Chainsaw Man: Reze Arc Is Peak
Intro
A few years ago I binged the “Chainsaw Man Part 1” manga. It was easily one of, if not the best story I’ve seen or read in the best 5 years. It truly was an incredible piece of media. Since that point, I’ve been a fan of the series, and have been following its current incarnations which are the 2nd part of the manga and the anime. Back in October, I went to see the Chainsaw Man: Reze Arc movie and it really was an incredible experience that adapted and exceeded the manga.
No Spoilers
In the manga, up until the Reze arc, the series is interesting but nothing really groundbreaking. Denji (the protagonist) is a teenage loser with a lot of problems surrounded by government enablers trying to harness his Chainsaw Man devil powers to kill devils who are harmful to society. Fairly standard stuff from manga. At that point in the story, it shows promise of something greater, but doesn’t really capitalize on it. That changes with the Reze Arc.
It is what “Arlong Park” is to One Piece. A pivotal arc that answers the question of “should I keep investing time into this story”, and just like how Arlong Park convinces One Piece unbelievers to stick with the story, and ultimately love it. The Reze Arc does the exact same thing for Chainsaw Man. That said, make no mistake - the One Piece comparison is only suitable in the realm of impact that a story arc would have on a reader. No other comparisons hold after this. The Reze Arc jump starts the real themes of what Chainsaw Man is about, and weaves many sub-plots that play off magnificently well in the latter parts of the story. The story seamless weaves a very light and fun romantic comedy setup with a horrific psychological thriller payoff and brings in as much chaos and insanity in getting there as possible.
In the manga, the arc was a phenomenal read and was the reason why I binged the rest of the story. In a way, I’m a bit jealous of new viewers getting to experience this part of the story for the first time via the movie adaption. It perfectly nails the tone of the original, but exceeds it where it matters in action, character emotions, and establishing the relationships of Denji and Reze. The character animation is beautiful and the artists did their very best to capture the author’s unique art style and comedy. The music and pacing are also really quite good, where the first half of the film is a slower paced, almost dreamlike sequence of a sweet teen love story, but once the movie hits the turning point, there is no stopping the insanity up until the very last 15 minutes or so. To those who are not experienced with anime or Shonen, the action might be a bit hard to follow but it does still look good. There’s a trend in recent anime where animators, in an effort to make an action sequence more intense, use splotches of color and more frequent impact frames to give the illusion of a cataclysmic fight scene. This technique is a bit hit or miss for me, and in some parts of the movie, the use of this detracts more than it adds; however, overall the action was choreographed very well, and made sense, whereas in the manga it was very difficult to follow for me on the first read.
Outro
Overall the movie was a great experience, I strongly recommend it as a watch if you’re interested in a good story. The movie takes place toward the end of the first half of part 1’s story so it might be helpful to watch the first season of the anime so you have some context. The first season is also really great to watch, but does take more artistic liberties in relation to the manga. If you do make the decision to start the series, either with the movie, manga or first season of the anime, you’re going to be in for a wild and legendary ride.
-Until next time-