“Chainsaw Man” is one of the most unique shonen anime currently airing. This is a show full of horror, carnage, and plenty of emotional devastation, a truly millennial anime in its cynicism about the world, but also in its penchant for crude humor, bonkers ideas and lots of violence.
The show — adapted from Tatsuki Fujimoto’s manga of the same name — takes place in a world where any and every concept that scares enough people can turn into a powerful devil (from the concept of darkness, to bats, to guns and even a tomato). The story follows Denji, a boy who grew up in extreme poverty accompanied only by his pet Pochita, a demon with a chainsaw on its head. After an attack by a bunch of zombies, Pochita sacrifices himself to save Denji, becoming his heart and turning him into a hybrid with the ability to transform into a man literally made out of chainsaws.
Denji is not like other shonen protagonists. He is incredibly naive, destitute, and instinctual. All Denji cares about is sleeping on a real bed, eating three meals a day, and maybe getting together with a girl. From the manga creator to the unconventional choice of director of the first season, “Chainsaw Man” is the product of young people, of a generation ready to prove itself, who have seen the world go from bad to worse in their lifetime.
That attitude extends to the franchise’s first movie, essentially the follow-up to the first season, “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc.” This movie stands out from other shonen anime movies because it’s not just full of great action, but it’s also the feel-bad rom-com of 2025.
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Chainsaw Man – The Movie is a story of a first love
Reze sticks her tongue out in a teasing way in Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc – Sony
“Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” sees perpetually horny protagonist Denji meet Reze, a girl his age who reciprocates his crude flirting, gives him free coffee, and genuinely seems to want to spend time with him.
Despite being titled “Chainsaw Man,” Denji doesn’t actually transform into his alter ego until about an hour into this 100-minute-long movie. Instead, the focus is entirely on the blossoming young romance between Denji and Reze, with Denji visiting her at the coffee place she works at and the two spending more and more time together, learning about one another and the world.
It is genuinely heartwarming to see the movie give Denji this surprisingly sweet break, with the little glances he and Reze give each other, the way they slowly get closer to each other with every visit, the way she blushes when he talks to her all feeling like they belong to an entirely different anime. Yes, this is still a movie that ends with a man made out of chainsaws riding a shark into battle (seriously), but when it’s focused on the story of Denji and Reze, it is quite poignant and nuanced, the pacing slowing down, the colors going from muted to technicolor as Reze opens Denji’s eyes to the world and the life he’s been missing.
That is the secret to the success of the movie, that this is not just a kid experiencing first love, but specifically a 16-year-old who has never gone to school, who never learned to read, who has never experienced affection. Unfortunately it all goes horribly wrong.
There are spoilers ahead for “Reze Arc.”
Enter the Bomb Devil
The Bomb Devil facing Denji in Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc – Sony
One way in which “Chainsaw Man” is not like other shonen is that this is a tragedy. There is no happy ending for anyone, no One Piece to find, no dream to fulfill. The characters are lucky just to survive another day.
For Denji, this is the moment he realizes that every woman he meets tries to kill him. That’s because sweet Reze is actually a hybrid too, with the powers of the Bomb Devil and sent from the Soviet Union on a mission to steal the heart of Chainsaw Man. Unfortunately for Denji, he met another woman who was really just using him for his powers, which makes the moment he exclaims in anger and frustration that “Every woman I meet tries to kill me!” quite heartbreaking.
But there’s more to Reze than just a villain or a short-lived flirt. She is the person who truly understands Denji better than anyone, as she is also just a kid thrown into a cruel world to be a weapon, deprived of a normal life. Reze has also never been to school, and she is just as repressed in her vulnerabilities and desires as Denji is, being the cruel result of sick experiments on children in the Soviet Union (the show is set in an alternate 1997). She may not have actual romantic feelings for Denji, but she definitely feels empathetic toward him, to the point where she risks everything just to see Denji one last time.
That is the tragedy of “Reze Arc,” and “Chainsaw Man” at large, how trapped these characters are in machinations much larger than them, how hard it is to find some sliver of happiness, and how even someone who acts as villainous as Reze can also be deserving of empathy.
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Read the original article on SlashFilm.
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