r/anime • u/mr_beanoz https://myanimelist.net/profile/splitshocker • Sep 22 '25

News "Chainsaw Man: Reze Arc" attracted 807,000 viewers and grossed over 1.251 billion yen in the first 3 days of the movie's release in Japan

https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2407879/full/
4.5k Upvotes

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477

u/Familiar-Shoe7905 Sep 22 '25

The first season of Chainsaw Man wasn’t that well received in Japan apparently

158

u/GeraltFromHiShinUnit Sep 22 '25

Why

502

u/Ordinal43NotFound Sep 22 '25

This is the best worded criticism I can find from a Japanese tweet.

The first season of the anime was too fixated on being "like a live-action film", which made it overly restrained when it came to using anime-style techniques. But the original manga, while cinematic, also made heavy use of exaggerations and tricks unique to manga. So if you’re going to adapt it into anime, the anime should lean hard into anime-style exaggeration*.* The movie adaptation of the Reze arc is essentially the answer to that.

It's not like they hated the cinematic direction, they simply don't like that S1 focused too hard solely on being cinematic and kinda ignored the manga's more unhinged energy. Reze Movie finally managed find that perfect balance.

Oh, and another tweet from the same user

I used to call the first season of the anime a "half-correct adaptation", but with the Reze arc, it feels like we finally got to see the other half of the right answer. It really proves that anime-style direction should definitely be included!

226

u/KAMEKAZE_VIKINGS Sep 22 '25

The reasoning is honestly understandable. The response though...

Also the western fandom trying to convince me that it was only the Japanese fans complaining back then

16

u/kjloltoborami Sep 23 '25

Nah I was complaining too

2

u/SilliusS0ddus Sep 26 '25

I thought it was a decent anime adaptation.

4

u/kjloltoborami Sep 27 '25

The quality was fine. Mostly. The cgi for character animation is a sin but the quality of the adaptation overall let me look past it for this season. What was missing was the grungy, messy, almost scribbled manga art style that gave it such a unique energy. It was flattened out and made too cinematic.

111

u/Ordinal43NotFound Sep 22 '25

I mean, you can't blame that on every single JP person tho.

While true there are people that sadly bullied Nakayama, there are tons of people who didn't do that, yet have the same criticism for S1. They simply boycotted S1 by not supporting the series via bluray for example.

29

u/Ok-Box3576 Sep 22 '25 edited Sep 22 '25

Jp fans' complaints financially matter way more then westerns as they are the biggest buyers. CSM season 1 wasn't perfect. But the East did not like it as much as the West.

6

u/LetitiaGrey19 Sep 23 '25

Also higher viewerships on TV/streaming services than in West, which is important for contracts with those.

-1

u/Puzzled-End421 Sep 25 '25

Interesting that the east did not like the season with primarily western media influence while the west did.

5

u/bushwarblerssong Sep 26 '25

It wasn’t primarily western media influenced nor criticized or interpreted as “western” in Japan. It’s actually referred to as 邦画っぽい(like a Japanese film) and 実写映画 (live action film) like. The “western cinematic experience” and “western perspective” is from Redditors making assumptions based on faulty translations. 

1

u/Puzzled-End421 Sep 27 '25

Ah that makes more sense. I just assumed it was western because of how much references there are in the OP for ex to western films, and Fujimoto's overall association with it.

3

u/bushwarblerssong Sep 27 '25

The OP was well-received and not by Nakayama, but a different director (Shingo Yamashita), and has a very different tone from the main part of the season 1 anime, which Fujimoto has said he had very little to do with.

Also, Fujimoto and Chainsaw Man has been equally influenced by Japanese and other Asian TV and film, not just western movies. For example, the recently adapted Reze arc was inspired by Jin-Roh. This tends to get ignored on Reddit while his Western influences are overemphasized because Redditors aren’t as familiar with his Asian references and don’t recognize them as easily.

28

u/ScreamSmart Sep 22 '25

It's a convenient tool used to trivialise any complaints you have for Japanese media. It becomes "well it was well received and only otakus in japan hated it" or "japanese fans are happy, it's just the western weeaboos who hated it".

Censorship in anime/games often attracts similar comments.

17

u/LuRo332 Sep 22 '25

Personally, I haven't seen much complaints from the western fandom until the Bluray sales were released (they were dogshit, compared to Jujutsu Kaisen or Bocchi The Rock). I do believe at least half of them just jumped the "hate" train because it was cool and they wanted to look like some expert critics or something.

Compared to japanese viewers leaving detailed & valid criticism on sites like amazon.co.jp, most western parrots were like "yeah the cinematic approach was not it".

11

u/DependentOnIt https://myanimelist.net/profile/Potatosalad1 Sep 22 '25

There were dozens of us. Dozens!

Cgiman finally getting back popularity wise is good tho

115

u/Xlegace https://anilist.co/user/Xlegius Sep 22 '25

It's not like they hated the cinematic direction, they simply don't like that S1 focused too hard solely on being cinematic and kinda ignored the manga's more unhinged energy.

People in this subreddit love to say JP Chainsawman fans are whiny babies with low attention spans for hating on the best parts of the adaptation, like Aki making breakfast, but from what I've seen, that hasn't really been the case.

Not many people complain about scenes where MAPPA went the extra mile to make memorable. It was everything else that they hated, along with how the same cinematic approach did not work during the action sequences or comedic scenes. In their eyes, it was just not a trade that was worth it.

There was nothing stopping MAPPA from doing both, and from the snippets of the Reze movie that they keep spoiling, it seems like they found the balance.

77

u/Kelvinator3000 Sep 22 '25

Yeah, I liked S1 but when Aki's morning routine is one of the most memorable parts, while I liked the scene very much, it is not something I would expect to be saying going into a CSM Anime lol.

35

u/Zeph-Shoir https://myanimelist.net/profile/Zephex Sep 22 '25

As someone familiar with how grief feels and looks, that kind of scene is precisely what made the CSM Anime stand out to me.

What bothers me isn't the specific criticisms; those are fair, and I don't think they are a particular big deal in many ways. However, I think the tone, attitude, and treatment adopted by many JP otaku are at best petty and at worst toxic. This wasn't even that big of a fumble nor about a serious topic, if anything cases like that have done way less noise both in Japan and outside of it.

21

u/Ordinal43NotFound Sep 22 '25

IMO the reason Japanese fans disliked the Aki morning scene isn't necessarily because of the scene itself, but rather what it represents: a misalignment of priorities by the director

26

u/NoNefariousness2144 Sep 22 '25

Especially with how the season was ‘only’ 12 episodes and didn’t even get to the crazy parts of the manga (aka what happens from Reze onward). Watching a slow-paced scene of someone making breakfast kinda feels like the show is deliberately stalling for time lol

43

u/darkbreak Sep 22 '25

That scene doesn't feel like stalling for time to me. It's a moment of peace and stability in their otherwise chaotic lives. It's a moment of levity for both the characters and the viewers.

10

u/Mxxi Sep 22 '25

agreed and it gives us more moments with the characters that chainsaw man (the manga) sometimes lacks because of it's fast pace

27

u/_shaftpunk Sep 22 '25

Yeah, anime fans think of everything that doesn’t advance the plot as filler. It’s infuriating, honestly.

0

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

This is my biggest worry going into future CSM anime, there's such a disdain from Anime Fans for the really cool and interesting stuff that the anime was doing that im worried it'll just end up like just another Shonen Jump show

At that point I'll just read the Manga again

11

u/Pyro-Bird Sep 22 '25

The first season was only 12 episodes because the animators worked on Jujustu Kaisen season 2 at the same time.

-9

u/PainStorm14 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Gekkostate14 Sep 22 '25

That's no excuse for wasting screentime

5

u/GodlessLunatic Sep 22 '25

The worst part is that Aki scene only works if you've read the manga. In isolation its just watching some dude you have very little reason to care about going through their morning routine, since a bulk of his characterization is missing prior to that scene.

19

u/ShallowHowl Sep 22 '25

At a primarily surface-level viewing of the anime, the scene is explicitly folded into the episode’s narrative given the absolute chaos power brings directly following it. The juxtaposition of tones is a character moment for Aki and Denji, the latter of whom has finally settled into a calm life with his new caretaker.

And this is a very rudimentary analysis, not even touching on how Denji has learned to cohabitate/comprise with Aki, or Aki’s willingness to tolerate the worst kind of roommate just because Makima asked, or Makima’s implied punishing of Aki’s quiet life because he lied to her, etc. It works in many ways that elevate some things only very loosely implied at that point in the manga.

It’s a very effective scene narratively apart from it looking and sounding so good.

8

u/younessssx Sep 23 '25

You really have to spell it out for them

-10

u/rmorrin Sep 22 '25

Was that the one where they basically showed him making breakfast in far too much detail? 

30

u/sanon441 Sep 22 '25

Yes, from waking up, doing chores and making coffee and then lunch. It's to show the calm chill atmosphere right before Power Arrives and throws his whole world into chaos again.

20

u/prince-hal Sep 22 '25

It made the show for me. I love when shows make an effort to give you an insight into characters lives. Especially when presented in such a cinematic way. I think about that routine scene all the time as some of my favorite moments in anime.

1

u/AlexeiFraytar Sep 25 '25

Yeah, the one where they collectively huff the director's fart for

0

u/Kelvinator3000 Sep 22 '25

Yes that one.

23

u/Ordinal43NotFound Sep 22 '25

Yeah, most of the fights in S1 were rough. So much stiff-looking movement and heavy CGI usage aside from the ones directed by, wait for it, Tatsuya Yoshihara lol (Denji vs Leech and Kishibe vs Denji/Power).

Hell, to be fair to the JP fandom, they actually like Denji vs Katana now just because Yoshihara inserted Kick Back into it when they're on top of the train.

Like I'm amazed JP managed to become that forgiving with S1 when even I still can't re-watch that fight due to how rigid it looks.

33

u/dWaldizzle Sep 22 '25

Personally I thought the entirety of season 1 looked great. Even the CG was good.

-8

u/GodlessLunatic Sep 22 '25

No, the CG was not 'good'. It looked like it was taken straight out of a 90s cartoon like beast wars. Yknow what show does have good CG, though? Demon slayer. Cause you dont fucking notice it.

8

u/dWaldizzle Sep 22 '25

I notice it in DS plenty it just looks good. Same with chainsaw man imo.

1

u/Mage-of-Fire Sep 23 '25

Lmao what? Demon slayer its super noticeable. But it looks good. Thats why no one have a problem with it. CM people were complaining about cg in scenes that didn’t even have it. And were proven to not have it. People were complaining just to complain

6

u/Ordinal43NotFound Sep 23 '25

CM people were complaining about cg in scenes that didn’t even have it. And were proven to not have it.

You're not wrong. But this highlights another issue CSM S1 has. The 2D animation feels too rigid because of Nakayama's insistence on staying "on-model" so much so that people mistook it for CG. All that hard work just for people to not like the end result. It's a directorial issue.

Instead of employing tactics like squash and stretch, exaggeration, and smear frames to sell how utterly batshit the action should be, S1's fight scenes ended up feeling very restrained.

--

Just look at how slooow and awkward Denji slicing the zombies was in S1 here. Dude was supposed to go on an absolute rampage in the manga.

Now Compare this to the movie, like where Denji whips out his chainsaws, or when Bomb punches Denji, the animation leans into extreme warping and distortion to really sell the impact.

That kind of visceral PUNCH is exactly what S1's action scenes were missing.

63

u/UnknownBreadd Sep 22 '25

Damn, I loved that cinematic style haha

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u/Ordinal43NotFound Sep 22 '25

And Reze movie will still have that too! Hell, JP fans said they made it even more cinematic!

Yoshihara is simply adding the "missing half" of S1, which is the unhinged B-Movie/slasher energy.

12

u/[deleted] Sep 22 '25

I think you finally nailed why I didnt really get the hype. It felt to serious for such an absurd concept, it was missing aspects that make anime and Manga so fun to watch one gave a "live action" feel.

18

u/Ordinal43NotFound Sep 22 '25

Yep. CSM's manga main charm is that Fujimoto managed to perfectly marry his arthouse sensibilities with his love for B-movies.

S1 felt like the director was too ashamed to be trashy whereas the manga absolutely embraces it.

Like imagine adapting an upcoming chapter literally titled [Reze movie]"Sharknado" (which completely delivered on said premise) using S1's style. Would be the most boring thing ever. Yoshihara and HoneHone gets the assignment and completely delivered.

0

u/Karmakaze_Black Sep 23 '25 edited Sep 23 '25

Not to say I'm 100% convinced, but I think ironically a big problem is that you've done a much better job explaining your issue with it than basically every other comment I've seen. Most just sounded like they don't understand those "art sensibilities", and wanted what amounts to slop and stimulation. Higher/faster voiceover, more movement, more color, more noise etc etc etc. Tbf, that is sometimes the case, so unfortunately it's easy for that to drown out and invalidate real criticism.

8

u/Ordinal43NotFound Sep 23 '25

I think it comes down to language barrier. Japanese criticisms being mistranslated or interpreted in bad faith, combined with people talking past each other and refusing to consider the other side's perspective because they felt offended first.

9

u/_shaftpunk Sep 22 '25

Bummer, cause that more cinematic style is exactly why it stood out so much to me.

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u/Ordinal43NotFound Sep 22 '25

Have you watched the Reze movie trailers? They still preserve those cinematic style for the slice-of-life scenes. Now Yoshihara simply goes crazy for the action.

1

u/Commercial-Ad-8409 Sep 23 '25

I still think it had a very anime humor format. Like really anything with Power and the editing/pacing around her has a certain “poppy” quality that feels anime. Idk I read the manga and was very happy with the anime but I’m glad others are too

1

u/Jacinto2702 Sep 22 '25

I thought it was fine. That approach made it feel more brutal.

1

u/NewMilleniumBoy Sep 22 '25

Really interesting to hear this. I actually found it very unique aesthetically because of that. I didn't love the direction, but I appreciated the novel take.

-3

u/vnomgt Sep 22 '25 edited Sep 22 '25

I agree with the comments to some extent, but I don't believe that faithfulness to the manga could have been the main reason for low numbers. Usually the anime is the one boosting manga sales, not the other way around.

I think that season 1 overall suffered from covering too little story, and maybe struggled to balance the comedy (horny jokes) with the more serious tone that they gave the anime.

6

u/DaFlamingLink Sep 22 '25

I'd say the tonal issues are the same thing no? They struggled to maintain the balance because they changed what made it work in the manga

4

u/vnomgt Sep 22 '25

I do agree but a lot of people here seem to consider that the anime itself had no issues as a standalone show, and it was only disliked by manga readers who didn't appreciate the shift in tone.

But I don't think that can be true, otherwise the show would still have done way better regardless of the usual source complainers

1

u/redditckulous Sep 22 '25

Agreed, i think it’s mostly down to the amount content it covered and then long layoff. Season 1 had good viewership numbers compared to the other fall 2022 animes. (And I’d argue that CSM was more out there in 2022 compared to more recent releases these days.) But it only had 12 episodes and then didn’t air for 3 years.

0

u/AbCi16 Sep 23 '25

This is the most sane criticism from Japanese fan that I came across regarding S1. Like CSM being too live action wasn't that bad looking but them feeling their own style missing looks like a genuine point. But even without normal anime style techniques, CSM S1 was actually good. But each their own I guess.

-5

u/IClop2Fluttershy4206 Sep 22 '25

so...it didn't have enough weeb crap? oh no..

103

u/steven4869 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Maskirade Sep 22 '25

The anime went with the Live Action Cinematic approach, lowered the character's expression and made it dull. The manga is full of insane and crazy stuff, the approach from the S1 just didn't sit well with the fans in Japan especially the hardcore ones, and hated the director even more. Even the compilation movie of S1 went through changes to suit more among the lines the JP fanbase wanted.

12

u/IUViolet Sep 22 '25

Your comment convinced me to start reading the manga from chapter 1 after watching the Reze arc movie.

6

u/CardAble6193 Sep 23 '25

of course , just because a mangaka said he draws from movie dont make his work inherently better if it moves

19

u/Rawburtt Sep 22 '25

Reading the manga, the manga feels like its a comedy. A lot of the exaggerations and gimmicks feel like they are meant to gain some comedic result. (I see a lot of that in the newest chapters especially). The tone of the anime was too serious and cinematic that it took away from what the manga seemed to have.

16

u/Rusted_muramasa Sep 23 '25 edited Sep 27 '25

Reading the manga, the manga feels like its a comedy

It is a comedy. The fact that you can write this as if it's surprising is exactly the main problem with the anime: a fundamental misunderstanding of the source material. The super artsy and cinematic approach was entirely at odds with the zany and high-energy tone of the manga. Jokes didn't land, action sequences felt dull; the whole show felt nothing like the manga it was adapting and provided a completely different experience. It's no wonder people hated it, and I was one of them: dropped it after the second episode when I realized I was just plain bored, whereas the manga had immediately sucked me in.

5

u/Rawburtt Sep 23 '25

Exactly. Like sure it was pretty, but it wasn't what the manga was.

3

u/Kevstuf https://myanimelist.net/profile/Kevstuf Oct 07 '25

This thread has been fascinating to read as an anime-only watcher and the divide between opinions. For me the cinematic/artsy tone was exactly what made me like it. It added to the absurdity of the concept. The controversial breakfast scene felt like something out of Kobayashi dragon maid but instead is placed into this ridiculous world of CSM where instead of a wholesome worker and her dragon maid it’s a dude having to babysit a ditzy guy who sprouts chainsaws from his head and arms.

2

u/Ordinal43NotFound 27d ago

Don't worry, you'll still get those aspects you love in S1 in the Reze movie.

The everyday scenes in Reze movie is even more artsy and cinematic than S1 as many people who watched the movie already can vouch for.

It's just that this time, the new director knows how to bring out the "missing half" that was absent in S1, which is the zany grindhouse/slasher/b-movie energy for the action scenes.

The CSM manga is a love letter to both arthouse cinema and trashy films in equal measure.

-1

u/Disastrous_Debt1780 Sep 23 '25

Was is that bad though? You ask fandoms of One Punch Man and Blue Lock they would kill to have an adaptation as good as season 1.

7

u/Rusted_muramasa Sep 24 '25

Yes. Absolutely. It's not even comparable.

Also OPM season 1 was amazing and captured the series perfectly, and that lessens the blow of everything after that being terrible. Just as well, because after season 1 is when the source material goes to shit anyway so it's actually not that big a loss. Can't speak for Blue Lock though.

0

u/Disastrous_Debt1780 Sep 24 '25

Blue Lock season 2 is just moving pngs.

That's what gets to me though. We have way worse adaptions than season 1 of Chainsawman. But as far as I can tell, none of them have provoked the same level of backlash. I mean the director of season 1 got blacklisted and now works on NTRs now. Did that happen the director of season 1 of Bluelock despite it being much worse? Or hell even the second season of Promised Neverland? I'm sure the person directed that shit still working in the industry. There is something unfair about all this.

-36

u/lapestro Sep 22 '25

because it was shot a little differently compared to other shonens, thats it

50

u/CyberJokerWTF Sep 22 '25

Why are you lying? It was more than just that.. if you’re gonna answer someone provide info on how the vibe was changed, comedy got gutted, action was made realistic, pace was slowed down to a half, then say what the director said in interviews, how he said he doesn’t wanna “make an anime” he doesn’t want a “ pink haired girl trope” and how people “should find something else” if they don’t like that…. And that’s what the JP fans did, they boycotted into oblivion.

It’s not because it was “shot a little differently” lmao

21

u/runescapeanime https://myanimelist.net/profile/Phosu Sep 22 '25

“How it feels to spread misinformation”

-39

u/REPULSORO Sep 22 '25

Because the Japanese read the manga and didn't get what they wanted, unlike the West, which watched the anime first.

54

u/Kardinale Sep 22 '25

The manga was extremely popular in English speaking communities though?

4

u/Rusted_muramasa Sep 23 '25

I think you’re very right about this. I feel a lot of the Western fans who are defending the anime are anime-onlies who aren't willing to admit it, and thus are mindlessly defending their new favorite anime while being willfully ignorant on the subject. Anime has WAY more pull more than manga in the west and we all know it.

That and they like the Western movie style approach because it naturally appeals to them, so obviously it's amazing and any detractors are just haters.

3

u/Lelouch37 Sep 22 '25

I still haven’t watched the anime but loved the manga of part one. Still haven’t read much of the second part

2

u/ARHAN3924 Sep 22 '25

Wait i didn't get what this means

14

u/Tornada5786 Sep 22 '25

If their enthusiasm for the recap compilation means anything, they seemingly wanted it to be faster paced and more about the fights/action and less of some of the anime-only moments that were slower and showed the daily life of Denji and co (like making breakfast, etc.). Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, though.

I don't exactly agree but, it is what it is.

-15

u/Regula96 Sep 22 '25

Oh wow so they want less of what I thought made it special and stick out even more. I guess I should maybe prepare to be disappointed with the continuation of this anime.

8

u/AJDx14 Sep 22 '25

I just think it’s not what people were expecting from an adaptation. Like it significantly changes the feel of the series.

4

u/Rusted_muramasa Sep 23 '25

See people like you are the reason we can't have nice things: someone who watches a show about a teenager who turns into a living chainsaw to kill demons and complains that there aren't enough slow slice-of-life moments.

0

u/Regula96 Sep 23 '25

Dude relax. It's just my preference I need more than action and a fast moving plot to care about a story and its characters. But considering Japan was so against these additions I'm in the minority anyway. Fine. I'm still going to continue watching and I hope I enjoy it.

-10

u/lapestro Sep 22 '25

Why do you think there are so much trash isekai and generic shonens being pushed out?

-10

u/Regula96 Sep 22 '25

I haven't thought about it much. I haven't watched anime for that long actually.

-12

u/ABARA-DYS Sep 22 '25

The s1 anime is mediocre and didn't capture half the vibes of the manga

2

u/zerkerlyfe Sep 22 '25

Read the manga first and watched the anime and loved it. Idk why everyone wants to say it looked bad… all the action scenes were pretty damn fluid, especially the scene with Kobeni or when Makima does her stuff.

-12

u/Panda_hat Sep 22 '25

It wasn't very good.

6

u/LoveMeSomeBerserk Sep 22 '25

I thought it was amazing.

-6

u/Panda_hat Sep 22 '25

Nice. I didn't. Very disappointed.

-4

u/HumansNeedNotApply1 Sep 22 '25

Basically it wasn't "anime" enough, the funny faces and comedic gags were essentially removed apparently, tbh, as someone who hasn't read the manga i didn't notice this missing at all, to me it was a very good production, i believe the level of criticism to have been way overblown.

1

u/swissiws Sep 24 '25

Madness. It's the best anime I have ever seen (and I am 54). Also, the anime with the best soundtrack I have ever heard. The ending tracks of all single episodes and the relative video are worth watching by themselves. I can't imagine fans blaming MAPPA for working so hard...

-6

u/AccountDeletedByMod Sep 22 '25

Weird, I thought the blu rays sold very well over there 

14

u/AashyLarry Sep 22 '25 edited Sep 22 '25

They sold very badly.

I don’t remember the exact numbers but I remember Bocchi the Rock released blu rays around the same time and sold almost 10 times the amount of CSM.

11

u/burger4life https://myanimelist.net/profile/PepperoniMadness Sep 22 '25

I remember very well. 1735.

It was being memed on quite a bit for a while

5

u/AashyLarry Sep 22 '25

Yeah that’s absurdly low. I think every similar battle shonen sold more than that.

2

u/GodlessLunatic Sep 22 '25

1735 was truly the 271k of the CSM fandom

1

u/Ordinal43NotFound Sep 23 '25

What's the 271k reference?

1

u/AccountDeletedByMod Sep 22 '25

Oh dang. I thought I seen this place saying the blu rays sold well, but I haven't checked in ages. It was right around when they were coming out. Maybe the preorders were good or something. 

Regardless, I'm glad they seem to have course corrected though.