Why Chainsaw Man's Next Arc is Ideal For the Upcoming Movie

Other shonen action series saw great success with their own tie-in movies in recent years, most of all Demon Slayer with its Mugen Train theatrical release and JJK with its Jujutsu Kaisen 0 movie. Both animated features told a complete, self-contained story. Based on the original Chainsaw Man manga's contents, now is the time for Chainsaw Man's own Mugen Train with the Reze arc.

Reze's Arc Is Ideal For A Chainsaw Man Film

Chainsaw Man manga readers are aware that, following the anime's previous storylines, the popular Reze arc, starring the Bomb Devil villain Reze, will shortly begin. It's a short but charming tale arc that gets very personal for Denji, who still yearns for a girlfriend to adore. He'll meet Reze, a sweet and seemingly innocent waitress who's just his type, and she'll be for Denji what Power and Himeno were never. What Denji doesn't realise is that Reze is a deadly Soviet Union agent, and she poses a greater threat to Denji than he realises. What follows is a sympathetic war for Denji's heart, as well as a battle for Denji's survival in a devil vs. devil battle.

In the Chainsaw Man manga, the Reze story arc is totally canon and neatly transitions into the next arc. Most crucially, the Reze storyline is mostly self-contained and does not feel like a spinoff. This balance is appropriate for an anime film that bridges the first and second seasons of the Chainsaw Man anime, providing a complete plot without relying on background from Season 1. It's an exciting, heartbreaking standalone adventure that brutally yet tenderly captures the essence of Chainsaw Man, from bizarre and abrupt plot twists to Denji's sleazy but relatable quest to find a real girlfriend, all of which combine into a single, compelling narrative with an intensely personal fight. The arc's beginning and conclusion, in particular, are ideal for an anime movie and will get fans pumped for Season 2.

Reze's Arc Is Ideal For A Chainsaw Man Film

Even the best and most popular anime series might flop at the box office if they ignore what makes for a great movie. Animated or not, shonen or not, movies must follow a basic formula to succeed, and some recent anime movies ignored that fact — and paid for it. Demon Slayer's Swordsmith Village movie was hardly even a movie, just a series of episodes mashed together on a reel, and fans rejected it. The movie starts with an ongoing conflict and ends with the buildup of another, the opposite of how a movie works. Fortunately, like Mugen Train and Jujutsu Kaisen 0, the Reze arc has a clear beginning, middle, and end, and it also benefits from having a singular villain for the story to focus on. The arc has exactly enough for a movie's plot, and little more.

Turning the Reze arc into an anime movie has other benefits, too. If the Chainsaw Man anime really did fall short, as MAPPA believes, then a high-quality, impactful movie for the Reze arc could turn that all around and generate serious buzz for Chainsaw Man's second season. This would also allow the anime's second season to focus on the international assassins arc, which will need a full 12-13 episodes to tell, leaving no room for Reze's arc. Dividing the Chainsaw Man manga this way is clearly optimal, and doing so could truly put Chainsaw Man on the map, just as MAPPA always intended.