(This review is intended for those who have already watched the movie or read the arc)

Fujimoto is an instrument of tragedy, with the perfect balance of comedy and devastation. His talent and impact were already evident from the manga alone, but it was surreal to see it on the big screen in a packed movie theatre.

Where the panels are quite dense, the film adaptation takes time to highlight the space between. Which is the point of anime adaptations, admittedly, but doesn’t do nearly enough justice to how much Mappa and the voice team really brought this story to life. The studio took some creative liberties in expanding on the manga: screening the scenes from Denji and Makima’s movie date rather than getting by with a brief flash of a screen; Denji’s not so gradual relent into jumping into the pool; Reze fighting off the assassin; Reze and Denji’s final fight and their quiet plummet to the bottom of the sea. All of these scenes and more were reimagined with their own new twists, and I laughed, cried, and stared in awe with reinvigorated focus.

I have mixed feelings about the rise in movie projects as opposed to entire season adaptations, but as a fourteen chapter arc that builds tension for the succeeding arcs, this was a well paced experience. The extension of the fight scene was definitely intense, but the soundtrack was engaging and the animation was gorgeous.

Ushio Kensuke truly has his finger on the pulse of the narrative, and this attunement takes startling form in the soundtrack. As the friend who frantically points at the screen and clenches their fists while yelling "leitmotif !!!," leitmotif !!!! The piano performance is reminiscent of his work on Liz and the Blue Bird, with the padding sound of keys highlighting footsteps and heartbeats while still making space for lush orchestral instrumentation that expands beyond the blue grey walls of an empty school on the night of a typhoon.

Above all else, I grieved. Enjoying shounen series when you’re younger than the protagonist is truly an experience because you come back to them years down the line when you’re older and it mortifyingly hits you: Wow, this kid is sixteen. Fujimoto’s writing and the studio breathing life into his panels really highlighted the life of the characters. Of Denji, his crassness, his confusion with intimacy, and his persisting earnestness. Reze, her overwhelming power, and the affinity she felt towards Denji that saw her demise. Because Chainsaw Man follows Denji’s struggle with attraction and relationships, and where his view of romance and love are tinged by power and ulterior motives, this arc briefly gave him a moment where, despite that, someone saw his heart. She saw the chainsaw’s heart too, but she also taught him to swim. She takes him to a school at night and tells him that three meals a day and a shower is a bare minimum way to live and that his lack of an education is concerning. He deserves more, and Fujimoto briefly lets him believe so too.

Behind the flashy fight scenes and boob jokes is a core of compassion, and that’s what makes Fujimoto tragedies hurt. Because he really is only sixteen, and she really is just a fellow orphan who never got to go to school either.