CHAINSAW MAN – THE MOVIE: REZE ARC:
DENJI’S BIG SCREEN DEBUT IS ABOUT AS EPIC AS YOU’D EXPECT!
By Nico Beland
Movie Review: **** out of 4
CRUNCHYROLL
Chainsaw Man VS Bomb Devil in Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc
Denji and his Devil hunting friends hit the big screen in Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc, the much anticipated feature film continuation of the beloved anime and manga series, Chainsaw Man. I actually binged the first season of the Chainsaw Man anime for the first time about a week or two ago and I have to say, I was very impressed with it not just on animation and action, but on a writing level.
The series has some of the best writing I’ve ever heard in an anime (I watched the English dubs of both the show and movie) and found Denji to be a very funny and compelling main protagonist as a young man who just wants to get laid and will fight demons (or Devils in this show’s case) in order to achieve that goal. One of the best aspects of it was hearing Denji interact with other characters like his boss and potential love interest Makima, the hyper, destructive, and often vulgar Power (Imagine an anime and female equivalent of Eric Cartman from South Park), and the stoic and vengeful Devil Hunter Aki Hayakawa, even when they weren’t slaughtering Devils, I was invested and laughing alongside these people without a single low point to speak of.
It’s up there with Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba as one of my new favorite anime and in a few areas, I actually kind of like this more than Demon Slayer because it keeps that energy flowing throughout the series. As much as I love Demon Slayer even I’ll admit, there are moments where the series drags or gets too overly complicated.
Now that I watched the show, I’m ready to talk about the Chainsaw Man movie and…yeah, it’s great! This is definitely a movie worth seeing on the big screen as it’s visually dazzling and filled with some of the best and craziest action sequences the series ever had that I haven’t seen in an anime film since Dragon Ball Super: Broly.
The film is set after the events of the first season and follows 16-year-old Devil Hunter, Denji (voiced by Ryan Colt Levy-Seven Deadly Sins: Four Knights of the Apocalypse, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind, Record of Ragnarok) who is assigned Shark Devil Hunter, Beam (voiced by Derick Snow-Dragon Ball Super, Black Clover, One Piece: Stampede) as his temporary new partner by Makima (voiced by Suzie Yeung-Sword Art Online, Jujutsu Kaisen, Final Fantasy VII Remake/Rebirth) after Power (voiced by Sarah Wiedenheft-Dragon Ball Super, Tokyo Ghoul:re, One Piece) is out of commission due to excessive blood consumption. After a movie date with Makima who assures Denji that he does have a heart (Despite his chainsaw Devil dog, Pochita merging with his heart to bring him back to life after being killed by yakuzas), he meets a young girl named Reze (voiced by Alexis Tipton-Black Butler, Fairy Tail, Dragon Ball Z Kai) which causes a mental conflict within Denji about which woman he wants to give his heart to between her or Makima.
That’s not the only conflict going on as a Bomb Devil working for the infamous Gun Devil emerges causing havoc in the city and it’s up to Denji, Beam, Aki (voiced by Reagan Murdock-Dr. Stone, One Piece, Hell’s Paradise), and the Angel Devil (voiced by Casey Mongillo-Neon Genesis Evangelion, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean, Pokémon Horizons: The Series) to stop it.
The film also features the voices of Bryn Apprill (Fairy Tail, Attack on Titan, My Hero Academia) as Kobeni Higashiyama and Josh Bangle (Goblin Slayer, Spy x Family, Overlord) as Violence Fiend.
Overall, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc gives fans of the anime and manga exactly what they want, gorgeous animation, non-stop and exhilarating action scenes, and plenty of wit on an even larger scale. I’m convinced that Denji fighting Devils for the sake of food and sex will never not be funny as every time it became the focus of the movie, I was laughing.
But the movie will also take breaks from Denji pleasing his chainsaw down below and allow time to flesh the other characters out and work in some drama with Aki being given a really deep and heavy arc over the course of the film. As much as I enjoy Denji’s shenanigans, I found Aki to be the most compelling character in the film as he only has a couple years left to live and is going through this existential crisis.
Some of the side characters like Beam, Power, and the Angel Devil aren’t as focused on as much as Denji or Aki, but they’re all given moments to shine throughout the movie. Personally, I would have preferred more Power, that is my one big gripe with this movie, she gets sidelined and is only in the beginning and the after-credits scene.
Despite Denji being a goddamn poon hound, his chemistry with Makima is legitimately charming, I enjoyed seeing them on their movie dates and Denji asking her if he has a heart. The payoff to that is both funny given Denji’s attraction to Makima and touching at the same time.
The action scenes are amazing and the folks at MAPPA deserve all the praise they can get because this is easily the franchise’s best and looks and sounds spectacular in theaters. Characters flying around, running, shit getting blown up, blasts, and tons of blood, it’s a full-on adrenaline rush with a teen romance plot as the driving point to it.
As Makima herself said “I believe that a single good movie can change your entire life”, while I can’t say this movie completely changed my life, Chainsaw Man: Reze Arc is a damn impressive anime film that should be seen on the big screen. I would strongly recommend not coming in cold, but unlike Demon Slayer where you have several Arcs, characters, and plots to remember, you can easily binge the 12 30-minute episodes in no time flat.
Chainsaw Man was a pleasant surprise and I can’t wait for a second season…whenever that may be.
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