Chainsaw Man: Reze Arc Ending Explained And Full Story

Appearance can be deceiving, a lesson Denji has to learn by paying a hefty cost as matters of the heart continue to trouble him in the first cinematic entry of the Chainsaw Man franchise, titled Chainsaw Man: Reze Arc. Picking up right from where the first season of the celebrated anime series concluded, Reze Arc explores intriguing dynamics between devils and devil hunters in a haunting way. While the narrative treatment cooks up the plot as a tragic romance, there is ample heart, humor, violence, and action to amaze the series fans in the best possible way. The brilliant, nuanced storytelling is backed by MAPPA’s unmatched, fluid animation and memorable performance by an ensemble cast of voice actors—easily making Reze Arc a contender for the best animated movie of the year.

Spoilers Ahead

The opening scene of Reze Arc showcases one of Denji’s recurrent dreams, where a young Denji comes across a closed door that leads to the Chainsaw Devil/Denji’s beloved pet devil, Pochita. Before Denji opens the door, Pochita warns him not to do so no matter what. The black and white coloration of Denji’s dreamworld is a reflection of his lifelong trauma—starting from a rough upbringing to loneliness and deprivation of emotional connection and companionship. It remains unclear as to why Pochita asks him not to open the door, but given the devil has replaced Denji’s heart, it seems Pochita is guarding some of Denji’s suppressed memories, which involve past traumas the teenager does not want to revisit. 

In the present, Denji is getting along pretty well with his partners, Aki and Power; the role of Devil Hunter has suited him well, and the allure of the possibility of a relationship with Makima has been acting as a source of motivation for him as well. After Power’s devilish side starts getting stronger, Makima decides to pair Denji up with a Shark Fiend, Beam, who turns out to be a Chainsaw Devil fanboy. Seeing Denji a bit miffed with new changes, Makima offers to go with Denji on a movie date. After spending an entire day hopping theaters, watching mediocre movies, Denji and Makima connect after shedding a tear on an emotional moment in the last movie they watch together. Before taking her leave, Makima shares an intimate moment with Denji—but it remains unclear whether she actually has feelings for him or is simply trying to hold her grip over him. The narrative focus then shifts to Aki, who is trying to form some sort of working relationship with Angel Devil, the immensely powerful hybrid embodiment of angelic fear who can draw life force from anyone he touches and weaponize anything, and appears reluctant to take on burdens of patrolling duty. 

The next day, while musing about Makima, Denji takes shelter inside a telephone booth to take cover during a sudden downpour. A charming teenage girl, Reze, rushes into the same booth. Sparks fly within moments, and just after their first meeting, Denji decides to visit Reze in the neighborhood café she works in. Over time, Reze gets to learn more about Denji and laments the fact that instead of enjoying a normal life like a regular teenager of his age, he is pitted against the grim world of devil hunters. As Denji slowly starts falling for Reze, he remains conflicted as he also happens tohave  strong feelings for Makima. Reze sneaks Denji inside her school one night, and Denji’s restraints over his emotions loosen as she teaches him to swim in the pool. While opening up to Denji, Reze refers to the example of the city mouse and the country mouse, mentioning she much prefers the hardships of the peaceful life of the country mouse, whereas Denji relates to the high-risk, high-reward life of the city mouse. In a parallel scenario, Devil Angel mentions the same example as well, revealing he wanted to live the quiet life of a country mouse until Makima dragged him into the squabble of city life.

The same night Reze and Denji spend time at her school, Reze gets ambushed by a dreadful psychopathic killer who is in a contract with the Typhoon Devil to hunt down the Chainsaw Devil host, Denji. As it turns out, Reze has a few tricks up her sleeve as she swiftly incapacitates the killer and chokes him to death. Typhoon Devil seems to know who Reze really is, as she apologizes for the misunderstanding and assures her of her assistance whenever she needs it. 

The next night, Reze brings Denji to a local village carnival, and after spending a wonderful evening together, she proposes that they run away together. Denji, who has grown accustomed to the life he has in Tokyo at present, politely refuses her offer, and his strong feelings for Makima also make it impossible for him to agree to Reze’s proposition. Things take a horrible turn as Reze incapacitates Denji by taking advantage of a vulnerable moment and nearly kills him while trying to take Chainsaw Devil out from his body. Beam, whoalways follows near Denji like a shadow, saves him in the nick of time and recognizes Reze for who she truly is. As it turns out, Reze is a human-devil hybrid just like Denji; she is the Bomb Devil, who possesses extreme explosive powers. Bomb Devil is one of the allies of the Gun Devil, who employed her to have Denji killed to retrieve Chainsaw Devil—and since the beginning, Reze has tactfully manipulated a gullible Denji by forming an emotional connection with him. While chasing Beam and Denji, Reze kills a bunch of private Devil Hunters and continues her killing spree upon reaching Tokyo. Beam seeks help from the Devil Hunter Public Safety outpost, where Aki and Angel are present as well, and warns them of Bomb’s arrival. As Reze reaches the outpost, her trail of destruction claims the lives of several pro Devil Hunters like Nomo, Masaki Ando, and Kato, along with several other trainee hunters and civilians. Aki requests a special division to provide backup, and Galgali and Kobeni manage to distract her for long enough to provide Aki a head start while escaping. Denji engages in a battle with Reze but gets quickly humbled, as Reze has much better control over her devil abilities compared to him. Reze also learns about Denji’s feelings for Makima, and her remark over it hints at Makima’s troubling true intentions.

A barely alive Denji is rescued from Reze’s clutches by Aki and the rest of the Devil Hunters. Devil Angel uses the blood of a dying civilian to revive Denji, who rides Beam’s devilish form to engage Reze once again. This time, Typhoon Devil joins the battle as well, and the ensuing clash almost drags Devil Angel to a sure death scenario. However, Aki, who has mere years to live, sacrifices a couple of months off of his lifespan by touching Devil Angel’s hands while saving him. The narrative focuses on the central conflict, as the Denji/Beam duo engage in a fierce battle with Typhoon/Bomb. MAPPA has gone absolutely crazy while animating the breathtaking, high-octane fight sequences between Denji and Reze in this segment. In a spectacular sequence, Denji and Beam annihilate Typhoon Devil, while Beam gets severely injured in Reze’s hands. Denji faces off against Reze and, using his chains, immobilizes her in order to take her into the sea to neutralize her explosive abilities. 

Waking up, Reze is surprised to see that Denji has spared her life and brought her back to the shores. Reze finds it surprising that Denji saved her life despite what she did, and upon learning about Denji’s simplistic, laid-back life philosophy—unaffected by higher calling or greater purpose—quits her mission for good. Even though Reze denies ever falling for Denji, in reality, she admits it took much longer for her to execute her plan, as she  did fall for him, for real. As Reze decides to go on the run, Denji reveals he is willing to join her as well, as he still has feelings for her, which makes him overlook the consequences of accompanying a mass-murdering devil. Reze leaves, hearing Denji asking her to meet in the same café she used to work at if she too wants to run away and try to have a life together. 

Special Division Hunter Kishibe arrives at the crime scenes and mentions Reze is one of the many orphaned children who were used as subjects of heinous experiments by the Soviet Union. Having experienced no freedom, the orphaned children, likened to guinea pigs, lived and died in the dark munition chambers. This provides a tragic connotation to Reze’s feelings for Denji, as she could relate to Denji’s predicament on a deeper level. Like Reze, Denji didn’t know what it means to form an emotional bond with someone or what it is like to feel loved. Both of them are used in proxy battles, which they never wanted to be a part of, and never had control over their own lives. Covering up her identity, Reze almost decides to leave Tokyo for good but changes her mind at the last minute as she rushes back to the café where Denji is waiting for her. However, Makima, who has been watching over Reze’s activities all along, decides to step in before she is able to reach the café and intercepts her in the alleyway. Using hordes of mice as her means of instant transportation, Makima reveals to Reze that she too is a country mouse type of person—but her reasoning for relating to it is much different, ruthless, and sadistic, as she enjoys seeing country mice being dragged out of their holes and butchered. Chainsaw Devil is an asset to Devil Hunters, which Makima doesn’t want to lose, and the moment Reze decided to return to Denji’s life, she ended up drawing Makima’s ire.  The Bomb Devil, who caused such mayhem within the span of a night, gets taken down without being able to lift a finger, and Makima persuades Devil Angel to kill Reze. It is revealed that Aki was assigned to accompany Angel to kill Reze, but Angel didn’t want Aki to bear the burden of killing a tragic soul.

In Reze Arc’s ending, while taking her last breath, Reze looks at Denji and wonders whether she should have killed him the first chance she got. Reze confesses that, like Denji, she didn’t go to school either, which conveys she lied about it to win his trust—and shared a fate much similar to him. In a post-credits scene, Denji is seen still hopelessly waiting for Reze in the same café when Power, now back to her usual self, finds him out and manages to distract him from his despondency. Denji, as clueless as ever, never gets to learn that the only person who truly loved him for who he really is, killed by the person he has fallen for.