Exciting New Releases: ZD Toys Collection & Superman Collection
Exciting New Releases: ZD Toys Collection & Superman Collection
August 25, 2025 6 min read
Reze was the first girl who truly tore Denji’s heart out—but she wouldn’t be the last. Her arrival in his life was a turning point: part sweet dream, part cruel nightmare. She was sent to kill him, and yet, in the cracks of her mission, something real began to bloom.
For Denji—who had grown up with nothing but abuse, hunger, and the crushing weight of debt—Reze was the first person to make him feel human. Not a devil, not a weapon, not Makima’s pet. Just a boy, wanted for who he was.
And that’s why she lingers so strongly in the story: because her presence didn’t just bruise Denji’s heart—it changed the way he would approach love, trust, and intimacy forever.
Before meeting Reze, Denji doubted if he even had a heart. Himeno’s death hadn’t broken him the way he thought it should, leaving him to wonder if he was more devil than human. It wasn’t until his date with Makima at the movies—where he cried in the darkness—that he realized he still carried human emotions. But even that moment felt incomplete, like a borrowed comfort.
Then came Reze.
At first, she was everything Denji thought he wanted: warm, playful, and effortlessly kind. She shared late-night chats, silly adventures, and even taught him how to swim—offering him fleeting glimpses of the “normal” life he always craved. For a boy who grew up in trash heaps, that taste of simplicity was intoxicating.
But the truth was harsher. Reze wasn’t just a pretty stranger; she was the Bomb Devil, trained and manipulated by the Russian government. Her mission wasn’t to win Denji’s heart—it was to rip it out, literally. Because Denji’s heart was Pochita, the Chainsaw Devil, and whoever controlled it controlled the future.
Her betrayal came sharp and bloody, in the moment of their first kiss—when she bit his tongue out and revealed her true intentions.
Here lies the tragedy of Reze: her feelings for Denji were never simple.
She could have killed him easily, long before their dates or their swims in the school pool. But she didn’t. She lingered. She laughed with him. She found comfort in him. And in those stolen moments, she began to see herself in his loneliness.
Both of them were experiments of cruel systems. Both raised to be weapons. Both robbed of the choice to live freely. It’s why, when she asked Denji to run away with her, it felt so heartbreakingly real.
And when Denji—still tethered by duty, still too naive—chose Public Safety over her, she knew it was already over. Even so, she confessed the truth before their final clash:
“I do. I meant it when I said I like you, Denji.”
Was it manipulation? Maybe at first. But the look in her eyes, the weight of her past, and her willingness to imagine a life outside of violence all suggest something deeper. Reze really did care. She just wasn’t allowed to.
Reze didn’t just wound Denji—she left him with scars that shaped the way he would love moving forward.
Her dishonesty planted seeds of doubt in him, making him question whether anyone could love Denji the boy and not just Chainsaw Man the devil. That insecurity bleeds into his later relationship with Asa. Unlike Reze, Asa doesn’t mask her feelings. She is brutally honest—sometimes harsh, sometimes tender—but always genuine. For Denji, that truthfulness is refreshing, even if it cuts.
In many ways, his attraction to Asa is a direct response to what he lost with Reze: honesty, even when it hurts.
But Denji is not the same boy he was before Reze. His brief but intense bond with her taught him to be cautious, to question motives, and to fear that no one might ever want him for who he really is. That paranoia is only magnified by Makima’s later betrayal, and it crystallizes into one of Denji’s deepest insecurities:
“Everybody’s after my chainsaw heart! What about my heart?! Denji’s! Does nobody want that?!”
Reze’s answer was the one he needed to hear—yet fate never allowed them the chance to live it.
Even long after her arc ended, Reze’s ghost still clings to Denji. We see it in his nervous attempts to recreate the “magic trick” he used on her when courting Asa. We see it in the way he flinches at false affection. And we see it in Nayuta’s fierce protectiveness over him—because she knows, better than anyone, how badly Denji has been hurt by love before.
Reze is one of Chainsaw Man’s most beloved characters not just because she was cool, beautiful, or terrifying—but because she was complicated. She was a killer and a lover, a victim and a villain, a dream and a nightmare.
For Denji, she was the girl who gave him a glimpse of what it means to be wanted—and then reminded him how easily that can be ripped away.
And that wound, more than any battle scar, is what truly changed him.
In many ways, Reze was the blueprint for Denji’s future heartbreak—and, paradoxically, his future hope.
The current arc of Chainsaw Man presents Denji with two possible love interests: Asa Mitaka, the War Devil’s vessel, and Fumiko Mifune, a Public Safety Devil Hunter. Fumiko openly confesses her crush on Denji, but not because of who he is—it’s because he’s Chainsaw Man. For the boy who’s been treated like a tool all his life, that kind of affection means little. Denji has already walked that road before, and he knows how it ends.
Reze was the one who taught him that lesson.
Her affection felt genuine, her laughter real, her tenderness sincere—but at the core of her interest was the Chainsaw Devil. Even in her conflicted love, Denji was Chainsaw Man first, and Denji the boy second. That truth shattered him, making him realize he never wanted to be loved just for his monstrous half again.
Denji himself frames his pain in the simplest, most devastating way when talking to Nayuta. When she asks why he likes Asa, he answers:
“I’ve kissed a bunch of times up until now… and it always went horribly wrong.”
And he’s right. His first kiss with Himeno turned sour in the most humiliating way. His kiss with Reze began as magic but ended with blood and betrayal. His fleeting connection with Makima was a slow, manipulative destruction of his heart. Every kiss left him broken, disgusted, or empty—until Asa.
Though his kiss with Asa technically came through the War Devil, the fact that nothing bad happened—no vomit, no betrayal, no manipulation—felt like a small miracle to Denji. For once, affection didn’t collapse into horror. And in that moment of fragile normalcy, Denji glimpsed the possibility that maybe this time, things could be different.
Reze was Denji’s first real “breakup,” and though it came wrapped in bloodshed and tragedy, it carried lessons forward. Like Asa, she was someone who could relate to Denji’s loneliness and his connection to devils. Both women stand on the margins of society—Reze, as a child soldier molded into a weapon by her government; Asa, as an outcast defined by awkwardness and the shadow of the War Devil.
Reze understood Denji’s isolation, but circumstance and duty chained her to a fate where love was never truly possible. Asa, however, mirrors that understanding without the same chains. She doesn’t want Denji because he’s Chainsaw Man. She wants him because, in her own fractured way, she sees him—the boy who craves warmth, clumsiness, and a chance at belonging.
As pointless and cruel as his time with Reze seemed, it was far from meaningless. She was the girl who first cracked open his heart, only to slam it shut again with betrayal. But even heartbreak can be a kind of teacher. Reze prepared Denji for Asa—showing him what love could feel like, and warning him of what happens when it’s built on falsehood.
That’s why, as Denji stands at this strange crossroads between his past scars and Asa’s raw honesty, Reze still lingers as a bittersweet shadow. She was his first great “what if,” the almost-love that carved him into the person capable of someday accepting something real.
Whether Asa will become that real connection remains to be seen—but without Reze, Denji would never have been ready to even try.
Reze’s story is more than just a tragic love affair—it’s the foundation for Denji’s growth and the lens through which all his future relationships are shaped. Her brief presence still ripples through the narrative, reminding fans that in Chainsaw Man, love is just as dangerous as any devil.
And for anime fans who can’t get enough of these unforgettable stories, don’t forget to explore our exclusive range of Anime Collectibles—a chance to bring your favorite characters home.
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