Key through the years

Following my Kyoto Animation through the years blogpost that I did when Kyoto Animation's adaption of their first game Kanon ended, I'm going to do one on a significant visual novel company named Key. And anyway, since there ain't anymore CLANNAD to watch for awhile, I thought I'd fanboy about Key for awhile since I'm a Key fanboy afterall ^^

Kyoto Animation and Key have enjoyed a successful business venture through the years where KyoAni adapted 2 of Key's games into anime which are AIR and then Kanon that became very successful in their respective industries. KyoAni is currently working on Key's 3rd game which is CLANNAD and is into its 12th episode.

Key released some games before 1999, but since their first hugely successful one was Kanon, I thought I'd start this blogpost from 1999.

Key game openings have always been beautiful, so I've included them in this post to compare to their anime incarnations. I have actually bought the singles disc for CLANNAD's OP.

Released in 1999 : Kanon



Adapted into anime by Toei Animation in 2002 (13 episodes)
Re-adapted into anime by Kyoto Animation in 2006 (24 episodes)

Game OP:



2006 Anime OP:



Song: Last Regrets by Ayana

Kanon is a generic 1999 bishoujo game created for the PC and is Key's first game. Even though the graphics of the game look like shit now in 2007, it was considered one of the best visual novels for its time and was considered the best bishoujo game of 1999. Even now in 2007 it still remains one of the top 100 best-selling bishoujo games of all time (ranked 74 as of today).

Tsukimiya Ayu in the game.

Despite Kanon's greatness in 1999, if you compare Kanon to Key's other games now you'll see that the characters are not that well developed. The main character Yuiichi has been critisised of being shallower than Key's other protogonists and the heroines in the game "dissapear without a trace".

Tsukimiya Ayu in the 2006 anime adaption.

Despite this, it was still a great game for its time and the 2006 anime adaption of Kanon really brought out its essential beauty and stayed true to its main theme of "sad girls in the snow". The 2002 anime adaption sucked dick, so please don't kill your brain cells by watching it.


Released in 2000: AIR



Adapted into anime by Kyoto Animation in 2005 (13 episodes)

Game OP:



2005 Anime OP:



Song: Tori no Uta by Lia

AIR is Key's summer themed bishoujo game as compared to the winter theme found in Kanon. The characters in AIR are significantly more developed than Kanon, and the protogonist is much older and thus more complex.


Misuzu in the game. Note the greatly improved character design.

AIR is noted to be Key's most sadistic game yet with a lot of its characters dieing before the game ends. If you thought Kanon was heart-wrenching due to girls disappearing for apparently no good reason, wait till you watch/play AIR.


Misuzu in the anime.

Similar to Kanon, AIR received excellent sales on release and is also one of the top 100 bishoujo games sold of all time (ranked 67 as of today).

Released in 2004: CLANNAD



Adapted into anime by Kyoto Animation in 2007 (currently airing and set to span 52 episodes)

Game OP:



2007 Anime OP:



Song: Mag Mell by eufonius

Here's a video on how bishoujo games/visual novels play out like (this is actually one of the true endings for CLANNAD so don't watch it finish assuming you understand Japanese XD):



CLANNAD is Key's 3rd game and thus features their most complexly crafted characters yet. CLANNAD's main protogonist Okazaki Tomoya has notably taken some hard knocks and is a delinquent at the local school compared to Kanon's shallow Yuiichi.

CLANNAD is also Key's longest game yet, featuring a total average of 110 game play hours. The storylines of each of its heroines are fully developed and intertwine with one another. This is different from AIR and Kanon of which each heroine's storyline doesn't affect another one's largely.

CLANNAD is currently undergoing a translation project which is 86% completed as of today, so I'm planning to buy it soon in the future.

Released in 2004/2006: Planetarian



No anime adaption yet (one should be announced soon)

Game Trailer:



Planetarian is a post-apocalyptic Kinetic Novel, which is a subset of Visual Novels that are basically visual novels without a single game choice at all and play through very quickly. Even though it is Key's shortest game ever, it is arguably Key's greatest game of all time. Planetarian fans have commented that when you've finished the game you will be "crying manly tears, emo tears, sissy tears and every other kind of tears you can imagine". Basically something you cannot don't experience.



I have installed the full version of Planetarian on my computer for the longest time now but I've not touched it due to laziness. Playing visual novels are quite tiring since they are like reading a novel so I've put it off for some time now watching anime instead. I have completed the demo though, which covers the first 5 chapters and what I can comment on is that it looks like a solid game.

But.. I'll probably go and play it now since CLANNAD ain't airing anytime soon...

Released in 2007: Little Busters!



No anime adaption yet.

Game OP:



I do not know much about Little Busters!, but from online images of it its characters are very, very, very very very moe. Key's most moe characters yet. And since I like moe, alls fine in the world XD



Although the characters in Little Busters! look alive, they are very much dead. They were all involved in some kind of accident, and their leader created an imaginary world for them to live in until they became stronger to move on to another world.



Consequently, Little Busters! is Key's most interactive visual novel yet. That's really all I know about Little Busters! thus far but I do hope that some studio adapts it into an anime since I don't see this one being translated anytime soon.