“ChaO”: the colorful and whimsical Jury Prize at the Annecy Animated Film Festival

Après Arco et Amélie and the Metaphysics of Tubesboth noted during the last edition of the Annecy Animation Festival, here ChaOJury Prize, in theaters Wednesday May 13. Modern rewriting of the tale of La Petite Sirene by Anderson produced by a flagship animation studio in Japanese animation, Studio 4°C, founded in 1986: ChaO shows great promise but fails to avoid sexist pitfalls.

In a world where the people of the earth – humans – and the people of the water – mermaids – coexist with difficulty, Stephan is a young boat designer. He dreams of inventing a ship that is more respectful of marine creatures. One day when he is working on his boss’s boat, an immense wave submerges him and he finds himself face to face with the princess of the kingdom of mermaids, who seems madly in love with the young engineer and promises to marry him.

Named ChaO, the princess is a large goldfish, enthusiastic and naive, who will only be able to take her human form if Stephan manages to gain her trust. The boss of the latter – as well as the rest of the human world – sees in this union the perfect opportunity to improve diplomatic (and commercial) relations between the two peoples. The strange relationship between Stephan and Chao is then exposed for all to see.

This is a first animated feature film for its director, Yasuhiro Aoki. The development of Chao is however based on a short musical film by the same author, Kung Fu Love produced by Studio 4°C in 2006. There was already an impossible and crazy love story, a very free, cartoonish animation and a vibrant, colorful city. The ingredients that make Chao the ambassador of Japanese animation which is full of creativity, 20 years after the publication of his little brother.

Because Studio 4°C is not its first attempt. We owe them, among other things, the adaptation of the comic strip by Taiyō Matsumoto, Amer Concrete in 2007 or that of the French series by the designer Run, Mutafukazin 2017.

The direction of the animation and the character design of Chao are also entrusted to Hirokazu Kojima, who had already worked on the studio’s last global success: Children of the Sea (2019). He then developed his water animation, so technical and so difficult. She is quite stunning in ChaO – notably through the latter’s hair, which floats in a gentle poetry.

The rest of the animation, a long 2D work based on more than 100,000 hand drawings, is no less a lesson in creativity and freedom from the rules in force. A vibrant city appears before our eyes, with many teeming details. With its characters who change scale from one plane to another, whose bodies liquefy in a very cartoonwe feel a lot of fun behind the creation of Chao. A freedom from the strict rules as Studio 4°C does very well, in the movement of “superflat“, this Japanese artistic movement as eccentric as it is melancholic.

But, past the impressive graphic demonstration of relentless animation, the story of ChaO sticks to the rules of its genre: a rom-com with a 90s twist. A clumsy boy, not particularly lovable, must fall in love with a princess, who adores him, but is unlucky: he’s a fish. It’s funny, but nowhere near as innovative and rich as its animation. The weakness of his writing comes in particular through a fairly conventional and linear scenario, object characters who have no other interest than to advance the story and above all, sexist pitfalls.

From the recurring joke concerning the chest size of an editor-in-chief with a flawed character, and what a shame, ChaO whose sole goal is to become a good help around Stephen’s house so that he will like her, the film is a bit heavy-handed at best. At worst, completely archaic in its treatment of female characters. Too bad, therefore, for this film which nevertheless does not lack inspiration.

Genre : Animated film, Fantasy (from 10 years old.)
Réalisation : Yasuhiro Aoki
With : Oji Suzuka, Anna Yamada, Kenta Miyake
Pays : Japan
Durée : 1h30
Sortie : May 13, 2026
Distributer : Eurozoom

Synopsis : In a world where humans and mermaids coexist, Stephan, an ordinary office worker meets Chao, a princess from the kingdom of mermaids. After a marriage proposal without his knowledge, Stephan has no time to understand what is happening to him and must share his life with this adorable but unpredictable girl. Chao’s sincere love for him pushes him to question everything. Then begins an unexpected and touching romance between two beings who are completely opposite.