Kimera (manga)

Kimera
Cover of the first manga volume
キメラ
Genre	Horror, Supernatural, Shōnen-ai
Manga
Written by	Kazuma Kodaka
Published by	Shueisha
English publisher	NA ADV Manga
Demographic	Seinen
Magazine	Super Jump
Volumes	2
Original video animation
Kimera
Directed by	Kazu Yokota
Written by	Kenichi Kanemaki
Studio	Toho
Licensed by	ADV Films
Released	July 31, 1996
Runtime	48 minutes

Kimera, stylized as Ki*Me*Ra, is a two-volume manga series written and illustrated by Kazuma Kodaka and serialized in Super Jump. It was adapted into a single episode original video animation by Toho in 1996. Both the manga and OVA were licensed and released in English by ADV Films. It focuses on a man named Osamu, who falls in love with an androgynous vampire-like man named Kimera, being held by the Air Force and hunted by two other vampires. One vampire wishes to use Kimera for his/her hermaphroditic nature as the mother to revive their dying race, while another wishes to kill Kimera to save him/her from a fate Kimera did not desire.

Plot (OVA)

Two cereal salesmen, Osamu and Jay, are driving along when they come upon an accident scene. They are ordered by Air Force to flee, but before they can they are attacked by vampiric creatures. Osamu is blown into a trailer where he finds a beautiful, green-haired androgynous-looking figure, Kimera, inside a cryogenic container. A silver bell he recently purchased and wears around his neck rings, waking the creature inside who kisses him through the glass. Two of the vampiric creatures arrive, with a long ebony-haired male vampire attacking Osamu, and a disfigured one defending him. They disappear, and Osamu and Jay are taken to the Air Force base. They are released as Jay's father, Dr. Gibson, is on the research team there.

Dr. Gibson tells Osamu and Jay to forget everything that happened, though Jay argues it would be impossible. Gibson is called away and accidentally leaves his security card behind. Osamu and Jay decide to use it to search for Kimera, with Osamu sensing Kimera calling him in the right direction. Meanwhile, the ebony-haired male vampire from the previous night, Kianu, goes through the facility killing people in search of Kimera. He wears a bell bracelet that makes similar chime to Osamu's bell necklace. One of the research team members, Dr. Fender, meets with the deformed vampire, Ginzu, to discuss the status of the "Mother" system, and Ginzu complains about the lifeless food Fender brings "them."

Osamu and Jay find and frees Kimera from the container in a garden within the lab. Kianu attacks them again, explaining Kimera will bring about the downfall of the planet. Ginzu and his minions' huge snakes break through the glass to attack Kianu, as Gibson and his team arrive after finding their dead companions elsewhere. Kimera begins glowing and the room explodes. After the explosion, Kimera and Osamu are nowhere to be found. Jay learns from his father that Kimera is actually a vampiric alien with fully functional male and female reproductive organs, who arrived on Earth with two other vampires two weeks prior in a meteorite incident.

Kimera reappears in the city, wearing only Osamu's lab coat. Two men find and attempt to rape Kimera, who ends up draining them of blood and killing them. Osamu dreams of Kimera's past and learns that Kimera and Kianu were in love. Before, Kimera lived peacefully, refusing to drink blood and having no desire to become "a mother" after seeing what one was. Kimera arrives and tries to make love to Osamu, though he tries to tell her that he isn't Kianu. Ginzu attacks capturing Kimera and has Fender install her in the Mother system in hopes of creating at least two or three children before Kimera is killed. He explains to Osamu that vampires on their planet are no longer able to reproduce and that their ancestors have been betrayed by humans repeatedly through the ages. He also reveals that his, Kianu's, and Kimera's biological mother was originally a kidnapped human woman. Now on their planet, the adults are dying and only Kimera is the remaining one who can reproduce. Neither Ginzu nor Kianu can make children with Kimera as they are not fully functional men.

Kianu arrives and attacks again. As he and Ginzu fight, Fender finishes connecting Kimera to the system and is subsequently killed by Ginzu. Wounded and unable to free Kimera himself, Kianu transports Osamu to kill Kimera. As Osamu prepares to shoot his gun, the building collapses, killing Ginsu and Kianu. Jay finds Osamu's bell crushed in the debris and mourns his friend; however, Osamu is shown to be together with Kimera in the desert, driving towards an unknown location. Though he knows Kimera believes he is Kianu and that their child may destroy the world, Osamu wants to have hope for the future, and is happy being in love with Kimera.

Reception

The general reception to the OVA adaption was largely unfavorable, due to lack of proper story and character development, and differences from the original manga. Viewers have expressed ill response to Kimera's hermaphrodite features, thinking her to be male rather than female. In the original version in Japan, Kimera actually IS a man. This confusion may be the result of translation discrepancies due to gender neutral pronouns in the Japanese language, and the attempt to appeal to a larger market beyond the originally intended shounen-ai audience.

The art for the manga has been described as reminiscent of Yuu Watase.

External links

• Kimera (manga) (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Kimera (manga) (OVA) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Kimera Original Motion Picture Soundtrack at MusicBrainz (list of releases)