Its honestly really hard to explain how much the Reze arc of Chainsaw Man means to me. It was July 2021 and I was studying for Calculus II a brutal firstyear exam in electronic engineering. I was spending all day in the library so to kill some time after lunch I bought volumes 1 to 5 of Chainsaw Man the only ones available in Italy back then. After finishing my sandwich I pulled out volume 1 and started reading. I was instantly hooked. I couldnt stop turning the pages. Before I knew it Id spent the entire afternoon reading instead of studying. Volume 5 starts the Reze arc but ends on a massive cliffhanger and her story wraps up in volume 6 which hadnt come out yet in Italy. But I had to know what happened next. So I read all the remaining chapters online. And yeah I failed that exam. The Reze arc absolutely wrecked me. Its been over four years and I still think about it all the time. Its just fifteen short chapters but they changed me forever. Fujimoto the author couldve given both Denji and Reze a happy ending. But as usual he decided everyone had to suffer. The truth is Reze really does love Denji despite what she tells him on the beach at the end. At first she seduces him because shes on a mission she made a deal with the Gun Devil and needs to bring him Chainsaw Mans heart. But she genuinely falls for Denji when he admits hes never been to school. Just like her a Soviet lab experiment hes been denied freedom since birth. Its actually really simple: Denji cant swim. In that scene where Reze strips down to get him into the water she couldve easily drowned him and made it look like an accident. But she doesnt. Why? Because shes torn inside should she fulfill her duty to the Gun Devil or save the boy whos suffered exactly like she has? The only one who could ever truly understand what it means to have your childhood stolen by heartless adults: the Soviet Union for her the Yakuza for him. Im convinced that if Denji had answered the country mouse instead of the city mouse everything wouldve changed. Reze is the country mouse Makima is the city mouse. When Reze asks Denji to run away with her she means it. Shes not lying no matter what she says later on the beach. Denji breaks her heart at the festival when he tells her he doesnt want to run away because for the first time in his life hes happy. Happy with the life hes built through work after knowing nothing but pain and poverty. Reze feels betrayed. She realizes the person who made her doubt her mission doesnt feel the same way that deep down he loves Makima. Blinded by rage and heartbreak she decides to go through with her mission after all venting her frustration at having trusted someone who betrayed her feelings. And yet after the fight when Denji has her completely defeated tied up underwater powerless... he saves her. He pulls her out of the ocean saving her from the drowning she could have killed him with the night before. Because he realizes he loves her too. Both of them are exhausted on the beach. So why doesnt Reze kill him? When she leans in like shes going to kiss him and then knocks him out why doesnt she finish the job? She couldve easily done it. She couldve ripped out his tongue again and this time no one wouldve saved him. But she doesnt. Why? Because she loves him too. And shes testing him. Denji tells her hell wait for her the next day at the caf where they first met. And sure enough the next day hes there: suitcase packed money withdrawn ready to give up everything just to be with her. Reze couldve escaped easily. Shes a trained spy she couldve just boarded the train and disappear forever. But when faced with the final choice to run away or go back to the only person whos ever truly understood her she turns around. Because she realizes she loves him. And in the end as always the real loser is Denji. Fujimoto aka the biggest bastard alive lets Reze see that Denji loves her too. That hes ready to run away with her. But he doesnt let her reach that happy ending. Its like Abraham seeing the Promised Land from the mountain but dying before he can step foot in it. At least she dies knowing Denji really loved her. Denji though never learns the truth. Hell never know Reze is dead. He just thinks she rejected him like everyone else before her. And that night as the caf closes he eats the flowers he bought for her. Not for Power for her. That moment hit me hard back then. And now after seeing it animated I can say for sure I still havent gotten over it. Even after more than four years. Fujimoto I hate you and Ill never forgive you. T.T