The Chainsaw Man Movie Is Perfect for Newcomers — but May Leave Fans Frustrated

Two teenagers steal a private moment beneath the stars at a shuttered high-school pool. They float together in the hush of night — an intimate, weightless instant that captures the intoxicating urgency and obliviousness of young love.

About thirty minutes into Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc, it becomes obvious that this tender sequence is the film’s emotional core. Denji and Reze’s brief romance dominates the narrative, and most of the continuity from the anime’s first season becomes incidental. Although the movie is canonical, Reze Arc reads like a self-contained romance-driven episode — an advantage for newcomers, but one that occasionally softens the story’s urgency.

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Adapted from Tatsuki Fujimoto’s inventive manga, Chainsaw Man follows Denji, a struggling Devil Hunter burdened by debt in a world where Devils personify fears and abstract threats — from aging and darkness to grotesque, specific terrors. After a violent betrayal by the yakuza, Denji binds himself to his loyal devil companion, Pochita, and returns from death transformed: part human, part chainsaw, with the terrifying ability to eliminate Devils for good.

Pulled into the brutal conflict between hunters and devils, Denji encounters Reze — an enigmatic barista whose warmth masks a lethal secret. The film continues immediately after season one, exploring Denji’s growing attachment to Reze and the strain it places on his loyalty to Makima. The romance forces Denji into moral and emotional dilemmas: desire versus duty, trust versus survival.

Reze Arc is fundamentally a tale of lovers turned adversaries: Denji’s lonely heart seizes on intimacy the instant it appears, making him both earnest and vulnerable. Director Tatsuya Yoshihara leans into that emotional core, giving the romance center stage instead of burdening the audience with exhaustive context from the series. That choice streamlines the movie for first-time viewers, but it also narrows the dramatic stakes — the inevitability of the duo’s tragic path undercuts some of the urgency the plot could otherwise sustain.

Denji remains sympathetic despite his faults. He’s adolescent and raw, still learning how to interpret affection and loyalty in a world that’s warped his moral compass. Reze functions as the perfect counterpart: charming and magnetic, yet harboring a concealed danger. Even after her secret surfaces, the film keeps you invested in the possibility of a salvageable bond — a testament to the chemistry the filmmakers cultivate — even while the outcome feels foreordained.

Visually, the movie artfully marries traditional 2D animation with 3D environments, using computer-modeled objects — from vehicles to small set pieces — to deepen perspective and texture. Where some modern anime put their 3D work front and center, Reze Arc opts for restraint, only letting those elements become obvious during the film’s more explosive sequences. The result is fluid, readable action choreography that amplifies the hand-drawn performances rather than distracting from them. For more on how this hybrid approach compares to other recent anime, see this examination of MAPPA versus other studios. Read more here.

Because the movie tells a compact, self-contained story it serves as an accessible gateway for newcomers, but that very containment can also restrain the grandeur fans might expect from a theatrical continuation. Unlike Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle, which stitched together the momentum of multiple seasons into an expansive film, or Jujutsu Kaisen 0, which smartly acted as a prequel, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc moves forward in a way that sometimes feels conservatively focused. Still, that focus doesn’t prevent the film from being entertaining: it’s a vivid, emotionally charged entry that lingers because of its romance as much as its spectacle. For fans and newcomers alike, it’s an engaging — if bittersweet — cinematic experience.

Source: Polygon