Chainsaw Man Dub Star Was Warned This Reze Arc Scene Would Be His Toughest Yet — Without a Drop of Blood
Coffee haters, unite: A growing anti-brew backlash is spilling into cafes and cubicles as jitter-free alternatives crowd menus and the daily grind gets a rethink.
File this under: the weirdly hard parts of voice acting. The English dub actor for Denji in the new Chainsaw Man movie says a tiny, throwaway moment nearly broke him — not because it was emotional or shouty, but because it involved... coffee.
Minor spoilers for Chainsaw Man - The Movie: Reze Arc ahead.
"One day [Aki voice actor] Reagan Murdock came up to me & said 'this will be the hardest performance of your life.'"
That was Ryan Colt Levy on Twitter on October 23, 2025, responding to a fan about the infamous cafe scene. The setup: Denji and Reze sit down at Crossroads, someone nudges Denji to try coffee, and he reacts exactly like a teenager who has never tasted it in his life — full-body convulsions, sputtering, the whole thing. If you remember how last season the kid was thrilled with just jam on bread, it tracks that espresso would hit him like a truck.
Why that line read was a nightmare (in a funny way)
Levy clarified the challenge wasn’t the usual voice-actor stuff like range or timing. The problem was personal: he’s a hardcore coffee lover in real life. So playing Denji as a coffee hater meant faking disgust at something he genuinely worships. As an acting hurdle, that’s both tiny and diabolical — and exactly the kind of ribbing you’d expect from Aki’s VA Reagan Murdock, who delivered that mock-serious warning.
Where the movie sits in the story
Chainsaw Man - The Movie: Reze Arc is a canon continuation of the anime. It picks up with the squad still chasing the Gun Devil, then throws Denji into a much messier conflict: balancing the job with a new crush. Enter Reze, who is more than she appears — and yes, her big secret is a literal bombshell.
The movie is in theaters now. If you’re heading out, that coffee gag is brief but memorable — and apparently the hardest thing Ryan Colt Levy has done as Denji, which is hilarious given everything else this series throws at him.