Key

Company type	Brand ofVisual Arts
Industry	Computer games
Genre	Eroge[a] visual novels
Founded	July 21, 1998; 27 years ago (1998-07-21) inOsaka, Japan
Founders	Itaru Hinoue Naoki Hisaya Jun Maeda Shinji Orito
Headquarters	Kita,Osaka , Japan
Area served	Japan
Key people	Jun Maeda Shinji Orito Na-Ga
Products	Kanon Air Clannad Full list
Website	key.visualarts.gr.jp

Key is a Japanesevisual novel studio known for making dramatic and plot-oriented titles. It was formed on July 21, 1998, as a brand under the publisherVisual Arts, and is located inKita,Osaka.

Key's debut visual novelKanon (1999) combined an elaboratestoryline, up-to-dateanime-style art, and a musical score which helped to set the mood for the game. Key's second game,Air (2000), had a similarly complex storyline toKanon and a more thoroughgameplay. BothKanon andAir were originally produced asadult games, but this trend was broken with Key's third titleClannad (2004), released for all ages. Key has released 18 visual novels to date, the latest beingStella of The End (2022). Key has worked in the past withInterchannel andPrototype for the consumerport releases of the brand's games. Key has collaborated withP.A. Works andAniplex to produce three original anime series:Angel Beats! (2010),Charlotte (2015), andThe Day I Became a God (2020). Thecrossover anime seriesKaginado premiered in 2021. The multimedia projectPrima Doll includes an anime series that aired in 2022, and a four-volume visual novel series.

Co-founderJun Maeda is a prominent figure in the brand, having contributed to the planning, scenario, and music composition in the majority of Key's visual novels.Na-Ga, Key's main artist, mainly worked with background art in earlier games, but with Key's sixth gameLittle Busters! (2007) was given the position of co-art director with former Key artistItaru Hinoue.Shinji Orito, Key's maincomposer and another co-founder, has composed music for the majority of Key's titles.

Key has been an active participant at theComiket convention since Comiket 57 in 1999, where they soldKanon-related products; Key's latest appearance at Comiket was at Comiket 99 in 2021. In 2001, Visual Arts created therecord labelKey Sounds Label to release music albums and singles with music related to Key's visual novels. Between 2007 and 2010, Key produced anInternet radio show calledKey Net Radio in regard to the brand.

Before forming Key, the founding members worked for another visual novel development company calledNexton under the brandTactics. At the time ofDōsei's production, Tactics' first game, four of Key's original staff worked on the game:Itaru Hinoue as art director,Shinji Orito as musical composer, and Miracle Mikipon and Shinory contributing to the computer graphics. AfterDōsei, the rest of Key's founding staff—Naoki Hisaya,Jun Maeda andOdiakeS—joined Tactics and contributed to two more games:Moon released on November 21, 1997, andOne: Kagayaku Kisetsu e released on May 29, 1998. Due to differing opinions between Nexton and most of the production staff in Tactics on how to produce the brand's next game, most of Tactics' staff left Nexton to pursue work in another publishing company where they could have the freedom to produce their next game.^[1]

Itaru Hinoue, who had previously worked at Visual Arts once before, introduced Key's founding members to the president of Visual Arts, Takahiro Baba.^[1] Baba gave the developers the freedom they desired, and they officially transferred to Visual Arts where they formed Key on July 21, 1998. With the production of Key's debut titleKanon still in its early stages, a brand name had still not been decided on by the developers. The tentative brand name wasAzurite (アズライト,Azuraito) at first, but Jun Maeda was not pleased with this and wanted a name that would capture the image of the brand. Maeda came upon the name Key when he saw it on a sign for a musical instrument store he would always pass on his way to work and instantly liked the name.^[1] The name Key for the studio was ultimately decided bymajority rule.^[2] Key releasedKanon on June 4, 1999, as anadult game,^[3] though the scenes containingadult content were kept to a minimum. This gave the player more of a focus on the characters' stories and on the visuals and music, especially for a visual novel at the time of its release. A year later, on September 8, 2000, Key released their second gameAir, which was also an adult game and similar in storytelling toKanon.^[4]

Key's third gameClannad is a visual novel similar to Key's previous games, but contains no adult content.Clannad was meant to be released in 2002, but was delayed, leading to the game finally being released on April 28, 2004.^[5] Seven months afterClannad's release, Key released their shortest game,Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet, on November 29, 2004 with a rating for all ages.^[6]Planetarian, in contrast to Key's past games, is a linear visual novel that does not require the user to make choices during gameplay; this is what is referred to as akinetic novel. The brand's fifth game isTomoyo After: It's a Wonderful Life, an adult game andspin-off ofClannad released on November 25, 2005, which expanded on the scenario of the heroineTomoyo Sakagami fromClannad.^[7] Key released their sixth game,Little Busters!, on July 27, 2007 with no adult content,^[8] but released another version of the game entitledLittle Busters! Ecstasy on July 25, 2008, with added adult content, story, and visuals.^[9][10]

In commemoration of Key's ten-year anniversary, Key and Visual Arts held a two-day event between February 28 and March 1, 2009, called "Key 10th Memorial Fes: Ano Hi kara Hajimatta Bokura no Toki o Kizamu Uta" (～あの日から始まった僕らの時を刻む唄～).^[11] Key collaborated withP.A. Works andAniplex^[12][13] to produce the anime seriesAngel Beats! that aired between April and June 2010. Key's eighth gameKud Wafter was released on June 25, 2010, as an adult spin-off ofLittle Busters!, which expanded on the scenario of the heroineKudryavka Noumi fromLittle Busters! andEcstasy.^[14] Key released their ninth gameRewrite on June 24, 2011, with a rating for all ages,^[15] and an all agesfan disc toRewrite titledRewrite Harvest festa! was released on July 27, 2012.^[16] In commemoration of Key's 15-year anniversary, the visual novel adaptationAngel Beats! 1st Beat was released on June 26, 2015.^[17][18] Key again collaborated with P.A. Works and Aniplex to produce the anime seriesCharlotte^[19] that aired between July and September 2015. Key released the kinetic novelHarmonia on September 23, 2016, and it was available in English before its Japanese release on December 29, 2016.^[20] Key released the visual novelSummer Pockets on June 29, 2018;^[21] an expanded version titledSummer Pockets Reflection Blue was released on June 26, 2020.^[22] Key collaborated for a third time with P.A. Works and Aniplex to produce the anime seriesThe Day I Became a God^[23] that aired between October and December 2020.

Key announced the development of three kinetic novels in October 2020:Loopers,Lunaria: Virtualized Moonchild, andStella of The End.^[24]Loopers was released on May 28, 2021.^[25]Lunaria: Virtualized Moonchild was released on December 24, 2021.^[26]Stella of The End was released on September 30, 2022.^[27] Key also revealed in October 2020 the multimedia projectPrima Doll in collaboration with plastic model and figurine manufacturer Kotobukiya.^[28] A 12-episode anime television series forPrima Doll^[29] aired between July and September 2022. Key released thePlanterian Ultimate Edition on September 3, 2021, which also includedPlanetarian: Snow Globe, a kinetic novel version of the previously released prequel short story of the same name.^[30] Key collaborated with video game developerWright Flyer Studios to produce the mobilerole-playing gameHeaven Burns Red released on February 10, 2022 foriOS andAndroid devices.^[31] A four-volume kinetic novel series forPrima Doll began with volume one released on April 28, 2023. Volume two will be released on May 31, 2024.^[32] Key announced a new visual novel namedAnemoi on November 15, 2023.^[33] A new kinetic novel titledKōsai Toshi: Augment Protocol (虹彩都市 augment protocol) set for release in 2024 was announced on December 15, 2023.^[34]

In 2001, Visual Arts created therecord label Key Sounds Label (KSL).^[35] The music albums and singles released by Key after this were put under this label, meaning that this does not include the first two albums and one single which were released before it was officially formed. The first album on this label wasHumanity..., though the only direct connection to Key's works is that it contains a remixed version of the opening theme toAir. The albums under the label are mainly composed by Key's signaturecomposers: Jun Maeda,Shinji Orito andMagome Togoshi. Three of the singles feature songs sung byLia and one album,Love Song, features the singerRiya fromEufonius. Threedrama CDs have been released as well.^[35]

To celebrate Key's ten-year anniversary, Key hosted aconcert called KSL Live World 2008: Way to the Little Busters! EX on May 10, 2008, in Tokyo, Japan, and again on May 17, 2008, inOsaka, Japan. Each time, the concert lasted for two and a half hours and featured songs sung by Lia,Rita,Chata, andTomoe Tamiyasu who have previously sung songs for singles and albums released under Key Sounds Label.^[36] Another concert called KSL Live World 2010: Way to the Kud-Wafter was held in Tokyo between May 21–22, 2010.^[37] A third content called KSL Live World 2013: Way to the Little Busters! Refrain was held inKoto, Tokyo on September 16, 2013.^[38][39] A fourth concert called KSL Live World: Way to the Angel Beats! -1st- was held inAkihabara, Tokyo on April 11 and April 12, 2015.^[40][41] A fifth concert called KSL Live World 2016: The Animation Charlotte & Rewrite was held inToyosu, Tokyo on April 30, 2016.^[42]

Key produced 30 episodes of anInternet radio show calledKey Net Radio (Keyらじ,Key Raji) in regard to the brand between December 13, 2007^[43] and August 30, 2010.^[44] It was hosted byShinji Orito andItaru Hinoue of Key, and another woman named Chiro who works for Pekoe, another visual novel studio underVisual Arts.^[44] Listeners could submit thoughts about the show and any requests they may have for the show, along with submitting questions to the host trio.^[45] The broadcasts were available via download on Key's official website and were available for download on the radio show's official blog for the first nine broadcasts.^[44][46] The broadcasts could also be listened to on Visual Arts'YouTube channel named Visual Channel.^[47]

For the first six episodes, the show had five corners, or parts, which started with opening greetings from the hosts and went on to thoughts and impressions that listeners had about the show. This moved on to an informal talk between the hosts, followed by a section where entries previously submitted by listeners concerning their enthusiasm for Key were read by the hosts. The fourth corner concerned answering questions that had been submitted by listeners, and the final corner had Orito playing the flute; listeners could submit suggestions for songs he was to play.^[44] Two more corners were added starting with the seventh broadcast. The first corner added concerns scary stories that the hosts can tell themselves, or read from submissions by listeners, and was added partly because Hinoue enjoys such stories. The second corner added deals with submissions by listeners describing a new fictional character, and Hinoue takes these submissions and forms a new fictional character out of combining elements from multiple submissions together. During the broadcasts, tracks from the soundtracks released underKey Sounds Label play in the background.

Comiket, short for Comic Market, is a large comic convention held twice a year in Tokyo, Japan during August and December, which are referred to as the summer and winter Comic Markets, respectively. Key has been an active participant in the convention since Comiket 57 in December 1999, where they soldKanon-related products (asKanon was their only release at the time); one such product was aZippo lighter.^[48] The firstAir-related products Key sold at the convention were at Comiket 59 in December 2000.^[49] Typical products include:postcards,telephone cards,calendars, posters, andalbums.^{[49][50][51][52]} The products Key sells at Comiket are all related to the visual novels the brand produces.^{[49][50][51][52]}

Key, through Visual Arts, generally participates at the winter Comiket in conjunction with other brands under Visual Arts, but has been known to appear at the summer Comiket too, such as with Comiket 70 in August 2006 where they soldPlanetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet related products.^[53] The combined total of the products Key sells at a given Comiket range in price between 3,000 and 5,000yen.^{[50][51][54][55][56]} This includes the selling of music albums released under Key'srecord labelKey Sounds Label which has been releasing albums since Comiket 60 in August 2001 with the release of the label's first two albums,Humanity... and "Natsukage / Nostalgia". If there are any unsold products by the end of a given Comiket, Visual Arts has been known to set up an onlinemail order to sell the remaining goods from all the brands under Visual Arts that participated at Comiket. After Comiket 73 in December 2007, Visual Arts started taking mail orders on March 4, 2008, and only six days later on March 10, 2008, Key reported that all of Key's goods sold at Comiket 73 were now sold out.^[57][58] At the end of the second day of Comiket 75 in December 2008, all of Key's goods at the convention were sold out.^[59]

Key's main staff members are attached to the visual novel studio, and thereforeVisual Arts. One of the founding members of Key,Jun Maeda, has worked on the planning for the individual projects and was one of the main scenario writers; he has also composed music for the majority of Key's games.^[60][61] Maeda stepped down as the main scenario writer afterLittle Busters! Ecstasy,^[62] but continues to work on the music for Key's games.^[63] However, Maeda designed theAngel Beats! 1st Beat visual novel and partially wrote its scenario, in addition to providing the original concept forSummer Pockets.^[64]Na-Ga, Key's main artist, mainly worked with background art in earlier games, but was first given the position of co-art director with former Key artist Itaru Hinoue withLittle Busters!.^[8] Further computer graphics have been provided in the past by Shinory and Mochisuke, two graphic artists in Key.^[65][66]Shinji Orito, another founding member and Key's maincomposer, has composed music for the majority of Key's games.^[67][68]

Many of Key's staff have left the brand over time, or have been employed as outsourced contributors.Naoki Hisaya had worked as one of the main scenario writers forKanon,^[65] but once the project was complete, he left the brand. Another member of the staff that madeKanon wasOdiakeS, an outsourced composer who has since helped Key with two music albums, one each released forAir andClannad, but has done nothing with Key since 2004.^[69] Three staff members only worked with Key onAir: Takashi Ishikawa as one of the scenario writers,^[70] Tomotaka Fujii as a scenario assistant,^[65] and Din as a background artist.Air andClannad had Tōya Okano and Kai who contributed as scenario writers. Kai later headed the planning ofKud Wafter, as well as contributing on the scenario ofAngel Beats,Harmonia andSummer Pockets. One of the original computer graphics artists, Miracle Mikipon, left afterClannad. Two other outsourced graphic artists, Minimo Tayama and Torino, have often contributed on Key's games. Scenario writerYūichi Suzumoto worked with Key betweenAir andPlanetarian. Eeji Komatsu worked as the art director forPlanetarian,^[71] and another artist,Fumio, worked as the art director forTomoyo After.^[72]

Leo Kashida worked as an outsourced writer with Key onTomoyo After,Little Busters! andAngel Beats.^[8][73] Chika Shirokiri, another outsourced writer who worked with Key onLittle Busters!,^[8][73] also wrote the scenario forKud Wafter. Manack and members of PMMK composed music inLittle Busters!, and members of MintJam helped witharrangement.^[8]Magome Togoshi had been with Key since beforeKanon's release, working as one of the signature composers, but left the brand in October 2006^[74] after contributing to the soundtrack ofLittle Busters!. Jun'ichi Shimizu composed all the music inKud Wafter. Two outsourced writers worked on the scenario forRewrite and its fan discRewrite Harvest festa!:Ryukishi07 of07th Expansion, andRomeo Tanaka.^[75]Rewrite andHarvest festa! also featured three outsourced musical composers: Maiko Iuchi ofI've Sound, Sōshi Hosoi, and Ryō Mizutsuki.^[75] Mizutsuki later returned to compose music forHarmonia andSummer Pockets. At the time Maeda stepped down as the main scenario writer,Yūto Tonokawa joined Key and first worked on the scenario inLittle Busters!. Tonokawa later contributed to the scenario inRewrite andHarvest festa!, but resigned from Key in 2015.^[64]Itaru Hinoue, one of Key's founding members, was Key's main artist and was the sole art director and character designer for six of Key's games.^[76] Hinoue resigned from Key in September 2016 after working onHarmonia.^[77]

According to Satoshi Todome's work,A History of Adult Games, Key's impact on thevisual novel (primarily theadult game variant) world stems from before Key was formed and most of the founding members of Key worked forTactics underNexton.^[78] Due to an influence byLeaf's visual novelTo Heart released in 1997, the developers at Tactics created a simple formula for a game: a comedic first half with a heart-warming romantic middle followed by a tragic separation and finally an emotional reunion formed what is known as a "crying game" or "nakige". The main purpose of such a game is to make the player feel for the characters and make them cry due to emotional scenarios which serves to leave a bigger impact on the player after the game is over.^[78] Tactics' second titleOne: Kagayaku Kisetsu e was created based on this formula.

AfterOne was complete, the development team quit Tactics to form Key where they developed their first titleKanon also based upon this formula.^[78]Kanon was "heavily hyped [and] had gamers impatient until its release. It was only one game released by Key so far, and yet [it] had already sent major shockwaves around the industry. And yet another game [Air], two years later, sent even more shockwaves.Air was equally hyped and well received."^[79] The success ofOne andKanon on Key's formula to create a "crying game" was later adopted by other visual novel developing companies which were influenced by this formula. Examples of this include:Kana: Little Sister by Digital Object, theMemories Off series byKID,D.C.: Da Capo by Circus,Snow by Studio Mebius (also underVisual Arts), andWind: A Breath of Heart byMinori.^[78]

Ryukishi07 of07th Expansion wrote in 2004 how he was influenced by Key's works during the planning ofHigurashi no Naku Koro ni.^[80] Ryukishi07 played Key's games as a reference, among other visual novels, and analyzed them to figure out the reason why they were found to be so popular. He figured that the secret was due to how the stories would start with ordinary, enjoyable days, but then a sudden occurrence would happen leading the player to cry due to the shock value. He used a similar model for the basis ofHigurashi but instead of leading the player to cry, Ryukishi07 wanted to scare the player with the addition ofhorror elements. In this way, Ryukishi07 wished to be in some way associated with Key who he described as a "masterpiece maker".^[80]

Key is one of 17 brands under Visual Arts with games included in theLycèe Trading Card Game published byBroccoli. Characters from Key's first five games throughTomoyo After were included in the first three out of four Visual Arts card sets, and characters fromLittle Busters! throughRewrite were featured in the fifth through seventh Visual Arts card sets.^[81] There are also numerous rare promotional cards with characters from Key titles.^[82] Other big-name visual novel companies included in the card game include:AliceSoft, August,Leaf,Navel, andType-Moon.^[83]

Abulletin board system (BBS) based on the interface of the large JapaneseInternet forum2channel (2ch) was formed on January 26, 2000, named "Leaf, Key BBS" (leaf,key掲示板,leaf,key Keijiban), otherwise nicknamed as "Leaf-Key Board" (葉鍵板,Ha-Kagi Ita).^[84][85] The board originated from 2ch'svideo game discussion board due to a dispute involving the gameKizuato in December 1999;^[84]Kizuato was an early game of another visual novel producing brand namedLeaf. Ultimately, fans of the game moved to 2ch'sadult game board, but there was not much resolution, and at the time Key fans on the board were being shunned for discussions onKanon and, at the time, Key's upcoming gameAir. This resulted finally with the Leaf and Key fans moving away from 2ch and forming again on the PINKchannel Internet forum.^[85] The board serves as a discussion board for anything related to Leaf and Key. This includes the games the companies produce, but also the companies themselves and the staff that make up those companies. The BBS gets approximately 900 posts per day as of March 2010. Like 2ch, the board has a defaultanonymous posting setting, and the default name is "Nanashi-san Dayomon" (名無しさんだよもん; lit. "Mr. Nameless-dayomon"), a reference to the heroineMizuka Nagamori fromOne: Kagayaku Kisetsu e who frequently ends her sentences with "dayo" and "mon".^[85]

• Official website(in Japanese)
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