Do you know what a chimera is? A chimera is a mythical creature that is a hybrid of 2 or more animals, and usually carries the image of being monstrous and horrifying. Illustrator Yukashi (ゆ菓子), who loves drawing monsters, animals and stories about them, has made some incredibly cute chimeras (kawaii kimera) and some questionable looking chimeras.
A Story of Pursuing Adorable Chimeras
How are chimera made? Yukashi has illustrated the “process” of making adorable chimeras in the 2 part backstory below (2nd part is in the thread).
Using a “chimera maker (キメラ・メーカー)”, just pick 2 animals you like, and “BAM!” You have your personally customised cute chimera (KAWII KIMERA). The leftover parts will combine to create another chimera. For example, this adorable cat + caterpillar chimera, and the chimera made up of its leftover parts… (maybe someone out there will find it cute?).
Twitter Link
Writer's Pick
Meet The Main Chimeras
Meet the characters of Yukashi’s main series featuring 3 cute chimeras, and their “leftover” counterparts.
[Chimeras reactions when told “you’re cute”. ] Twitter Link
From the top is TakoUsa who has an octopus head and rabbit body and UsaTako who has a rabbit head and octopus body; rabbit is “usagi” in Japanese, and octopus is “tako” in Japanese.
Next we have SameNeko whose top half is shark and bottom half is cat, and NekoSame who is the other way round; cat is “neko” in Japanese, and shark is “same” in Japanese.
Lastly, we have Tatsu no Uma, which is a centaur but with a seahorse’s head. And the counterpart, an elegant Uma no Otoshigo, which is similar to a kelpie, but without the front legs. They are horse and seahorse chimeras; horse is “uma” in Japanese, and seahorse is “tatsu no otoshigo” in Japanese.
I recommend reading all of Yukashi’s comics about them on Twitter and Instagram. They’re very cute, and each of them have their own personalities. Their relationships with each other are also very interesting! Some of the “ugly” chimeras' have complexes about how their counterparts look so much cooler or cuter, which is strangely relatable.
Twitter Link
Let’s have a look at UsaTako and TakoUsa’s profile!
UsaTako
Fluffy cute chimera.
Has a habit of eating its own legs but it’ll grow back immediately. Hobby is cooking.
Will make takoyaki for people if it feels like it.
Thinks it's the cutest amongst the chimera.
Honestly does not care if TakoUsa is around or not.
TakoUsa
Made up of UsaTako’s leftover parts.
The head part is octopus so it is intelligent.
Looks itself up on social media with a PC.
Conflicted about its wish of wanting to be loved.
Hates UsaTako.
Unimaginable Chimera Combinations
Just from the above, you can tell that Yukashi has an incredibly vivid imagination, and is an interesting creator. Browsing Yukashi’s Twitter account, there are some combinations of animals that I cannot for the life of me imagine.
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Hugu Tako : Pufferfish (fugu) + Octopus (tako)
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Iruka Kitsune : Dolphin (iruka) + Fox (kitsune)
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Sibainu Kani : Shiba Dog (shiba inu) + Crab (kani)
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Kaeru Usagi : Frog (kaeru) + Rabbit (usagi)
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Rakuda Namekuzi : Camel (rakuda) + Slug (namekuji)
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Hati Kuma : Bee (hachi) + Bear (kuma)
My favourites from the above are Iruka Kitsune, ShibaInu Kani, and Hati Kuma. Honestly, I am very curious how their “leftover parts” chimera look!
LINE Stickers?! Goods?! Get Them Now
If you really like Yukashi’s work and want to support the creator, why not get some LINE Stickers?
At the moment Yukashi has 19 sticker sets on LINE, but we may expect to see more in the future. Aside from the main chimera series, there are also other chimera characters and some of Yukashi’s older creations too. I’m sure your friends will be surprised to receive such an interesting sticker.
Or, if you want something you can use, like bags, or smartphone covers. Yukashi has released some merchandise which you can find here.
Photos provided courtesy of Yukashi ゆ菓子 (Twitter, Instagram).
