Guy Marries Fish In Brilliant New Animated Comedy

By Chris Sawin
| Published 38 seconds ago

ChaO is the latest film from animation studio Studio 4°C. The studio was founded in 1995 and has an impressive back catalog, including Mind Game, MFKZ, and Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko. ChaO took seven years to make. While the film includes several instances of CGI and digital effects, ChaO was made with over 100,000 hand-drawn animations, achieved the old-fashioned way on paper.

Man And Mermaid Sitting In A Tree!

ChaO is the first feature film from Yasuhiro Aoki. He directed the “In Darkness Dwells” segment of Batman: Gotham Knight and served as a key animator on The Animatrix. Written by Hanasaki Kino, ChaO takes place in the year 20XX. The world is now a place where humans and the Merman Kingdom coexist. However, the merman race is rebelling against manmade ships. The propeller has been inadvertently massacring fish for too long. King Neptunus of the Merman Kingdom demands a change. Meanwhile, the ship manufacturer’s CEO, Mr. Sea, struggles to find a feasible solution.

Stephan, a young man who works for Mr. Sea, has dreamed of leading a project called AirJet, which would replace a ship’s screw propellers with compressed air. As Stephan struggles with his alarm clock and attempts to feel like his work is meaningful, an accident on Mr. Sea’s boat changes everything. Stephan is knocked unconscious, and he wakes up in the hospital, engaged to the princess of Merman Kingdom – a plump, human-sized, apricot-colored fish that he nicknames ChaO.

Can’t We All Just Get Along?

There’s a Shallow Hal element to ChaO that’s fascinating. Stephan doesn’t understand why he has to marry into the Merman Kingdom and constantly calls ChaO a “fish,” which almost comes across as a derogatory term in the film. But there are moments when you catch glimpses of ChaO’s more human form, usually associated with water in some capacity (looking through the spray of a fountain or seeing her sleep in a bathtub). The Merman race will remain in their human form on land once they’re comfortable, and seeing how long it takes ChaO to adjust is part of why ChaO isn’t your average animated film.

The film is about accepting individuals of other cultures. King Neptunus seems more than capable of destroying humankind if pushed far enough, especially with what he shows at the end. His human form looks a lot like Aquaman. His natural form is the same, complete with tattoos and a beard, except he’s an orca. He rides around on a whale on land most of the time. People want the Merman relationship to flourish. That’s why Stephan’s marriage to ChaO is so crucial to keeping the peace. Their relationship is a symbol of coexistence, and Stephan has a vision to keep the seas safer for Mermen, which benefits everyone.

Not Your Average Rom Com

As an animated film, ChaO offers a vastly unique ambiance. Backgrounds are detailed, but messy. The outlines lack any real pattern, colors are splotchy, and characters look wobbly and wavy. The visuals feel like the animation styles of Home Movies and Tekkonkinkreet were intertwined. It’s also interesting to note that not all human people look the same. Some of the population look like Stephan, who’s long and slender. Then there are other people who are shorter, stouter, and have massive heads.

It feels like ChaO blends many genres into one film. At its core, ChaO is a romantic comedy with an adventurous concept. The humor is often ridiculous. For example, the reporter Juno refers to his chief editor as “Boobie rocket missiles” because of her large assets. The ambassador character is extremely masculine, dressed in feminine attire, and constantly picks their nose, wiping boogers on Stephan’s shoulder. Some humor comes from little things you notice, like Stephan’s friends, Robert’s inventions, or ChaO wearing giant orange sneakers in her fish form while walking around the city.

There are martial arts action scenes. A giant robot wreaks havoc on the city. Although it’s a Japanese film, the characters live in a town called Shanghai, which isn’t confusing at all. There’s also an intense racing sequence. You think the cat plastered to the hood is just decoration, but once everything calms down, it begins licking itself.

A Multi-Genre Adventure Coming To Theaters

With all of that going on, ChaO finds at least one more way to surprise you. Stephan begins as a not very likable and selfish character. You sympathize with him slightly at first as he has to marry a different species for the good of humankind and sea-kind, but ChaO is adorable from the moment she’s introduced. She makes mistakes since she’s not accustomed to what can and can’t be done on land, but she loves Stephan wholeheartedly and always means well.

The entire film sees Stephan trying to make it work, but mostly teetering on the edge of never being able to. The things ChaO has been saying since they first met have meaning that is eventually explained, and it all comes together in this action-packed, emotional extravaganza of an ending.

ChaO delivers in that it spans a wide range of genres and makes you feel a spectrum of emotions in the span of an hour and a half. Its unusual animation style makes it more memorable, since it doesn’t look like anything else out there and will be remembered for its extraordinary, one-of-a-kind aesthetic. It also helps that it’s hilarious.

ChaO will be released theatrically on April 10.