GKIDS, the Academy Award-winning animation distributor and producer, today announced it is bringing the animated romantic comedy ChaO to theaters in North America beginning April 10th, alongside a new poster and trailer.
From veteran animator Yasuhiro Aoki and acclaimed Japanese animation house Studio 4°C (All You Need Is Kill, Tekkonkinkreet, Mind Game), ChaO made its world premiere in competition at the prestigious Annecy International Film Festival last June, where it took home the prestigious Jury Award for a feature film.
Synopsis
In a fantastical future, humans and mermaids share a troubled coexistence. Stephan, an anxious employee at a shipbuilding company, has big ideas to save the sea. But his life explodes into ecstatic chaos when bubbly mermaid princess Chao proposes marriage out of the blue. Between shopping sprees, giant robots, and actual fireworks, the unlikely pair flounder through their new romance and unlock their true feelings.
Crafted over 7 years by the acclaimed STUDIO4°C and veteran animator Yasuhiro Aoki, ChaO is an inventive and genre-defying delight bursting with color and character. Equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking, ChaO’s singular narrative is an ode to boundless love.
Check out the trailer below:
Don’t forget, you can read James’ full interview with director Yasuhiro Aoki right here.
ChaO is such a visually stunning movie, and what I loved most was how it found a balance between the fantastical and the ordinary. As a director, what was it like designing this world of ChaO?
If it leans too much into the fantastical then you lose the sense of reality. Because animation doesn’t exist until it’s drawn… as long as you are drawing it, it tends to lean towards the fantastical, and so I was intentional because I felt like you needed that sense of the camera going out to the city and picking up the every-day lives of ordinary people in order to keep that balance with reality. So it was something I was very aware of.
You can also catch up on all the latest anime news.
