Anime Movies Chainsawing Hollywood Theaters – This Week in Anime

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Lucas, it looks like we’ve got another anime blockbuster on our hands with Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc blowing expectations out of the water during its first weekend in U.S. theaters. As of this writing, we don’t have exact box office numbers for the film’s second weekend, but I have a feeling it’s performed well, based on the feedback I’ve heard from fans and critics alike. Speaking of that chatter, it seems like some may even prefer Reze Arc‘s style to the Chainsaw Man television series. Oh boy, that’s a column topic and a half already.

Let’s start with the Chainsaw Man television series, because I feel that Reze Arc is a direct response to it—beyond just adapting the next arc of the manga. And for transparency’s sake, the film hasn’t screened in my neck of the woods, so I’m mainly going off the temperature of this conversation. However, I’ve just yanked the rip cord on a proper revisit of the series, so keep that in mind.

I’ll admit, Lucas… I, too, was incredibly critical of the anime series as it aired. I dropped it for other titles that season. On first encounter, Chainsaw Man came off as way too polished in comparison to the endearingly “rough around the edges” style of Tatsuki Fujimoto‘s illustrations. It wasn’t until I sat down to watch Look Back last year that I fully realized that the sketchy yet refined qualities of Fujimoto’s line work are actually what I missed from Chainsaw Man‘s anime. But when sitting back down with the series for the first time in a few years, I realized I might’ve been a little too precious about those qualities. Because, as thematically explored in Chainsaw Man Part 2, this anime isn’t just Fujimoto’s baby.

Ryū Nakamura and his team at MAPPA were just as instrumental to this adaptation as the creator himself. They set out to create a work that could stand alongside the manga as its own bloody beast. As a fan, I completely understand the desire for an adaptation to be fully faithful to the original work. However, I realize that exploring those themes through a different framing gives me a lot more to think about as a viewer…and is probably more satisfying as a creative. I’d personally describe the manga as a black comedy with an ever-present dread hanging over the reader’s head, but the anime adjusts the story’s perspective for a more grounded take on the proceedings. Again, I appreciate how it offers me two cakes with similar recipes but different flavors to consider. It’s wild to me that I’ve come around on the series, because I definitely didn’t feel that way as it aired.

Given all the artistic shifts made for the anime series, I totally understand where you’re coming from. After all, Fujimoto is one of the best to ever do it. Hearing about your quibbles with the series makes me appreciate all the more that the manga is its own separate entity—one that can react more dynamically to the world around it than an anime production. You’ve also furthered my admiration of how many elements of Part 2 are direct responses to the anime itself. I’d liken Fujimoto’s experiences with Chainsaw Man to Bryan Lee O’Malley‘s experiences with Scott Pilgrim. Specifically, in that after Scott Pilgrim vs. the World was made, the realization that O’Malley’s creation wasn’t just his anymore bled into his further works like Seconds, Snotgirl, and Scott Pilgrim Takes Off. I see a similar path in Fujimoto’s works following the anime’s debut.

But more importantly, I’m glad you’ve broken the seal on MAPPA, because that is my biggest hesitancy around this adaptation from top to bottom. Between the Jujutsu Kaisen production implosion and a fire hose of allegations surrounding the studio, seeing its name attached is enough to make my heart drop on any production—even the fantastic Zenshu from earlier in the year. I’d also be lying if I said that trepidation didn’t turn into anger after speaking with the fine folks from Animator Supporters earlier this year.

I’m right there with you, Lucas. But to follow up on your point about MAPPA‘s talent before moving on, we’re yet again in another situation where the problems are coming from the top down. It’s not too far off from our chatter about the recent Crunchyroll subs situation, actually.

I got a less-than-savory impression from this statement by MAPPA President Manabu Ohtsuka in a recent ANN interview. Normally, I’d be the first to admit that anime is a product made with the intention to make money; that’s just the cold, hard truth of it. But when a studio is locked in a series of alleged labor scandals and its leadership is talking about squeezing “so much more” out of an IP, it naturally raises an eyebrow or two.

For what it’s worth, I personally felt the heart of these themes in the series while revisiting it. However, the involvement of MAPPA (specifically its management) adds an unpleasant stink to it all when you step back and take it all in.

To circle back around to the chatter that Reze Arc‘s success could change the industry by casting aside the production committee system… I agree with both you and Endless Mode’s Elijah Gonzalez that MAPPA‘s decision to self-fund the film won’t do any good for the industry as a whole—even if the move isn’t a bad idea generally. As we’ve discussed, the studio’s issues are seemingly all at the management level. That’s not something that alternative funding will change. Moves like this absolutely depend on the specifics of the studio that is making them.

That’s an interesting point to consider, as Chainsaw Man is right at home in the spooky season festivities. On that note, let’s talk some theater etiquette while we’re here, Lucas!

While seeing the film on opening weekend, But Why Tho? EIC Kate Sánchez had one of those experiences anime fans (and well, most people, really) have become infamous for.

They are currently doing a tiktok skit in cosplay in the front i got harassed to sing kickback by a giant dude and the lights are just starting to dim – oh and someone did the opposite and yelled out how many of us could bark for her

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— Kate Sánchez (@ohmymithrandir.bsky.social) October 25, 2025 at 7:35 AM

I don’t know about you, Lucas, but I don’t want to pay for a pricy movie ticket only to be involuntarily drafted into some kid’s Vine skit. The movie theater is not your living room or a stage to goof around on. You sit down, put your phone away, and quiet down. I have a close friend who swore off anime films for years because people wouldn’t stop screaming during his screening of the first My Hero movie. Heck, I also remember this being a going concern during Promare screenings. Chicken Jockey was a mistake.

I’m still fuming about the dude who had his whole foot out in my screening of Avengers: Endgame.

You’ve nailed it. When theaters reopened after the early stages of the pandemic, I was more concerned about people being masked up and safe rather than anything else. It wasn’t all that hard to get back to those established habits from there. But then again, there are probably more than a few younger viewers who never developed those habits and were thrown back into the world without them. Needless to say, the pandemic has had a profound impact on all of us.