Animania

Kimera is a 45 minute OVA released in 1996 by and licensed for English release by ADV Films. It is apparently based on a two volume manga series of the same name, also licensed by ADV. It basically features the story of the nerdy looking Omaru, a cereal salesman, who encounters Kimera, a vampire-like creature encased in an ice capsule. Unable to forget the beautiful feminine looking creature, he along with his friend Jay seek her out at an Air Force where Jay's father works, eventually finding and releasing her. Two vampire brothers, the beautiful Kianu and the deformed Ginzu, are also seeking her, with Kianu trying to kill her and Ginzu wanting to capture her. As the episode progresses, we learn about the past of these three vampires and their motivations for their actions.

On the whole, this wasn't a bad little OVA. In some ways, its a fairly stereotypical depiction of vampires, except they come out during the day and there appears to be some different "levels" though this is never really explained. The art in the series is fairly good, with nicely detailed backgrounds and great character designs. In particular, during the opening sequence a hunting dog is shown and I was happy to see that it was fairly realistic depiction of one rather than the usually cartoony style dogs seen in most anime series. That was a nice touch to me. As a note, it does have one partial rape scene, which is well drawn but borders on the hentai line.

If you aren't bothered by that one scene, it is certainly worth watching once, but I probably wouldn't bother buying it. There are too many plot points left unexplored because of its short length to have it really be a top notch story. I'd be curious to read the manga to see if it goes into some concepts more, particularly the past events.

Rating: B-

More lovely manga sales! Though now I also have several series missing volumes that I need to fill in

Fruits Basket, Volume 22 (04/01/2009)

Hell Girl, Volume 02 (04/01/2009)

Castle of Dreams: Stories from the Kare Kano Creator (04/03/2009)

We Were There, Volume 03 (04/03/2009)

Ghost Hunt, Volume 03 (04/04/2009)

Pearl Pink, Volume 01 (04/04/2009)

Platinum Garden, Volume 02 (04/04/2009)

Platinum Garden, Volume 03 (04/04/2009)

Ultra Cute, Volume 01 (04/04/2009)

Ultra Cute, Volume 02 (04/04/2009)

Ultra Cute, Volume 03 (04/04/2009)

Ultra Cute, Volume 04 (04/04/2009)

Ultra Cute, Volume 05 (04/04/2009)

Ultra Cute, Volume 08 (04/04/2009)

Chibi Vampire, Volume 13 (04/14/2009)