Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc assistant director Masato Nakazono, president of MAPPA and the film’s supervising producer Manabu Otsuka, and CGI producer Yusuke Tannawa appeared at New York Comic Con on Sunday, where they discussed delivering one of Chainsaw Man’s more popular arcs.
According to Nakazono, for the team — which was led by director Tatsuya Yoshihara — it was important that the film “inherited the strengths of the TV series, so we worked together to highlight the essence of the original manga” as well as the show in the best way for a theatrical film.
“For example, in terms of the visual look, Makima’s hair color has been changed. [We] would make it more vibrant, more color that will stand out in a film,” Nakazono said via a translator. “We wanted to inherit the anime series, but size-wise, [it] is different. We had to make sure that all the background would fit in the theatrical frame as well, so we worked hard on that.”
Speaking to challenges around bringing the manga-turned-TV series to the big screen, Nakazono explained how the film’s team expanded the dialogue from the manga as they adapted it. “There are no speaking words between panels, so we have to create that and make sure the dialogue is going to stand up,” he explained. “The characters Reze and Denji have very personal, intimate relations. Denji thinks Reze is so cute, so we wanted to do things that made the audience feel the same way as Denji would.”
In terms of the film’s animation, which blends 2D and 3D styling, Tannawa explained how the “wanted to make sure the 2D and 3D coexisted naturally as one visual.” Additionally, with the scale and sizing of a TV series and film being different, “we had to make sure the background would fit into the theatrical frame as well.”
Addressing why the Chainsaw Man movie’s creative team partnered with Sony to distribute the film internationally — a nontypical distribution approach for anime — Otsuka explained it was driven by them wanting to tell the next story arc after the first season of the anime series on the big screen.
“The season one TV series of Chainsaw Man has been praised, so there was talk of making a sequel to that. We wanted to make a sequel as a film, not on TV. There were so many fans who have enjoyed it, so we felt like Chainsaw Man would be [released] as one independent film, and we felt like Sony distribution would help us, and that’s how we decided to collaborate with them,” he said.
Later in the panel, after screening clips and animatics with live commentary and holding giveaways for fans, the panel shared messages from the director and character designer.
“With this film, all of us on the staff wanted to convey the fun and the appeal of Chainsaw Man to as many people as possible, so we gave it our all this time,” wrote Kazutaka. “We work to fully capture the charm of Tatsuki Fujimoto’s characters. The action scenes are like an amusement park ride. You can just empty your head and enjoy them.”
“In Reze Arc, a completely new genre is born — love, violence, action, romance, shark. I believe it’s a film whose impact will differ depending on which character’s perspective you follow. You can feel the thrill and the tension throughout the action, and you can also sense the preciousness of each character through the romance elements,” the message from Yoshihara read. “In Chainsaw Man, devils regain their strength by consuming blood. For Reze Arc, every member of the production team offered up a huge amount of blood, and as a result, the movie is bursting with energy. Every time you go to the theater to watch Reze Arc, it gives strength to all of us on the staff as well.”
Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc will release in theaters on Oct. 24.
