfly in its web, depicting how Denji was ensnared by a new love interest.
“Ultimately, the action, animation, and story for Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc could only have been done in a movie format.”
The important question many of the anime watchers have been asking is how good Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc executes its action and pacing—compared to the show. The action went hard, with the animation camera doing the most for its fights. I did not know if I was getting old, but there were moments when my eyes could not keep up with what was happening on the screen because the camera was so close to the fight. It could have been a few rendering errors, but it was not a huge technical flaw to take me out of the viewing experience.
Without a doubt, this was a movie through and through, with more movie references to look out for. The best part was that there were no recaps like the Demon Slayer movies. This movie felt more along the lines of Jujutsu Kaisen 0, where the story begins with the characters as if it were another episode—just an hour and 40-minute one—but felt like it needed the extra time to breathe and be more grandiose than a few TV episodes.
However, this was not a movie that felt like a batch of episodes put together for the big screen in the way DanDaDan has been doing. Yes, the DanDaDan theatrical experiences have been amazing to watch on the big screen. The three-episode batches work well because Science SARU puts in the extra effort to make the episodes feel cinematic anyway. But MAPPA went further with Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc.
For those invested in the character threads, expect to get some meaningful scenes with Aki and the Angel Devil. More so for the Angel Devil, we get to understand his motivations more from this film and see why Aki dislikes him. This movie was great for character building because this was the first time the three protagonists, Denji, Aki, and Power, had been separated from one another in a while.
Ultimately, the action, animation, and story for Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc could only have been done in a movie format. Some could say this was the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train for the Chainsaw Man universe. This was another example that MAPPA understands how to adapt both a manga and an established anime world, and make it theatrical—not simply cutting episodes together and enhancing it on the big screen. This is a must-watch for Chainsaw Man enthusiasts because it fleshed out more of this world and its characters, teasing some things to come in Season 2.
