Key the Metal Idol
English title: Key the Metal Idol
Japanese title: KEY THE METAL IDOL
Type: OVA
Source: Original
Episodes: 15
Status: Finished Airing
Aired: Dec 16, 1994 to Jun 18, 1997
Duration: 34 min per ep
Rating: R+ - Mild Nudity
Studios: Pierrot
Producers: Pony Canyon, Fuji TV, Fuji Creative
Licensors: VIZ Media, Discotek Media
Genres: Action, Award Winning, Drama, Sci-Fi
Themes: Mecha, Music, Psychological

Tokiko Mima, nicknamed "Key," is a 17-year-old girl living in the Japanese countryside who, despite her human-like appearance, is a robot. When Key's 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. Thus, Key moves from the quiet Mamio Valley to the busy streets of Tokyo, where she soon runs into her childhood friend Sakura Kuriyagawa.

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. But Miho carries a ominous secret: she is connected to Jinsaku Ajou, an old rival of Dr. Mima trying to make new a breakthrough in robotic weaponry. As Key works to become a real girl, Ajou sets a dangerous plan into action, and it turns out there's much more to Key than meets the eye.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Key the Metal Idol won the Packaged Work Award at the 1996 Animation Kobe Awards.