The Ottawa International Animation Festival announced last week that the mermaid-human romance anime film ChaO will screen and compete for the “Grand Prize for Feature Animation” category, along with four other animated films from several countries.
The grand prize winner will be determined by a distinguished jury and announced live at the OIAF awards ceremony on September 27, 2025, at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. The festival will run in Ottawa, Canada from September 24, 2025 to September 28, 2025.
ChaO will compete as the lone film representing Japan. It previously premiered at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival last month, where it also won the “Jury Award” in the Feature Film category. The film will also be screened at the JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film on its opening night in New York City on July 10, 2025, as well as the 29th Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal, Canada on July 27, 2025.
Yasuhiro Aoki (Psycho-Pass: The Movie co-character designer, SAMURAI NOODLES “THE ORIGINATOR” unit director et al.) is directing the anime film, with Hirokazu Kojima (Shoka, More Than a Married Couple, But Not Lovers ending design and animation) as character designer and animation director, and Hiroshi Takiguchi (Weathering With You) as background art director. Studio 4°C is in charge of the animation production.
Meanwhile, the anime film’s main voice cast stars:
- • Oji Suzuka as Stephan
- • Anna Yamada as Chao
- • Yuichiro Umehara as Roberta
- • Kavka Shishido as Mai Bei
GKIDS will screen ChaO in North America and describes the main synopsis as:
From acclaimed Japanese animation production house Studio 4°C comes a wild romantic comedy and true “fish out of water” story. In a futuristic world where humans and mermaids coexist, ChaO follows Stephan, a mild-mannered office worker at a shipbuilding company, whose life is upended when he is suddenly proposed to by Chao — a princess from the mermaid kingdom. With no time to make sense of what’s happening, Stephan soon finds himself living with the unpredictable, wholehearted Chao. As her sincere love begins to break down his emotional barriers, an unexpected and touching romance begins to unfold.
Source: press release
