Studio 4°C’s ChaO: An Enchanting Tale That’s More Than Just a Fairy Tale Romance

A bold and emotional story blending mermaid mythology, interspecies romance, wild mecha rides, and high-stakes drama, ChaO makes a memorable splash.

ChaO Movie Poster English)
This movie played at the 2025 Fantasia International Film Festival on July 27th.

GKIDS

When a movie simply titled ChaO begins with an account of a mermaid saving a boy from drowning, writer/director Yasuhiro Aoki moves away from the idea of presenting another fairy tale. Unlike those fantasy yarns from long ago, what we find here is perhaps more inspired from Splash! that Tom Hanks and Darryl Hannah film is more of a sitcom about a fish out of water trying to get used to living in the human world, and in this anime, what’s offered here is similar.

In this presentation, Stefan (Oji Suzuka) and Princess Ao Sonni Chao Neptunus (Anna Yamada) haven’t even had their first date. Technically, this film begins in the present, where the surface world lives in harmony with the aquatic one. Here, we find that this human has moved on. Although the plot makes Juno (Shunsei Ōta) look like the protagonist, he is not. He’s a reporter who loses a scoop to a story, but when he finds Stefan, this chance to interview the sailor may well save him from being fired! During my second viewing, I noticed he’s similar to the actual lead, because both are wishy-washy.

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[Fantasia Film Festival] Transcending Dimensions (次元を超える) To Boldly Go Where No Soul Has Gone Before

Presented here is not a very traditional story about a hitman hired to take out a cult leader and rescue a brother. There’s added layers in Transcending Dimensions which suggest it’s best not to challenge some of these mystics, and here’s why:

Transcending Dimensions poster
This movie played at the 2025 Fantasia International Film Festival on July 24th, and has an encore performance July 28th. Get your ticket here.

Transcending Dimensions is less a conventional narrative and more of an immersive sensory experience. While this review delves into its themes and stylistic choices, readers who prefer to encounter the film with absolutely no prior knowledge of its unconventional journey may wish to proceed with caution regarding potential thematic insights.

As an instalment in the series of films by writer/director Toshiaki Toyoda, this latest in his Wolf Mountain series delves further into thematic tones about the perils of human ignorance. Each film concerns the repetition of historical mistakes. This movie is not always straightforward, and some viewers might find it challenging to follow. Shinno (Ryûhei Matsuda), a professional hitman, is the focus here, and everything he will soon experience may well reshape his world view!. Here,  his sister, Nonoka (played with quiet charm by Haruka Imô), recruits him to find her brother, Rosuke (Yôsuke Kubozuka). He is apparently brainwashed, and she hopes to rescue him from the cult he is now part of.

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[Fantasia Film Festival] With The Well (2025), It’s Tough Not To Coin Shakespeare’s Most Famous Quote…

… but just whether “All’s well that ends well” rings true in The Well requires thought! No spoilers are offered here, since this is a film that needs dwelling upon to understand the themes.

The Well Movie Poster
This movie played at the 2025 Fantasia International Film Festival on Monday evening, July 21st.

In a world where all water sources are contaminated, many lifeforms face extinction. Hubert Davis’ The Well opens with a disturbing account of how it all started—and why boiling water isn’t enough. It immediately raises the question: how long can humanity survive? The film wastes no time in showing how isolated the society has become.

The story centers on the Devine family and their growing paranoia over strangers near their hideout. Sarah (Shailyn Pierre-Dixon) and her parents (Arnold Pinnock and Joanne Boland) live off the grid, lucky to have found a clean water source. When a wounded outsider (Idrissa Sanogo) stumbles into their lives and begs for a drink, they hesitate. The moral dilemma of “should they help or not?” drives the plot. What unfolds is an engrossing thriller that avoids heavy special effects or dense world-building to keep viewers hooked through to the end.

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[Fantasia Film Festival] The Haunting Charm of I Am Frankelda. Is It Safe to Dream?

I Am Frankelda blurs fantasy and reality in a visually stunning tale of imagination, sisterhood, and the eerie power of storytelling.

I Am Frankelda poster2
This movie played at the 2025 Fantasia International Film Festival on Sun, July 20th.

Mexicans familiar with HBO’s mini-series Frankelda’s Book of Spooks must be excited about the movie I Am Frankelda. This prequel shows the world the young girl created is very much alive—and its inhabitants want more than to be confined to a pocket dimension. It’s an engrossing narrative where fantasy and reality exist side by side in unexpected ways. When her sister learns what Frankelda has created, jealousy sets in. She conspires to invent her own world!

This work by Arturo and Rodolfo Ambriz is a stop-motion marvel! To bring it to life, they partnered with Mireya Mendoza to direct. I’m already checking online to see what else the brothers have produced. So far, all I’m finding is that this film leads directly into Frankelda’s Book of Spooks. This “baby” of theirs is just as good as Las Leyendas (Legend Quest), of which I’ve seen both series and films. Thankfully, Spooks is available on HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video (USA). As for how well-known they are outside Mexico, it seems they’re still under the radar.

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[Fantasia Film Festival] Dog of God or God of War? Just Why Lycans Crucially Matter Here is…

…that we can expect the unexpected! This wonderfully edgy film redefines what werewolves represents. To say one can be a “Dog of God,” gets morally justified here!

Dog of God Movie Poster
This movie played at the 2025 Fantasia International Film Festival on Monday evening, July 21st.

Potential Spoiler Alert

Vampire Hunter D better look out. There’s a new antihero in town, and his name is Dog of God! This character is more creepy than charming; given the movie’s title, I looked into its production history. And when the storylines of both are similar, I’m going to have a tough time deciding on who is the better hero.

This animated film made by Latvian filmmakers Lauris and Raitis Abele has lots of elements to like. It’s presented as a parable. When they drew inspiration from the court case where the Thiess of Kaltenbrun was accused of theft, he admitted to being a werewolf. It’s a story that might surprise even history buffs. According to records, officials brought an 82-year-old man to court, where he admitted to being a werewolf. He recounted his battles against witches and wizards who served the devil, and as an emissary of his mighty Lord and saviour, he’s out to do good rather than evil–which humanity is having trouble believing! 

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Celebrating 20 Glorious Years at Fantasia Film Festival! Garo Taiga and Reintroducing This IP To A New Generation

Newcomers don’t need to know the franchise to enjoy Garo Taiga. It’s fairly self contained and can be an entry point to this franchise.

Garo Taiga Movie PosterA anniversary is being celebrated early at Fantasia Film Festival! Here, Garo Taiga made its cinematic worldwide debut for its emerald jubilee while fans in Japan must wait until October 17, 2025. Getting an early look is exciting—I’m always eager for any IP known for intense action and visceral body horror. With a few challenges involving some amusing tough guys to defeat–namely a duo whom I like to call the Clockwork Twins–and a foul-mouthed talking ring (wonderfully voiced by Hironobu Kageyama), I couldn’t help but think of Vampire Hunter D, where the protagonist’s left hand also has a sarcastic personality.

When there are transformation scenes as wild as The Guyver, and it sticks to a premise simple enough for younger viewers, it’s a visceral element I can enjoy. Here, our hero, Taiga Saejima (Hiroyuki Watanabe) must retrieve a stolen artifact housing the souls of four elementals. They can help him face his rival, Jado (Toshiki Seto), or hinder him. When this individual is too powerful to face alone, Taiga will need ‌help from other Makai Knights for help.

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