By skyforbes 
Chainsaw Man author Tatsuki Fujimoto reminds me a lot of Battle Angel Alita author Yukito Kishiro, at least in his writing for Alita’s original nine-volume series, you know, before he went on to lose the plot with lengthy sequels Last Order and Mars Chronicle. Early Kishiro had a knack for grotesque character design and truly sadistic plot twists, two storytelling elements Fujimoto utilises often, and with gusto. These are no more obvious than in this particular story arc, spectacularly realised by renowned animator slave-driver studio MAPPA. (I really hope they treated their staff properly this time around, though I have my doubts.)
Back in 2022, Chainsaw Man’s first (and so far, only) season buzzed onto the international scene and was welcomed with opened, severed arms internationally… everywhere except Japan, the country of its origin. Japanese audiences really didn’t vibe with director Ryū Nakayama’s more grounded, contemplative vibe, despite the fact he crammed the show full of cinephile Fujimoto-pleasing movie references, and apart from excising the odd extraneous scene here and there, treated the source material like holy writ. No, the Japanese fans wanted something faster paced, with less realism, and presumably a more lurid colour palette to match the printed volumes’ psychedelic cover art.
Nakayama was unceremoniously fired, and even the recent Chainsaw Man season one compilation movie was re-edited by someone else, and Nakayama’s name controversially removed from the credits. To appease fans, MAPPA replaced him with Tatsuya Yoshihara, no stranger to the franchise as he’d directed a couple of episodes already, plus fulfilled the role of action director for the series as a whole. Presumably MAPPA felt the movie was in safe hands. While I would have preferred Nakayama had stayed, thankfully MAPPA chose an excellent replacement in Yoshihara. He has produced a magnificently deranged 100-minute movie, true to the tone of both the TV series and manga that inspired it.
At 22 volumes and counting, the Chainsaw Man manga has well-outpaced its anime incarnation so far. Over twelve episodes, season one adapted up to partway through chapter 38, or about four and a half volumes. The Reze Arc covered by the movie comprises up to chapter 52, the end of volume six. This leaves five more volumes (up to chapter 97/end of volume 11) for a theoretical second season to reach the end of Chainsaw Man: Part One. God only knows how anyone hopes to adapt Chainsaw Man: Part Two (chapter 98/volume 12 onwards) into anime. That shit is certifiably insane.
Reze Arc begins with protagonist Denji’s separation from his usual partner, the misanthropic yet strangely lovable Power, by beautiful yet quietly sinister boss Makima. As Power has randomly grown new horns, this is a sign that she’s imbibed too much blood from the zombies they fought at season’s climax, and she needs to be… “relieved” of the extra, a prospect she clearly doesn’t relish. Poor Power. I’d be scared of a Makima-sanctioned exsanguination too. Denji is temporarily assigned the assistance of Beam, the Shark Fiend, whom he hilariously can’t remember, despite Beam essentially worshipping the ground “Chainsaw-sama” walks upon. Sadly, Power remains out of action for almost the entirety of the film, but Beam has his own goofy charms, including his ability to swim through solid matter and become unreasonably excited in the rain.
The film’s first segment is mostly slow-moving, but never boring. Denji attends a cinema marathon with Makima as a “date”, though doesn’t have a fun time as most of the movies are terrible. He worries he doesn’t become emotionally involved in movies because he doesn’t have a heart, but Makima uses his doubts to worm her way into his apparently existing-after-all heart, when she places her ear directly onto his chest, smiling as she listens… If there’s a theme to this film, then it’s about Denji’s capacity for love, his simplistic understanding of what love is, and how this is easily manipulated by others. This theme sees a secondary reflection in the relationship between the severely buttoned-up Aki and his new partner, the lazy and seemingly uncaring Angel Fiend, who get some great scenes together.
Mostly, this is Denji’s film though, and focuses on his internal conflict between his childish infatuation with Makima, and his more age-appropriate relationship with teenage cafe waitress Reze. “I think I like two girls now,” he intones, amazed, partway through. Reze is every awkward teenage boy’s dream. Chatty, high-spirited, improbably forward, devastatingly cute, and extremely flirty, from the moment she meets him, Reze seizes Denji’s attention and refuses to let go for the rest of the film, for better or worse (for Denji). It’s very easy to see why Reze might displace Makima in Denji’s heart, even though he tries his best to fight it. As he (surprisingly wisely) recognises “I like girls who like me”. He doesn’t exactly have the highest of standards.
Their brief, idyllic courtship involves multiple coffee dates, even though Denji hates coffee, plus a wonderfully sweet visit to an empty school building at night. Reze expresses sadness that Denji has never attended school, and aims to give him at least a taste of the life he’s never been able to lead. This culminates in a spot of skinny dipping in the school’s swimming pool. Denji never stood a chance. The thing that makes Denji such a compelling protagonist is not just that he’s hilariously dumb, it’s that he’s unlucky, and has had so much terrible shit happen to him in his life. We’re desperate for him to experience even just one little shred of happiness. We see this in his earnest joy at eating decent food, and spending time with friends. The film uses the fable of the country mouse and the city mouse to illustrate his characteristics — he’s drawn to fun experiences and sensory pleasures because these things have never been within his grasp. Of course he doesn’t want the simple, safe but boring country mouse life — he wants the fast, risky city life, and that risk comes calling for him almost immediately.
The film’s second half is an almost constant barrage of bravura action sequences and insane imagery, once the story’s primary antagonist — The Bomb Devil — erupts onto the scene with exquisite explosion after explosion wrecking the city and blowing onlookers and extras apart. This is a very bloody movie, including an Evangelion-like ocean of demon blood spewing forth at one point, with a jubilant Chainsaw Man riding a transformed Shark Demon, using his chainsaw chains like a bridle. Tatsuki Fujimoto may indeed be certifiably bonkers, but he sure knows how to dream up some truly bizarre and effective imagery. I don’t know if it’s because of the meds he’s taking, or because he’s not taking any. I’m almost too scared to ask.
Denji’s fight with the Bomb Devil is truly epic, far more so than anything that happened in the TV show to date, plus it holds painfully personal stakes for him. He doesn’t care much about the frankly extreme collateral damage (including the destruction of an entire branch of Public Safety), yet he suffers repeated grievous damage to fulfil his simple goals. Poor Aki makes even further sacrifices (does he even have anything else left to give?), and the conclusion is definitive, if slightly bittersweet… and sinister.
MAPPA and director Tatsuya Yoshihara have knocked it out of the park with this film, which deserves to do well in theatrical release. Perhaps not quite as overtly, relentlessly flashy as Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle, it’s nonetheless a crowd-pleasing spectacle that mixes contemplative slice-of-life aspects with hyper-kinetic, super-fluid action sequences. It’s helped by a pulse-pounding techno soundtrack that makes those action sequences fly, including a phenomenal full-length reprise of Hawatari 2 Oku Centi by Maximum the Hormone, one of the TV show’s most epic, signature ending songs. New opening song Iris Out is of a piece with the iconic TV show opener Kick Back, sharing similar vibes, likely as it’s by the same artist, Kenshi Yonezu.
I’d heartily recommend seeing Chainsaw Man — The Movie: Reze Arc in a cinema, if you can — and stay for a very amusing after-credits scene. The whole thing is made to be bigger, more intense and bombastic than the preceding TV show, tailor made for a bigger screen. Like this year’s earlier Demon Slayer movie, it’s all about the spectacle with this one, though miraculously it succeeds without losing it’s (Denji’s) heart along the way.
Chainsaw Man: Reze Arc
Director: Tatsuya Yoshihara
Chief Animation Director: Kazutaka Sugiyama
Screenplay: Hiroshi Seko
Based on: the manga Chainsaw Man by Tatsuki Fujimoto
Character Design: Kazutaka Sugiyama
Music: Kensuke Ushio
Production company: MAPPA
JP distributor: TOHO
JP premiere: 19th September 2025
UK/US distributor: Crunchyroll
UK/US premiere: 24th October 2025
Language: Japanese audio with English subs (English dub also available)
Runtime: 100 minutes
BBFC rating: 15
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