Chainsaw Man: Why turning the Reze arc into a movie was the wrong decision, explored

On Sunday, December 17, 2023, the Chainsaw Man Super Stage at the Jump Festa 2024 convention finally arrived, bringing with it some highly anticipated news. While it wasn’t exactly what fans were hoping for, a new continuation of the television anime adaptation of author and illustrator Tatsuki Fujimoto’s original manga series was announced.

However, this was done in the form of a canonical Chainsaw Man move rather than the second season or cour of the television anime series, as fans had so desperately hoped for. Likewise, recent months saw the series’ community become somewhat divided on whether or not a movie adapting the events of what has been dubbed the Reze arc would do the story justice.

In any case, the worst fears of some have been confirmed, with the coming Chainsaw Man movie set to adapt the Reze arc in its entirety, according to the latest information. Unfortunately, this was most likely the wrong decision to make given the arc’s length, subject matter, and more, as seen in the original manga series.

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Chainsaw Man Reze arc film simply won’t do the source material as seen in original manga any justice

Why the Reze arc film is the wrong decision, explained

One of the biggest downsides to adapting the Reze arc into a film is how little dialogue there is in the Chainsaw Man manga’s version of the arc and how fast it moves. While there are opportunities to pause within the arc’s events, it’s simply not suited to a movie due to its overall length of 12 chapters.

For perspective, the first season of the anime series adapted just over three chapters per each episode of the anime. As mentioned above, the Reze arc is also relatively lacking in extensive dialogue, compared to other story arcs adapted into the first season. With this in mind, it’s likely that the anime would have moved through the Reze arc at a roughly four-chapters-per-episode pacing.

Consequently, this would make for roughly 60 minutes of screentime for the arc to be fully adapted, which is obviously on the shorter side for a feature-length film.

While there is a possibility that MAPPA Studios adds a significant amount of anime-original scenes, this will likely add 20 minutes to the runtime at the absolute most. As a result, the coming Chainsaw Man movie will just barely be sniffing at an acceptable length for a feature film.

This creates an issue of whether MAPPA should add a significant amount of anime-original scenes or slow down the overall pacing of the arc, or even both. While the formermost approach could work out well in the end, the latter two will likely create more problems and negative perception than they’ll eliminate.

Furthermore, there’s always the chance that Chainsaw Man fans do not positively respond to whatever anime-original scenes the film adds. This is largely in part why adapting the Reze arc specifically into a feature-length film is a major mistake on MAPPA’s part. A much better alternative would have been to include the Reze arc in the second season, which would take viewers up to or even a little ways into the Gun Devil arc.

From here, a film could be set up which would wrap up the series’ first part with the events of the Gun Devil and Control Devil arc. The length of this section of the story would be much better suited to a feature-length film’s runtime, and would also feel more climactic and deserving of a theatrical experience when compared to the Reze arc.

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Be sure to keep up with all Chainsaw Man anime, manga, and film news, as well as general anime, manga, film, and live-action news as 2023 progresses.