STUDIO4℃’s upcoming film about an ordinary human office worker marrying a mermaid princess, ChaO, has revealed seven new characters and cast members. A short trailer featuring the new characters was released.
The film is also nominated for the Feature Film Category at the Annecy International Film Festival 2025.
The supporting cast are:
- • Ryota Yamasato as President Sea
- • Kavka Shishido as Mai Bei
- • Yuichiro Umehara as Roberta
- • Kenta Miyake as King Neptune
- • Ota Shunsei as Juno
- • Anna Tsuchiya as Editor-in-Chief
- • Cookie! as the Ambassador Omede
ChaO was first announced in January on the STUDIO4℃ official X/Twitter account. A teaser trailer was released in March alongside the announcement of their two leads, Oji Suzuka, who will voice Stephen, an ordinary human office worker, and Anna Yamada, who will voice Chao, the mermaid princess. The film is set to premiere on August 15th JST.
Annecy Festival describes the synopsis as:
In a near-future world where humans and mermen coexist, Stephen, a shipping engineer in Shanghai, develops a propeller called Air Jet that is harmless for marine life to promote peace between the two races. When Chao, a mermaid princess, pushes Stephen to marry her, their two worlds collide. As they struggle with their cultural differences, a tragic accident creates a bigger strain on their relationship.
Staff:
- Director: Yasuhiro Aoki (Psycho-Pass: The Movie co-character designer)
- Character Designer and animation director: Hirokazu Kojima (Shoka, More Than a Married Couple, But Not Lovers ending design and animation)
- Background art director: Hiroshi Takiguchi (Weathering With You)
Sources: ChaO official website, Annecy Festival website
