Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc

Chainsaw Man faces his deadliest battle yet in a brutal battle between devils, hunters, and secret enemies.

Anime is basically the main American term for any animation from Japan. Americans used to call it “Japanimation” way back in the day, but pretty much stopped saying that decades ago. I assume this was because, while “Japanimation” isn’t actually a racist term, it really feels like it is, right? Try it. Say it out loud. It just sounds like something old timey that your grandparents shouldn’t be saying as often as they do. So... anime. As far as Japan is concerned, these distinctively-styled cartoons they’re know for are all part of a wide web of very different and specifically titled genres and sub-genres, each one with a litany of unique and easily identifiable traits and tropes.

But like I said... in America, it’s just anime.

When I was a kid, I was watching anime basically from the start of when it first began to dribble over to America. There was Speed Racer and Robotech, of course, and I had a copy of a copy of the original English dub of Akira. I sought out Ghost in the Shell and Ninja Scroll and Spriggan, with all their cartoon blood spurts and bouncey boobies. Later, there was Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, Trigun, and of course, FLCL, and even Genshiken (at least the first season of it), all of which were truly great, and made me want to see more.

But then, starting the late 90s, the flood gates had been truly and irrevocably opened, and suddenly, what used to be a niche thing, became an interest that was super easy to indulge. Not that this was a bad thing, I’m not gate-keeping anime, it’s just, with a sudden plethora of options at our fingertips, some very common and very boring tropes quickly emerged.

Like, seemingly no matter where you turned, there was way too much fanservice, which was everything from an embarrassing, cringe-inducing, and near-constant amount of panty peeks and booby-jiggle shots, to the seemingly legally mandated "bathhouse episodes," to literally any possible excuse for nudity, to sometimes even straight-up graphic sex, which, more often than not, was with a whole bunch of tentacles. Now, I don’t mind that stuff at all, but still, isn’t there like... a giant robot or maybe a non-tentacled monster we could be fighting here?

But then, that just leads to the other common problem… The violence is often tediously excessive and boring. I’m not saying that it’s bad as say, Tarantino’s later era films or anything, but it’s often close. And the worst part is that it’s also often a question of “less is more” too. Does this fight really need to go on this long? How many times can the hero be blown up or torn apart, then heal, find their courage, and re-enter the fight? That should really only be done once per fight.

But maybe worst of all… There was too much god damn crying. There was too much of the various heroes “standing beneath falling cherry blossoms while they lament some past mistake.” Too much. And too long. It bogged down the stories. I mean, get a fucking move on, buddy. Or, hey, here’s an idea, maybe stop crying for a minute and get back to saving the city from the rampaging monster. How ‘bout dat? I mean, I get it, this is all very very stressful, my young warriors, as the alien or monster or robot or your chief rival is tearing apart the city, I understand. It can be a lot to deal with, what with you friends’ recent deaths, or the way your parents are always so disappointed in you, or how you’re currently letting people down, or whatever it is you're clenching your fist and crying over… I get it, but there is a time and place, okay?

And sprinkled on top of all of this, there were just too much of the weird little things that all animes seem to do. Too many grunting noises and weird facial expressions. Too many explosive bloody noses. Too many giant sweat drops. Too many characters being crippled by embarrassment, and driven to their knees to loudly plead forgiveness in their shame. There was just too much. (I‘m looking at you, Attack on Titan…). Way too much. It was cliched. It was constant.

It was so fucking boring.

Plus, I have never been a fan a lot of the more common character design/style choices that you often find in a lot of anime. From the embarrassing horniess of some of the outfits, to the plain old ugly and stuck in the 1980s outdated styles–whether it’s the cyberpunk-like clothing choices, with the too-wide shoulder pads and the wraparound shades, or gym-bro/steroid head looks with their weirdly massive muscles, the headbands around their mullets, and ragged T-shirts with the sleeves ripped off, or those god awful Hair Metal style folded-brim little cowboy hats, while wearing fringed leather jackets and dad jeans pants tucked into cowboy boots–it's often so fucking bad. So bad! Look, as someone who once ditched a book because the hero was described as having hair similar to how Michael Bolton used to wear it, I know this is just my personal bugaboo, but still, let me tell you… you can’t back a hero that looks like that, man. You just can’t.

So, save for a few exceptions now and then, I dropped off from watching anime…

But lately, I’ve been on the hunt for something new I could get into, something longer and more involved. And I finally found two I'm enjoying. I’m currently in the middle of My Hero Academia, which is basically just a classic Claremont-era X-Men comic, but more innocent, and with a lot less kissing. But otherwise, it’s got a huge, sprawling cast with all the superhero drama you could want. Or, for you normal people, imagine if a show like 90210 or Dawson’s Creek was exactly the same, but also, everyone in it had superpowers and fought supervillains. That’s My Hero Academia. It’s a superhero soap opera, light on the fanservice, with medium levels of fantasy-like violence, and only occasionally too much crying. It’s fun, but it’s just fluff.

I also found Chainsaw Man.

Set in the late 1990s, in an alternate timeline where the Soviet Union still exists, Chainsaw Man is the story of an impoverished teenage dumbass named Denji. A freelance Devil Hunter, after an encounter kills him, he makes a contract with his weird-looking dog-like Chainsaw Devil partner named Pochita, which was basically this fat little dog thing with a chainsaw sticking out of its face and a handle in its back and a ripcord tail.

Yep.

Anyway, this brings Denji back from the edge of death, and fuses their bodies together, allowing Pochita to become Denji’s heart in exchange for a chance to live a normal life, because sure, why not?

Denji, meanwhile, is now a devil/human Hybrid.

And when he pulls the ripcord in his chest, he transforms into the powerful Chainsaw Man. He has superhuman strength, can take a ton of damage, and is able to regenerate and heal his wounds. Most of all, he grows chainsaws out of his arms and head, and legs, if need be, which are powered by his consumption of blood.

In this world, Devils is the term for what are basically just demons/monsters. Some of them are pretty run of the mill, a lot of them could be classified as kaijus, but some are super strange, like… they are the personification of a concept, like guns, or bombs, or whatever. Whatever they are, they show up and do your basic devil/monster stuff… cause havoc, eat people, knock down buildings. Y’know, the usual shit for the usual variety of reasons.

There are also two subtypes of Devils. There’s Hybrids, which are humans who fuse with Devils, and can transform into some kind of weird creature, kind of like the Hulk. Then there are Fiends, which are Devils that, as a last resort to survive, have taken over a human corpse, like Fred in the last season of the tv show Angel. Fiends can be identified by their distinct head shapes and/or horns.

Just fyi.

Devils are a problem in Japan, and presumably around the world. So, Denji is recruited by the lovely, mysterious, and very obviously manipulative Ms. Makima. She uses the implied promise of sex to get horny teen virgin Denji to sign up with the government-run Public Safety Division. This is a unit of professional Devil Hunters whose job is to deal with Devils that threaten Japan.

Ms. Makima assigns Denji as the third man on a three person team. The team leader is a young man named Aki Hayakawa. A stoic, experienced Devil Hunter, Aki has a contract with the Fox Devil, and also carries the Cursed Nail Sword, a weapon that is the result of a contract with the Curse Devil. It is a very powerful weapon, but each time he uses it, it costs him a piece of his life. Denji’s other partner is Power, a Fiend created by the Blood Devil. Possessing the corpse of an unknown young woman, she has a pair of pointed horns on her head. Power is childish, greedy, truculent, almost entirely self-motivated, with no sense of loyalty or responsibility, and the only way to keep her in line is by the threat of superior power. She has no qualms at all with sharing her incredibly high opinion of herself. She’s rude, rarely showers, or even flushes the toilet, and lies constantly. She hates vegetables and loves violence.

Once Denji is on the team, for reasons of her own that are as yet not totally clear, and still using the implied promise of taking his virginity, Ms. Makima takes Denji aside and assigns him the task of hunting down the Gun Devil, a creature that is incredibly dangerous (and maybe American), who killed Denji's parents years ago.

And that’s the set up.

So, under the watchful eye of a veteran hunter named Kishibe—a jaded, grizzled, scarred, unkempt and laconic drunk of a hunter, who, according to Ms. Makima, is the strongest member of the Tokyo Special Division 4 of the Public Safety Division—the trio train and live together, and regularly go out and defeat multiple types of adversaries, from Devils, to the yakuza, to assassins from foreign nations, all of who seem focused on stealing Denji's very impressive power.

It’s a weird series.

That’s what I love about it.

I love the way that it’s mostly just simple and clean and normal designs, but it also takes regular hard left turns into some really weird ideas.

As for the series itself, there’s a lot of sex talk. A lot. Denji is a horny little dork, and he is mostly motivated by things like… the promise of maybe touching a boob, or a make-out session. But this usually ends up being with Power, so it’s never sexy or anything, it’s more awkward, and sometimes gross, and usually funny. There’s basically very little fanservice in this whole thing, nothing more than a few jiggles here and there. Best of all, the crying is kept to a minimum. Denji whines too much somethings, but it doesn’t take over entire episodes or anything. I think this is mostly because the heroes in this series are kind of jerks, so they rarely feel guilty or embarrassed by things.

It is super violent though. There’s lots of blood.

Lots.

Based on Tatsuki Fujimoto's manga series Chainsaw Man From 2018 through 2022, there’s a 12 episode show that is streaming right now. Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc is a direct sequel to the first season. This means, if you haven’t watched the first season, then you’re probably going to be lost. But that said, if you have watched the first season, well, you might still be lost sometimes, as the movie moves at a fast pace and very clearly doesn’t care if you know who some of these characters are or not, where they come from, or if you remember minor characters from previous episodes. The best route is to just not worry about it. I mean, it’s got a guy with chainsaw head and hands, riding a methed-out sounding shark monster into a hurricane that has a giant screaming baby face, all in order to fight a half-nude/half-bomb chick. What does ”understanding” even mean at this point?

You’ll be fine.

Anyway, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc was released in Japan in September 2025, and grossed $175 million worldwide. This made it one of the highest-grossing Japanese films of all time. So, yeah, it’s pretty popular.

This makes sense to me, as it’s also pretty good.

So…

Following the defeat of the devil/human hybrid Katana Man, Ms. Makima assigns the fanatical shark devil known as Beam to be Denji’s temporary partner, as Power will be out of action while the excess blood she’s consumed lately is drained. This mostly just means that Power doesn’t really appear in this story arc, which I think is a bit of a bummer, but oh well…

After that, Ms. Makima takes Denji on a movie marathon date. They dislike all of the films they see but the last one, which moves them both to tears. It’s an odd and seemingly pointless digression, but I think this is mostly because you can't help but think of this as a movie, where scenes should point toward the film’s self-contained goal, and that’s because, well… it is a movie, right, so sure. But in reality, this film is more like a long tv episode. It’s also a direct part of the longer story of the show, not a special event digression, so the still-developing on-going character arcs of the larger story line are going to be a part of this story too.

Like I said, you should watch the 1st season...

Anyway, looking at it as just a longer tv episode makes more sense when, during the date, Ms. Makima reassures Denji that despite the fact that the Chainsaw Devil Pochita is literally now his heart, that he literally has a demon heart, he still has a “heart“ capable of feeling. This is just one step on Denji’s longer journey, at least, I assume. My guess is that Denji’s eventual realization of his own humanity, of his own worth, will happen during a defining story moment, leading to some facet of who he is supposed to become locking into place…

Anyway…

After that, Denji is caught in a storm while out and about, and takes shelter in a phone booth. It is here that he meets a manic pixie dream girl named Reze. She quirkily quirks her way into Denji’s heart. As Denji is new to basically everything, especially love, and is emotionally basically just a child, making him particularly vulnerable to the charms of a wild manic pixie dream girl suddenly appearing, he is smitten immediately. Still, even though he’s totally into Reze, Denji still carries a torch for Ms. Makima, especially after her recent film festival manipulations. But despite this, when the rain lets up and they part ways, and Reze invites him to maybe come visit her sometime at the café where she works...

He shows up immediately.

Meanwhile, Aki has a new partner too, the Angel Devil, a seemingly angelic boy, complete with wings and halo, but whose touch shortens the lifespan of mortals, which he can then use their essence to make weapons (weird). Angel is lazy and depressed and apathetic towards humans, which irks Aki. And one of the film's subplots is their initially rocky relationship and eventual friendship.

Meanwhile, Reze is busy being all manic pixie dream girl at Denji, with her quirky little outfits and converse and sassy short hair, and she gets him to sneak into her school at night so they can skinny dip, treating us all to a possible brief glimpse of cartoon nipple, but only for an instant, maybe, and all while she’s being all cheeky and cute and encouraging him to “let it all go“ and “be free,” basically just manic pixie dream girling all over the place. God, I love her.

Still, at this point, what this mostly means is that it‘s pretty clear Reze is the bad guy, as she is just too weirdly into Denji, who, if we're all being honest here, really is a huge fucking dumbass, with very few attractive qualities. Not in a bad way, of course, for the most part, I mean, he tries… but still… he’s a huge dumbass.

Regardless, soon enough, this is proven true, when, while separated from Denji, Reze is ambushed by an assassin sent by the Typhoon Devil to kill Denji. But then Reze kills the guy with shockingly casual ease, and then forces the Typhoon Devil—who is horrified and immediately and effusively apologetic upon learning that their assassin had targeted Reze under their order—to serve her. Later, while watching fireworks, Reze asks Denji to run away with her. But when Denji hesitates, Reze realizes that Denji loves another. And that decides that.

Reze then reveals that she’s the Bomb Devil.

After that, it’s on like Donkey Kong.

Beam saves Denji from obliteration at the hand of the Bomb Devil, and the two race off. They find Aki and Angel at the Public Safety office, and the four of them barely escape when Reze shows up, slaughtering the other hunters. She catches up to them, and beats the hell out of Denji again, but Aki and the Violence Fiend, one of the other surviving Public Safety Officer, manage to hold off Reze. But then the Typhoon Devil shows up, bringing a massive storm with them. In the chaos, the Angel Devil revives Denji using the blood of civilian casualties. Denji plunges back into battle against the Bomb Deveil, riding the whirling maelstrom of the Typhoon Devil’s storm on the back of Beam’s demon-shark form.

It’s a big fight.

There’s lots of blood and destruction and anime-yelling.

The next morning, battered and washed up on the beach, Reze declares that her mission has failed, and then adds that she never had feelings for Denji. Denji is not willing to believe this, and this time, he asks her to run away with him. He asks her to meet at the café the next day. He waits there all day, but she never shows up…

But Power does!

Freshly drained of excess blood, her horns returned to normal, and generally feeling ornery as fuck, Power finds Denji slumped at a table in the cafe, depressed and heart-broken, so she tries to take the flowers that he has for Reze, if she had shown up, as her own. Denji, in order to keep them from Power, eats the flowers. He and Power start squabbling loudly, as the camera pulls away from the cafe.

But then…

We not only discover that Reze is actually a survivor of some horrific Soviet experiments as a child, we flashback to seeing her preparing to board a train the previous night. But then she has a change of heart and decides to meet Denji after all. Unfortunately, Ms. Makima intercepts her in the alley across the street from the cafe, and has the Angel Devil kill her.

Four things are true about Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc…

1. It starts quietly, and it ends in a big ruckus.
2. If you don’t like anime, then you won’t like this.
3. If you haven’t seen Chainsaw Man at all, this movie will be a riot of gibberish.
4. It’s a blast.

I really love the animation in this series. It’s so good. It also has a great general style, and a wildly out-of-control amount of imagination that it regularly indulges. This is just a good all-around series, fun and crazy and different, and if just some of the things that I’m aware happens eventually in the manga, also happen in the anime adaptation, then it’s gonna get super dark too, so… that’s exciting. I always enjoy a good subversion of expectations in my chosen entertainments.

Plus, while admittedly still being what it is, which is a crazy-ass cartoon about a guy with a chainsaw head, Chainsaw Man — The Movie: Reze Arc actually does a good job of doing a somewhat skewed version of the classic Rom-Com formula, albeit one of the more ”Doomed to fail” varieties. It’s a lot more emotionally complex than you might expect. So that was an unexpected bonus.

That said, while I understand why they had to sideline Power from this particular story arc, as her presence and abilities didn’t really fit with the story’s events and the way they unfold, still, my one real complaint here is that, while I was watching, I really felt the absence of her chaotic personality from the group dynamic.

Other than that… I think you can tell whether or not this might be your thing. If it is, I encourage you to check out the first season, and then watch this.

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc is a good time.