Studio 4°C’s ChaO Heads to Indian Theaters August 7

India’s theatrical anime calendar is getting a high-profile summer booking: PVR Inox Pictures has confirmed it will open ChaO, the Studio 4°C feature directed by Yasuhiro Aoki, in cinemas nationwide on August 7. The release follows the film’s Japanese debut in August 2025 and a wide international path that has already taken it through more than a dozen countries and regions.

The story unfolds in a near-future setting where people and merfolk share the same world. Office worker Stephan, voiced by Ōji Suzuka, has his quiet shipyard routine upended when mermaid princess Chao—played by Anna Yamada—proposes to him with little warning. What starts as a chaotic cohabitation gradually becomes a tender fish-out-of-water romance as Chao’s blunt sincerity chips away at Stephan’s emotional armor.

Aoki leads the project at Studio 4°C, with Hirokazu Kojima on character design and chief animation direction, Hiroshi Takiguchi as art director, and Takatsugu Muramatsu scoring the film. Toei handled Japanese distribution, while GKIDS holds North American rights. Pop star Kumi Kōda contributes the original theme “ChaO!,” written for the movie.

Festival audiences helped build the film’s reputation early: it premiered at Annecy in 2025 and took the Jury Prize, then continued through JAPAN CUTS, Fantasia, Ottawa, Sitges, Animation Is Film, and an Asia Pacific Screen Awards nomination. For Indian moviegoers, the August 7 rollout is a chance to catch one of Studio 4°C’s most widely traveled recent features on the big screen.