Chainsaw Man The Movie: Reze Arc is a feast for the eyes and the ears

I didn’t know much about Chainsaw Man before it was released. Scrap that, I knew nothing. It only came to my attention because the internet started hyping it up as soon as it was announced. Then the trailer came out, and I was hooked. I avoided all media because the first trailer was enough and I wanted to see and experience everything for the first time. I’m glad I did that because Chainsaw Man S1 was such a journey. I loved it not only because it was great, but because it felt unique . It was different then a lot of the anime I had seen before, I mean just the fact that every episode had its own ending song was super cool to me. I can go on and on but we are not here for the 1st season, we are here for the movie: Reze Arc. Of course I didn’t know anything about the plot going into the movie, I even avoided seeing any of the trailers. That is how excited I was to see this movie.

The movie in most ways met my expectations while exceeding them in a dew others. In some ways it just caught me completely by surprise. One of those being the structure of the movie. The first half of the movie is pretty much devoid of action. This time is spent establishing the status quo and what role every character will be playing in the movie. While we do get some scenes dedicated to the side characters from the series, the movie revolves around Denji and his search for love. While he believes his heart belong to Makima, he meets someone who starts to steal his heart away, Reze. Even without seeing any promotion material, I knew something was up with Reze, and was just waiting until her true nature would be revealed and everything would blow up. Little did I know that once that would happen, the movie would not slow then. From the half point of the movie forward, it is all action and dopamine without slowing down until the very last few minutes of the movie. So the first half of the movie is character driven and filled with dialogue and comedy, while the second half is action scene after action scene.

How does this structure work? Mostly it elevates the movie. After spending about 45 minutes without any real action scene, the twist and the chaos that follow hit extra hard. It was so exciting when things started unfolding and the movie builds up a momentum that keeps going and going. The action is dynamic as at different stages it takes place in different locations and involves different people. That way the action doesn’t become stale and you don’t get bored. Not to mention how all the action scenes look. Watching the movie I understood why these kind of projects take time and I appreciate the work that goes into them. Some scene are just mind blowing when you remember that someone had to animate these scenes. Each scene is full of movement, full of colours, and full of energy.

That said, 40 minutes of non-stop action has a downside. Like I said, the actions sequences are done marvellously, but they can be a little overstimulating at times. At a certain point I found myself having become sort of numb to the action and what I was seeing. The movie had entered a state where it was just flowing without invoking a particular sensation. Thankfully this didn’t last long though, considering that soon after I started feeling this way the action finally got a conclusion and ending.

Other than this, I had one other complaint with the movie. At the end of S1 we were introduced to the more members of the special division 4, and I was looking forward to knowing these characters better as I found them intriguing, While in the movie we get to spend some time with Angel and Beam, with even an appearance of the Violence fiend and Kobeni, it’s not much. We do get to learn about some of them a little more and are able to see them in action, but I found myself wanting more. I understand that the movie was about Denji and Reze - duh - but this is something that happens to me a lot when it comes to anime. I become interested in a lot of the side characters but never get to know them as good as I want to. That said, they do set up somethings that I am sure will leads to something in S2.

Those were pretty much my only gripes with the movie. Now let’s glaze the f out of it. If I had to describe the Chainsaw Man Movie, and even S1, in one word, it would be artistic. Everything from the sound design and music to the animation style and vision, it is artistic to me. Granted different people have different definitions of art, but art does take different forms. Whether it was during the action, the dialogue, or wired imaginary sequences, every frame was a joy to look at. Something that the movie carries over from S1 is the references. The intro of S1 is just jam packed with references to iconic Hollywood moments, and the movie has its fare share too. They don’t feel forced in any way as a lot of people may not even catch them, but they do add a nice touch when you do see them.

It’s not just the visuals and animation, the music that accompanies different set pieces is a joy to listen to as well. I started listen to Japanese music solely because of the ending of the Chainsaw Man S1 episodes. Not only were the music choices good, but they fit whatever the tone and context of the episode was. I tend to role my eye a lot of times whenever there is licenced music in Western movies and television these days, but the use of music in the Chainsaw Man projects has been anything but cringe.

I’ve talked highly of the artistic presentation of the movie, but what about story and characters? What does it offer in that department? The story is pretty straight forward, nothing to write home about. Like I said, you can just tell there is going to be a twist somewhere and you have figured it out by the time it start approaching. So while the story itself is nothing special, the characters pull their weight a bit more. Almost all of the cast is returning characters, so how are they treated in this movie and what to they actually accomplish? In that department, thankfully there is some development. While it is not much, we get to learn about some of the characters more, and some of them even get some character development. It is not a lot though. Maybe when S2 comes we will see the real impact of the event of this movie. That said, even if there weren’t character developments, to be honest I don’t think I would’ve been too bothered by it. A lot of the characters in the Chainsaw Man world I am just happy to be able to watch them and spend time with them, very similar to the relationship I have/had with the main trio from JJK.

While it doesn’t reach the level of … say… JJK 0, it was a great watch. It satiated my thirst for more of this world and got my looking forward to the future. While the next season of Chainsaw Man will for sure take some time to come out, Chainsaw Man The Movie: Reze Arc taught me that similar to it, whatever comes next will be worth the wait.