Chainsaw Man Watch Order

Two entries, one order: 1) Chainsaw Man Season 1 (12 episodes, 2022), then 2) Chainsaw Man, The Movie: Reze Arc (2025). The film starts where episode 12 stops, so the recommended order, release order and story order are all the same. There is no spin-off to slot in and nothing to reshuffle.

One season so far: 12 episodes of about 23 minutes each, which is roughly four and a half hours. The story then continues in a 100-minute film, Chainsaw Man, The Movie: Reze Arc, rather than a second TV season, so the whole anime to date runs a little over six hours. A further anime project, Chainsaw Man: Assassins Arc, has been announced but has not been released.

In the US as of August 2026, Season 1 streams on Crunchyroll and on Hulu, and the Reze Arc film streams on Crunchyroll, which added it on April 30, 2026 for most of the world outside Japan and France. The film has also been on sale digitally since December 9, 2025 through Amazon Video, Apple TV and Fandango at Home. Both the season and the film have an English dub as well as subtitles, with Ryan Colt Levy as Denji. Streaming rights differ by country and rotate over time, so check your own region before planning a marathon.

It is the next chapter, not a side story or an alternate retelling. The film opens in the days after the Katana Man fight that closes episode 12 and adapts the manga's Bomb Girl arc, roughly chapters 39 to 52. It runs 100 minutes, was directed by Tatsuya Yoshihara at MAPPA, and opened in Japan on September 19, 2025 and in US theaters on October 24, 2025. Stay through the credits: there is a post-credits scene with Denji and Power. If you want to carry on in the manga afterwards, pick up at around chapter 53.

Yes, if you want the whole story. The film is canon and it is where the plot actually goes next, not a recap. Skip it and you miss the Reze arc completely, and the announced Assassins Arc anime continues from the point the film ends.

No. The film gives you almost no recap, assumes you already know Denji, Makima, Power, Aki and the Devil Hunter setup, and gives away how the season ends because it continues straight from the finale. Watch the 12 episodes first. If you saw the season years ago and just want a refresher, the two Compilation recap films are the quicker option.

No. Season 1 has no filler: all 12 episodes adapt the manga in order and each one moves the plot, so there is no safe episode to jump over. The only optional pieces in the whole franchise are the two Compilation recap films, which repackage material you have already seen. The movie is not skippable, since it is the continuation rather than a bonus.

Chainsaw Man - The Compilation Part I and Part II are two recap films that re-edit the 12-episode season to catch people up before the Reze Arc movie. They were never a cinema release: they streamed free on ABEMA in Japan on September 5, 2025, reached other Japanese services from September 12, and Crunchyroll carried them internationally that same month. They add one piece of new animation, Chainsaw Days, based on the manga's bonus chapters. They are a shortcut, not a step in the order: if you have the time, watch the 12 episodes instead.

More is coming, but it has no release date. MAPPA announced Chainsaw Man: Assassins Arc on December 21, 2025 at Jump Festa and put out a second teaser on June 19, 2026, with director Tatsuya Yoshihara and the film's core staff returning. It adapts the manga's International Assassins arc, which follows the Reze arc. MAPPA has not said whether it will be a TV season or another theatrical film, which is why you will see it called both Season 2 and a sequel movie. Tatsuki Fujimoto's manga is also still running in its second part, far ahead of anything the anime has adapted.

Studio MAPPA, which also produced Jujutsu Kaisen and the final seasons of Attack on Titan. Ryu Nakayama directed the 2022 TV season, and Tatsuya Yoshihara, the action director on that season, directed the Reze Arc film and returns for Assassins Arc.