Chainsaw Man's Movie Is Making Major Changes To The Anime, But Is It Better or Worse Than What Came Before?

Finally, nearly three years removed from its premiere, Chainsaw Man is set to return to screens on September 19, 2025, with the upcoming full-length theatrical film, Chainsaw Man - The Movie: Reze Arc. Covering one of the most popular sections of Tatsuki Fujimoto's original manga series, the studio MAPPA anime will look to build on the massive amounts of fanfare generated during its debut season.

Alongside popularity, however, season one of Chainsaw Man was met with a fair amount of criticism. The original Chainsaw Man manga was incredibly successful long before it was adapted into animation, and when MAPPA's series debuted, there were more than a few fans upset that it wasn't identical to its source material. In response to the criticism, changes were made in preparation for the Reze Arc film, for better or worse.

Shortly after the completion of Chainsaw Man's first season, director Ryu Nakayama stepped away from the series, and eventually left MAPPA altogether to start his own animation studio. While it's never been confirmed, fans speculate that the heavy backlash the anime received during its airing was the main cause for his departure. Prior to its premiere, Chainsaw Man was one of the most anticipated anime series ever, with seemingly the entire anime-watching community waiting patiently for its release.

Its debut episode crashed Crunchyroll on the day it aired, and remained the most-viewed single episode on the platform until being overtaken just this year by Solo Leveling. The response was mostly positive, but a small section of the fan base voiced their criticism about the use of CGI visuals. The second episode, however, created a rift in the community that only grew as the season went on. Cutting a major confrontation from its source material, Chainsaw Man caused skeptics to become haters and dedicated manga fans to turn on the anime.

Chainsaw Man fans rejoice! The upcoming Reze Arc movie got an official release date at the series' Anime Japan panel.

From there, each episode only served to split the viewer base further, until the anime community was entirely divided on the series. Some praised the direction Nakayama and MAPPA took with Chainsaw Man, while others loudly expressed their disappointment. As a result, the anime's continuation will bring major changes to the series.

Following its conclusion, it took some time to hear any sort of news regarding the Chainsaw Man anime. Whether behind-the-scenes changes or careful planning for the future was the cause is unknown, but in December 2023, Chainsaw Man - The Movie: Reze Arc was officially announced with a short teaser trailer. Another year later, the second trailer was revealed alongside the first bit of new information regarding the series' future.

After the departure of Ryu Nakayama, it was announced that Tatsuya Yoshihara, who worked on the first season as an episode director, key animator, and storyboard artist, would be directing the upcoming film. Having previously lent his directing talents to Black Clover, Yoshihara is bringing a different visual flavor to Chainsaw Man that more closely follows Tatsuki Fujimoto's original manga, and the changes were apparent the moment the trailer dropped.

Seemingly gone are the heavily criticized desaturated colors and intimate direction of Chainsaw Man's first season, replaced by a bright, warm color palette, chaotic action, and character designs that are incredibly accurate to the source material. It's clear the staff at MAPPA have taken feedback from fans and rebuilt Chainsaw Man from the ground up, yet a large portion of the fan base is still unhappy. In changing the series' visual style following heavy backlash, fans of the first season have begun to express their displeasure, once again dividing the community.

Fans of Fujimoto's original manga are sure to be satisfied with the changes, as the film looks to be adopting a similar style to 2024's Look Back, which closely mimicked the manga creator's art style. However, fans of Chainsaw Man Season One will have to adjust to a strikingly different visual style, and one they likely didn't desire. Which is better is largely subjective, though it cannot be denied that the latest Reze Arc trailer featured incredibly impressive visuals.

Chainsaw Man's debut season had a cinematic feel to it, and several highly detailed, anime-original scenes of characters in their daily lives helped to build that feeling. The upcoming film looks to be a departure from that style, though one that closely follows the rough, punk-esque feel of the manga. Given how season one fell in favor after dividing the community, an already split fan base isn't ideal for a film slated to release in only a few short months. This time around, fans may want to be a bit more open to the adaptation they receive, so a similar fate can be avoided.

Chainsaw Man is an adaptation of the popular manga written by Tatsuki Fujimoto, airing on Crunchyroll in the west. Denji, a young man working tirelessly for the Yakuza to pay off the debt, his late father saddled him with hunts devils with the assistance of his little friend Pochita, also known as the Chainsaw Devil. When the Yakuza kill him to gain a contract with another devil, Pochita saves Denji, and the two forge a contract, allowing Denji to gain revenge against the Yakuza. Now sought after by an agency known as the Public Safety Division, Denji joins a team led by the mysterious Makima. Denji now relentlessly hunts Devils in service of his newfound crush, Makima, slowly reaching their ultimate goal of facing the ultimate Devil.

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