DenReze

"My heart was stolen away be Reze. I might never feel joy or sadness again for the rest of my life."

- Denji thinking about Reze, Chapter 53

DenReze is the het ship between Reze and Denji from the Chainsaw Man fandom.

Canon
Denji and Reze initially met in the rain, where Denji took shelter inside a telephone box. There, Reze joined him and talked about how much the rain was pouring down, to which Denji awkwardly agrees. She starts laughing, and says that his face reminds him of her dead dog, much to Denji's shock as he asks if he looks like a dog. He then starts gagging, where Reze offers a handkerchief, before Denji takes out the flower he ate before out of his mouth to demonstrate a magic trick. Reze, surprised and delighted, asks if it's really magic, but Denji claims that it isn't. He gives Reze the flower and pauses for a minute when looking at her face, until the rain stops and she gets out. She then invites Denji to come over at the place she worked at, and tells him the address.

He apparently gets there before she does, where he orders water. Reze is tasked to serve it to him, and she sits down next to him, ordering two coffees, and is willing to pay. When Denji starts drinking, he makes a disgusted face. Reze, shocked, says that he's totally forcing to drink it, as he retorts that coffee is gross. She then starts laughing, calling him a kid and touching his shoulder. Denji is a little surprised, and assumes that she likes him. They then exchange names, and Reze says that she's never met someone as funny as him. Denji thinks about how he likes people who like him, and starts developing feelings for her. In his mind, he asks Makima for help, and thinks that he's starting to fall for her.

Since then, Denji kept coming to the shop, and tells himself that his body is just directioning him to her. Arriving to the shop. Reze invites him to sit down next to her. They then start talking about school, and Denji mentions how he's never attended, which Reze claims to be rare. Then, she proposes to teach him how to read, and writes down in kanji the word "balls". Denji calls her a pervert, and when Reze says “So you can read!”, he explains that "balls" is the only word he knows. Reze laughs, which puts Denji into shock, before he absentmindedly says that school would be better with her. The two look at each other and Denji blushes. Reze smirks and suggests going to a school with her at night. Denji happily accepts the offer, and they go together. Meanwhile, the Typhoon Devil plans with his host to kill Chainsaw Man. The host talks to the Typhoon Devil about how he once killed one of China's best devil hunters; a merciless hunter who supposedly had no heart. When the Typhoon Devil asks his host how he did it, the host responds: “By hunting down where his heart was.” The next panel shows Denji and Reze looking at each other, smiling happily, with the Host's narration on top: “Once I took his wife and daughter hostage and showed 'im the skin I peeled off em'... he let me kill him without a second thought.” In order to kill Chainsaw Man, the Typhoon Devil had to hunt down his heart, Reze.

When Denji and Reze get inside the school, Reze talks about how she's scared at night, and asks him to hold her hand. He does, and when they go in a random classroom, Reze writes questions on the board and asks Denji to answer them. The atmosphere then changes as Reze asks Denji if this Public Safety place he's at really a good place. When Denji tells her how he gets three meals a day and has a roof over his head now, Reze tries to make him realize that that's the bare standard of living in Japan and it's not something amazing. Denji, conflicted, says that all this thinking is making his brain hurt, so Reze proposes to go to the pool. She takes her clothes off and Denji gets surprised, but is then willing to get in the water with her, when she teases him and asks if he can't swim. Reze looks at him softly and says that she'll teach him all the things he can't do or doesn't know. She'll teach him everything. This moment seemed to be a very peaceful and fun for Denji. When it starts raining, they get back inside and look out the window, where Reze says that she has to go to the bathroom. As she leaves, Denji mentions how she's "super crazy cute". While she is gone, when Denji "talks" to Pochita, he says he officially loves both Makima and Reze.

When Reze comes back, she invites him to a festival, where they meet privately after having fun. It's rare for Denji to be truly happy, but at the festival with Reze, he has a wide smile on his face. When they're in a more secluded area, Reze explains to Denji that him not going to school, not knowing how to read or write is messed up. And the government shouldn't be allowing a 16 year old to risk his life fighting devils. She takes his hands, holding them in her and asks him to quit devil hunting and run away with her. She promises to make him happy, and to always protect him all her life. Denji, flustered, doesn't say anything at first, but then confesses that he can't because he's got a "good gig going on" and has finally made friends. Reze is quiet before she realizes that Denji also isn't coming because he likes someone else along with her. She then kisses him, but halfway through she bites his tongue off. She then takes a knife and slices his throat and cuts his hand off before he can pull his chainsaw cord. She crouches down and kisses him again, apologizing for hurting him. She claims that she has to take his heart out but before she can, Beam takes Denji and runs away.

As Reze fights Denji in Chapter 47, Denji tells Reze that he thought really long and hard while "dead", and came to the conclusion that every woman who he's ever met him has tried to kill him. He then says: “Everyone is after my Chainsaw Heart!! What about Denji's heart?! Does nobody want that?! Huh?!!" to which Reze, responds that she does and she meant it when she said she liked him. Denji falters, causing Aki to get angry at him for listening to her, and despite his reluctance to fight Reze, he says that guilt is going to eat him alive if he lets another innocent person die tonight. Preparing to fight her.

After Denji saves her life and spares her, they both wake up on a beach. Reze, confused and surprised, asks Denji why he saved her. With a solemn expression, Denji tells her that he's living a good life, and if he turned her over, he'd feel like a fish bone would be stuck in his throat.

While initially Denji and Reze's relationship started out with Reze trying to kill him for her mission, the more time she spent with Denji, the more Reze began to actually fall for him. What she said to him during their battle, the festival and at the school, she genuinely meant all of it. Now, Reze tried to put up a facade that she never cared for him, but Denji didn't believe her. He caught up to her before she escaped and asked if she wanted to run away with him. He told her: “You say it was all a lie... but isn't it true you taught me how to swim?”. A silence fell between the two and Reze approached Denji, getting close as if to kiss him before snapping his neck. He fell to the ground and called out to Reze as she ran that he'd be waiting for her at the café. Later, Reze had second thoughts of boarding the train and decided to meet Denji at the café. Only to be killed by Makima when she was almost there. Later, Denji is shown waiting for her there with a bouquet of flowers.

Quotes
"Reze!! Hey!! Reze!! Today at Noon! I'll be waiting at that Café!! Wake up, Beam!! I can't move my arms! Start my engine!!"

- Denji calling out to Reze "Will you quit your job... And run away with me? I'll make you happy. I'll always protect you. Please?"

- Reze to Denji

Fanon
DenReze is a popular ship inside the fandom, and despite DenMaki being Denji's more popular ship among newer fans, ReJi is the most popular ship for Reze. Many fans were saddened by Reze's tragic fate, and in their works prefer to imagine what the two could be up to had Reze survived. Some fans prefer this ship since it holds potential for the more complex version of trope. It is commonly acknowledged how their pasts are similar with Reze having a bomb devil implanted to her as a child by the Soviet Union and not being able to have a childhood the same way as Denji being abandoned with only Pochita who merges with him later on; neither of them have went to school and are being trained human weapons instead of an actual sentient being; fans enjoy their tragic and similar pasts and how Reze understands Denji and sees herself in him.

It is often argued whether or not Reze truly loved Denji; however it is shown again and again that Reze does have feelings for Denji shown through smaller acts as blushing while alone going to the restroom, blushing while snapping Denji's neck and through more obvious ones as remembering Denji when holding the flower given to her and going back to the cafe with Denji. For all the times Reze "dies", her thoughts are of Denji; when drowing underwater with Denji; a flashback of them swimming appears, when being killed by Angel Devil she reminisces on how she has never gone to school either. With the reasons above; it's believed that Denji fell first but Reze fell harder. Their visual appearances including Denji and Reze's image and hair colors being Purple and Yellow which are complimentary colors and opposite on the color spectrum is also appreciated and referenced in the movie poster by the being the color of the flowers that are only covering Reze's body. When flipping the image; the direction of yellow to purple to reddish pink flowers above could reference the timeline of their relationship; Denji, Reze and then Makima (who's image color is the same) ending their story.

During Part 2, the ship saw a notable resurgence when most of the hybrids were confirmed to still be alive, with fans hoping Reze to make her return too. After the announcement of the movie; a influx of fanarts have been coming.

The main rival of this ship is AsaDen.

Trivia

 * Tatsuki Fujimoto's favorite character was Reze in 2020; after the second character popularity poll results; Fujimoto's favorite character is now Denji,
 * It should also be known that during the same year of 2020; Yuji Kaku (editor of Chainsaw Man at the time notes how Denji is similar to Fujimoto and even speaks identical to him; some fans thought it of the time as a indirect way to self-insert as Denji with Reze.
 * In the same 2020 interview; Fujimoto says that his favorite scene in Chainsaw Man was during Volume 6 Chapter 48; specifically where Reze's leg missile is above of Denji.


 * Denji's JP voice actor (Kikunosuke Toya) ships DenReze. Additionally; Denji's ENG voice actor (Ryan Colt Levi) has commented on Chainsaw Man's ENG announcement post of the Reze movie saying "So. Freaking. Ready💜💣" and quoting the post on Twitter/X saying; "We’ve Won 💜💣"
 * In the 2024 Jump Stage; Toya said he looked the most forward to acting the scene where Reze teaches Denji how to swim. He was also the one directed by Fujimoto to talk about Jin Roh being a inspiration for Denji and Reze's relationship.
 * During 2024 Jump Stage; Fujimoto has said that Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade inspired Volume 6 of Chainsaw Man; Denji and Reze's relationship is inspired from the protagonist and heroine and has mentioned it before as a inspiration for Bomb Girl Arc during a 2020 interview.


 * In the first popularity poll; Reze ranked #4 while Denji ranked #5, in the second poll Denji ranked #4 while Reze ranked #5


 * Yokoyari Mengo/Yorimen, the creator of Scum's Wish and artist of the Oshi no Ko manga has made ship art for Denji and Reze using the ships tag on Pixiv.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

FAN ART