This was initially meant to be my notes for the movie, but I typed far too much, so just enjoy my yap on this review I guess. It's more like a rant by me as opposed to a properely formatted review though.
(A bit out of place but, I really love the dynamic between these KVs.)
I've heard that the Makima date scene early-on was meant to have some kind of message, maybe just general characterization for Makima, but to be honest I didn't really get it. Maybe the message is meant to be more tied to cinematography in general, and if that's the case then I do understand.
That aside, let's start with Reze. This is the Bomb Girl arc, aka the Reze arc after all. Reze is a really great depiction of both emotional masking, and repression, or even dishonesty to herself. Not just in the sense that she was lying to Denji the entire time, putting on a facade, faking smiles, acting like a lover-girl. But because she was generally being dishonest with herself. What Reze really is, is another version of Denji. Denji isn't just a horny bastard who loves all women. It's because he's never felt any true kind of love or affection, that he was so turned into a devil hunter by Makima. Nobody has ever fed him, nobody (girl or boy) has ever really loved him, and he is also a teenager with those kinds of urges, so it all adds up. Reze has also lacked proper love and affection her entire life. The anime doesn't direct it in a way that it sounds so horrifying, but the "guinea pig" experiments by the Soviet military are terrifying, much worse then the White Room from COTE, or whatever else you have in mind. Although one can't be sure about Reze really "loving" Denji, what is for sure is that she considered Denji a kindred spirit, and thus found a geniune gateway to be friends with him. Denji asked the question multiple times, and Reze even asked herself, along the lines of "Why didn't you kill me sooner" said by Denji. Reze geniunely did enjoy her time with Denji, she lacked any kind of geniune entertainment like that in her life prior, any proper relationship like that. AND THEN THAT DEVIL MAKIMA DID WHAT SHE DID, and Reze became a ghost, nothing more but a "what if" to Denji. Truly a tragedy. To introduce a character, make the fans absolutely love her, give her plenty of great moments; some of which will definitely become iconic, and then take her away from the protagonist, but only WE really saw what happened, so only WE felt the heartbreak, although you can argue Denji felt it too, due to being left on read pretty much. That is great direction, writing, and execution right there. Everything about Reze in this movie was great. She had a sense of humour to her that was geniunely funny, her voice actor was amazing, every time an explosion happen I really did feel it, and her powers in general were cool. But most of all, the execution of her character in this film was top-notch. Love really can be bittersweet, and sometimes things are meant to be, but they never end up working. I could talk much more about Reze, and her relationship with Denji, but let's keep it short.Obviously not too much to say with others, as Denji and Reze were literally 90% of the movie. But I loved the interactions and dialogue with Angel Devil and Aki, as they even had some character development might I say.
Real fast, before I get to production and what not, I'd like to talk about "The Country Mouse or The City Mouse". Apparently it's a famous saying but I had never heard of it prior to reading the Bomb Girl arc. The actual philosophy behind the question is great, I think you could ask it to anybody and make it think. Simply put, the Country Mouse has life easy, doesn't have to worry about much, but can't eat nice or enjoy the fine things in life. The City Mouse gets to eat great food, and enjoy many more luxuries, but they have to deal with cats, and humans, and other big issues in the city, which means surviving is a hassle. It can be shortened to low-risk, low-reward vs high-risk, high reward. This goes back to Reze's character. She says she prefers the country mouse, and I geniunely believe she meant that, but due to higher powers controlling her life, she was forced to play the role of the city mouse, which is once again, very sad. Makima saying that she too prefers the Country Mouse, is meant to be a different meaning on the saying then how Reze and the Angel Devil interpreted it. With Makima, she likes having control of everything and everyone in her life, thus why the Country Mouse is convenient for her, as opposed to her being the one having to 'run' from things in her life. In other words, we were provided two different interpretations of the "Country Mouse", which only provided more depth and nuance to the question. Anyway, I've seen and read about this and that, about the saying having even deeper layers to it relating to Chainsaw Man, but this is as much as I was able to pick up from the movie alone (on a first watch at least), and if you really want the most in-depth analysis of the quote ever, go search for a video or a reddit post or something.
So for general production and direction. Top-class, and I've only seen better from like 3-4 other anime movies (one of them being Look Back which is also a Fujimoto work). I want to say, I think Demon Slayer was directed just as well, if not better (but that depends on what day u ask me tbh), but the general story for the Reze arc is just so much better, and so well-written, that it overall outclasses Demon Slayer due to original source material and how the story just plays in general. The visuals in this movie were stunning, and even though there was a change in art direction from S1 of CSM, I liked this just as much if not more. From the pool scene, to the Reze vs Denji fight, especially that sequence inside the building when Reze and Denji were just THROWING STRAIGHT HANDS, and the Typhoon devil sequence too was amazing. This really is Mappa at its finest. As for the soundtrack, let me start by saying Kensuke Ushio has leveled up from an A-rank composer to a S rank composer for me. A Silent Voice had a great OST to me, but it was never one of the best movie OSTs I've seen, and Dandadan was good, however... with Liz and Blue Bird, Orb, Heavenly Delusion, and CSM, he has truly leveled up, and I think he'll only get better. I always thought with piano/keyboard OSTs, there was Joe Hisaishi, and Yuki Kajiura, and then a big gap before you start listing others. But Ushio is just nearing the level of those 2. With that said, to add to this amazing soundtrack, you have Iris Out, which was a cool opening, although catchy, I've seen better,
HOWEVER,
JANE DOE IS THE BEST END CREDIT SONG FOR AN ANIME FILM I'VE EVER HEARD (prob recency bias). Kenshi Yonezu, and Hikaru Utada, oh my goodness. Mind you, if there is any other end credit song to compare, then it'd be one of the Evangelion reboot ones, which are also sung by Hikaru Utada, which are all amazing as well (Forever Lost by Myth & Roid for Dawn of the Deep Soul is up there for me as well). A nice insert by Maximum the Hormone to add to their ending in the CSM anime initially, it was really fitting and I like when it came in.
This film, didn't hit me as hard as Infinity Castle in terms of just being in awe from the drama, part of that is because I didn't get to watch this in IMAX because I kept procrastinating, so even though I saw both in theaters, the Demon Slayer experience was much more cinematic. What this did do, is make me think. This movie really had me thinking, for both Denji and myself. Some parts of it just hit me like "damn", you know what I mean? Any movie that does that to me, is a movie I enjoy, it's really that simple, that's all it takes to entertain someone like me. I did try to write this review without taking the future of the manga in consideration too much, because I really tried to enjoy this movie and write this review as an enjoyer of the anime, which was hard, but oh well.
Anyways, I've been more descriptive and criticizing before, although like I said, I don't really have as much to say about this movie as I expected to. Does it deserve to be the highest rated anime film OAT? No, not really tbh. But is it an incredible film, one of top-class, yes it is. This is the pinnacle of story-telling for a shonen anime film, at least for now.