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2024 saw the release of Netflix streaming series Terminator Zero. There may have been some hints to this future collaboration in Japanese video games & animation over the years. I look at OVA (direct to video animation) series Key The Metal Idol from 1993. In this story a teenage girl believes she is a robot and seeks to become an idol singer in hopes it will transform her into a human being. The dual nature of the robotics industry (still a few years away from becoming a reality in 2026) is a major theme. Minos Production manages the idol performers but is actually a front company for a military industrial corporation who wants to sell export robotic soldiers.

A big future clue to Terminator in this series may be the PPOR androids who look very similar to the T800. Akio Otsuka voices supporting character Aoi in Key and was also the voice of Konami's video game hero Solid Snake starting in 1998, he returned for many games in the Metal Gear franchise. Metal Gear has some interesting history with The Terminator.
For the 1987 game they based some promotional artwork on stills of Kyle Reese from the 1984 Terminator film. Japanese animation studio Production I.G. produced Terminator Zero and 20+ years ago did some planning work on a proposed Escape From New York project that was never completed. Terminator creator James Cameron worked with John Carpenter on the original Escape From New York movie in 1981. As it relates to Metal Gear, Kurt Russell's character Snake Plissken is said to have been an influence to Solid Snake. Western star Lee Van Cleef is likewise said to have been an influence for pistolero Revolver Ocelot.
Transcript
00:00We're talking about knowledge of the future in movies, YouTube channel, Easter Egg Psychic.
00:05In this video, I'll share some predictive Easter eggs and foreshadowing to the Terminator Zero animated series.
00:15This was developed by Matts and Tomlin, streamed to Netflix, animated by Japanese studio Production IG.
00:23Eight episodes initially released in August 2024.
00:29Voice actors on this project, Yuya Uchida, Toa Yukinari, Rosario Dawson, and Timothy Oliphant.
00:38Alright, so yeah, if you know Japanese animation and video games, there are some prior works with some clues.
00:46In the 80s and 90s, aside from television series and movies, animation was released direct to video cassette and Laserdisc
00:56in Japan.
00:56And the format was called the OVA, Original Video Animation.
01:01One such series, Key the Metal Idol.
01:04This went out between 1994 and 1997.
01:0815 episodes, directed by Hiroaki Sato, animated by Studio Piero.
01:14Alright, so the plot of the central character is a teenage girl, Takiko Mima, nicknamed Key.
01:21She believes she is a robot.
01:23She's told by her creator that she can become human with the help of 30,000 friends.
01:31To do this, she sets out to become an idol singer.
01:36The dual nature of the robotics industry is a major theme.
01:41Production Minos manages stage talent, including the idol singers.
01:47The production company is actually a front.
01:50Audio Heavy Industries is behind this.
01:53Their goal is to illegally export robot soldiers to foreign countries.
01:59The big clue to Terminator in this, the PPOR robots.
02:04Morphology-wise, very similar to the T-800 seen in the Terminator series.
02:11Voice cast for Key included Junko Iwao, Miki Nagasawa, Toshiyuki Morikawa, Akio Otsuka Voices Aoi.
02:21He's known as the Japanese voice of Solid Snake, the hero in Konami's action-adventure stealth game series, Metal Gear.
02:32One of the most popular titles released for Sony's PlayStation.
02:38Metal Gear has a strange connection to the Terminator promotional steals of Kyle Reese from the 1984 film.
02:49They were used as the basis for artwork associated with the original Metal Gear game in 1987.
02:58I think 1981 science fiction film Escape from New York has some major supportive information directed by John Carpenter.
03:09On this project, the Terminator creator, James Cameron, rendered several matte paintings.
03:16At the time, he was a special effects artist with Roger Corman's New World Pictures.
03:22Additionally, Cameron was a director of photography.
03:25Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Bordenine, Donald Pleasence, Harry Dean Stanton, Isaac Hayes, and Adrian Barbeau were also in
03:33this cast.
03:34Kurt Russell's character, Snake Plissken, was a huge influence on Metal Gear's Solid Snake.
03:41Additionally, Lee Van Cleef inspired Metal Gear villain Revolver Ocelot.
03:47I mentioned studio production IG, known for cyberpunk animation, including Ghost in the Shell.
03:55Over 20 years ago, this studio was involved in some planning for a cancelled anime adaptation of Carpenter's Escape from
04:05New York.
04:06There are some early character designs and sketches out there on the internet that date from 2003.
04:14My YouTube channel is Easter Egg Psychic.
04:17There I go back and look at movies and television from the past.
04:20I analyze these for possible references to future media.
04:24These may appear in the form of anecdotes, idioms, anagrams, hidden in the subtext of the work in question.
04:30I also use an unconventional method where I look at the likenesses of the actors.
04:37What I found is you can take the likenesses, match these up to some of the anecdotal items,
04:43and show past, present, and future information about actors and other personalities
04:49that may resemble the personalities in the movie or television episode that you're watching.
04:55My email contact is easteregguy, that's G-U-Y, at yahoo.com.
05:03Thanks for watching.

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