We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;—
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems– Stanza 1 of “Ode” by Arthur O’Shaughnessy
What would you do to fulfill a dream? What sacrifices would you make, willingly or unwillingly, consciously or unconsciously? With narrowed vision we all have a tendency to forget all the people and things around us, the wider consequences of our choices, just because we’re filled with drive. This is a significant aspect of Yasuhiro Aoki’s (Batman: Gotham Knight) animated fantasy rom-com ChaO, having its North American premiere in the Animation Plus section of Fantasia International Film Festival 2025. At a fast-paced 90 minutes, ChaO often feels like it’s racing toward its own destiny without regard for the journey to get there, but, when it opts to slow down, to take in the moment, all the emotions it seeks to empower manifest spectacularly.
Princess ChaO voiced by Anna Yamada in CHAO. Photo courtesy of Fantasia International Film Festival/GKIDS Films.
At a time when humans and merpeople co-exist with an uneasy peace, a young engineer, Stephan (voiced by Ouji Suzuka), finds himself at the center of intercultural relations when Princess ChaO (voiced by Anna Yamada) declares him as the husband she’s been seeking for years. Unable to say no as it may mean creating the opportunity to see his life’s vision brought to life, Stephan attempts to come to terms with an arranged marriage to the wholesome and open-hearted ChaO. But duty comes in many forms and his inability to see that may not only threaten his marriage, but the whole of society.
In a weird way, ChaO is a story about telling stories — the ones that are known to the public and the ones we tell ourselves. The framework for the film is actually of a young man, a journalist, being the audience for Stephan as he recalls his story with ChaO. This does several things for the perception of the story. It provides the already fantastical tale an additional sheen through the veil of memory, it creates a specific perspective as everything we observe is through Stephan’s experience, and it supports the undercurrent theme of the ways in which intense drive can cause us to miss things that matter. On the first element, STUDIO4℃ (Mind Game; All You Need Is Kill) is the perfect animation/production house to illustrate and resurrect this world from writer Saku Konohana’s (Phoenix: Reminiscence of Flower) script through its utilization of multiple animation styles overlapped upon one another. Not only are ChaO’s mermaid form (as well as her transformative human one) and Stephan’s everyday form drawn uniquely to accentuate the differences in cultures (he a typical humanoid, she a human-sized koi), but STUDIO4℃ also incorporates chibi designs to several (primarily human) characters, integrating the large heads with small bodies or just supremely exaggerated forms of the style. It’s entirely unnatural, incongruous with Stephan and the natural world, yet all of it blends so nicely together through Hiroshi Takiguchi’s artistic direction in this colorful and frequently chaotic drawing of Shanghai that one feels carried away by the sheer fantasy of it. In truth, it’s the animation that initially grabs the audience and it’s the animation that keeps us held tightly when the script refuses to slow down, utilizing the imaginative world and its inhabitants to make the story told (on all levels) one worth experiencing.
Princess ChaO voiced by Anna Yamada in CHAO. Photo courtesy of Fantasia International Film Festival/GKIDS Films.
Though the animation style (mixed as it is) helps support the story-within-story element of the narrative, the script does not, resulting in far too many moments that make little sense within the context provided. This isn’t in reference to things explained, such as why Stephan is as determined as he is and therefore doesn’t pay attention to nor notice the important things in front of him (also his use of “fish” as a pejorative) or why ChaO speaks of Stephan as her fated mate she’s been searching for. Rather, it’s as though the script is so focused on getting to moments (lovely as they are emotionally and artistically) that it skips over details that are relevant for the audience to develop a connection to the story. For instance, the film opens on someone (we soon learn) is reading a book and we’re shown two stories with similarly drawn characters, yet their connection to the story at large isn’t apparent. Likewise, the relationship between Stephan and Robelt (voiced by Yuuichirou Umehara) is unclear — are they friends, roommates, or something else; as is the relationship between Stephan and the characters in his neighborhood who are striking in their design and utilization toward making the area of Shanghai Stephan lives in vibrant, but we never are given a reason why anyone is invested in the other which would make their respective arcs worth our own investment. Even when the internal logic of the film implies a reduction of actual reason (such as when Stephan is made a boat cleaner, demoted from his engineering project) in order to get Stephan where he needs to be for specific narrative beats to occur, we can reason that away as part-and-parcel of the kind of capitalist response a CEO might make when confronted with a project they don’t believe in. One can absolutely buy-in to a fantastical world, especially when the framework is that of a story-within-a-story, thereby putting much of it at the mercy of Stephan’s memory and perception, but the skipping over of details, the ignoring of action or response to situations, creates a sense that the film is more interested in vibes and emotional response than conveying a full narrative.
This doesn’t prevent ChaO from providing a satisfying and emotional conclusion. When all secrets are revealed and the climax is reached, one can’t help but be moved by what Aoki seeks to accomplish regarding what a happy ending can look like in a world full of stories. It certainly helps that the execution of the animation, by virtue of its established playfulness and versatility in the face of absent conventions, is empowered to get incredibly silly, making the most dramatic and action-packed sequence terribly endearing. Speaking of the animation, make sure to stick through the credits as several scenes are shown in their framework form, followed by the final, in-film versions so that animation fans can see some of the work that went into making the fantastical adventure.
L-R: Stephan voiced by Ouji Suzuka and Princess ChaO voiced by Anna Yamada in CHAO. Photo courtesy of Fantasia International Film Festival/GKIDS Films.
At its core, ChaO is a wondrous rom-com exploring the stories in our lives and the way they shape us as we do them. It’s a fantastical adventure about two people linked in ways the protagonist can’t understand until they’ve gotten out of their respective way. It’s a grounded story about the permanence of love, even in extraordinary circumstances. As expected by prior works, STUDIO4℃ feels like the only studio who could meld such disparate-seeming visual styles into a cohesive vision without sacrificing their individuality or respective power. All of this helps uplift the experience, so, while often frustrating, it is no less significant in its conclusion.
Screening during Fantasia International Film Festival 2025.
In theaters April 10th, 2026.
For more information, head either to the official ChaO Fantasia International Film Festival webpage or theatrical website.
Final Score: 3 out of 5.
Share this:
Categories: In Theaters, Reviews
Leave a Reply