Chainsaw Man Movie Director Reveals How He’s Fixing Season 1’s Biggest Mistakes

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc marks the long-awaited return of the 2022 anime TV series following the divisive reception to Season 1. Tatsuya Yoshihara, the new anime director following Season 1 director Ryū Nakayama, opened up about making the new Chainsaw Man movie more faithful to Tatsuki Fujimoto’s original story.

The Chainsaw Man movie will be released in theaters worldwide on Oct. 29, 2025. In the lead-up to the film’s fall release, Yoshihara was interviewed alongside assistant director Masato Nakazono in the October 2025 issue of Da Vinci magazine (Sept. 1, 2025). Yoshihara’s comments, as translated by X user Gloomy (@/ImNotThatGloomy), discussed the significant differences between the Chainsaw Man movie and the Season 1 anime. Key differences that favor Tatsuki Fujimoto’s original story over the polarizing realism of Nakayama’s.

Chainsaw Man Movie Director Promises a More Faithful Adaptation of Tatsuki Fujimoto’s Manga

Chainsaw Man film director Yoshihara was asked about the movie’s new art style, as seen in its high-quality action scenes and ending, which significantly differ from the grounded approach to Season 1. As Yoshihara explained, the movie’s new animation quality was an intentional departure from Season 1, aiming to bring the anime back to the artistic qualities of Fujimoto’s manga.

“I discussed things extensively with Sugiyama-san, the character designer, as well as the AD and ED staff,” Yoshihara said. “We decided to return to the ‘origin’ — the brilliance of Tatsuki Fujimoto’s paneling and compositions in the manga. Based on that, we set out a direction to more actively carry over the expressiveness of the original drawings into the anime.”

Yoshihara further explained the key visual differences between Chainsaw Man: Reze Arc and Chainsaw Man Season 1. “We removed the highlights in the characters’ eyes and reduced the amount of shading. For character colors, we slightly increased the saturation of Makima’s and Power’s hair. Depending on how you look at it, the eyes might appear ‘lifeless,’ but I think that itself is part of the key design ‘appeal’ that Chainsaw Man holds. We re-examined those kinds of details one by one, aiming to bring the visuals closer to the original, and I think that became the core this time.”

Before becoming the new anime director of Chainsaw Man, Yoshihara previously worked as an episode director for Season 1, Black Clover, and as the director of Monster Musume: Everyday Life with Monster Girls.

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc was first announced at the Jump Festa ’24 event on Dec. 17, 2023. The Reze Arc first trailer wouldn’t be released until Anime Expo 2025, which showcased the anime’s new bombastic style that completely 180 Season 1’s slow, realistic approach. As fans and critics noted during Season 1, Nakayama’s Chainsaw Man treated the anime as if it were a live-action program, which affected the animation, style, and vocal performances of the cast. Some fans suggested that this controversial approach was made to make the anime more accessible to worldwide audiences, especially since many believed the Chainsaw Man manga had everything it needed to be the next big thing.

However, Chainsaw Man‘s home media sales underperformed when compared to MAPPA’s biggest Shonen Jump hit, Jujutsu Kaisen. Meanwhile, Bocchi the Rock! was the surprise hit of 2022, despite being another loud and proud slice-of-life comedy about cute anime girls; an impression Chainsaw Man desperately tried to avoid.

Chainsaw Man

Release Date

2022 – 2022

Network

TV Tokyo, TV Osaka, TV Aichi, TVh, TVQ, TSC

Directors

Takeru Sato

Writers

Hiroshi Seko

• Tomori Kusunoki

  Makima (voice)

_{Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.}