Latest news with #YasuhiroAoki
Japan Times
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Japan Times
Futuristic mermaid tale ‘ChaO' makes a splash
Unlikely romances between humans and mermaids have been the basis for several anime films, like Hayao Miyazaki's 'Ponyo' and Masaaki Yuasa's 'Lu Over the Wall.' Now, Hans Christian Andersen's 'Little Mermaid' tale gets its latest animated spin in 'ChaO,' a new film from Studio 4°C that opens in Japan Aug. 15 after premiering in June at the Annecy International Film Festival in France, where it won the Jury Award. The romantic comedy takes place in a near-future Shanghai where humans live in relative peace alongside the merpeople who populate the city's canals and surrounding seas. Its protagonist is Stephan (voiced by Ouji Suzuka), a mild-mannered engineer who works at the city's top manufacturer of maritime vessels. One day, Stephan meets a mermaid princess named Chao (Anna Yamada), who is instantly smitten with Stephan, claiming they've met before, though he has no idea what she's talking about. Sensing a public relations coup for his company (a shipbuilder married to the daughter of a mer-king!), Stephan's boss (Ryota Yamasato) pushes his young employee to marry Chao. Even though he grumbles about the need to wed 'a talking fish,' the meek Stephan nonetheless goes through with the nuptials. The unlikely pair then begin a crosscultural coupling that brings challenges as Chao navigates life above the sea and Stephan slowly unlocks the repressed memories of when he first met his bride. 'ChaO' was directed by Yasuhiro Aoki, 56, a veteran animator and director of episodes of properties like 'Batman: Gotham Knight' and 'Tweeny Witches' in his feature film debut. For 'ChaO,' which took nine years from conception to release, Aoki was tasked by Studio 4°C producer Eiko Tanaka ('Tekkon Kinkreet,' 'Children of the Sea') to create a 'totally new' original anime film. Aoki tells The Japan Times that part of achieving that remit came in imbuing the film with a high level of visual density. Each frame is packed from corner to corner with intricate backgrounds, characters and objects with multiple blink-and-you'll-miss-it sight gags made to reward repeat viewings. Zooming out to allow for that kind of extra visual information was one of Aoki's primary goals. 'In a live-action film, you can have actors here and there across the frame doing all kinds of things, whereas anime tends to focus the camera only on what's essential to move the plot forward, on the character who's speaking, for example,' Aoki says. 'I wanted to avoid that tendency.' Proof of the film's visual spectacle is the number of frames drawn by its animators. The average anime film is said to be made up of about 30,000 to 40,000 hand-drawn frames, but 'ChaO' has over 100,000. 'That was many more frames than we anticipated,' says Aoki with a laugh. 'The truth is, with all the detail I was trying to pack in, the animators and I got excited about what we were trying to do, and we somehow ended up with over 100,000.' As the credits roll, the film gives the audience a peek behind the scenes and pays tribute to the hard work of those animators by showing how some key shots looked before they were colored and composited. 'We're entering an era where things like CG and AI are on their way in and hand-drawn animation is on its way out,' says Aoki. 'Since we're on the precipice of that change in eras, the ending sequence functions as proof that our film is drawn by hand. Ultimately, I think what humans like best is art made by other humans. AI may be gaining attention, but I think we want to watch things made by people.' Veteran animator and director Yasuhiro Aoki (center) premiered his film 'ChaO' in June at the Annecy International Film Festival in France, where it won the Jury Award. | Studio 4°C Speaking of people, another element that brings the vibrant look of 'ChaO' to life are its various characters. Created by the director and refined by character designer Hirokazu Kojima, each of the film's characters look totally different from each other but all share a sketchy, cartoony fluidity as they careen across the screen. 'I started my career in anime about 30 years ago, when the industry was starting to concentrate on anime with a lot of realism to appeal to adults,' says Aoki. 'I've done a lot of realist animation and enjoy drawing it, but for 'ChaO,' I wanted to try something you couldn't do in live-action filmmaking, something that might give live-action filmmakers a pang of jealousy. That's why the film has characters of all shapes and sizes: round, thin, tiny, large. Animation offers total freedom, after all.' Not only do the film's distinctive characters give it visual appeal, they also help fill out its expansive, zoomed-out worldview. Aoki and his team spent a lot of time making sure that even minor characters, from Stephan's inventor roommate Roberta (Yuichiro Umehara) to Chao's guide to the human world Maibei (Kavka Shishido), would be memorable even with limited screen time. 'Stephan and Chao are the main characters, so naturally we spend the most time with them,' explains Aoki. 'At the same time, Stephan is the most straightlaced, normal one among them. In contrast, we gave the minor characters enough zest to make the audience think they could be main characters in their own right. In that way, they end up leaving a lasting impression. We created all the characters to be loved even if they only appear briefly. I wanted audiences to wonder about what those characters were doing even when they weren't on screen.' Studio 4°C tasked Aoki with creating a 'totally new' original anime film, which meant imbuing 'ChaO' with a high level of visual density. | © 2025 'ChaO' Committee Another of the film's unique elements is its setting, Shanghai, a place not often seen in Japanese animation. The choice was partially inspired by China's explosive economic growth at the time the project was first conceived. 'When we visited, it felt very futuristic, but there was a lot of 'old China' left too,' says the director. 'That contrast was interesting, as was the speed of modernization. It had an atmosphere I had never felt in Japan, even though they're both Asian countries, so that made it a very interesting place for the setting of our film.' In recent years, anime has dominated the Japanese box office, and 2025 is no exception. But while franchise-based properties like 'Demon Slayer' and 'Detective Conan' are surefire hits, anime films based on original screenplays like 'ChaO' aren't guaranteed to make the same splash. Still, Aoki tried not to worry too much about box-office considerations while making his film. 'Filmmaking is a business, and everyone wants a hit, but I think every creator wants to try their hand at an original at least once,' Aoki says. 'I also think that viewers want to find something they can call their own. I have a feeling that more than big franchise hits, originals are the films that really live on in people's hearts.' 'ChaO' opens in cinemas nationwide from Aug. 15. For more information, visit (Japanese only).
Japan Times
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Japan Times
Japanese director Yasuhiro Aoki wins French animation award for 'ChaO'
Japanese director Yasuhiro Aoki's "ChaO" won the Jury Award in the feature films category at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in southeastern France on Saturday. "ChaO" tells the story of a romance between an office worker and a mermaid princess in a future society where humans and mermaids coexist. The film stars Ouji Suzuka, who voices the office worker, and Anna Yamada, who plays the role of the mermaid princess. It is scheduled to hit theaters in Japan in August. "Dandelion's Odyssey," a French-Belgian film directed by Momoko Seto, a Tokyo native who is based mainly in France, received the Paul Grimault Award, a special award for a feature film. In the short films category, Japanese director Ryo Orikasa's "The Graffiti" received the Off-Limits Award, which recognizes films that explore experimental or unconventional anime techniques.
Yomiuri Shimbun
15-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Japanese Director Yasuhiro Aoki's 'ChaO' Wins French Anime Award
Ⓒ2025 'ChaO' Committee Paris (Jiji Press)—Japanese director Yasuhiro Aoki's 'ChaO' won the Jury Award in the feature films category at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in southeastern France on Saturday. 'ChaO' is a romance story between an office worker and a mermaid princess in a future society where humans and mermaids coexist. The film stars two actors Ouji Suzuka, who voices the office worker, and Anna Yamada, who plays the role of the mermaid princess. It is scheduled to hit the screen in Japan in August. In the short films category, Japanese director Ryo Orisaka's 'The Graffiti' received the Off-Limits Award, which recognizes films that explore experimental or unconventional anime techniques.
15-06-2025
- Entertainment
Japanese Director Aoki's ChaO Wins French Anime Award
News from Japan Culture World Jun 15, 2025 11:07 (JST) Paris, June 14 (Jiji Press)--Japanese director Yasuhiro Aoki's "ChaO" won the Jury Award in the feature films category at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in southeastern France on Saturday. "ChaO" is a romance story between an office worker and a mermaid princess in a future society where humans and mermaids coexist. The film stars two actors Ouji Suzuka, who voices the office worker, and Anna Yamada, who plays the role of the mermaid princess. It is scheduled to hit the screen in Japan in August. In the short films category, Japanese director Ryo Orisaka's "The Graffiti" received the Off-Limits Award, which recognizes films that explore experimental or unconventional anime techniques. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.] Jiji Press
