Just when it seems summer is over, GKIDS is offering a second chance to anime fans who missed ChaO during its theatrical release, bringing the film home on September 22, 2026. The release is perfectly timed for anyone longing for a breezy return to those fondly remembered summer days under the boardwalk. That isn’t quite the film’s plot, of course, but ChaO does offer plenty of colour, energy and romance. For those who prefer streaming, a digital release is also planned specifically for Canadian residents.
A bold and emotional story blending mermaid mythology, interspecies romance, wild mecha rides, and high-stakes drama, ChaO makes a memorable splash.
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.
