Arriving in select theaters this weekend in a very limited run is the newest film from the Ghibli’s GKIDS distribution shingle, ChaO. Handcrafted over 7 years at Studio 4°C, ChaO is a rarity in this age of computer animation, a predominantly hand drawn, distinctively non photorealistic attempt at anime that gives the film a fantastical feel. Its fairy tale aesthetic benefits the story. You see, ChaO takes place in an alternate  version of Shanghai where Humans and Mer people have fully integrated in a shared society. The city is populated with flying buses that travel directly beside ‘express tubes’ of water built for mermaid’s travel, and shared amenities all over.

We are dropped into this world via beat reporter Juno (Shunsei Ota) as he desperately attempts to make an assignment. After failing, Juno sees a familiar figure from his favorite book ‘Human-Mermen Relations’. Part children’s fables/part real events, his book leads him to recognize Stephan (Oji Suzuka), the man who changes everything between the two races. Determined to find out the real story, Juno eventually convinces Stephan to tell the tale of him and Princess ChaO (Anna Yamada). We then flashback to Stephan as a struggling engineer, working under President Shi (Ryota Yamasato), desperately trying to convince him to fund and build his Air Jet engine, a safer engine for marine  life. We find out much later on why this engine is so important to him.

After being demoted to cleaning ships, Stephan is involved in an incident  onboard where he is saved by ChaO, who instantly decrees her love and wishes to marry Stephan. Seeing an opportunity, Shi tells Stephan he’ll fully fund his project if he goes through with the marriage, and the outside world will not stop hounding him until he gives in. Eventually the two go on a date and end up marrying. But Chao is still in her fish form, her mermaid form only visible when she is seen through water. Her father King Neptunus (Kenta Miyake) informs him that she will not see her true form until she can completely trust him. But after a series of mishaps with ChaO, mostly due to lack of knowledge when it comes to anything human, a bigger accident occurs that threatens everything.

ChaO‘s formatting makes the story a little hard to follow at times as flashbacks on top of flashbacks start to dominate the third act. This lays to bear the whole backstory of ChaO and Stephan, which goes back much farther than what we are initially led to believe. This third act is also where the puzzle pieces are finally put together. The storytelling here ca be difficult to navigate for younger audiences, or even mature audiences for that matter. However, the story and Stephan’s ultimate discovery are ultimately worth the effort as the film has  so much heart that it will draw audiences in. And the ultimate reveal is touching and well done. The script may get a little bogged down with the way it’s structured, but the heart underneath always seems to shine through.

ChaO‘s animation style is such a throwback it’s a breath of fresh air. Composition and proportions are ‘blown out of the water’ as we see a varying degree of characters with abnormally large heads on tiny bodies mixed in with regular looking folk and the different types of mer people. President Shi himself resembles Humpty Dumpty, and transformational qualities of the mermen allow for different looks from the same characters. The crew spent 7 years of hand crafting and drawing all these characters – not a single line of digital code exists in the creation of the characters themselves. Although yes, there does seem to be some help with some backgrounds. But the final product is well worth the effort here.

In the end, this film doesn’t really feel like a Ghibli film, but at the same time it feels perfectly at home under the Ghibli label mainly due to its unique storytelling. And while some parts will require more attention to detail to sort out and to keep the timelines in check, ChaO will ultimately grab everyone in the end. Plus, it’s likely to be one of the more interestingly animated films of the year which in itself might just warrant a watch.