Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc exploded its way into theaters just a couple months ago and has done incredibly well, joining many other recent anime film releases in at times outshining live action blockbuster titles and putting anime films right alongside them in terms of sales. Reze Arc was a strong performance, expertly adapting one of Chainsaw Man‘s most beloved arcs and making use of the audio-visual format to massively enhance many of its scenes — both the romantic and the battle ones.
As the film continues its theatrical run, we had the chance to sit down with Ryan Colt Levy, voice of main character Denji, to talk about the film, the series writ large, Denji’s incredibly layered character, and what this film meant for that character.
Portions of this interview have been lightly edited for clarity.
Q: You voice Denji in Chainsaw Man, which had an incredible theatrical release recently with the Reze Arc. Looking at Denji’s broader journey, what kinds of changes and evolutions do you think were present in this arc for him?
A: Oh, what a beautiful question. I’m glad I had my coffee. I think what I was most excited about, having already read the manga and knowing what this arc was and then getting to see — it comes in stages for my emotional journey of this thought process, too. Because it’s just as special when you read it. I found it when a decent bit of Part 1, if not all of it, was readable. It was the end of 2020 or something like that. So I was binging all of the books. And I got to the Reze Arc really fast; it was in a few hours of reading. I feel like I understood Denji really quickly and what Fujimoto [Chainsaw Man creator Tatsuki Fujimoto] was doing with him, or at least the idea of how deep and lost and innocent in so many ways he really is. During the first season, you only get so much of an angle of who Denji is. And even though there are layers of it there, not everybody necessarily picks up on them.
And for the last three years, I’ve had a lot of conversations with people where I’ve had to just kind of help reestablish their understanding of the material a little bit. And working on the movie, seeing how MAPPA adapted it and how much sensitivity they put into all of the moments that really needed to have it — because you could have totally done the pool scene differently. They really got it and they really they put those layers in.
So recording, it was so exciting and so immediately like, “Oh, my God, if people are open to this, I think this will be the change that we’ve been waiting for.” I think there’s an immediate understanding here. And since the movie’s come out, I’ve spoken to so many people, some who’ve only seen the movie and now want to go back and see the show. I just did my first convention this past weekend since the movie’s been out. For the last three years, every panel I’ve done, every person I’ve spoken to, unless they’ve read the arc, I’ve had to be very specific about how much I can talk about or what I can say. And finally, I’m communicating with people who have had one opinion and now they’re like, “Oh, my God, I see so much more of who Denji is now” or now when they talk about him, there’s so much sensitivity. These really tough dudes will come up to me and they’re like, “Bro, his heart, he’s so tender.” I just think it’s a really cool thing to see the layers of Denji become revealed in a way that isn’t smacking you in the face, but is really guiding you through the process of understanding that this story isn’t just about crazy violence and lusting for things. It’s about deep, deep desire to find yourself and self-worth and all of these kinds of deep questions that all of us have.
Q: I feel like this movie especially emphasized that many of these more adolescent, lustful thoughts are just that, thoughts, but are differentiated from Denji’s actions. Do you feel like that’s a helpful way to help characterize him to people or kind of settle that debate of what kind of character he is?
A: Yeah, absolutely. I think so many of Denji’s actions, including the first season — if you go back and you watch Season 1, any moment that someone may try and use to point out Denji as some kind of skeevy kid, rewatch those scenes and you will see that never once does he instigate, never once does he verbalize it to someone. It’s always to himself. And even then, we know that it’s because he doesn’t know how to express the depth of his own thoughts deeper than just what his immediate need is, right? Especially in season one, there’s a moment with Makima that’s very clearly her taking charge and putting him in a situation he is not prepared for, right? And I think that is a repeated thing with him. And I think you see that deep down, he’s really discovering everything for the first time because he didn’t have a chance as a kid to grow up at all, to have a life. And so at this very intense age where so many things are happening inside you, he’s also getting all of the external stimulation in one giant info dump. And that’s hard for any human being.
Q: Denji’s character has a unique mindset. What do you do to move yourself closer to that mindset while performing him?
A: I think there’s a lot that I really relate to with him. There’s a lot that I think a lot of people relate to with him. There’s a desire to be seen and cared for. And we’ve all had heartbreak. We’ve all felt like maybe this is what happiness is. And maybe if I just do this, then this will work. And then it blows up in your face and you realize even if you get it, it’s not what actual happiness is. I have definitely experienced the need to be feral and survive and have resilience. And something that’s just a compulsion to keep going, even if things seem to constantly not work in your favor or go wrong, because something is just telling you it’s worth it. I understand a lot of those base desires. But I think there’s a lot of very human base needs that I really understand about Denji. And I think his resilience is the thing I tap into the most. Because even if he thinks he wants to give up or feels like it, there’s a need beyond his verbalization or his mentality. It’s a physical need from so deep within to just keep going — to survive. Because I think deep down, he just needs to experience normalcy. And until he does, I don’t think he’ll be able to rest. I think there are certain things that all humans need to feel alive. And I think he’s just on that journey.
Q: In terms of direction that you receive while acting as Denji — you’ve read the manga beforehand. You have some conception of the character, how he should sound, how he should act, things like that. What kinds of direction did you get initially? Has that changed at all as you moved into the movie?
A: Initially, Mike McFarlane cast and directed the first season, the great, legendary, beautiful, incredible human. And changed all of our lives in one fell swoop. He has this really amazing ability to cast people that have the energy that you already need for the character in some weird way. And then he will really trust you to be prepared and be ready to work your butt off and be open. And his direction was always very subtle. He wouldn’t talk to you in between takes for a long time. He would have a word or a sentence, or he would mention a certain kind of energy. It was always very instinctual. And if he laughed, I knew we had something. We had so much fun. And he really would challenge even the most quiet little moments. If it wasn’t intimate enough or real enough — we really built this all together. And he also trusted me at the same time. When Denji first transforms into Chainsaw Man, he wasn’t like, “All right, this is what we’re going to do.” He literally was like, “All right, so what’s your take?” And just let me go for it in the session. And then he was cackling, laughing on the other end and was like, “Hell yeah.”
Those kinds of things are really, really special to be able to get and to have that safety and to know that he will balance the energy of the entire show with everybody, no matter who’s going into record when. And then doing the movie after spending time working on the show, after still keeping up with the manga, after three years of not letting go of this character and traveling around talking about him and sharing things about him and really thinking about him every single day for the last three years, getting to record the movie meant so much — to get back into his shoes. It felt so good and it felt so comfortable.
In the first season I went in like, “I don’t want to disappoint anybody. I don’t know like how this is going to be interpreted.” And now knowing how people have sat with this for the last three years, I went in just really ready to give it everything comfortably. We had two directors for the movie, Caitlin Glass and Shawn Gann, who are both amazing. And they tackled different elements. Shawn did a bunch of the action, fights and all that stuff. And Caitlin did the bulk of the scenes with the romance and all that stuff. And they each had really different styles of sensitivity and approach and how they would like to work a scene. The thing that they both said immediately out the gate that was really sweet is “You know this character better than we do. You’ve been with this character for longer.” So they gave me a lot of freedom and a lot of room. And then it was just good directing and nudging in moments when they knew they could get better things out of me or wanted to hear something or wanted to try something. And they knew that I was game for everything. And we had the manga. I brought it with me for every session. I’m pretty sure all of us did. Because you never know if there’s just something where you’re like, “Ooh, could we sneak that in?” Or, “Oh, is that exactly how I would want that to sound?” There are these little bits and things you want to just make sure that you could do so it can feel as loved as you hope it can.
Q: Something I’m curious about, speaking toward the sound of Denji’s voice, did you sort of have an idea of what that voice should sound like as you were reading the manga in the past? Or was it closer to the audition, especially that sort of ferocious voice you do during combat scenes sometimes?
A: I hadn’t read a manga in so long when I found Chainsaw Man. And it was one of those things where it just felt so immediately — Have you ever seen Over the Garden Wall? It is one of the greatest pieces of modern art in our lifetime. And it’s truly singular. I hadn’t watched it for years since it came out. And finally, a couple of years ago, I watched it and was like, “This has changed my life.” And I felt the same way when I read Chainsaw Man, where the cover and the name were kind of just perfect, so simple and insane and punk rock and weird. And then you open it and it’s so deep and so layered and cinematic and beautiful and sad and insane. And it feels like David Lynch and Tarantino and all of these things that I love, like abstract art and just everything. So I felt immediately like this was a really singular work and a singular voice. And it spoke to so many of the things that I loved about art. And in a weird way, Denji I just heard immediately. I don’t think I heard any of the other characters necessarily. I mean, maybe Power, because Power’s so loud in the book.
But when I read it, I just heard this voice in my head. And it’s more of an energy and a texture and a feeling than it is a sound even. Because I think Denji has a lot of shapes and things. But yeah, between that and the Chainsaw Man thing, I think so much of his transformation to me is about the kind of insane catharsis of potential freedom and taking control. And how the only time in a sad way that he may truly feel alive is when he’s completely losing his mind and going off on something, because he feels like he can take control of that thing because everything else in his life is so out of his hands. So it was a lot of that kind of stuff that just came to me.
And what was so interesting is the audition had I think one line, maybe three words where it was a Chainsaw Man scream potentially, but really all of the audition was Denji. It was him talking to Pochita in the first episode and very quiet stuff, which I was so grateful for. Because I knew immediately when I saw the audition what page this is, what these panels look like. I know what the energy is. And I just was like, “I’m going to just give what I think Denji has always been to me. And there are going to be hundreds of great actors reading for this who are all going to give awesome performances who can all absolutely knock this out of the park. So I don’t have a chance anyway. At least I can enjoy doing this audition and just sending it in.” And that was my mentality.
Q: Compared to other manga you’ve come into contact with or other anime you’ve either been a part of or watched, do you feel like Denji is meaningfully unique compared to the standard flavor of Shonen protagonist?
A: I do think we’re in a really unique time of anime and manga right now. There’s some really interesting stories happening. Take me completely out of working on it — I really feel like this is a once in a generation kind of story and character because we’re in a really particular state of the world and state of mind right now. And I feel like in a really fascinating way, the way that I get from all the people that I get to meet, Denji speaks to so many different generations at the same time. And that’s really fascinating.
There’s a weird mix of all different energies too from all kinds of people and what they get from him. Some feel the romantic, sweet energy of him and they just want to protect him. Some feel his hopelessness. Some feel the burnout. Everybody resonates with a different part of him that they feel connected to or seen by or want to help him with or whatever it is.
When people ask me “What’s Chainsaw Man about?” I don’t tell them about all this stuff because you can’t explain it. It’s never going to pitch the way that you know it lands. I usually just tell people it’s a story about trying to survive in a world that’s trying to eat you alive, because anybody can resonate with that idea in their own version of life. And I think really that’s what it is. It’s a really complicated metaphor. And I think it’s a really complicated journey. And it’s a really nuanced, while wild, take on really sensitive subject matter that most people don’t really feel comfortable talking about. And it’s addressed with a lot of grace and I think all of this stuff that is equally messy is important. It’s all of the shame. It’s all of the normal human things that people either feel for themselves or cast on other people or whatever. All of it is so real, you know? And I think what makes people either connect to it or nervous about it or want to laugh at the parts that are really sad is because it’s tapping into a very primal part of being human.
Q: I’m curious, what was your origin story when it comes to coming into contact with manga and anime? What were some of your first ones? The first you picked up and read and thought, “I’m really into this.”
A: It was always around before I knew what it was, if that makes sense. Because I grew up in the 90s and early 2000s. So as a kid, when I was going to movie rental stores — me and my parents, every week we’d go and pick up a bunch of movies for the weekend. And I was watching Ghibli movies before I knew what I was watching. I would get Totoro, I would get Kiki’s Delivery Service because you would just see a cover and you’re like, “So what is that?” I remember MTV Oddities and Æon Flux and all that kind of stuff.
I had a kid on my school bus when I was in third grade who had Dragon Ball manga in Japanese. So I was already drawing their hair and their muscles and stuff. Cause I was fascinated by the art.
There were a lot of Gundam figures and stuff in New York, in Chinatown and stuff when I would go around. So I was always kind of aware of this stuff. And then I think it was really Cowboy Bebop that locked it in. That and Samurai Champloo, I absolutely fell in love with. And then I kind of expanded my awareness of it more and more. But it was always something that I kind of cherry picked and bounced around. Like I remember — have you ever seen Paprika? It’s amazing. Many people often say it’s a lot of what Christopher Nolan was inspired by for Inception. It’s one of the greatest anime films ever made. And I remember going to see it in Tribeca with a buddy of mine when it first came out in theaters. We were those kids who were like, “Oh, there’s a cool anime film coming out, and it’s got a limited screening.
Let’s just go see it.”
It was always a part of my life, even if I didn’t feel like I could say “I’m a hardcore anime fan” or if I didn’t watch shows consistently. Or if I wasn’t up to date on all the stuff. Culturally, I was always really just fascinated by it, connecting to it. The art always spoke to me. I mean like Akira, all these things always had aesthetic and flavor and style and something that spoke to me. But the weird thing about it all is I feel like until Chainsaw Man, nothing was really, truly for me. It’s like the Junji Ito joke “This was made for me” [from The Enigma of Amigara Fault]. The space, it just feels like that. And I know many people feel that way, but yeah, it’s crazy. It’s weird how it works.
Q: In terms of your broader career, obviously Chainsaw Man has a lot of action. You’ve been involved with many different genres though. Are there any genres you haven’t had a chance to voice act in very much that you would like to voice act in more?
A: I do think comedy is really funny and it’s really rare, I feel like, that shows are just purely silly. Because I feel like, especially after doing Chainsaw Man, I get brought in for a lot of serious or screamy or more tonally like leveled out things. And I do like kind of playing across the map. I like doing it all. And I think being silly is fun.
Yeah, I definitely agree. I’m thinking of City, of course.
A: That was such a rare treat. We did that over a couple of weeks, if I remember correctly. And I didn’t even know what I was getting into. I didn’t know, I didn’t realize, I didn’t know what it was. And I quickly became educated and I’m so grateful to be a part of it. It’s so goofy. And so “you could play it to 11” cartoony. I got to do so many crazy characters in that. And it was like being in a sandbox, like full on ground mode. It was fun.
Q: Similar question on style of characters. Are there any types of characters you haven’t played very much or that you want to play more of?
A: I feel like I don’t play a lot of the really stoic, dark characters. A lot of the time I play characters that are usually more the chill guy, a Rody or a Denji or Jazz from demon school. Those are a lot of the comfort characters that people tend to cast me in. But I like the idea of playing either someone really nasty or someone just like — I want to do something that is very counter to what people normally think my energy is. I just think that would be fun.
Q: And then my last question, I want your perspective on the rise of the “anime arc as movie” trend. Obviously, Reze Arc is one of them. They have been happening with Demon Slayer and other anime as well. How do you feel this sort of incorporates itself into the broader landscape of anime? And do you think it’s a positive change seeing so many arcs released as movies?
A: I think it’s really interesting from a Western perspective because I’m also coming at it as a movie fan. And as someone who’s loved going to the theaters my whole life, that is a very sacred special thing that I try and do a lot. There was like obviously the Pokemon movie when we were kids and stuff like that. And there have been things — like I said, I went to Paprika. Occasionally they were out there, but it was a very different thing, right? And post, I think after the pandemic, the culture shifted dramatically on anime in general. And I guess it was during it that the Demon Slayer: Mugen Train came out, right? And then there was the Jujutsu Kaisen 0 film. And I feel like those two were already really interesting — seeing them hit theaters and have people have the response they were having.
And the My Hero movie, that was my first experience doing that and seeing they had this crazy premiere and suddenly I was getting feedback from people all over social media who were going to the theaters to see it. And I was like, “Oh my God, people are going to the movies. This is cool.” And now cut to this many years in, Demon Slayer explodes at the box office and you got Channing Tatum in there and you have anime just culturally seemingly at this really interesting high space and you have movie journalists and reviewers being like, “What is going on?” Cause it’s destroying every other movie in the box office. And then ours comes out and completely rocks it in the same way. And people are going to see it four, five, six, seven, eight, like crazy amounts of times. That is the coolest thing. That’s like Jaws back in the day. And at a time when I go to a lot of movies and even for the really great ones or the big nights, the theaters can be quiet. This one, the theaters were busy. People were screaming and laughing. And it felt like going to the movies when I was a kid and that was wild to me.
So it’s been a really, really cool experience. I think as a movie goer, as a movie lover, so much of it is exciting to me cause it’s also bolstering the box office. It’s helping ticket sales for movie theaters.
It’s helping this whole thing stay alive too. And remind people that it’s still a sacred place to go be entertained and share stuff together. But I also think these studios, these animation studios are realizing that they can take this work to such a big scale and treat it as such an oeuvre that you can really make it legacy in a way that maybe as just a series you wouldn’t be able to achieve. And I mean that in a way of, when we were working on this and since it’s come out, something that people keep bringing up to me is Miyazaki. And I felt that way recording it where I was like — again, take me out of it — this feels like a timeless movie. This feels like a movie that is going to stand as one of the greats in this space and even just outside of it. And I think that’s just a really cool thing that we’re capable of being able to do now.
And I don’t know that it’s gonna slow down anytime soon. I think if these things are making money, it’s an incentive to — I don’t think it’s something that should just be done with every arc of everything, right? I think it’s about doing it the right way. I think MAPPA is being very smart about how they’re handling Chainsaw Man. This arc is a movie. It works so perfectly. And I think they understood that. And I don’t think they’re just gonna be like, “Now everything’s a movie.” But I am curious to see how things get layered here on out. Because I think if you choose the right arcs for the right shows and stories, it can really be a special experience. So much of it is about catering to the right medium, right? Because this will play on small screens later too in a great way. But man, the IMAX experience was absolutely bonkers, and that’s really cool. So I think culturally we’re just getting started.
We’d like to thank Ryan Colt Levy for taking the time to speak with us about Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc and about Chainsaw Man in general. Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc is still in theaters and I would highly recommend checking out the film and hearing Ryan Colt Levy’s incredible performance as Denji. No date has been announced for when the film will be available on streaming services. The official website describes the film as follows:
For the first time, Chainsaw Man slashes his way onto the big screen in an epic, action-fueled adventure that continues the hugely popular anime series. Denji worked as a Devil Hunter for the yakuza, trying to pay off the debt he inherited from his parents, until the yakuza betrayed him and had him killed. As he was losing consciousness, Denji’s beloved chainsaw-powered devil-dog, Pochita, made a deal with Denji and saved his life. This fused the two together, creating the unstoppable Chainsaw Man. Now, in a brutal war between devils, hunters, and secret enemies, a mysterious girl named Reze has stepped into his world, and Denji faces his deadliest battle yet, fueled by love in a world where survival knows no rules.
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