Product Details

• Actors: John Swasey, Charles Campbell (II), Phil Ross (II), Paul Sidello, Jayson Carr
• Directors: Kazuyoshi Yokota
• Format: Animated, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English, Japanese
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: Unrated
• Studio: Adv Films
• DVD Release Date: September 10, 2002
• Run Time: 45 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00006FD8W
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #105,527 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Based on a manga by Kazuma Kodaka, this 1996 OAV is a bloody hodgepodge of gothic images and anime sci-fi clichés. A spaceship crashes on Earth, carrying three weirdly dissimilar creatures that are half human, half alien. The aliens need humans to reproduce and continue their species. Cereal salesman Osamu is strangely drawn to the androgynous Kimera. After rescuing her from a research facility where illicit experiments are being performed by a corrupt scientist, Osamu confronts the other two aliens in a violent face-off in a ruined church. He and Kimera escape together, hoping for a future together. A jejune, violent recycling of old themes and images, Kimera falls just short of "tentacle porn." Rated 17 Up: Violence, cannibalism, nudity, profanity, sexual situations, grotesque imagery. --Charles Solomon

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars An Abomination, February 14, 2000

By	Professor J (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kimera (Sub) [VHS] (VHS Tape)

A bit of background, for those of you who are hardcore anime fans. This movie is based on a manga of the same name by Kazuma Kodaka---a popular professional artist who specializes in writing "yaoi" manga (a subgenre of manga written for women, by women, about male/male "homosexual" romance and sex---a kind of hentai for women). She's the same artist who created "Kizuna." In the original Kimera manga, Kimera was once male, before being genetically altered into an hermaphrodite.

The movie version toned down the graphic sexuality and gore of the manga a great deal, but otherwise was fairly true to the manga plotline (abbreviated, of course). However, this English-language translation, in an attempt to avoid annoying the homophobes among the US anime-viewing audience, made one significant alteration to the translation in order to avoid any sign of homosexuality: they translated Kimera's gender as female. Yaoi fans, take note. Kimera still *looks* male (you never see genitalia in the anime, but I've read the manga; Kimera still has male equipment, at least externally), but the other characters repeatedly call it "she" and "her," which gets *really* annoying after a while.

In addition, the English-language dub of this movie is... wretched. The mis-translations are one problem, but the voice acting is just plain bad---flat in some places, overacted in others. The art's not bad, but the animation is jerky in some places---as I understand it, Kimera had a lower budget than anime aimed at male audiences.

If you're interested in a low-budget badly-dubbed horrorfest, you might like this movie. If you're a yaoi fan, or a Kodaka fan, you'll hate it.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Trash!, June 10, 2002

By	R. Love "primemaiden" (Desoto,Texas USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Kimera (Sub) [VHS] (VHS Tape)

One of Japan's flops which I'll proudly trump. This movie is [garbage]. I've seen the dub. But that doesn't change my opinion about the whole package. If you take a bathroom break during the middle you haven't missed anything. Too many flashbacks one rape scene.This movie is tasteless... The plot is pretty flat(if you can call it a plot that is). There is no drama,action or redeemable traits in this movie
Don't waste your time or money on this...

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars KI-ME-RA, October 2, 2002

By	"animeeyes" (Brampton, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

Only 2 negative points on this anime.
1), the volume on the English sound track is quite LOW. My DVD player is a SONY DVP-S570D. I had the volume cranked to the max with headphones on and I still had problems hearing the english track. So, for customers who only like to enjoy these anime in english dubbed you will probably be disappointed.
2), Profanity is regulated to the english track. (I guess the producers assume that the consumer wants profanity. It doesn't help the story.) The japanese track is better.
I give KI-ME-RA a 4, since I enjoy viewing anime in japanese with subtitles. They have better Voice Actors too. : )