Tag: cyberpunk

Review: ‘Key: The Metal Idol,’ Episode 10

Key: The Metal Idol, episode 10, “Bug.” Written and directed by Hiroaki Satō. Produced by Shigehiro Suzuki and Atsushi Tanuma. Music by Tamiya Terashima. Studio Pierrot, 1994-1996. 13 episodes and 2 movies. Rated 16+.

Available on Crunchyroll.

Hard to believe we have only a few episodes left until it’s time for the two movies.

Akane and Key are still looking for their big break, but it may come in the form of the creepy, bespectacled naked dude we saw in the two episodes previous. As it turns out, Tataki, who knows a lot of the ins and outs of the idol industry, recognizes him: He’s none other than Hikaru Tsurugi, a genius with many careers and his hands in many projects.

Tataki holds up the bug from the phone
The bug from the phone

Continue reading “Review: ‘Key: The Metal Idol,’ Episode 10”

Review: ‘Key: The Metal Idol,’ Episode 7

Key: The Metal Idol, episode 7, “Run.” Written and directed by Hiroaki Satō. Produced by Shigehiro Suzuki and Atsushi Tanuma. Music by Tamiya Terashima. Studio Pierrot, 1994-1996. 13 episodes and 2 movies. Rated 16+.

Available on Crunchyroll.

Man, this show can be brutal. The first third of this episode is an extremely bloody and magnificently directed action sequence. So far, I’m consistently astonished at how good this show is: Arresting imagery, compelling story, intriguing characters. It’s a brooding nail-biter.

This episode continues from the cliffhanger of the episode previous: Sergei, the stone-cold killer working for Ajo Heavy Industries, has marched into a meeting of a snake cult and begun killing everyone to get to Key, who’s currently unconscious after performing an apparently miraculous healing. Key’s longtime bodyguard Wakagi shows up, and he and Sergei proceed to seriously maim each other. Prince Snake-eye, foolish yet sympathetically portrayed, tries to intervene—and pays for it.

Continue reading “Review: ‘Key: The Metal Idol,’ Episode 7”