Key the Metal Idol

Hmm, I don't know what to think just yet. We have this doctor who has ties with some government people involved in advance weaponry counterfeit, who is the creator of our robotic protagonist Tokiko, or Key. He supposedly died on an accident (I wonder if there's something more to it? Else it's pretty lame although I guess it can happen) and left Key with the goal of becoming human before her battery runs out. Obviously the ''30.000 friends'' thing must have some further meaning, he probably didn't mean it the literal way.

Then there are those people who were driving the robot around town, and I'm not sure whether or not they had something to do with Key or they were just moving the robot somewhere else to do something. Anyhow it seems the robot ended up destroyed somehow and the doctor's assistant was checking it (with corpses all over the place) before the people controlling it came around.

One thing I didn't like at all is how the pizza girl just happened to be delivering food where Key was going to be filmed and they just happened to be acquaintances. Too convenient. Now they're on the run, being chased after by that cartoony macho blond, huhuh.

The series has been rather cryptical so far and I guess more things will fall into place later on. The animation is pretty meh but the story does look interesting/intriguing so far.

the 30 000 friends thing would be something along the lines of drawing a crowd that big in her rise to stardom. She is... or will be... Key the Metal Idol, after all.

Well that was odd. I mean hopefully the show isn't going to take itself very seriously because the concept is kind of stupid. What the hell does making friends have to do with making a robot human? And 30,000 just seems like such an arbitrary number. Hopefully this is some kind of code then again I guess they could be shooting for her to learn what real friendship is or something. Key has some limited understanding of human interactions but she obviously still has a lot to learn.

Anyway the military guys are trying to make robot soldiers but they can't keep them under control and they are having problems with power sources for them so they are probably going to be coming after Key to see how she works. This part of the story seems pretty standard and generic. Bad guys looking to make the perfect kill bot.

I don't know where this is going at the moment we might end up with a generic actiony kind of story or it might be a more slow paced meditation on human nature and relationships. I'm not sure if there is time to do both in just 15 episodes so we'll have to see where it goes from here.

Quite reckless to go out when you've just been chased an hour or two ago, yes?

Still undecided about whether this is going to be good or bad, but for starters this episode was pretty jumpy and it had quite a bit of cheese when Sakura was crying over Key or that dude punched the thugs. Some interesting traits may be what Sakura is thinking now about the 'work' proposal after what Key said to her, or the organization behind the robots and their relation to the doctor's assistant... or how Key and Sakura are going to deal with Key's seemingly fruitless goal. Anyhow, this needs to focus more on Key's nature and development.

Dunno what's exactly the deal with the singer woman.

This episode was so fucking cheesey with Sakurai crying over Key and the guy just kicking the hulk's ass. I'm still not sure what is going on here but there isn't much focus on any particular element. It seems to be a bunch a vaguely connected stories at the moment. I'm wondering if the singer is going to turn out to be a robot or something. She is connected to that D guy somehow. Speaking of D just everything about him screams villian and that mullet and eyebrow combo is kind of stupid looking. Right now I'd like to see the show focus on developing a couple of the plots instead of spreading it's attention so thin trying to do several things at once. Also more Key is needed, I have no idea what to make of her at the moment. Also I'm hoping she doesn't actully become a pop idol to achieve her goal because that would be lame and stupid. Fans and friends aren't the same thing at all.

I don't know there is plenty of time to bring all of these elements together but right now it's a bit of an unfocused mess.

Things are starting to come together a bit but I'm not sure I like the look of the overall picture. In another huge coincidence the sleazy porn guys that mets Key on her first night in Tokyo just happen to be connected to D. They didn't know anything about the robots though because when they found out they were killed. Miho is a robot probably controlled by the original singer.

So it looks like the corperation and D are working together to spread these robots throughout the city for some unspecified reason. D wants to blame the bots going out of control on Key's proximity altough his boss seems to think it might have to do with D himself being crazy. The boss doesn't want to believe that Key is a robot at all but a real girl, he doesn't see the point of creating a robot with it's own thoughts and feelings. Apparently they did kill Key's grandfather while looking for the smaller power boxes he created. The guy kept calling the bots his children not sure what he meant by this but he takes their loss personally it seems.

I'm not really clear on anyone's motives at this point and Key is still feeling left out of the picture. She hasn't gotten much attention since the first episode and I still don't feel like I know anything about her.

Well, for one thing I'm glad they revealed the doctor was killed rather than slipping on a grave or something like that. It seemed fishy to begin with, as though he was making up an excuse not to worry Key.

The singer was a robot controlled by the original singer, as you said. It's possible she lost her singing abilities at some point, these people contacted her and offered to replace her for a robotic double who would keep the level of her performances, if not better them. It seems this comes with a price though since apparently controlling the robots affects the person both psychically and physically. What interests me is that Key seems to know her, there are these quick flashback-ish sequences every now and then that get no explanation in which Key seems to approach this Miho woman from behind in the street. Oh, and did she just throw a rose to the robot subconsciously? There's something strange there, maybe the song or the robot itself affect her circuits somehow.

We now have a better idea about who this Sergei dude and his boss are and what's their relation to Key's grandfather. The boss has some serious mental problems regarding robots, it looks like an obsession around robots' submission to humans. As for Sergei, there's not much to say as of yet, except that he may be insane and driving the robots out of control (according to those readings) and that he may be related to Miho (he put on an angry face when the pimp said he had found a girl better than her).

It's not clear why they are spreading the robots around town. Maybe they want to test them, but it's rather risky to do so when they can go out of control and start killing people. Allegedly, they want to do business with the robots but on a secretive manner, so letting them run amok in a city is not the better way to keep a low profile in my book. Dunno.

It's true what you say about Key, right now her character is too shallow or distant. She seems a robot with some capacity to think on her own and have emotions, maybe that's what she needs to exploit to become ''human'', figuratively. Still the show needs to focus more around her and her evolution, if there's any at all.

I don't like how this show drives its plot. It's like many of the situations need coincidences for things to move along, like ''guy-is-thrown-from-a-building-and-just-happens-to-fall-near-Key-grabbing-her-and-falling-both-of-them-down-the-roof''. That was, uh, lame. Then there's what this situation brought: a big group of people cheering on the girl while help arrived which finally resulted in her experiencing some kind of internal change. Her eyes switched to those of a human, he threw that guy flying and made the two robots explode. While it's interesting that we're finally seeing something going on with Key's character and her human side, I dislike the execution because it relies too much on casuality and thus comes off as artificial.

Anyways, there were already indications earlier that Key wasn't a simple robot like those PORR but now it became clearer. I don't get just yet how people cheering on her makes her become human or what part of her is. Maybe the brain, the heart, etcetera? Well, I guess it will all be explained at some point. As for her affecting the robots and even making them explode, I suppose the doctor might have been planning on destroying the robots of this organization and implemented such a device in the body of her ''granddaughter''.

As for Key crying when the pimp was about to die, I don't know... It might have been a bit excessive. Perhaps she's not aware of what that guy does or its implications, but even so he's practically a stranger.

Well now Key apparently can effect the robots. She suddenly developed very inhuman powers after having some odd visions. Although even before that she appeared to effected the robot when it was about to attack porn guy. Bleah of all the improbably things to happen the guy falls off the roof and right onto Key dragging her over the edge. Key seems to have some odd memories inside of her I wonder if she's a copy of someone that was once human. She keeps having these strange visions that don't really seem like memories though, I'm not too clear on what's going on with her. Also it seems like Takagi is just a little too accepting of what people tell him. Last episode he had no problem believing Key is a robot and then this episode he believed the guy when he said he was Key's bodyguard.

Sergei and his boss are obsessed with finding her because she holds to Key to her grandfather's research but for some reason the boss doesn't want to believe that she isn't human. He even made some bullshit excuse about her throwing the guy up like that was something a normal person could do. The robots are valuable but he seems a little too attached to them. It's seems like it is something personal to him. It looks like the person in control is effected by what happens to the robot because both the singer and Sergei were in pain when their robots were damaged or malfunctioned.

And there is a guy dress like a clown, not sure what that's all about.

Will the religious dude accomplish any objective in the plot other than blabbering bullshit and luring Key in? At the scene where she and Tamari fell he looked like he knew something. Hopefully he's not just a filler character to, well... fill space.

Ajo keeps with his obsession on robots. As for Miho, I wonder if she's her actual daughter. Well, otherwise I don't think they could hide her for so long under this treatment, but it's possible. Still, if it's her daughter that would explain why she's in Key's memories. Since Key's grandfather and Ajo had some relation, the two girls may have met at some point.

Sergei is out looking for Key. It seems he likes to fool around with his boss every so often and blame it on the robot. I'm thinking he might be the one who killed the guys in the first episode after all.

Not much happened in this episode, but I guess it was interesting to hear Sakura talking about Key in the past and how their relation was established, etcetera. All things considered, Sakura isn't exactly a great friend.

Sakura kicked Key out because she is jealous Takagi has been spending time with her or she just kicked her out because Key was making things difficult for her. Either way I'd have to agree it makes her a shitty friend. She really hasn't done much to help Key and it seems like they were just friends because Sakura was lonely.

Ajo is a sadistic fuck keeping Miho going like that. If she is his daughter then maybe she tried to kill herself or something because he talks about this being something like a punishment for her. Sergei seems to have his own motives in all of this, he isn't a loyal subordinate at all. He intentionally does things just to fuck with his boss. I wonder how often the robots really malfunction or if Segei just uses that as an excuse to do whatever the hell he wants. Well now he's off looking for Key.

The clown turns out to be a religious nut which is a little disappointing. He was kind of a waste this episode and doesn't actually seem to be related to the plot at all. Key is now staying with him which means we will probably have to listen to more of his bullshit next episode... ummm yay.

I wonder if the strange recordings are Miho calling out for help.

Key can now heal the sick... what the fuck is she? Her having super strength and being connected to the robots both made sense but this doesn't. Whenever there is a crowd cheering her on she has these strange visions of a priestess and then she was able to heal the child. I thought she was just a robot but apparently there is something more going on here. I guess with such supernatural powers then if she gets enough people to believe in her she could become human but that doesn't really answer what she is now. She already seems to have started turning human, there was the vision of her growing organs and then she coughed up blood. I'm not sure what her grandfather did but this is more than just science. This kind of came out of left field and doesn't make any sense right now.

Ajo and Sergei are both crazy. They each seem to have their own goal and are using each other to get to their own goals. Sergei wants Key and Ajo is obsessed with his sons. I don't know what either of them hopes to accomplish probably their goals are as crazy as they are. At this point it may have nothing to do with science, it could be some mystical spiritual bullshit.

This episode was interesting. It looks like Key's body is composed of both mechanical and organical parts which switch places upon psychological pressure. We could also suppose the robot parts just ''turn into'' organs but that would escape all realism so I'm going to scratch the idea. Anyways, it seems those inner visions Key has with people around her have a meaning. The crowd cheering for her when she fell was still there, as well as the believers now and the dying kid. No idea who the woman holding the child (who had already appeared before) is, as a first thought I'd say a woman from which Key was created, but it also resembles Miho somehow.

What did Key do? She swapped her organs with the kid's? It sure seems so because the kid was alright and she started coughing up blood like crazy. Pretty unbelievable that she'd be able to do that with just putting the lips in contact...

Oh, and there's the robots, Key affected them again when she changed to ''human'' form. And it seems Sergei is using some of them to observe Sakura, or maybe he was looking for Key in her house...

Sergei is hardcore, he simply killed those believers like it was nothing to get Key, and then he pretty much pull out his own hand's skin... As for the boss Ajo, it seems he is going to do some crazy-ass experiment on his daughter using the scientist's blood or something.

Still can't decide whether this episode was dumb or interesting, it will all depend on whether or not they're able to come up with a good explanation for Key's nature and abilities.

Ajo is a sick creeper, doing that to her daughter... But was that the real one or the robot? He opened her up like it was nothing and was talking as though she needed to be given fuel or something (''we need to replenish her'')... Either way, that guy is a fuck.

Sergei failed to retrieve Key and he got some fancy injuries to boot. Plus those robots got both smashed. In this episode he and Wakagi talked a bit about what was driving the robots crazy. Partly, it's because of the user's emotions, so Sergei has been at fault all along. The other part is Key (nothing new there), who I think was subconsciously controlling the robot in this episode.

Still no clue about that priestess woman in Key's mind. This time she was with a baby. Perhaps she is Key's biological mother and Key is some mixture of robot and human, but given that Key is first robot and second human I'd say the robot was done first and then the human parts were attached... It sounds like bullshit, especially given that those organs would have to grow, but that would explain why her body model was changed a few times... Maybe. Anyway, that's what I've got for now.

The religious leader won't be having much of a role from now on it seems, kind of disappointing. Not the character himself (he didn't seem like much from the beginning), but rather his usage. I guess it's soon to judge though.

Tataki is kind of like John in Sci-Fi Harry, involving himself and going with the flow even though he's unrelated to what's happening. Sakura would be Catherine... And sadly we've got no Chinori. Well, it seems Sakura is now willing to help Key out. They're seriously going with the idol idea? Uh... suit yourselves.

More strange voices being heard in Tataki's apartment, it's definitely Miho as you said. Still don't know what kind of role she's actually going to have in this story.

Hmm, I must say I was expecting something more epic or involving or compelling out of this show given the few comments/reviews I took a look at. Still 6 eps + 2 movie-length final eps to go, so hope for improvement is not lost just yet.

Sergei is a fucking monster. He just kept coming no matter how badly he was injured, he must really want Key. So if I understood things correctly then the robots absorb the personality of the person controlling them and the negative emotions cause then to go out of control. Sergei being a murdering psycho means any robot he controls is bound to get out of control. I think Key is able to destroy them by manipulating the gel in the robot's power box. The gel is both explosive and corrosive, some nasty shit that.

It looks like Miho is Ajo's daughter making it even more creepy when he's molesting her. He seems to both love and hate her. I'm not sure why he cut her open but it has something to do with replenishing her. He has not interesting Key at this point, he doesn't think he needs her power box. Sergei thinks the power box is something they really need. I'm sure Ajo is going to do something fucked up Sergei while he is injured and vunerable.

Sakura felt bad about how she treated Key but when she comes home she completely ignores the problem and goes straight back to helping Key. It's like they skipped a couple of steps here. This part felt kind of rushed and wasn't really satisifying. I have to say I really don't like Sakura. I still need to know more about Key though, she remains a distant cypher.

This idol stuff is fucking retarded. Sakura creates this production company and tries to promote Key even before know what she can do. We've never seen Key sing, dance or do anything that would make her idol material. Sakura has just jumped into this with no fucking clue what she is doing. Key is just being dragged along and has no idea what to do herself. Key may have liked Miho but she doesn't seem to have any potenetial herself. The only reason this half baked scheme is going to get off the group is because the guy from the talent agency has taken an interest in Key. I don't know why because she just stood there and did nothing during the try outs. Also it seems like Key has reverted back to full on robot form with no sign of the organs that popped up when she was witht the snake cult.

I don't know why Ajo is so insistent that Miho do this concert so soon, maybe he is planning something big in the near future. Although he's such a crazy fucking sadist it's possible he is just doing this to torture the scientists and Miho. It looks like the gel can be taken from humans but it destroys that person's mind. Ajo cut Miho open because she needed more of the gel so that is probably the robot he was messing around with. The real Miho is at the hospital with the doctor guy I think. Well Ajo is just a sick fuck and I don't really know what is endgame actually is.

I looks like the monk guy is back but he didn't do anything this episode. I though this episode was pretty fucking stupid and I hate the idea of Key being some kind of Pop Idol. It doesn't really make any sense. Besides the her grandfather wanted her to get followers or fans then why not say that instead of friends?

I also think this is dumb. Without properly being able to show emotions Key can't be an idol, let alone sell 30,000 seats for a concert. The man at the audition must know something about the robots or the doctor because I don't think there's much else why he could be interested in Key after her ''performance''.

The priest is still around, this episode just let us see him so that we know he's not out of the story yet. Not that I care really. As for Ajo there's this album he wants to release as soon as possible for whatever reason. My only guess is that robot Miho is affecting people's mind somehow with her voice or by spraying the gel or something and he wants to do something to those people.

Sergei is still bed-ridden with no signs of being up to anything. And Tataki is hated for speaking with common sense.

Pretty damn fruitless episode overall...

I always have this feeling that very little happens in each episode.

From this one we learned that the gel only works properly when the person controlling the robot with it is the person who had the gel in his body. Also that Sergei has more capacity than a normal human. Ajo is retarded, he's going to go ahead with his little crazy project - whatever it is - without even knowing it is flawed from the basis.

The priest didn't do much, just eavesdrop on the calls to Key. He's not even a threat because Wakagi was calmly laid out in a street bank while all of this happened. The priest is referring to someone as 'the demon'. That's either Sakura or the judge from the audition, but as for whatever he knows about them, I've got no idea. Maybe he thinks all pop idols are children of evil? =)

And well, then they met with the aforementioned guy and thus ends the episode. Not much to say, really.