Originally released by Viz Media before getting picked up by Discotek Media, RetroCrush is now streaming one of the stranger and more engaging series that have come out here with Key the Metal Idol. The fifteen episode series is streaming in its original Japanese language with English subtitles on their site and they’ve now rolled out the opening sequence for streaming, which brings back all sorts of memories from when I first saw this on VHS years ago. It features the song “In the Night” by Sario Kijima that’s positively haunting after all these years.
Originally released between 1994 and 1997, the series was directed and written by Hiroaki Sato with character designs by Keiichi Ishikura.
Plot concept: Her classmates at school called her Key, as in the “key” to a strange mystery. Key’s “grandfather” was a kindly old scientist wanting to use his skill in robotics to create peace and love in the world. But when that kindly old scientist passed away, poor Key was left behind, lacking even the ability to smile. There still is hope, however—a message left behind for Key suggests a fantastic possibility. Could it really be possible for Key to become a real, live human, if she can only win the love of 30,000 people?
