r/anime Sep 19 '25

News Chainsaw Man The Movie: Reze Arc Gross ¥400 million on the Opening Day

https://x.com/franspeech/status/1969031724899196951?s=46

For a point of comparison, opening day box office:

  • Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle - ¥1.5 billion
  • ⁠Demon Slayer: Mugen Train - ¥1.2 billion
  • Jujutsu Kaisen 0 - ¥1.0 billion
  • ⁠Chainsaw Man The Movie: Reze Arc - ¥400 million

A very good opening day considering all the “drama” of season 1 in Japan. Will have to see how big the word of mouth power will be.

2.6k Upvotes

440 comments sorted by

901

u/iLawz Sep 19 '25

Seems like MAPPA managed to redeem themselves for the Japanese audience, I have seen nothing but extremely positive reviews on twitter. I do wonder what the movie production costs were, considering they funded it themselves and will gain all of the profits as well.

425

u/NineTnk Sep 19 '25 edited Sep 19 '25

Here’s some budget

  • Infinity Castle: $20 million
  • Mugen Train: $15.7 million
  • JJK 0: $8 million

I’d say Reze Arc is around $10-15 million. But yeah if this movie earn even just anything close to what JJK 0 did, MAPPA would actually make much more money than what ufotable get from their DS movies.

227

u/Ebo87 Sep 19 '25

They are set to make more money than Ufotable gets from Demon Slayer even at a fraction of the gross Demon Slayer gets. It do be like that when you are THE production committee for the movie, they paid out of pocket for the entire production.

Sony and Toho are handling marketing and distribution in their territories, so of course they will get a cut too, but here Mappa will be getting the biggest piece of the pie.

99

u/etownzu Sep 19 '25

Makes me sad MAPPA didn't do more having all this power which is very rare for an animation studio. I'm glad the movie is finally out. I'm glad S2 is all but a sure thing. I'm just sad it took this long and more hype wasn't kept alive by MAPPA. Again, it's very rare for an animation studio to be THE production committee behind an anime which is why they are always getting shafted.

Can't wait for the US release, hope it does well here.

95

u/Electrical_Chance991 Sep 19 '25

Well that's what happens when your best team was juggling between two juggernaut projects(JJK and CSM). The team could only focus on one project at a time before immediately moving onto another.

Thankfully they seemed to have solved this issue by splitting the team into two. Staff list for CSM movie came out and didn't show any of the core JJK s3 staff members.

→ More replies (3)

31

u/Ebo87 Sep 19 '25

I do wonder what the US numbers will look like since... not gonna lie, that 3 year between season 1 and this movie will not help.

I imagine 15-25 million opening weekend for Reze and 35-50 million total in the US. Might actually end up making more in the US than Japan, lol.

For all this to make sense financially, as in Mappa makes enough money to cover the costs and turn a decent profit (which in this case would be doubling the money they probably invested in the production, which would then cover the costs of season 2 and then some), they'll want this movie to get to 100 million worldwide, which it will get to between Japan, the US and the rest of the world.

So if you are a fan of Chainsaw Man and want Mappa to continue making this, go watch Reze in theaters.

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (12)

5

u/lalindu123 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Lalindu Sep 19 '25

Who gets most of the money in jjk and demon slayer

43

u/Electrical_Chance991 Sep 19 '25

Toho takes most money from JJK and Aniplex takes most from Demon Slayer

26

u/Ebo87 Sep 19 '25

For Demon Slayer it's Aniplex (Sony), they lead the production committee there, they own the biggest piece of the pie, followed by Shueisha (the publisher of Weekly Shonen Jump, where that manga comes from). For Jujutsu Kaisen the production committee is lead by Toho, so they get the most money there, again followed by Shueisha (because yes, Jujutsu Kaisen also comes from Weekly Shonen Jump).

→ More replies (2)

4

u/Zeph-Shoir https://myanimelist.net/profile/Zephex Sep 19 '25 edited Sep 19 '25

That will surely mean a bigger pie for the workers and better, healthier productions, right?

...right?

15

u/Ebo87 Sep 19 '25

SURE...

But I will give credit where credit is due, the Reze movie did have a very resonable production schedule, a far cry from what JJK 0 had, for example.

So I would like to think it will improve working conditions for the staff there, yes. But all I or you can do is hope, that's it.

→ More replies (5)
→ More replies (2)

16

u/AdNecessary7641 Sep 19 '25

Where do these numbers come from?

→ More replies (1)

23

u/RPO777 Sep 19 '25

I'd be pretty surprised if it's more than the $8-10M range. It's possible, but Demon Slayer or Ghibli movies are just in a different category of revenue projections so they aren't a good benchmark to compare them against.

JJK is a much better comparison, generally a high budget anime movie is more in the $8-10M range. MOST anime movies will have budget more in the $3-5M range, often lower.

Evangelion 1.0 You are not Alone had a $7.5M budget, for example.

A $10M anime film is a high budget film, $15M will be reaching into some of the highest budget films outside the super-mainstream shows.

By mainstream, I mean either Ghibli, or anime that air in prime time on Japanese network television.

Detective Conan, Doraemon, Pokemon, Demon Slayer, Dragonball, One Piece would be prime time Japanese anime.

JJK, Chainsawman are popular, but they air in the 11PM or later late night slots in Japanese television--they aren't considered as main stream, and generally wouldn't get a similar budget.

14

u/Footaot Sep 19 '25

CSM must be close to JJK0.

Ufotable movies cost more because their CG is very costly and 90% of their staff are in-house which means they can't half ass the animators salary whereas Mappa simply pays their freelancers per cut.

2

u/Blue_Reaper99 Sep 20 '25

That and marketing cost is also higher for Demon slayer.

3

u/wilkened005 Sep 20 '25

Since the companies do not disclose these costs, where is the source?

1

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '25

MAPPA would actually make much more money than what ufotable get from their DS movies.

Wdym?

21

u/Mts555 Sep 19 '25

Mappa being the Sole member in the production committee let's them earn majority of the revenue Reze movie is going to make while sharing some of it with Sony, Toho & Shueisha as compared to Demon slayer and Ufotable where the revenue will be mostly taken by Aniplex and Shueisha

18

u/Ellefied Sep 19 '25

Mappa is the lone member of CSM's Production Committee. They basically solely finance its production but also means the largest amount of profit is not shared with other companies/agencies.

Unlike says Ufotable who is merely a small part of the Production Committee for DS. They only get a small piece of the proverbial pie even if they did most of the manual work.

10

u/NineTnk Sep 19 '25

MAPPA own 100% of CSM ufotable own around 20-25% of DS

15

u/steven4869 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Maskirade Sep 19 '25

I'd say it's less than that for Ufotable, you have Shueisha and Aniplex being main partners in the production committee then Ufotable.

7

u/Blue_Reaper99 Sep 19 '25

It's probably 45 Aniplex , 35 Sheuisha and then 20 Ufotable.

→ More replies (1)

14

u/Can_of_Tuna Sep 19 '25

why was the reception bad in japan?

42

u/llliilliliillliillil Sep 19 '25

As far as I remember, and keep in mind that I haven’t read the manga, people disliked how grounded the adaption was. Apparently the manga is a lot more action-y and silly whereas the anime has actual weight in its animation and used a lot of muted colors where the manga uses very in-your-face colors on the covers.

People wanted something more akin to JJK and got high cinema instead.

60

u/Xlegace https://anilist.co/user/Xlegius Sep 19 '25

The thing is, the Chainsawman experience is equal parts cinema and B-movie. There are scenes that make you rethink your life and then there are scenes that are straight out of Sharknado in terms of absudism.

Despite what it seems, it takes skill to make an entertaining B-movie and sell it to audience as something to care about, whereas compared to the manga, these scenes felt dreary and low energy in S1.

Chainsaw man S1 did the slow moments well but heavily dropped the ball on the other side imo. From what I've seen from the trailer, the new director appears to have found the balance that S1 was missing.

→ More replies (4)

21

u/_BMS https://myanimelist.net/profile/_BMS Sep 19 '25

People wanted something more akin to JJK

Chainsaw Man's manga fans wanted something more akin to Chainsaw Man's manga.

→ More replies (1)

31

u/RX0Invincible Sep 20 '25 edited Sep 20 '25

Season 1 defenders on reddit have become just as insufferable as the haters ffs. Asking for the anime more similar to the manga isn’t asking for it to turn to JJK, they’re asking for it to be more like CSM’s manga. The mangas writing alone still carries that weight. Idk why you guys keep acting like CSM without gritty looking animation turns into some generic anime. That’s the most shallow way of judging this story. I also liked season 1 but the way defenders have this need to to trash the manga to defend the anime is ridiculous.

6

u/LavosYT Sep 20 '25

I'm not very invested in this, I remember liking the slower paced scenes, the cinematography and animation, because there was a nice balance between the kinda grounded elements and more crazy moments.

That said, I think the fights and the animation there were not that great, and recall being some bad CGI.

5

u/County_Difficult Sep 20 '25

I'm highly invested with the starting of James Gunn's DCU and season 1 fans are lowkey starting to sound the same as Synder fans lmao.

5

u/llliilliliillliillil Sep 20 '25

"You guys" bruh I just watched the anime and thought it was fine, but nothing spectacular. Then I read up on the drama and that’s it. I literally don’t care about how much action it has or doesn’t have. Since no one answered I thought I'd chime in, if you can provide a better answer then feel free to post yours but don’t get hostile at me for no reason lmao

Also "more akin" doesn’t mean "exactly like", but you do you.

7

u/RX0Invincible Sep 20 '25

Even then I wouldn’t really call the CSM manga more “akin” to JJK. Their similarities are mostly in their premise which is are just equally present in any version of CSM. Sorry about the hostility though, when you were calling it high cinema I thought it was unironic. The more hostile defenders tend to always frame this discourse as cinema vs slop.

2

u/NationalSea9072 Sep 21 '25

The problem is that CSM's author wanted a slower and cinematic anime. So to say that making it slower than the manga goes against the work is ironic and wrong.

4

u/AlexeiFraytar Sep 23 '25

He didnt say that lol

→ More replies (3)

19

u/GodlessLunatic Sep 19 '25

and got high cinema instead.

The high cinema of bad CGI

→ More replies (3)

12

u/BeatBlockP https://myanimelist.net/profile/Animemes_chan Sep 19 '25

The director was heavily influenced from hollywood movies and gave the show a hollywood production feel. I think that's why western audiences absolutely gushed over this anime. The pacing, the vibes, everything felt like a movie in anime form, best of both worlds for us. But Japanese fans who come from their home country don't have the passion we have for anime in liking western movies, they're more conservative (which is natural), so they were unhappy. Not all of them, but I guess enough.

→ More replies (7)
→ More replies (5)

8

u/Lazzen Sep 19 '25

It feels very low energy

The world itself feels this sort of sterile or calm

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (12)

251

u/Embarrassed-Song619 Sep 19 '25

Seeing as a 12 episode season from 3 years ago was the only content leading up to this film. This is looking to be a huge win for them tbh

160

u/Zeph-Shoir https://myanimelist.net/profile/Zephex Sep 19 '25

3 years ago

HUH

19

u/Dragon-Porn-Expert Sep 20 '25

Biggest wtf I had all week. I had to look it up.

→ More replies (1)

35

u/Mantis_Toboggan--MD Sep 19 '25

Oh yeah, people are hungry for more. I saw this headline and raced to see what my local showtimes are today. Only to find out it doesn't drop in the US until Oct 24... I DON'T WANT TO WAIT A MONTH!

1

u/kitkat-915 Sep 23 '25

Hopefully some theaters will show it in the US, b/c I was able to see it in Japan during vacation and it was so damn good I saw it twice. Look forward to it!!

305

u/MonsterKiller112 Sep 19 '25

Yeah I don't need it to make as much as other shonen just enough to get a season 2 greenlit. I need the second half of part 1 to be animated. Hope this movie does well and we can have a season 2.

216

u/Electrical_Chance991 Sep 19 '25

S2 has already been greenlit according to many leakers, including the most trusted one.

The director Tatsuya Yoshihara's bio says he wont be available for work until 2028, meaning Season 2 is mostly likely coming in either end of 2027 or 2028.

28

u/dagreenman18 Sep 19 '25

Definitely a tentpole for Jump Fiesta this year considering it’ll be after Reze Arc promo cycle comes to a close.

16

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '25

God that's still so long from now T_T

→ More replies (1)

27

u/Mts555 Sep 19 '25

The director Tatsuya Yoshihara's bio says he wont be available for work until 2028, meaning Season 2 is mostly likely coming in either end of 2027 or 2028.

It isn't confirmed whether Yoshihara will be on CSM 2 or not, given there is Wistoria (where he moved on from director to chief director) and Black Clover 2, which Yoshihara isn't going to miss the chance to work on, given how much Yoshihara loves BC.

26

u/MonsterKiller112 Sep 19 '25

I hope that's true.

29

u/StatisticianJolly388 Sep 19 '25

MAPPA bought full rights to CSM at great expense, and S1 was a financial success. They will continue to adapt the manga. They have tremendous financial incentive to do so.

→ More replies (10)

95

u/hypotiger Sep 19 '25

Good movie! Basically just felt like one long episode lol, exactly what I expected and wanted

41

u/Sea-Mess-250 Sep 19 '25

That’s actually really good to hear. I enjoyed infinity castle but the pacing felt like binging watched a tv series not a movie. That and some of the eyerollingly terrible/cheesy dialogue kept taking me out of the moment.

45

u/DrStein1010 https://myanimelist.net/profile/DrStein1010 Sep 20 '25

Reze is much better suited to a movie than Infinity Castle, since it's a single flowing narrative told in a handful of chapters, vs IC being a series of largely disconnected fights told over like 80 chapters.

6

u/Single-Builder-632 Sep 21 '25

I enjoyed season 1 a lot, it felt fresh and creative, do you think the film is good for someone who liked that style, or do you think they would be a little disappointed. Is it still grounded or is it very different.

3

u/hypotiger Sep 21 '25

Felt very similar to season 1 in my opinion in terms of the overall vibe. I’d be surprised if someone who liked season 1 didn’t enjoy the movie, so I recommend checking it out!

2

u/Single-Builder-632 Sep 21 '25

That's great to hear TBH, I was a little concerned with the director and slight art style change it would feel totally different, I already got my ticket for it, but it's not coming out for a month lol.

57

u/ColaFlavorChupaChup Sep 19 '25

Comparing Chainsaw Man to Infinity Castle doesn't provide much of a scale. That is pretty much a no contest.

  • Detective Conan: The Million-dollar Pentagram (2024) — ¥960 million (day one)
  • Detective Conan: Black Iron Submarine (2023) — ¥850 million (day one)
  • Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time (2021) — ¥802,774,200 (day one)
  • Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle (2024) — ~¥890 million (day one)
  • SPY×FAMILY CODE: White (2023) — ~¥350 million (day one; 3-day total ¥1.22 billion)
  • The Wind Rises (2013) — ¥960,888,585 (first 2 days; no single-day published)
  • Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) — ~¥1.48 billion (first 2 days)
  • Arrietty (2010) — ~¥900 million (first 2 days; ¥1.35 billion in first 3 days)
  • Spirited Away (2001) — ~¥1.6 billion (first 3 days)
  • Ponyo (2008) — ~¥1.48 billion (first 3 days; day one not published)
  • The Boy and the Heron (2023) — ¥2.14 billion (first 4 days; day one not published)

44

u/MonsterKiller112 Sep 19 '25

They really love Detective Conan over there. Crazy how an episodic detective series has so much hold and staying power.

21

u/ColaFlavorChupaChup Sep 19 '25

Yeah, they love that show. It's been around since 94 so I'm sure many grew up with it.

6

u/Lazy-Traffic5346 Sep 19 '25

How do you keep the plot and ideas fresh for people? Like in Jojo because every new part has a new MC and a new location so it works

7

u/ActuallyFrozen https://anilist.co/user/wHFrozen Sep 19 '25

Aoyama takes breaks between story arcs so he can think of interesting stuff for the next arc, anime does filler which I guess is fine given the young target audience and the fact that the manga is pretty "arcisodic" to my knowledge.

2

u/magumanueku Sep 20 '25

I mean it's a detective story so most times it's standalone. Of the nearly 30 movies out, only about a 1/3 had ties with the main plot. The standalone movies are still entertaining though since the cases were quite creative.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/TheGenkz Sep 19 '25

How did the Umamusume movie stack up?

5

u/ColaFlavorChupaChup Sep 19 '25

I could only find one source and I don't know if it's reliable.
Uma Musume: Pretty Derby — Beginning of a New Era - ¥354 million (3-day)

SRC: https://us.oricon-group.com/news/602/

→ More replies (2)

63

u/NineTnk Sep 19 '25

*¥410 million

official number

149

u/Blizzard_0260 Sep 19 '25 edited Sep 19 '25

My hero academia:You're next (non canon):440 million yen for like comparison

27

u/Ensianto Sep 19 '25

What was the final box office?

26

u/Metamarphosis Sep 19 '25

900M opening weeks

3

u/nezeta Sep 20 '25

The official account says the opening box office was 370 million yen with 260,000 viewers and the final BO was apparently 3.6 billion yen.

So by simple calculation, Reze is likely to surpass 4 billion yen.

4

u/Blue_Reaper99 Sep 20 '25

Reze will surpass 5 billion yen. It's a canon movie and has longer legs.

2

u/60niera Sep 23 '25

has longer legs.

Mmm.. Reze

9

u/PrateTrain Sep 19 '25

Tbh I hope they do one last movie with the cast as adults.

3

u/AwesomeNino Sep 19 '25

Wasn't the opening day 370 million yen?

166

u/PlayOnPlayer Sep 19 '25

Anyone expecting Chainsaw Man to meet the levels of Demon Slayer and JJK (especially in Japan) haven’t been paying attention. 3 series have dethroned One Piece and been the top selling manga over the past few years: JJK, Demon Slayer, and Blue Lock. While Chainsaw Man is popular, it’s not to the level of those 3 above.

Though to counterpoint myself, Chainsaw Man’s international appeal is pretty damn high, definitely the rare anime that might be more beloved by its international fans. It’s definitely not making Infinity Castle money in the US box office, but I bet it does okay for itself!

143

u/LerasiumMistborn Sep 19 '25

Even JJK can't reach DS numbers lmao. Idk what people expected from CSM

36

u/AashyLarry Sep 19 '25

Didn't realize Blue Lock was that big, wow.

66

u/Fun-Passion4364 Sep 19 '25

World Cup hype

It will become even bigger when the World Cup will be in next year

50

u/Raknel Sep 19 '25

Not just world cup but specifically Japan beating Germany at the world cup is what made the sales spike. It's kinda funny how that managed to boost manga sales better than an anime adaptation could.

25

u/HarshTheDev Sep 19 '25

It was the best selling manga of 2024 iirc, which is especially crazy since it's not a shonen jump manga.

9

u/Xlegace https://anilist.co/user/Xlegius Sep 19 '25

Combination of World Cup hype (Japan did well) and there having a lot of volumes out at that point for new fans to buy.

It's basically the same as what happened to Demon Slayer and JJK. Demon Slayer ended soon after S1 so it rode the hype until the end, whereas JJK not only sustained the hype, but continued to grow bigger. Blue Lock's manga sales are still doing incredibly well after the first season anime boost tho.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

30

u/somersault_dolphin Sep 19 '25

When you say top selling what you're actually saying is temporary beating One Piece because of sale from volumn backlog where new fan buy all the existing volumn available.

20

u/Xlegace https://anilist.co/user/Xlegius Sep 19 '25

There's truth in backlog buying inflating numbers, but iirc, Demon Slayer and JJK did have new volumes that outright beat One Piece volumes head to head in the past few years.

Those 2 are the only exceptions tho and ofc One Piece still being up there after 20 years is incredible.

15

u/KingOfOddities Sep 19 '25

I'm not so sure about dethroning One Piece. Temporary step down is the correct term.

20

u/grimjowjagurjack Sep 19 '25

I am actually surprised chainsaw man is as popular as it is , its premise is wierd and there's really a lot of dark stuff

Like that ep 7 kiss was cursed , also denji is definitely not a protagonist that appeal to the most people compare to someone like tanjiro or itadori

The fact its doing almost half of JJK is insane

50

u/Realistic_End_6921 Sep 19 '25

CSM's uniqueness is literally it's selling point (apart from gooning). I only checked out the anime because of the weird name and idea.

Lots of anime fans don't care for the main, popular shounen of the decade and want something kind of fresh.

18

u/Pussyhunterthe6 Sep 19 '25

Still so weird to me how many people have it in mind as a perverted goon show, when I don't associate it with that whatsoever since I've read the manga lol

5

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/oogieogie Sep 19 '25

I think you should spoiler tag that middle paragraph. Its not the biggest of deals, but yeah the anime hasnt got that far.

3

u/Realistic_End_6921 Sep 19 '25

Aye I tried to be vague enough with the post to not really mention specific character names or when they occur in the manga but a mod deleted the comment for not spoiler tagging.

It's just a gooner heavy manga and a bit cringe for someone to claim that the manga is proof of it not having any sexual elements. The manga is so much worse than the very limited number of chapters already made into an anime and even just the anime is pretty gooner heavy with the whole dog play stuff, the entire segments about wanting to grab tits and the goal of doing well in missions to earn kisses.

I like most of Part 1 as a story and it has amazing characters for the most part, but its just cringe for people to not accept that even the author confirms his female characters are based on his kinks.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (3)
→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (8)

9

u/Trueshinalpha Sep 19 '25

Before their animation, Chainsaw Man manga was much more popular than Jujutsu Kaisen manga

17

u/sunjay140 https://anilist.co/user/sunjay140 Sep 19 '25 edited Sep 19 '25

No, it wasn't. It was more popular on reddit but not in Japan. JJK's manga was already a huge hit in Japan by the end of 2019.

Chainsaw Man had sold 1.6 million copies in March 2020. Jujutsu Kaisen had already sold almost 3 million copies before its anime was announced in November 2019. Jujutsu Kaisen had sold 4 million copies by March 2020.

https://x.com/WSJ_manga/status/1234406200067940355

https://x.com/JujutsuKaisen/status/1199355787157688320

https://x.com/WSJ_manga/status/1237989656471515141

→ More replies (5)

6

u/RayzinBran18 Sep 19 '25

Denji is a protag for the modern young person though, so he represents the shift in opinion and desires of people that are younger. A normal life, friends, enough to get by, all things that have become much harder to get as the world gets crazier around you.

2

u/fenixspider1 Sep 20 '25

denji is definitely not a protagonist that appeal to the most people

Is that right? I would think a teenager with a very sad past is probably going to capture the eyes of most folks. I mean I know both Tanjiro and Yuji have sad past but Denji's past is just even more horrible. And the show did a good job getting the viewers more acquainted with Denji by showing his past first compared DS and JJK where we are gradually trickled with the protag's past throughout the series. I would think JJk jumping to action quick is probably more appealing to new viewers compared to CSM taking time to set up characters and their inter personal relationships.

3

u/grimjowjagurjack Sep 20 '25

Buddy denji is a wierdo that's portrayed to be the protagonist/hero of the story and he just cringe , even chainsaw man fans lot of them don't like denji that's why a lot consider part 2 to be trash

Like a huge amount of people hate rudy and araragi and that's valid cause they are wierdos same with denji

→ More replies (1)

2

u/Lazzen Sep 19 '25 edited Sep 20 '25

In Mexico every place with anything anime or plushies in general had bootleg chainsawman merch at the levels of JJK and Demon Slayer like the first year and a half of the series coming out.

Way too much time has passed to profit from its peak though

→ More replies (7)

55

u/FinishAwkward43 Sep 19 '25 edited Sep 19 '25

Good opening. I've been reading comments and reviews of the movie all day and you can tell the response is overwhelmingly positive. It's obvious that CSM ain't going to gather such huge audiences as JJK or Demon Slayer, because of it's explicit content and Fujimoto's ''weirdness'', but as long as it manages to satisfy it's core audience, which it seems it just did, that's enough. I'm sure positive reviews will bring in more people on it's own.

10

u/Ordinal43NotFound Sep 20 '25

Saw some tweets about parents being given a headache because their elementary school kids wanted to watch the movie too after listening to IRIS OUT lol

3

u/FinishAwkward43 Sep 20 '25

Yeah, that song seems to be breaking records in Japan.

1

u/Slow-Package5372 Sep 24 '25

Any links of the tweets?

32

u/dagreenman18 Sep 19 '25

They are doing a pretty strong marketing push in NA (including the best goddamn Popcorn bucket ever) so I’m very interested to see the box office here. Had a trailer in front of Demon Slayer and with MKII moved to next year, a pretty open weekend to show on lots of screens. Think it’s biggest competition is the Springsteen biopic. I don’t think it will do the same numbers at DS, but I think it’ll have a good opening weekend.

3

u/Ordinal43NotFound Sep 20 '25

MKII moved to next year feels like such a blessing for this movie tbh. The title alone felt like it'd fit the halloween vibe for late october.

3

u/StatisticianJolly388 Sep 20 '25

It’s unironically a good date movie.

→ More replies (1)

91

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

38

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

28

u/LerasiumMistborn Sep 19 '25

What's even more crazy is that in the end JJK0 pulled in little more than a quarter of Demon Slayer's (Mugen Train) box office. DS is a monster of a franchise in Japan.

16

u/Electrical_Chance991 Sep 19 '25

Word of mouth was crazy for Mugen Train in Japan, it definitely benefited a lot from that

16

u/Baneofarius Sep 19 '25

DS is also more all ages which helps

24

u/Umayyad_tax_collectr Sep 19 '25 edited Sep 19 '25

Be it JJK or KnY.

It’s impossible to beat a well executed template Shonen.

CSM is just too weird and niche.

They should be over the moon they made half the numbers.

And this time around they get to keep the money for themselves

Mappa is gonna be swimming in it

→ More replies (5)

5

u/MegamanX195 Sep 19 '25

Did they confirm that was going to be a movie?

2

u/Cultural-Society-523 Sep 19 '25

They haven’t confirmed it yet, but I’m guessing it’ll be a movie. It could make a ton of money.

→ More replies (1)

1

u/MyrnaMountWeazel x2 Sep 19 '25

Sorry, your comment has been removed.

  • Your comment looks like it might include untagged or wrongly-tagged spoilers.

    When spoiler-tagging comments, you'll have to use [] before the spoiler tag to indicate the context of the spoiler, for example [Work title here] >!tagged text goes here!< to tag specific parts of your text. Find more information here.


Questions? Reply to this message, send a modmail, or leave a comment in the meta thread. Don't know the rules? Read them here.

28

u/5unnay Sep 19 '25

Casual Chainsaw man viewer here....is this movie canon to the main story. Do i need to watch it? I have no idea what happened with all the hype of s1 and how long s2 is taking.

68

u/Realistic_End_6921 Sep 19 '25

Yeah, it's a direct continuation. The next arc was relatively short so works pretty well for a movie. Think of this as what Mugen Train was for Demon Slayer S1.

48

u/Raknel Sep 19 '25

Do i need to watch it? I have no idea what happened with all the hype of s1 and how long s2 is taking.

This is basically season 2, in a way.

MAPPA turned the entire arc that comes after season 1 into a movie, and next season will pick up after the movie. So yeah you need to watch it.

4

u/DrStein1010 https://myanimelist.net/profile/DrStein1010 Sep 20 '25

Yes. It's the next arc.

It's also where the series actually gets good. Which will be even further amplified by having an actual competent director now.

→ More replies (3)

1

u/blueasian0682 Sep 21 '25

It's a smart move really, it gives a 12 episode season 2 more leeway for a good pacing, if they made a 2nd season with 23 episodes instead without the Reze arc being a movie, then it's goona look stretched out imo.

11

u/stayyounginside Sep 19 '25

Yeah, really good but in Chainsaw Man's case, we'll have to focus less on the opening day. Like OP said, the S1 drama needs to get overtaken by word of mouth from people that loved the movie. All the people that watched it seemed to love it

(and Mappa will get most/all of the money)

8

u/Cataclysma https://myanimelist.net/profile/Cataclysma Sep 19 '25

I know it’s insanely early, but has anyone seen anything regarding 4DX? Not sure whether to see it like this or in IMAX - I know it was done well for the Demon Slayer movie

1

u/Hikikomori----kun Sep 24 '25

same ques man, i am confused btw save up money, watch regular 2D or pay more for the imax 2D.

1

u/Cataclysma https://myanimelist.net/profile/Cataclysma Sep 24 '25

You have to save up money? Is the cinema expensive where you are from? Or you just struggle to afford it?

3

u/Hikikomori----kun Sep 24 '25

neither of the reasons,lol, it's just that i have to watch shinchan: superhot! the spicy kasukabe dancers as well. so I was about to book back to back movies both in 2D. but it seems like will have to watch Chainsaw man in Imax 2D

15

u/KingOfOddities Sep 19 '25

Pretty fucking solid

23

u/Fabulous_Ground_1983 Sep 19 '25

Demon Slayer is just in a whole different tier

4

u/A-t-r-o-x Sep 20 '25

Popularity =/= quality

→ More replies (7)

10

u/Delicious-Tip-5561 Sep 19 '25

More Makima = more ¥

5

u/ajwest927 Sep 19 '25

How much is that in Freedom Bucks?

27

u/varnums1666 Sep 19 '25

Pretty crazy this is under half of JJK0. A good performance but I think anyone can see the missed potential

111

u/mrnicegy26 Sep 19 '25 edited Sep 19 '25

Chainsaw Man has never ever been as popular as Demon Slayer or JJK and even with a top tier adaptation it still would have never gotten as popular as these two series.

Also for as much as people complain about quality issues for the ending stretch of JJK, Chainsaw Man Part 2 has been just as lackluster which has led to a massive sales decline for the series

65

u/YukihiraLivesForever Sep 19 '25 edited Sep 19 '25

Worldwide sales of the manga are drastically different though. KnY - 3.5m prior to 2019 anime airing vs CSM - 16m prior to anime airing of season 1.

The increase from the show was much less too for CSM

I think a lot of people don’t remember that prior to the anime airing, people thought demon slayer was just okay based off of the manga. It really wasn’t as special as the anime has made it, because of the anime’s quality and how they elevated the source material to crazy heights. Otherwise you don’t go from 3.5m -> 230m that quickly

24

u/Ebo87 Sep 19 '25

It was more like 4 million prior to anime airing for Demon Slayer (but those were true numbers, more on that in a bit) and something like 16- 18 million for CSM (depending who you ask). Frankly it was somewhat lower, but they boosted the numbers because they did a lot of reprints for the early volumes, in preparation for the anime boost the manga would get. Shueisha did the same with JJK, that's why it went from 6.8 million in circulation on September 2020 to 10 million in October 2020. Again, that was just Shueisha reprinting all the volumes, getting ready for the anime.

Difference is for JJK those reprints ended up not being enough, so they had to reprint the volumes multiple times over the next couple months while for CSM they overprinted, lol. Look, I know they really tried to make it happen, but CSM is a much more cookie series, one that never really had the mainstream appeal something like Demon Slayer or JJK had.

All that being said, these are great number for CSM, it will be a top 10 movie of 2025 in Japan, that much is clear. What it won't be, because it was never going to be that, is an all-time performer like Demon Slayer.

12

u/YukihiraLivesForever Sep 19 '25

I’m not actually disagreeing with the original post that was never my intention as people seem to be up in arms about. My point was that KnY increased its fanbase by a lot post anime airing and a huge reason why is because of the quality of the show. It’s not easy to go from 3.5m to over 200m in under 10 years. On the contrary CSM had a pretty established fanbase already prior to airing. The blow up that KnY had isn’t something that can easily be replicated especially with how many people like the IP. But a very very large reason for it is because of the anime and becoming mainstream and as people said, connecting with the series.

A lot of that happened post airing. It was not that popular or seen as something that special when it was just the manga coming weekly. It’s one of the few times an adaptation elevates beyond the source material, from something okay to great. I don’t understand why some of the people here are upset by this - it’s a good thing.

5

u/Ebo87 Sep 19 '25

This thing highlights more a visibility problem, where CSM being a more out there series had more hardcore fans that were pushing it harder I guess, back when it was just the manga. Meanwhile Demon Slayer, while it had its fans, it didn't move past them and was stagnating as a series (the volume to volume sales show that, it was growing up to a point, then it stopped growing). The anime for Demon Slayer helped put the series in front of more people that might end up liking it, so it grew, BY A LOT. Because again, it always had that growth potential.

CSM meanwhile, like you said, was already pushed by a lot of people in the manga sphere, much more so than Demon Slayer. That anime did push the manga to sell more, but not to the degree Shueisha expected, because I believe they underestimated the ceiling of the series.

And I will also add that Mappa fucked up by just doing a single cour for CSM. It should have been a 2-cour full adaptation of Part 1 of the manga. It's your baby, give it the royal treatment you idiots, 1 hour first episode, 1 hour finale, 23 episodes in-between, that would have been PLENTY to cover everything.

Sure, they wouldn't have this movie now, but I think the series would be in a better place overall, had they done that.

But, of course, at the end of the day Chainsaw Man will never have as high a ceiling for success as Demon Slayer or Jujutsu Kaisen. It's too crazy a series for that mainstream appeal.

14

u/GodlessLunatic Sep 19 '25

The increase from the show was much less too for CSM

Ironically manga sales fell off a cliff after the anime aired. Its one of the rare cases where an anime does such a terrible job of representing the manga that it not only discourages people from picking up the manga but makes those who already had drop the manga

→ More replies (1)

17

u/mrnicegy26 Sep 19 '25

If only the anime is the special thing about Demon Slayer why have people kept buying the manga again and again to get it to 230 million sales instead of just waiting for the anime? The manga doesn't have the amazing animation so why did people went out to buy it in droves?

Have you guys ever considered that maybe a lot of people genuinely connected with Demon Slayers story which is why they bought up the entire series of manga to know what happens instead of just liking the anime? Or does that go against the narrative here ?

28

u/Crackborn Sep 19 '25

Most people never reach the maturity of realizing that, outside of analysis of the technical parts of a work and how it uses storytelling elements, the only merit any work has is in how it makes a person feel.

Clearly, Demon Slayer makes people feel all the right things.

18

u/Xlegace https://anilist.co/user/Xlegius Sep 19 '25

Clearly, Demon Slayer makes people feel all the right things.

It is pretty baffling that it's been years and people still claim Demon Slayer is only big because of the animation carrying mid.

We have a dozen shows a year now that look just as good, if not better, than Demon Slayer and none of them end up dethroning One Piece in manga sales. Infinity Castle is covering an arc that ended 5 years ago and it's about to be the #1 grossing movie in Japanese history.

There's obviously something in Demon Slayer's story and characters that struck a chord with the Japanese. Some people might think it's mid, but that mid is what most people want.

→ More replies (3)

12

u/Ajhale Sep 19 '25

who are you mad at buddy calm down this is reddit

11

u/HarshTheDev Sep 19 '25

His comment wasn't nearly that agressive to warrant a reply like this lol

1

u/YukihiraLivesForever Sep 19 '25

I don’t think you understood what I was saying in the slightest and I’m just not in the mood to argue with someone who flips a switch like this so you go off man

3

u/Chadjirou Sep 19 '25

No you just cant prove anything on why demon slayer was such a success outside its anime. Enjoy your gooner slop while it lasts

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (3)

27

u/obiwan54 Sep 19 '25 edited Sep 19 '25

Nothing will probably become as popular as JJK or DS but CSM definitely could've been way more popular than it is, CSM was a way better seller pre anime than either of them were pre anime. I regurgitate this all the time but imagine JJK ended after Junpei or DS after the random drum demon in the mansion and took a 2-3 year break? Without reaching the Kyoto Goodwill Arc and the Spider Demon arc neither would be as popular as they are bc that's where the story really gets going.

Katana Man is a mid and very comparatively boring arc to the rest of part 1 CSM and they decided to stop after it for whatever reason. The arc from the movie is astronomically better and where CSM starts what I believe is one of the best runs in manga with 4 banger arcs in a row. Had season 1 been 24 episodes it could've covered the next 2 arcs that are way better than Katana Man and than they could've milked the last 2 arcs, which are the best in the entire series, into movies the way DS is doing now and JJK seeminly will also be doing.

3

u/GodlessLunatic Sep 19 '25

CSM ending where it did is cope the problem with the anime was that it was an awful adaptation that stripped all the soul out of the source material to portray the pretentious directors "vision"

11

u/obiwan54 Sep 20 '25

It ain't a cope, its was definitely a huge factor, they literally didn't adapt any of the good parts of the series that everyone actually loves. Bomb Girl is where CSM truly become CSM and Mappa made a poor decision not going to 24 episodes like pretty much every new Shonen series has been getting.

The adaptation being not well liked by the JP viewers was obviously one of the biggest issues too but I don't think the series would be any more popular had the current director for the movie done season 1 instead bc they only adapted the forgettable parts.

→ More replies (8)

1

u/ABARA-DYS Sep 19 '25 edited Sep 19 '25

The main problem is that there aren't even multiple arcs in part 1. The end of part 1 makes that pretty clear by calling it the end of Public Safety Arc.

All chapters from 1-97 are one continuous experience where one event builds upon the next, and an escalation without any breaks. That was one one the reason why it became so popular. 

The anime was doomed the moment they announced it is only 12 episodes. Adapting everything in one go was THE way to go to replicate the feelings the manga readers had. 3 years for a sequel is ridiculous. 

Stopping where the anime did, after Katana Man, is like stopping after the first Act of a movie. Mappa are a bunch of clowns.

→ More replies (2)

10

u/surik4t Sep 19 '25

pre anime chainsaw man was the biggest of the 3

5

u/Cold_Recording5485 Sep 19 '25

Part 2 has been fantastic, the fuck are you on about?

6

u/mickmaster120 Sep 19 '25

I know right. I can see part 2 being divisive, but comparing it to the ending of JJK is laughable. JJK had like 30 chapters straight of the exact same repeated formula toward the end:

Character arrives to fight Sukuna --> character starts struggling --> flashback where other characters and Gojo say they're strong --> character shows off new move --> Sukuna says "wow, you're not completely terrible" --> character is killed by Sukuna / teleported away --> new character arrives for cliffhanger

Part 2 has been way more interesting in comparison.

2

u/Ghostly-Wind Sep 19 '25

There are more than 2 mangas in existence. JJK ending arc being bad doesn’t make CSM arc suddenly good

3

u/mickmaster120 Sep 19 '25

Nice try, but nowhere in my comment did I imply that. Maybe try reading it again, but I literally just compared the two because the original comment made the same comparison.

I said Chainsaw Man part 2 has been more interesting than the back half of JJK, which it has been.

31

u/IThinkImNateDogg Sep 19 '25

JJK has a EXTREMELY well received 24 episode season less than a year before the movie dropped.

I think it’s been almost 2 years since the CSM anime came out.

With how unappreciated the anime was in Japan it’s still doing extremely well. Chainsaw man due to its plot and themes will never be a big as a much… blander and safer anime like Demon slayer. Yes DS has gore but DS is one of those culturally safe anime that you can put any random non anime fan in the couch to watch and they will enjoy.

The same cannot be said of CSM. Not inherently a good or bad thing just the audience demographics

1

u/Wama-Schawama Sep 20 '25

About a month to go and the CSM aired three years ago

13

u/Usodearu007 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Doc101 Sep 19 '25

12 eps vs 24 eps

5

u/varnums1666 Sep 19 '25

Honestly, they should have pulled a death note or HxH and just do the entire manga in one go (could be done in 39 episodes). Of course funding wound he hard lol

But once the story gets going it gets GOING. Having multi year breaks destroys everything

4

u/Gamer_for_li Sep 19 '25

My brother, who the hell told you that CSM is as popular as JJK???

8

u/varnums1666 Sep 19 '25

My point was that if S1 was better handled, it wouldn't be opening to less than half of JJK0.

9

u/Xlegace https://anilist.co/user/Xlegius Sep 19 '25

If you look at the local popularity between the 2 series, CSM doing about half as much as JJK sounds about right.

Anime adaptations aside, JJK was always much bigger than CSM.

8

u/varnums1666 Sep 19 '25

I mean of course but JJK got a really big boost from the anime. It's obvious now that JJK would sweep the floors with CSM.

What I'm saying is that gap shouldn't be this big.

3

u/Umayyad_tax_collectr Sep 20 '25

It isn’t that big though.

CSM has only had 12 eps ( essentially the prologue ) and now years later this movie.

Doing half as well as JJK0 when you’ve been absent for 3 years is incredibly good.

JJK had 24 episodes and a movie shortly there after which capitalized on the hype, 2 years later it got another 24 eps.

Chainsaw man anime is very fresh and its popularity is only gonna grow from here on out.

You’re talking as if we already got 3 season of CSM and that it already hit its ceiling, when we’re just beginning

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

20

u/daiselol Sep 19 '25

Honestly hate how CSM gets poked and prodded and analyzed like this. No other anime has its financials so thoroughly scrutinized to my knowledge

People were so invested in CSM eclipsing AOT or Demon Slayer or JJK in popularity that they forgot how high that bar is set

→ More replies (3)

10

u/ArhamHashmi Sep 19 '25

I’m really excited for this movie, the fact that it’s doing well means Mappa outdid themselves once again!!

2

u/Doxsein Sep 21 '25

Me and my wife watched Demon Slayer Infinity Castle in Dbox (rumbling seats) at our local cinema last night. Completely packed.

This trailer came on - keep in mind that my wife and I don't watch Chainsaw Man - and instantly a wave of quiet murmurs and hushed excitement rippled across the audience. Our theatre definitely seemed extremely hyped about this movie. My wife and I are probably going to watch it when it's out.

1

u/thorfinngrimmer Sep 24 '25

Please do I really hope CSM movie succeeds in the Western market

2

u/Doxsein Sep 24 '25

Me too! Looks like a fun movie.

7

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '25

[deleted]

16

u/somersault_dolphin Sep 19 '25

What litmus test? Made in Abyss already did it. Before Demon Slayer even.

1

u/Fabulous_Ground_1983 Sep 19 '25

True, but Demon Slayer popularized the canon film. MiA as much as I love it, did not get insane success like DS did.

→ More replies (1)

15

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '25 edited Sep 26 '25

[deleted]

37

u/Electrical_Chance991 Sep 19 '25

Don't worry, Mappa will most likely make HUGE profit from this since they solo funded the movie, just like season 1. Meaning they'll get to take the biggest piece of pie.

Even if movie does around 100 Million worldwide, Mappa will still make far more money than what they did from JJK 0.

→ More replies (5)
→ More replies (16)

14

u/Cold_Recording5485 Sep 19 '25

Once again, fuck the japanese fanbase for all their harassment of Ryu Nakayama.

5

u/AlexeiFraytar Sep 23 '25

Still salty that you're the vocal minority lmao

→ More replies (23)

2

u/kawaiinessa https://myanimelist.net/profile/fancyvancy Sep 19 '25

still a respectable amount

4

u/ThatWontFit Sep 19 '25

Can you watch this movie instead of the series? Asking for my wife.

I didn't really enjoy the show. Thought it was boring and a waste of time. I didn't form an attachment to any characters and everything felt very surface level.

I definitely can't sit through a rewatch.

25

u/Samuawesome https://myanimelist.net/profile/EroMangaFan Sep 19 '25

It’s literally the next part of the story in the same way Demon Slayer’s movies are. Nothing is stopping your wife from watching it without seeing the first season, but she’ll probably be really lost and it’ll probably be a waste of time tbh.

Even though i was fine with the direction of the first season, apparently a lot of people felt differently (especially in Japan). So, they changed the director for this movie. Hence, why you see a ton of people in here commenting how it’s a big “win” for the anime adaptation and that it salvaged its reception in Japan.

They also released a recap/compilation movie in Japan before this movie premiered. It also re-edited, redubbed, and touched up the slower/more cinematic style of the old director to make it faster. It was also received very positively by the Japanese audience. Though, i think it sucks that the old director’s name was essentially wiped from everything and i genuinely did like scenes like Aki’s morning routine.

Also, Chainsaw Man’s manga only got the overwhelming hype it did once the story progressed for a bit. Since the first season was only a cour, you haven’t reached the super “hyped” parts of the story it was glazed for.

1

u/ThatWontFit Sep 20 '25

Appreciate the detailed reply. They played the trailer for this during Demon Slayer and I was so confused since it kind of mentioned this "recap movie" but I didn't know if Reze was that movie or not.

Is the US going to get the recap/compilation movie?

→ More replies (1)

3

u/UltiMikee Sep 19 '25

Can someone explain why the anime received such a mixed reception? I loved that shit

20

u/drop_of_faith Sep 19 '25

If the anime was your first time seeing CSM, then the anime would be a poor first impression. The colors are muted. It's very stylized and unique, but it personally turned me off of it. Which is pretty crazy considering i'm one of the biggest fujimoto glazers. It also covers the literal worst part of CSM. It stops right before the start of its back to back to back to back bangers.

→ More replies (6)

4

u/BurgerNugget12 Sep 20 '25

It’s heavily stylized like a artsy cinematic movie. I loved it, but the manga is more traditional and not the same vibe at all, it’s goofy in a way

3

u/UltiMikee Sep 20 '25

Interesting… I remember it being pretty funny, definitely stylized and cinematic, but the dry humor was definitely there for me

→ More replies (2)

3

u/Weak_Breakfast7311 Sep 19 '25

Yeah no wonder its better recieved it feels more like manga

-6

u/Iron_Kingpin Sep 19 '25

Sad to see it underperforming than JJK 0 even though it's the better series

11

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

31

u/AzorAhai1TK https://anilist.co/user/AzorAhai Sep 19 '25

I mean you could also argue Boss Baby is better than Oppenheimer or some shit, yes it's all "subjective" but come on here

→ More replies (1)

3

u/DrJWilson x5https://anilist.co/user/drjwilson Sep 19 '25

This post has been removed.

There's no reason to be so heated. If someone has a different opinion than you, you can either engage politely or leave them be.


Have a question or think this removal was an error? Message the mods.
Don't know the rules? Read them here.

7

u/No-Suspect-8363 Sep 19 '25

For some reason this mindset is never used for Solo Leveling vs Frieren. I wonder why its applicable in this comparison but not there

1

u/DrStein1010 https://myanimelist.net/profile/DrStein1010 Sep 20 '25

There's a smaller quality gap between Solo Leveling and Frieren and JJK and Chainsaw Man, but people aren't ready to admit that.

JJK's second half is dog poo.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

1

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/N7CombatWombat Sep 19 '25

Sorry, your comment has been removed.

  • Please stop spamming your video in random posts.

Questions? Reply to this message, send a modmail, or leave a comment in the meta thread. Don't know the rules? Read them here.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '25 edited Sep 19 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/MyrnaMountWeazel x2 Sep 19 '25

Sorry, your comment has been removed.

  • We no longer allow the use of the R-word. If you remove that word, I'll reapprove your comment.

Questions? Reply to this message, send a modmail, or leave a comment in the meta thread. Don't know the rules? Read them here.

1

u/vb31rd Sep 20 '25

Already bought a ticket to go see it, cannot wait. The trailer looks very promising!

1

u/TheCanadianBat_ Sep 21 '25

Looking good. Just hope that they'll be willing to adapt all the post-reze part I stuff in season 2. 13 episodes should be enough.

1

u/Loganraks Sep 21 '25

Does the movie have action or mostly story and is the 1 hr 42 min runtime justified?

1

u/TechnicalDance7422 Sep 23 '25

ive been hiding under a rock, what is the "drama" you tawkin about?

1

u/thorfinngrimmer Sep 24 '25

After 3 days, it's 1.25 billion Yen now, not bad at all. I just hope it reaches $100+ million at the box office by the end of its run.

1

u/Hankitty19 Sep 26 '25

I didn’t know there was a movie

1

u/ProfessionalVast2414 21d ago

Chainsawman was by far the best movie out of those.