GKIDS announced on Tuesday that it will release Yasuhiro Aoki and Studio 4°C’s anime feature film ChaO on Blu-ray Disc in 1080p on September 22. The film is available now digitally in the U.S., with plans for a digital Canadian release in the future.
Image courtesy of GKIDS
© 2026 GKIDS, INC.
The Blu-ray Disc will include storyboards, animatics, teasers, trailers, and ending credits. The film will be available with Japanese audio with English, English SDH, Spanish, and French subtitles.
Image via ChaO film’s X/Twitter account
©2025「ChaO」製作委員会
The film opened in Japan in August 2025, and screened in North America on April 10. The film screened in 16 countries and regions around the world.
GKIDS licensed ChaO, and it describes the story:
From acclaimed Japanese animation production house Studio 4°C comes a wild romantic comedy and true “fish out of water” story. In a futuristic world where humans and mermaids coexist, ChaO follows Stephan, a mild-mannered office worker at a shipbuilding company, whose life is upended when he is suddenly proposed to by Chao — a princess from the mermaid kingdom. With no time to make sense of what’s happening, Stephan soon finds himself living with the unpredictable, wholehearted Chao. As her sincere love begins to break down his emotional barriers, an unexpected and touching romance begins to unfold.
Ōji Suzuka (Kimi ni Todoke, The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes) plays Stefan, a salaryman at a ship-making company. Anna Yamada (live-action Golden Kamuy, Saki) plays Chao, the pure princess of the mermaid kingdom.
Yasuhiro Aoki (Kimagure Robot, Tweeny Witches) directed the film at Studio 4°C, and Hirokazu Kojima (Deadman Wonderland, Coyote Ragtime Show) was the character designer and chief animation director. Hiroshi Takiguchi (Ajin, The Case of Hana & Alice, The Garden of Words) was the art director. Takatsugu Muramatsu (Mary and The Witch’s Flower, Phoenix: Eden17) composed the soundtrack. Toei is distributing the film.
Kumi Kōda performs the opening theme song “ChaO!,” written specifically for the film.
The film premiered at last year’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival, which ran in France in June 2025, and also won the Jury Prize. The JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film screened the film on its opening night at New York in July 2025. The film then screened at the 29th annual Fantasia International Film Festival, which ran from July-August 2025 in Montreal. The film competed for the Grand Prize for Feature Animation at this year’s Ottawa International Animation Festival, which was held last September. The Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival, which took place last October in Sitges, Spain, screened the film. GKIDS, Annecy International Animation Film Festival, and Variety’s Animation is Film festival screened the film in competition, which took place at Los Angeles last October. The Asia Pacific Screen Academy nominated the film in last year’s 18th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (ASPA).
Source: Press release
