Commentary: ‘Chainsaw Man: The Reze Arc’ Succeeds By Knowing Exactly What It Is

There’s something to be said about stories that are fully aware of what they are and have no qualms about giving the audience exactly what they want. Surprisingly, this is easier said than done. Fans of Star Wars love space battles and political intrigue. But there comes a point when the storytellers can push too much in a certain direction and turn off their beloved fan base. There has to be a balance between leaning into what makes the story popular and not overdoing it. This is why Chainsaw Man: The Reze Arc was so successful. The series is meant to be extreme by design, and the filmmakers leaned into that in the most grandiose ways possible.

The film serves as a sequel to the first season of the anime and follows Denji (Ryan Colt Levy) as he tries to navigate the complicated love life of a sixteen-year-old devil hunter. He is caught off guard when a young woman named Reze (Alexis Tipton) shows an interest in him. She is completely smitten with Denji and tries to get him to quit his life as a devil hunter. Denji is torn and wants to keep both his job and Reze. It is at this point that she reveals herself to be the bomb devil and attacks him in order to steal the power of his chainsaw heart for herself.

Chainsaw Man is essentially two things. It deals with a hopelessly romantic teenage boy and completely insane violent battles. The first half of the movie deals with the former. It moves fairly slowly and doesn’t have much action at all. However, once Reze reveals herself as a devil, the story turns into an adrenal-fueled fever dream of mayhem and destruction. The animation goes completely bonkers, and the pacing doesn’t let up for an instant. This is exactly what fans of Chainsaw Man can expect. So the franchise benefits from being insane as it’s extreme violence seems to never go far enough.

Chainsaw Man: The Reze Arc is now in theaters.