Key the Metal Idol Archives - deus ex magical girl

‘Key: The Metal Idol’: The Final Verdict

Dude, that was so metal.

Key: The Metal Idol. Written and directed by Hiroaki Satō. Produced by Shigehiro Suzuki and Atsushi Tanuma. Music by Tamiya Terashima. Studio Pierrot, 1994-1996. 13 episodes and 2 movies. Rated 16+.

Available on Crunchyroll.

This is an amazingly good show with haunting imagery, a brilliant story line, a satisfying conclusion, and one of the best soundtracks I’ve heard in an anime. It’s not perfect, and the need to rush what was supposed to be its final half was nearly a disaster, but in spite of that, Satō and his obviously very capable crew of animators managed to pull this off.

A robot grabs an injured man's face from behind — A bad Monday at the office.

What’s most amazing to me about this, now that I’ve watched it, is that it’s not better known. It was overshadowed by other anime that came after it and that, in my humble opinion, were equally ambitious but not nearly as good—and certainly not nearly as intelligible. It is perhaps particularly astounding that they accomplished all that they did when the show was released specifically as an “experimental” title and sold extra-cheap. It was made with no faith that it could succeed.

Although it doesn’t look so strange nowadays when grimdark is the rule, we may guess some reasons why it was a risk at the time: Key takes some beloved tropes from Japanese culture head-on. It pulls apart Japan’s love of mecha and idols and robot girls. It deliberately makes all of these things look sick.

Key extends her hands toward the viewer — Key uses her power.

As a side note, for the teaser image of this post, I used what is probably the most iconic moment in Key: This image of her bursting nude from a robot’s body was reinterpreted in cover art and was subsequently reproduced in miniatures. This is basically an image of a young girl ripping a robot apart with her bare hands, an image that’s unquestionably striking and might have been stirring to its target audience of Nineties otaku.

Because this blog attempts to be halfway family-friendly, I had to clip the bottom part of the image; similarly, Pioneer had to censor the box art when releasing the original English dub:

Box art from Pioneer in which Key bursts from a robot — Those big metal chunks were not originally stretching across her chest or groin.

The grand finale, a movie-length “episode,” begins with an impatience-creating build-up. First, it opens with some of the most bizarre imagery from the series displayed under an extended version of the opening theme song. Then the screen goes black for almost half a minute while tense music plays and the opening credits start. So it takes its sweet time getting going.

Continue reading “‘Key: The Metal Idol’: The Final Verdict”

Review: ‘Key: The Metal Idol,’ Episode 14

Protip: If you’re developing super-secret military robots in order to sell them to a foreign power, don’t send them walking all over Tokyo while simultaneously using them to run an idol business.

Key: The Metal Idol, episodes 14, “System.” Written and directed by Hiroaki Satō. Produced by Shigehiro Suzuki and Atsushi Tanuma. Music by Tamiya Terashima. Studio Pierrot, 1994-1996. 13 episodes and 2 movies. Rated 16+.

Available on Crunchyroll.

The good news is that it’s not a complete disaster. The bad news is that it’s not all it could have been.

Shattered arm of a robot idol — What a disaster.

Through its thirteen-episode run, Key: The Metal Idol ratcheted up the tension with a measured and deliberate pace. Then, as so often happens to anime, the money fell through. Instead of producing another thirteen episodes as originally planned, Hiroaki Satō created two ninety-minute movies to finish off the story. This is the first of those two.

This movie is a massive infodump. Most of the “plot” consists of two guys sitting on a park bench and drinking beer while discussing Key’s extensive backstory. Occasionally, these sequences are punctuated by scenes of a crazy dude talking to himself … and discussing Key’s extensive backstory.

Tataki and Kagami talk in a park — “And then this chick was like, ‘I’m a robot,’ and I was like, ‘No way.'”

Although this is a terrible way to make a ninety-minute film, it nonetheless displays the consummate skill of the people working on this project, in that they succeeded in making much of this actually interesting. Yes, I definitely got antsy and fidgety at parts, but it really is a good story that the characters are telling each other, interspersed with arresting imagery and intriguing flashbacks. It finishes off with a good cliffhanger ending that sets up for the next, and final, film.

Miho gloats over Tsuruki, who's tied to a chair — This looks like my last date.

Also, I must give Key: The Metal Idol credit for laying its storyline at our feet in this way. Other anime that ran out of resources (I’m thinking mostly of Neon Genesis Evangelion, which is back in the news thanks to Netflix’s new dub) simply gave up on storytelling and took refuge in opacity and esoterica instead. By contrast, instead of telling us, “You just don’t understand because we’re deeply symbolic and stuff,” Key says, “We gotta tap out, but here’s a lengthy description of what’s happening before we go.”

I respect that.

Continue reading “Review: ‘Key: The Metal Idol,’ Episode 14”

Review: ‘Key: The Metal Idol,’ Episodes 12 and 13

Key: The Metal Idol, episodes 12–13, “Virus,” Parts 1 and 2. Written and directed by Hiroaki Satō. Produced by Shigehiro Suzuki and Atsushi Tanuma. Music by Tamiya Terashima. Studio Pierrot, 1994-1996. 13 episodes and 2 movies. Rated 16+.

Available on Crunchyroll.

We have now arrived at the final of the thirteen episodes of Key: The Metal Idol, and we may in a sense call this the end of the series. Originally, this series was supposed to be twenty-six episodes, but as often happens with anime, the money and other resources fell through, so the series rushed to its conclusion. According to common opinion, the first of the movies is a massive infodump and the second is a bunch of incoherent weird stuff. We’ll see for ourselves when we get to them.

And the weird stuff, at least, may have been planned from the beginning: After all, this anime makes a brief Easter egg homage to Eraserhead:

A close-up of Eraserhead placed on a shelf in a video store — I’m a big fan of David Lynch’s famous body horror “ERASER BEAD.”

These two episodes end as the first half of a series often will, with a minor victory for the protagonists and the promise of a new direction.

Continue reading “Review: ‘Key: The Metal Idol,’ Episodes 12 and 13”

Review: ‘Key: The Metal Idol,’ Episode 10

Key: The Metal Idol, episode 10, “Bug.” Written and directed by Hiroaki Satō. Produced by Shigehiro Suzuki and Atsushi Tanuma. Music by Tamiya Terashima. Studio Pierrot, 1994-1996. 13 episodes and 2 movies. Rated 16+.

Available on Crunchyroll.

Hard to believe we have only a few episodes left until it’s time for the two movies.

Akane and Key are still looking for their big break, but it may come in the form of the creepy, bespectacled naked dude we saw in the two episodes previous. As it turns out, Tataki, who knows a lot of the ins and outs of the idol industry, recognizes him: He’s none other than Hikaru Tsurugi, a genius with many careers and his hands in many projects.

Tataki holds up the bug from the phone — The bug from the phone

Continue reading “Review: ‘Key: The Metal Idol,’ Episode 10”

Review: ‘Key: The Metal Idol,’ Episode 9

Key: The Metal Idol, episodes 9, “Return.” Written and directed by Hiroaki Satō. Produced by Shigehiro Suzuki and Atsushi Tanuma. Music by Tamiya Terashima. Studio Pierrot, 1994-1996. 13 episodes and 2 movies. Rated 16+.

Available on Crunchyroll.

This episode continues to ease us into the second phase of the series. Still without any major action sequence, it largely centers around Akane and Key’s efforts to break into the idol industry

As the episode proceeds, they get false leads but also talk to several people who like their recommendations. In particular, the name of Tataki apparently has clout, though he had earlier demurred when they went to him for references.

Sakura talks to that one guy in the video store — That, unfortunately, is what she said.

Tataki is at this point an ambiguous character: He’s a square-jawed, masculine guy, but at the same time he is president of a Miho fan club and apparent lives for nothing but fannishness. However, he has real influence in the industry, indicating he’s not just some geek.

Continue reading “Review: ‘Key: The Metal Idol,’ Episode 9”

Review: ‘Key: The Metal Idol,’ Episode 8

Key: The Metal Idol, episode 8, “Go To.” Written and directed by Hiroaki Satō. Produced by Shigehiro Suzuki and Atsushi Tanuma. Music by Tamiya Terashima. Studio Pierrot, 1994-1996. 13 episodes and 2 movies. Rated 16+.

Available on Crunchyroll.

There has not been any distinctive shift in tone or content, but this episode nonetheless represents the beginning of Key’s second arc.

Although the story here picks up immediately where the previous episode left off, this is in a sense a transitional episode as it has little action and only minimal advancement of the story.

A naked dude holds a business card — NAKED DUDE WITH BUSINESS CARD. NAKED DUDE WITH BUSINESS CARD.

Sakura has taken on the role of Key’s manager and now tries to get her work as an idol. Having no connections of her own, she first goes to her best friend Suichi Tataki. Tataki is the president of a Miho fan club, and Sakura hopes he has connections. He doesn’t, but he does warn Sakura and Key away from working with Minos Productions, which hosts Miho; Minos is a front organization for Ajo Heavy Industries, and it apparently exists for no reason except Miho’s promotion.

Continue reading “Review: ‘Key: The Metal Idol,’ Episode 8”

Review: ‘Key: The Metal Idol,’ Episode 7

Key: The Metal Idol, episode 7, “Run.” Written and directed by Hiroaki Satō. Produced by Shigehiro Suzuki and Atsushi Tanuma. Music by Tamiya Terashima. Studio Pierrot, 1994-1996. 13 episodes and 2 movies. Rated 16+.

Available on Crunchyroll.

Man, this show can be brutal. The first third of this episode is an extremely bloody and magnificently directed action sequence. So far, I’m consistently astonished at how good this show is: Arresting imagery, compelling story, intriguing characters. It’s a brooding nail-biter.

This episode continues from the cliffhanger of the episode previous: Sergei, the stone-cold killer working for Ajo Heavy Industries, has marched into a meeting of a snake cult and begun killing everyone to get to Key, who’s currently unconscious after performing an apparently miraculous healing. Key’s longtime bodyguard Wakagi shows up, and he and Sergei proceed to seriously maim each other. Prince Snake-eye, foolish yet sympathetically portrayed, tries to intervene—and pays for it.

Continue reading “Review: ‘Key: The Metal Idol,’ Episode 7”

Review: ‘Key: The Metal Idol,’ Episodes 5 and 6

Key: The Metal Idol, episodes 5–6, “Scroll,” Parts 1 and 2. Written and directed by Hiroaki Satō. Produced by Shigehiro Suzuki and Atsushi Tanuma. Music by Tamiya Terashima. Studio Pierrot, 1994-1996. 13 episodes and 2 movies. Rated 16+.

Available on Crunchyroll.

We are six episodes into the show, and young Key still hasn’t got down to the business of becoming a music idol, though she is apparently convinced that is her only chance of getting 30,000 friends. In this two-parter, however, she manages to become a literal idol when she is taken in by a snake cult.

Key and Snake-eye sit in a temple — Snake cult.

Miho, or rather, the pilot who operates Miho, is in the hospital and is extremely sick after her encounter with Key. Nonetheless, Ajo insists that she will be forced to perform again shortly.

We begin to get more details about Ajo and his robots. The machines are powered by some kind of material called “gel,” which must be kept at very cold temperatures.

We have no real details at this point, but it’s apparent that piloting the robots is a painful experience, as Sergei appears to be in great pain when he does it and Miho is actually dying from it.

Close-up of Miho in bed with breathing mask — Miho’s in a bad way.

At the same time, the robots are hilariously vulnerable for machines built for war. Akane encounters one outside her apartment and destroys it by stabbing its eye. Another goes out of control, apparently because Key is having an emotional moment again, and begins strangling Sergei—so he too destroys it by breaking its eye.

Sakura deactivates a robot by stabbing its eye — Sakura takes out a robot.

They need to do something about these machines so that damaging one optic sensor doesn’t deactivate the whole thing.

Continue reading “Review: ‘Key: The Metal Idol,’ Episodes 5 and 6”

Review: ‘Key: The Metal Idol’, Episode 4

Key: The Metal Idol, episode 4, “Access.” Written and directed by Hiroaki Satō. Produced by Shigehiro Suzuki and Atsushi Tanuma. Music by Tamiya Terashima. Studio Pierrot, 1994-1996. 13 episodes and 2 movies. Rated 16+.

Available on Crunchyroll.

A harrowing episode, “Access” shows us what the show is capable of when it’s at its best. It can be a good thriller when it wants.

Let me get you up to speed and mention a few points I didn’t bother to discuss or got wrong in our essays previous. First, when Key went to Miho’s concert, she met up with Tataki, the guy who is close friends with Akane and also, apparently, president of Miho’s fan club. After Key prematurely ends the concert by killing Miho’s robot avatar, Key and Tataki wind up at a rooftop restaurant.

And we have to appreciate Tataki’s financial shrewdness here, taking Key to a restaurant: Key is undoubtedly a cheap date since she doesn’t eat.

Key and Tataki look on in panic — Key and Tataki.

Meanwhile, Sergei is hunting for Key. We now know that he’s the one who killed Key’s grandfather, and to find Key, he sends a robot after the sleazy photographer, Seiichi Tamari. First killing Tamari’s bodyguard, he confronts Tamari on a high tower that just happens—another unlikely coincidence—to overlook the rooftop restaurant where Key and Tataki are.

Continue reading “Review: ‘Key: The Metal Idol’, Episode 4”

Review: ‘Key: The Metal Idol,’ Episodes 2 and 3

Key: The Metal Idol, episodes 2–3, “Cursor,” Parts 1 and 2. Written and directed by Hiroaki Satō. Produced by Shigehiro Suzuki and Atsushi Tanuma. Music by Tamiya Terashima. Studio Pierrot, 1994-1996. 13 episodes and 2 movies. Rated 16+.

Available on Crunchyroll.

Critics of Key: The Metal Idol often complain that it is a slow-moving show, and they’re not wrong. We’re already three episodes in (episodes 2 and 3 are a two-parter, sort of), and the story line still hasn’t taken off. However, the visuals are arresting, and there are enough intriguing details that it doesn’t feel sluggish.

Key holds a bouquet and lies on a park bench — Key being sluggish.

Sakura, the best friend Key improbably ran into while in Tokyo, has taken Key into her apartment. What brought Sakura to Tokyo in the first place, we aren’t told, but she survives there by working numerous part-time jobs. After an evening of pizza delivery, she works all night at a video rental.

The sleazy pornographer we met in the first episode comes after her, though less aggressively than the first episode’s cliffhanger implied he would. As it turns out, he not only photographs naked children in his bedroom, but also works for a corporation that produces music idols. He wants Sakura to sign on and is willing to harass her until she agrees. Although tempted by the money, she turns him down, and she has a male orbiter named Tataki with a knowledge of martial arts who’s able to drive the sleazeball off.

Continue reading “Review: ‘Key: The Metal Idol,’ Episodes 2 and 3”