ChaO

Yasuhiro Aoki's 2025 animated film is set in a future where humans and mermaids live together. The quiet life of Stephan, an office worker, is upended when a princess from the mermaid kingdom proposes to him. Before he can work out what is happening, he is living with Chao. The visual world is the draw: a partly flooded city, streets shared by two kinds of being, the transitions between sea and land. Aoki does not turn the design into allegory; the difference between species is used as ground for comedy and romance rather than as a social question. The pace is fast and the humour physical. Chao's unpredictability is the engine, while Stephan remains a figure who reacts and hesitates, which sometimes leaves the pairing one-sided. Who it's for: viewers looking for original design in Japanese animation who enjoy romantic comedy. Who it's not for: viewers wanting deep world-building; the film has no interest in explaining its own universe.