By Nick Nitkowski 

The way most anime shows get on my radar is, unfortunately, through popularity. I don’t want it to be this way, but there are just so many anime shows out there, and it’s hard to choose which ones might grab my interest. “Chainsaw Man” is one of those anime shows that gained popularity and thus made it on my radar. Upon checking it out, I thought it was good. It had humor dealing with adolescence and intense bloody action scenes throughout. Needless to say, I watch every episode in one sitting. It’s been a while since then, and I barely recall all the details of what transpired when I last watched it. I legitimately thought it was cancelled after season one, but much to my surprise, we have a “Chainsaw Man” movie out in theaters now and in 3D, which I’m still a huge fan of! So how is this new theatrical installment of “Chainsaw Man”?

For those who are unaware, “Chainsaw Man” is about a sixteen-year-old boy named Denji who is down on his luck in life, but after nearly dying, he becomes resurrected as the Chainsaw Man and ends up getting recruited to become a Devil Hunter, and with the help of some friends, he goes off a fights other people with similar, yet varying abilities similar to his own in this bloody anime series that blends in 2D and occasionally 3D animation styles.

As I had mentioned before, my recollection of the final episode of the first and only existing season of the series is a bit blurry after not having seen it in a while, but I remembered most of the characters from before and the purposes they served. Jumping back in with a new movie made me feel as though I needed to reacquaint myself with some of the events just so I’d know where we were in the moment, but as the movie progressed, I was able to follow along with it and by the end of it, I can easily say that I had a fun time watching this movie.

The movie once again follows our main character Denji going through his everyday life working with Devil Hunters and fawning over women, but as fate would have it, he happens to meet a new girl by chance named Reze who seems to take a liking to him. Unsure of what to do about this, Denji starts spending time with Reze and starts growing fond of her as well. But when Devils start wreaking havoc, it’s up to Denji and his friends of Devil Hunters to stop them from causing mass chaos and bloodshed.

I’m obviously not the biggest fan when it comes to romance in movies. I mostly gravitate towards the high-octane blood-soaked action throwdown which this movie graciously provides, but I will say that the romantic moments in this movie did have a lot of humor that had me chuckling on more than one occasion, mostly due to Denji’s cluelessness, but it worked and used it to its advantage. But of course, my biggest takeaway is the unrelenting action scenes that were full of blood, gore, intensity, style, and craziness that’s so worth the price of admission, especially in 4DX 

Speaking of which, I was able to see this movie in 4DX 3D. The last anime movie I saw in 4DX, which was “Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero” back int 2022, I was left with some tender ribs and laughing about it on my way out of the theater. It was the most intense 4DX experience I ever had. So, with “Chainsaw Man” being another anime movie, I was expecting more of the same. And I got that for about half the movie. The first half is most stationary as the story explores this potential romance between Denji and Reze. But once the action starts, it does NOT let up. Once it kicked in, it was almost as intense as “Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero”. During the final fight, I had the biggest smile on my face as the rocking of the seats grew more and more intense. No bruising or tenderness by the end, but it was still fun for me. If you can handle it, this would be my recommended way of experiencing this movie.

Overall, fans of the anime series “Chainsaw Man” are going to love “Chainsaw Man: The Movie”. It easily caters to its audience and provides the humor and the violence that you would expect to see. If you have not seen the anime series, then you would be doing yourself a great service by doing your homework by watching the series before checking this one out on the big screen. Otherwise, you might find yourself lost in the middle of this venture. As for the fans, it goes without saying that fans will love seeing this movie on the big screen, and I was definitely one of them. With a grand mixture of love and blood all wrapped in an intense 3D/4DX bow, this experience was the bomb!

4.5 stars