With Over 100,000 Hand-Drawn Frames, This Mermaid Anime Is a True Feast for the Eyes

The world of Japanese animation is sometimes more surprising for its inner workings than for its titles – it often takes decades to go from being an aspiring animator to a feature-length director.

Yasuhiro Aoki, director of ChaO, has been working in the industry since the late 1980s and has contributed to legendary projects, from Evangelion to Mind Game. It is only now that he has made his own feature film.

What Is 'ChaO' About?

Stefan, an ordinary engineer, dreamed of creating jet engines for ships to replace propeller engines. In the world of ChaO, this is far more important than in reality because mermaids, intelligent creatures constantly tormented by motor blades, live alongside humans.

The head of the company where Stefan works is not concerned with social injustice. For his "useless" labor, the young employee is sent to scrub the deck of the director's yacht.

There, Stefan is swept away by a wave. Then, he finds that a sea princess named ChaO has fallen in love with him and wants to marry him. This event opens incredible diplomatic opportunities and a series of joys and sorrows that will change Stefan's life forever.

'ChaO' Is a True Visual Feast, the Product of Meticulous Work by Dozens of Animators

The main advantage of ChaO is its animation – the artists created incredibly stylish and unique work, distinguished by its meticulous attention to detail in the backgrounds and depiction of moving elements.

In an interview, Aoki revealed that the team drew over 100,000 frames, an enormous amount for a 90-minute movie.

The characters are deliberately grotesque, and the animation is often highly exaggerated. All of this sets a unique tone and proves that reimagining the story in any other format would have robbed it of half its charm.

You'll Want to Forgive 'ChaO's Chaotic Script for the Sake of Its Breathtaking Visuals

The visuals are incredibly expressive, but the plot cannot boast the same. Initially, the plot is surprising and intriguing with its unexpected wedding of a human and a mermaid, and following the development of their relationship is captivating.

The creators set up plot points that inevitably come to fruition, although some of them are blanks. The characters are never developed beyond a few recognizable traits, and many situations serve only specific functions.

ChaO remains a triumph of form over content. Despite the script's shortcomings, the movie is excellent because of its visual solutions – chaotic yet beautiful.

What Did Critics & Viewers Think of 'ChaO'?

• ChaO has 84% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.

• On IMDb, the movie has a score of 6.9/10.

• On Letterboxd, ChaO scored 3.5/5.0.