Studio 4°C revealed back in January 2025 a new project that will be out this year with the theatrical anime film ChaO. It’s planned for a summer 2025 debut and is the culmination of a seven-year project that they’ve been working on quietly without talking about it publicly before.
Recently, the film was set for an August 15th, 2025, debut in Japan. Now, some new distribution has opened for it with GKIDS announcing its pickup of the property for North American release. The film will see a wider theatrical release in the future as it makes its Annecy festival premiere next week.
The film has Yasuhiro Aoki directing it with Hirokazu Kojima serving as the chief animation director and the character designer.
The Japanese cast includes:
- Ōji Suzuka as Stefan
- Anna Yamada as ChaO
- Yūichirō Umehara as Roberta
- Ryōta Yamasato as President Shi
- Kavka Shishido as Maibei
- Cookie! as Ambassador Omede
- Kenta Miyake as King Neptunus
- Shunsei Ota as Juno
- Anna Tsuchiya as Editor-in-Chief
Check out the official site and Twitter.
Plot Concept: A future society where humans and mermaids coexist. Stephen, an office worker, is suddenly asked to marry by Chao, a princess of the mermaid kingdom! A 100% pure love story!
Previous promos and visuals:
