Chainsaw Man Movie Will Bring Anime’s Most Iconic Meme to Life

Anime fans have always known how to transform simple moments into cultural phenomena, and few examples are as striking as what happened with Chainsaw Man.

Tatsuki Fujimoto’s work has a universe that ended up inspiring a multitude of jokes and references that circulate daily on social media. Among them, one stood out so much that it surpassed fandom and became part of modern pop culture. This is the Absolute Cinema meme, one of the biggest recent sensations.

The most curious thing is that the joke was born within the Chainsaw Man community itself and is now returning to its point of origin in an almost prophetic way: the film Chainsaw Man: The Prayer Arc is being called “absolute cinema” by everyone who watches it.

The origin of the meme

The origin of the meme may seem obscure to those who use it daily, but it all started during the airing of the first season of the anime. On December 1, 2022, the user @YashChillinn published on X (formerly Twitter) a black and white image of Martin Scorsese with the phrase “Absolute Cinema”.

The intention was to praise the impressive animation of a small scene by animator Takuya Niinuma, which showed Makima’s subordinate walking inside a train before one of the most impactful moments in the series.

It was a creative way to highlight how Chainsaw Man’s direction has such a cinematic look that transforms seemingly simple scenes into striking sequences.

Interestingly, this attention to visual details was criticized in Japan, which led Reze’s arc film to adopt a different visual style than the first season, seeking balance between the realism of the anime and the original style of Fujimoto’s manga.

The influence of cinema on Tatsuki Fujimoto

Tatsuki Fujimoto is known for being truly passionate about cinema. In each volume of the manga, he includes recommendations for recent films and makes constant references to works and directors.

His frame composition style is often described as “cinematic” because he constructs scenes as if he were behind a camera. This visual look is so striking that characters going to the cinema become important narrative moments in their stories.

In Reze’s arc, the film begins with Denji and Makima on a date at the cinema. In Fire Punch, another manga by the author, the character Togata wants to turn his own life into a film, and the end of the story literally takes place inside a movie theater.

This connection is even more evident in Goodbye, Eri, one of his most famous one-shots. The entire narrative is told through the lens of cameras used by the protagonist Yuta, addressing the creation of an independent film.

The way Fujimoto structures his scenes reinforces how he understands cinema not only as a reference, but as an essential language in the construction of his works.

Do even such a big one

Now, with the adaptation of Reze’s arc for the cinema, this idea reaches its peak. The story is one of the most beloved by manga readers and the choice to turn it into a film not only respects the original narrative structure, but also reinforces the cinematographic nature of the work.

Seeing the fandom that created the meme now calling the film “absolute cinema” on social media makes for a perfect closing moment. The same community that played with the work’s visual language is witnessing its grandest version on the big screen. It’s a full cycle between fans and creator.

The film’s success in Japan also reinforces this perception. Chainsaw Man: The Prayer Arc has led the box office for four consecutive weeks, even surpassing big titles like Demon Slayer.

The Japanese public embraced the story with enthusiasm, and international expectations are enormous, especially among fans who already know the original material and understand the importance of this arc for Denji’s development.

Chainsaw Man: O Arco da Praze opens in theaters on October 30th.

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