The popular series makes its big-screen debut with an exciting, but undoubtedly fan-only, saga that spills as much blood as it chronicles awkward teenage romances.
He has a chainsaw for a face and raging teenage hormones, all while battling evil entities bent on harming humans. Sixteen-year-old Denji (voiced by Kikunosuke Toya) has never been to school, instead working as a Public Safety Devil Hunter (he's half-demon, half-human). Along with the protagonists of “KPop Demon Hunters” and “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle,” he joins the chorus of animated paladins facing off against diabolical adversaries on the big screen this year.
Director: Tatsuya Yoshihara
Writers: Tatsuki Fujimoto, Hiroshi Seko
Stars: Kikunosuke Toya, Shiori Izawa, Tomori Kusunoki
But before “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” shows him in his monstrous form, Denji's teenage insecurities and romantic woes take center stage. From director Tatsuya Yoshihara, the first film spin-off of the popular series, which is itself based on the manga by Tatsuki Fujimoto, plunges us into an already established universe, as is often the case with anime-based films.
Contextual clues may help those with minimal knowledge of “Chainsaw Man” understand that in this reality, demons with superhuman powers are a constant threat. Otherwise, everything is quite similar to our world. Designed to satisfy existing fans, not so much to win over new ones, “Chainsaw Man” can still entertain because, at its core, the concept and plot don't seem overly complex.
An awkward boy, Denji, nervously agrees to a date with his boss, Makima (Tomori Kusunoki). Their encounter feels like an homage to cinema, as they spend the entire day going from one movie theater to another. She has strong opinions about the quality of the films, he's worried that nothing seems to move him. It's only when watching a late-night art-house film that they both fully revel in the power of the medium. Up to this point, even with little information about these characters and their connection, “Chainsaw Man” unfolds as a teen dramedy, and remains so for about a third of its runtime.
The fact that Makima disappears for most of the remaining drama and chaos reiterates the episodic nature of the film. She will likely simply return in the next installment of the series, so her absence is not cause for alarm. A central love triangle emerges, at least in Denji's hopeful mind, when he meets Reze, a waitress at a local café. Her evident interest in him is enough for him to reciprocate. But she may not be who she seems. Evocative animation, with muted blue tones and soft lighting, conveys the flirtation of their quick connection in a scene where they swim together in a pool at night. It is also here that glimpses into Denji's mind show sexually suggestive images of both Makima and Reze, as he struggles to decide who to be loyal to, making it clear that the target audience is adult.
When Reze is revealed to be the extremely violent Bomb Devil, a wounded Denji realizes that she doesn't want to win his heart, but to literally rip it from his chest. The necklace she wears is the safety pin she can pull to detonate herself, just as Denji pulls the starter cord on his chest to transform into Chainsaw Man; both are clever details of character design.
"Chainsaw Man" sporadically features a subplot with Denji's coworker Aki (Shôgo Sakata) and a haloed Angel Devil (Maaya Uchida), offering even fewer details about the pair's relevance, aside from a striking undercurrent of nihilism. As Reze's violence escalates, all the "good guys" unite in a common front against the malevolent Reze. The corpses of civilians lie in the streets, surrounded by pools of blood: decapitations, dismemberments, and bodies exploding into liquid flesh, while buildings and other structures crumble.
It's a war zone. Fundraisers for the victims of demon attacks, apparently a common occurrence in this reality, acknowledge the death toll left by these supernatural clashes. This is more than can be said for the "Avengers" movies, where the consequences of the destruction resulting from the numerous battles are not addressed.
A dizzying semi-final confrontation unfolds within a sentient demonic typhoon and gives way to an even more frenetic sequence as Denji, in his Chainsaw Man form, rides his unwilling companion, an anthropomorphic shark, to defeat Reze.
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