KEY THE METAL IDOL is a fifteen part OVA series released by Pony Canyon. Each of the first thirteen volumes is 25 minutes long, while the last two episodes are supposed to be ninety-five minute features. The first of these will be out this month.
What is this story about? The story is based on a Pinocchio scenario. We have a robot that is trying to become human. But it is not so simple. There are a number of twists and turns in this OVA series, and only some of them are in the actual story itself!
Complications abound. First, there are the relationships that Key is gradually becoming entangled in. Further, Key must deal with the company that is attempting to track her and her mysterious method of operation. And finally, there is her quest: alone, she must gather the power of thirty thousand friends in order to become human, and she must do so before her "battery" runs out.
How can she possibly accomplish this? Somehow, after seeing Miho, Japan's top idol singer, Key fixates on becoming an idol. This ends up leading to a story with many sides. We have Key attempting to become an idol singer with her friend, Sakura's help. We have the relationship between Sakura and Tataki who happens to be the president of the Miho fanclub. We then have the evil corporation that was somehow involved in Key's grandfather's (her creator) death and also appears to be the controlling power behind Miho, who may not be what she seems.
The story develops more twists as each new character is introduced. Each character then undergoes at least one transformation in our eyes as we learn more about that character.
All of the characters' plights are somewhat symbolic of their own problems that they face. Key must be human to become human. Sakura exists in self-denial of herself as well as being forced early on to fend for herself in Tokyo. Tataki, the Miho fan club president, must face some disturbing truths about his idol as well as come to realize what Sakura feels for him. Ajo, the power that rules Ajo Heavy Industries with an iron fist, is simply twisted and powerful. There are still hundreds of questions revolving around the mysterious employee that Ajo calls Serugi, yet everyone else refers to him as "D".
What makes this series compelling? The story alone would draw a number of us: the hopeless journey of a character forging on to a goal that may seem downright unachievable, but in the face of its impossibility she continues to march forward. The relationships and the angst that develop between Sakura and Tataki as Key blunders in to the middle of their lives. The sheer twisted evil and genius of Ajo as he attempts to create his own form of machine and human perfection. "D" appears as a twisted shadow springing out from Ajo, as a dangerous and often uncontrollable extension of Ajo's will. We see the further darkness of Ajo's influence in the story of Miho. She is Japan's top idol singer, yet is little more than a lifeless automaton. Each performance that she conducts seems to drain her of her life.
The story is not all there is to this series. The direction itself is visually stunning. Each scene cut is carefully placed. The careful art of how the progression of scenes occurs is itself a part of the story. The preludes intrigue you with what you do not know yet. This method of direction serves as a hook to draw you in to the story. At each mysterious scene cut you get a few clues, but no real answers. You end up having to watch more of the story to try to get a better explanation of what is happening.
The music fits with the style of direction in an irresistible fashion. The opening song ("In the Night") and the opening credits mesh together, giving brief glimpses of parts of the story before cutting in a surreal fashion to the next bit of imagery. The music haunts the viewer with a feeling of loneliness or incompleteness as Key seems to be tugged along from scene to scene in the opening credits as if she were dreaming.
The ending song, "Watashi ga soba ni iru" (I am by your side) is slower paced and haunts you with the feeling of a high school summer that has long since passed. This ending song also comes to haunt you as you watch more of the series because it will always start playing shortly before the ending credits roll, telling you that the current episode and that you will only see a few seconds more of story.
This music becomes even more frustrating when it starts in what seems to be the middle of the episode. Having been drawn in to the story, it is quite a shock to discover that this is indeed as far as the story will progress in this episode and you must now consign yourself to wait for the next one to come out.
The story has also provoked a lively bit of discussion about whether Key is actually a robot or a human that thinks she is a robot. Well, viewers will have to decide for themselves on that one as it does remain unclear up until later in the series.
This is a series that grows on most viewers. Many people will see the first episode and end up puzzled and a bit confused about how this series will play out or what even the point is. There are so many scenes that occur as flashbacks or as asides that do not make sense if the story is as simple as it may seem. Then the first episode ends in the middle of a chase scene. This gives a number of viewers enough incentive to turn the LD over to the second side, which is when the story becomes even more compelling. We are wondering just how Key was made, why she was made, and what relationship does her creator have with your typical evil seeming corporation. By the end of the third episode many viewers are left gasping in pain as the ending credits start (in the Japanese import LD releases, the first LD contains the first three episodes.)
By the middle of the fourth volume, most viewers are hooked. This reviewer and his friends are waiting in anguish for episode fourteen to come out in a month. It has been since this summer when episode thirteen of Key came out leaving us with an ending that was puzzling and incomplete. Now we are finally able to look forward to a ninety minute feature hopefully explaning more of the story.
One important thing to note is that Viz Communications has the US rights to KEY THE METAL IDOL and are working on the dubbed version. Their objective is to release this before the summer of 1997.

Original Story by Sato Hiroteru
Copyright © Satoh Hitoteru / Production Key
KEY THE METAL IDOL, Ver. 1-13, 25 minutes; Ver. 14 and 15, 95 minutes
Episode 14 (The Third Program: "System") to be released 21 March 1997,
¥9500 (LD/VC) Catalog Number Pending