The story of MIMA Tokiko ("Key"), wandering to the big city in search of 30,000 friends to be able to become a human being, may seem construed. But very soon the attention is geared less towards Key's search and more towards the people around her, her friends and those acting not quite so friendly.
This is a highly unlikely classic. A genre sci-fi series with standard cutesy girls, mediocre animation (by today's standards – remember, this was made in '94), evil people and mad scientists. Yet it defies any of those deficiencies, building upon a well-written take on "Pinocchio meeting the evil man" that captivates the viewer. The enigmatic Key raises our curiosity, and the musical score is of sheer beauty throughout (a rare feat for a "simple" OVA series).
Some interesting notes. MIMA is the main character's family name. Mima is also the acting name of another girl attracted to the idol industry, this time in the anime movie "Perfect Blue" (1997, by KON Satoshi). The voice actors of Key and Mima are one and the same - IWAO Junko! Both "Perfect Blue" and "Key the Metal Idol" deals with the price of fame and the often unscrupulous mechanics of the entertainment industry. And both inject a great deal of angst and uncertainty into the storyline, for the viewer to be amazed or frightened. "Key" also presents a look into the warped mind of a man-of-power, obviously nurturing a bad relation to society. Re the dictators of the real world, often systematically using people.
For those of you who didn't think "Key the Metal Idol" was dark enough, I can recommend "Now and Then, Here and There". It's also an anime and a story containing so much despair and so little hope, it could have been directly inspired by "The Lord's Resistance Army" of Uganda. In both instances, children are bereft of their childhood in most sinister ways.
But to end this on a happy note, don't let the first episode of "Key" put you off. It's only a couple of episodes into the story it all gets going. And for those of you with patience enough to watch it all the way through to the end, this series really, really pays off.
This is a highly unlikely classic. A genre sci-fi series with standard cutesy girls, mediocre animation (by today's standards – remember, this was made in '94), evil people and mad scientists. Yet it defies any of those deficiencies, building upon a well-written take on "Pinocchio meeting the evil man" that captivates the viewer. The enigmatic Key raises our curiosity, and the musical score is of sheer beauty throughout (a rare feat for a "simple" OVA series).
Some interesting notes. MIMA is the main character's family name. Mima is also the acting name of another girl attracted to the idol industry, this time in the anime movie "Perfect Blue" (1997, by KON Satoshi). The voice actors of Key and Mima are one and the same - IWAO Junko! Both "Perfect Blue" and "Key the Metal Idol" deals with the price of fame and the often unscrupulous mechanics of the entertainment industry. And both inject a great deal of angst and uncertainty into the storyline, for the viewer to be amazed or frightened. "Key" also presents a look into the warped mind of a man-of-power, obviously nurturing a bad relation to society. Re the dictators of the real world, often systematically using people.
For those of you who didn't think "Key the Metal Idol" was dark enough, I can recommend "Now and Then, Here and There". It's also an anime and a story containing so much despair and so little hope, it could have been directly inspired by "The Lord's Resistance Army" of Uganda. In both instances, children are bereft of their childhood in most sinister ways.
But to end this on a happy note, don't let the first episode of "Key" put you off. It's only a couple of episodes into the story it all gets going. And for those of you with patience enough to watch it all the way through to the end, this series really, really pays off.