‘Chainsaw Man–The Movie: Reze Arc’: Romance and action

When MAPPA’s adaptation of Tatsuki Fujimoto’s ongoing manga series Chainsaw Man first dropped as an anime series in 2022, despite the high level of anticipation, it felt like the hype slowly died down during its initial broadcast. Considering the manga is known for its rough and rugged cartoonish art style, series director Ryū Nakayama went for a cleaner look and a desaturated color palette to reflect our grounded reality, despite the dark fantasy of the many devils that terrorize us.  

Whilst I personally found this cinematic approach to be one of the animation studio’s best productions, it remains a divisive adaptation for the fanbase, hence why there is an immediate change upon first seeing the long-awaited film adaptation of one of the manga’s most beloved arcs. The staff and cast may have their roles from the first season, but Tatsuya Yoshihara steps in as a director, having previously worked as an action director on the show. Right away, from its palette that resembles the saturated front covers from volumes of the manga, the characters look closer to how Fujimoto drew them with more emphasis on stylization than realism. 

As this serves as a continuation that lays enough groundwork to establish the world and its cast that were introduced in the first season, newcomers may not entirely understand every detail with numerous supporting players popping in for a scene or two. Even the series’ most popular character Power (voiced by Fairouz Ai) isn’t really a main character, appearing only in the beginning and post-credits scene. However, whatever baggage it throws, it never gets in the way of the film’s unconventional love story.

Despite the fandom, Chainsaw Man is not without detractors, who can’t get past its use of gore and crude humor, and possibly its title alone. However, as we learned from last year’s Look Back – a film adaptation of Fujimoto’s one-shot manga – the author has never been a one-trick pony. Given Chainsaw Man’s position as a Shonen series, it either subverts tropes you associate with the genre or barely uses them so that Fujimoto can lean more into his eccentricities to tell a coming-of-age narrative. 

At the start of Reze Arc, we see the Chainsaw Man himself Denji (Kikunosuke Toya) going on a movie date with his boss Makima (Tomori Kusunoki) that he remains infatuated with. Although his heart belongs to Makima, Denji meets and befriends the titular Reze (Reina Ueda), a girl working as a café employee. What starts off like a romantic comedy where the male lead is torn between two women, it gets even more complicated and insane because this is Chainsaw Man.

Adapted by Hiroshi Seko who previously wrote the entire first season, this is an incredibly faithful adaptation of one of the manga’s best arcs, which served as a turning point in Denji’s coming-of-age journey. With the first half told mostly through Denji’s relationship with Reze, the film examines how Denji’s life has never been normal from a very early age. Considering his somewhat shallow personality and his current position as part of the Public Safety Devil Hunters, Denji has never experienced the simple things that children go through, like school and with Reze, there is the possibility of another life, which becomes a recurring discussion throughout, such as a subplot featuring a partnership between Aki and the Angel Devil. 

Following a surprisingly tender first half, as if the makers took cues from Takashi Miike’s Audition, there is a tonal shift, in which the film delivers the most insane action committed to film this year. Given Fujimoto’s love of horror, his manga has always been about the meshing of various genres and whilst Reze Arc has one striking sequence that resembles a slasher movie, the tone can go from screwball comedy to a Kaiju battle where the destruction porn is high and the heavy amount of explosions are both dangerous and beautiful. It takes a whole for Denji to pull the cord to become Chainsaw Man, but when it happens, Tatsuya Yoshihara’s strength as an action director is on full glory.