Denji appearing run down while Pochita dances around him in Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc.
By
Zach Zamora
Published 17 minutes ago
Zach joined the ScreenRant Anime team as a contributor in June 2024, before taking on a Senior Writer role in November. Since then, he has covered breaking news and produced features and lists about the most popular anime titles.
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Before it became the most anticipated new anime of 2022, or stunned audiences in theaters with its first full-length movie just last month, Chainsaw Man was a promising up-and-coming Shōnen Jump manga by a young artist with exciting potential. Seven years on from its debut, the series has become one of the biggest titles in the anime industry.
The recently released Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc has outperformed all expectations at the box office, surpassing movies from the likes of Dragon Ball and Pokémon while reminding anime fans of why exactly the series was so hyped up by fans.
With one season and a movie under its belt, Chainsaw Man has established itself as one of the industry's heavy hitters, and though fans might not want to hear it, the series is already challenging for the title of greatest anime adaptation ever. At the very least, it's studio MAPPA's best work to date.
Chainsaw Man Is a Unique Series, Receiving Unique Treatment
MAPPA Is Greatly Elevating an Already Unique Manga Series
A side view of Denji's transformed state in season one of Chainsaw Man.
As endearing as it is disturbing, Tatsuki Fujimoto's Chainsaw Man is bloody, crude, action-packed, a little dumb, and incredibly smart all at once. As a manga series, it's unique in what it does, even if it follows the familiar battle shōnen structure.
Like so many others in the genre, including Demon Slayer and Jujutsu Kaisen, Denji's journey begins with what appears to be grave harm coming to a family member or close friend. After powering up, Chainsaw Man's protagonist joins a devil hunting group and goes on to fight gnarly enemies. Outside that structure, however, is where the series separates itself.
Fujimoto once described his work as being for manga fans who are tired of reading manga. While its formula is familiar, Chainsaw Man also refuses to play by the rules. Denji isn't given some grand motivation or goal to pursue, and he isn't exactly the naturally good hero typical of Shōnen Jump stories.
The series' main antagonist isn't clear until Part One's final act, and Fujimoto plays with incredibly mature themes, subverting popular tropes, while moving the story along. In the battle shōnen genre, Chainsaw Man is a unique series, and its anime adaptation has received unique treatment from Studio MAPPA.
Unlike other major anime adaptations, which rely heavily on outside funding, MAPPA funds the production of Chainsaw Man entirely on its own, making the series a somewhat unprecedented case. The self-funded production isn't only a risk that shows tremendous belief in the project from MAPPA, but it gives the studio a reason to go all-out on ensuring its quality.
MAPPA's Chainsaw Man Outdoes Its Contemporaries
No Other Anime Series Has So Greatly Elevated Its Source Material
Denji with his tongue sticking out and thumb pointing to himself in Chainsaw Man — The Movie: Reze Arc.
Along with anime's recent boom in popularity around the world, the industry's biggest titles have seen their production quality skyrocket. Demon Slayer has risen to the top thanks to its incredible visual quality courtesy of Ufotable. In comparison, the original manga features an art style and action with far less sheen.
The same goes for MAPPA's other major adaptation, Jujutsu Kaisen, which stunned fans with an incredible second season in 2023. Animation can improve upon still drawings in a number of ways, as seen in today's biggest shows. However, it can be argued that no manga has been elevated in its anime counterpart quite to the level that Chainsaw Man has.
The manga's already cinematic storytelling was brought to life in Chainsaw Man's first season, and though the anime's direction and art style became somewhat controversial among fans, the look and feel of the show complemented the series' dark and disturbing world.
So much of Chainsaw Man's first season is presented like a big-budget movie production, in both the quiet moments shared between Denji, Power, and Aki, and in the series' most brutal fights. Where MAPPA's work has truly shone, though, is in Chainsaw Man's first movie.
The Reze Arc Movie Is the Peak of Anime
Chainsaw Man's First Movie Is the Most Impressive Adaptation in Years
Makima turning the other way
As a direct sequel to season one, the Reze Arc movie adapted the entirety of the manga's next arc into what many consider 2025's best anime film. In its 100-minute runtime, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc tells an emotionally charged romance story that features some of the best action ever animated, and its quality is reflected in its box office returns.
The movie succeeds in telling a complete, well-rounded story, something 2025's other major anime movie, Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle, struggled to do. Which is why it might come as a surprise that the Reze Arc movie adapted only 14 chapters of its source material, a small number when taking into account the film's runtime.
MAPPA's Chainsaw Man, especially the Reze Arc movie, elevates its already highly acclaimed source material like no other major title in anime today. Scenes which take up only a few manga panels are expanded and transformed in ways that only improve upon story elements and characters.
The fight between Denji and Reze, which is already chaotic enough in the manga, is a high-energy, colorful feast for the eyes in the anime. The pool scene is transformed into an intimate, innocent burst of emotions. The original manga's storytelling is some of the best in the industry, and the anime delivers the same content with the utmost care and respect.
Chainsaw Man has been one of anime's most popular titles since its debut, and those denying its quality are simply ignoring what's unfolding before them. If future entries can boast the same quality as the recent Reze Arc movie, Chainsaw Man fans will have a strong argument for why it's the best anime adaptation ever.
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9.4/10
Chainsaw Man
10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 stars 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star Like Follow Followed TV-MA Animation Action & Adventure Sci-Fi & Fantasy Horror Supernatural Release Date 2022 - 2022 Network TV Tokyo, TV Osaka, TV Aichi, TVh, TVQ, TSC Directors Takeru Sato Writers Hiroshi SekoCast
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Kikunosuke Toya
Denji
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Tomori Kusunoki
Makima (voice)
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