Source: Studio4°C
Studio4°C’s upcoming feature film tells a fantastical story about a society where humans and mermaids coexist.
In an official announcement to X (formerly Twitter), Japanese animation studio Studio4°C has revealed the details for a new feature film that’s set to air in Summer 2025. The news was also announced by Toei during its 2025-2026 lineup press conference on January 16.
The movie, titled “ChaO," is about a future society where humans and mermaids coexist. Its protagonist Stephen is asked to marry the princess of a mermaid kingdom named Chao. Studio4°C describes the movie as “a 100% pure love story!”
The movie is directed by Yasuhiro Aoki, who directed episodes of Kimagure Robot, and was the assistant animation director for The Last: Naruto the Movie. The character designer and chief animation director is Yamato Kojima, who worked on Corpse Princess: Aka, and Deadman Wonderland. Hiroshi Takiguchi, who did substantial work for renowned Makoto Shinkai films Weathering with You and The Garden of Words, as well as the Netflix original movie Blame!, is slated as art director. Toei is set to distribute the movie.
According to Japanese news site Oricon, producer Eiko Tanaka revealed that the movie is “a hand-drawn animation in which each picture is drawn and moved one by one, with more than 100,000 drawings.” Oricon also reported that Studio4°C has been secretly working on the film for the last seven years.
