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.
