Key the Metal Idol: Season 1
Tokiko Mima, nicknamed Key, is a seventeen-year-old girl living in the Japanese countryside who is a robot, despite her human-like appearance. When her grandfather Dr. Murao Mima passes away, he leaves her a dying message telling her that she can become a real girl if she is able to make thirty thousand friends. Key quickly becomes enamored with idol singer Miho Utsuse and wonders if becoming a singer will allow her
Season 1 Lore Primer
Key plot threads, lore context, and character stakes you need to remember before diving into this season.
- Tokiko Mima, nicknamed Key, is a seventeen-year-old robot girl living in the Japanese countryside with a human-like appearance.
- Following the death of her grandfather, Dr. Murao Mima, Key receives a dying message instructing her to make thirty thousand friends in order to become a real girl.
- Key pursues the goal of gaining the love of thousands and making enough friends by becoming a pop idol, drawing her toward idol singer Miho Utsuse.
- Miho Utsuse carries an ominous secret connecting her to Jinsaku Ajou, an old rival of Dr. Mima who is working on a breakthrough in robotic weaponry.
Season overview
Tokiko Mima, nicknamed Key, is a seventeen-year-old girl living in the Japanese countryside who is a robot, despite her human-like appearance. When her grandfather Dr. Murao Mima passes away, he leaves her a dying message telling her that she can become a real girl if she is able to make thirty thousand friends. Key quickly becomes enamored with idol singer Miho Utsuse and wonders if becoming a singer will allow her to make the amount of friends needed for her to become human. However, Miho carries an ominous secret: she is connected to Jinsaku Ajou, an old rival of Dr. Mima trying to make a new breakthrough in robotic weaponry. As Key works to become a real girl, Ajou sets a dangerous plan into action, and it turns out there is much more to Key than meets the eye in this Japanese original video animation series released from December 1994 to June 1997.
Episode Guide
Season 1 Progress Shield
Startup
Dec 16, 1994 · 25 min
As you might imagine, an innocent like Key gets into trouble pretty much the moment she arrives in Tokyo. Aimlessly wandering the streets, she's picked up by a 'photographer' for a
Cursor I
Feb 17, 1995 · 25 min
As Key settles in as Sakura's temporary houseguest, we get to see a bit more of the other lead characters in action. There's Sakura's friend Shuichi, fan club president for the fam
Cursor II
Mar 1, 1995 · 25 min
Key begins to fixate upon the idea of becoming a pop idol herself as the surest way to making 30,000 friends. In the meantime, Ajo's team are trying to determine whether she might
Access
Apr 5, 1995 · 25 min
As if to confirm earlier hints that Key possesses a phenomenal power whose exact nature is hidden even from herself, this episode sees her disabling both PPORs and rescuing their s
Scroll I
Jun 7, 1995 · 25 min
We begin to learn more of just what Ajo and his cronies are up to, and Sakura and Shuichi have a long chat about Key and what must have happened to her when she was young to make h
Scroll II
Jul 5, 1995 · 25 min
Prince Snake-Eye convinces Key to come to his temple. The child of two of his followers is deathly ill, but their faith precludes medical intervention... so he hopes that Key can c
Run
Aug 2, 1995 · 25 min
Yes, it's the conclusion to the first 'big showdown' episode, and as such works very well as the final episode on this disc. I don't want to spoil anything, so let's just say that
Go to...
Feb 7, 1996 · 25 min
Sakura, apparently content to put her own dreams on the back burner for a while, creates 'Production Key'... an agency devoted solely to helping Key reach pop idol status. She trie
Return
Mar 6, 1996 · 25 min
Everyone's fave arch-henchman 'D' is still convalescing from his battle at the end of the previous DVD, Awakening (Volume 1), but Ajo – not being what you'd call a kind-hearted emp
Bug
Apr 3, 1996 · 25 min
Ah, this is a really satisfying episode... so much so that you end up wishing the whole series ran at this pace. First, you've got Tsurugi being Tsurugi. Then there's Ajo trying to
Save
May 2, 1996 · 25 min
Apparently all the excitement of the previous episode overwhelmed both the show's author and Shuichi alike, because abruptly he's back in Tokyo and 'a month has passed'. (No, this
Virus I
Jul 3, 1996 · 25 min
The story machinery starts grinding down towards the last of the TV-length Key episodes. Shuichi catches Prince Snake-Eye in the act of sabotaging Key's 'career', but this really i
Virus II
Aug 7, 1996 · 25 min
Much like the first in this set, everything is geared to reach a climax of sorts in this last episode of the disc. Again, it would be rubbish of me to ruin all the fun for you. Let
System
Mar 21, 1997 · 97 min
Exposition and backstories. All mysteries are revealed, the significance of the photograph found in Tomyo village, the life story of Doc, how the child Tokiko was replaced by the r
Exit
Jun 18, 1997 · 100 min
Key's friends rally for the final battle, but if they go against Ajo will they all make it out alive? And will Key be a living human at the end, or will she make a different choice