Key (company)
Encyclopedia
Key is a Japanese visual novel
studio which formed on July 21, 1998 as a brand under the publisher Visual Art's
and is located in Kita
, Osaka
, Japan. Key released their debut visual novel Kanon
in June 1999, which combined an elaborate storyline, an up-to-date anime
-style drawing style, and a musical score which helped to set the mood for the game. Key's second game Air released in September 2000 had a similar if not more complex storyline to Kanon and a more thorough gameplay
. Both Kanon and Air were originally produced as adult games
, but Key broke this trend with their third title Clannad which was released in April 2004 for all-ages. Key released their ninth and latest game Rewrite
in June 2011, and has worked in the past with Interchannel
and Prototype
for the consumer port releases of previous Key titles. Key collaborated with ASCII Media Works
' Dengeki G's Magazine
to produce a mixed media
project named Angel Beats!
, which was produced into an anime
which aired between April and June 2010.
Co-founder
Jun Maeda
is a prominent figure in the company, he having contributed on the planning, scenario, and music composition in the majority of Key's visual novels. Itaru Hinoue
, also a co-founder, is Key's main artist and was the art director for Key's first three games. Na-Ga
, another prominent artist in the company, mainly worked with background art in earlier games, but with Key's sixth game Little Busters!
was given the position of co-art director with Hinoue. Shinji Orito
, Key's main composer
and another co-founder, has composed music for all of Key's titles. Yūto Tonokawa
, a scenario writer, first worked on the scenario in Little Busters!. Jun'ichi Shimizu, a music composer, first contributed with the music in Kud Wafter.
Key has been an active participant at the Comiket
convention since Comiket 57 in December 1999, where they sold Kanon-related products; Key's latest appearance at Comiket was at Comiket 79 in December 2010. In 2001, Visual Art's created the record label
Key Sounds Label
to release music albums and singles with music related to Key's visual novels. In December 2007, Key began to produce an Internet radio
show called Key Net Radio in regards to the company.
. At the time of Dōsei
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. After Dōsei, the rest of Key's founding staff joined Tactics and contributed to two more games: Moon.
, and One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e
. After the release of One on May 26, 1998, these developers transferred to Visual Art's
where they formed Key on July 21, 1998; the name Key for the studio was decided by majority rule
. Key released their debut title Kanon
on June 4, 1999, an adult game
, though the scenes containing sexual intercourse 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 game Air, which was also an adult game and similar in storytelling to Kanon.
The third game named Clannad is a visual novel
similar to Key's previous games, but is entirely clean, without any adult
content. Clannad was meant to be released in 2002, but was delayed, leading to the game finally being released on April 28, 2004. Seven months after Clannads release, Key released their shortest game, Planetarian: Chiisana Hoshi no Yume, on November 29, 2004. Planetarian, in contrast to Key's past games, is a linear visual novel that does not require the user to make choices during gameplay, but just sit back and enjoy the story; this is what is referred to as a kinetic novel
. The company's fifth game was Tomoyo After: It's a Wonderful Life, an adult game and spin-off
to Clannad released on November 25, 2005, which expanded on the scenario of the heroine Tomoyo Sakagami from Clannad. Key released their sixth game, Little Busters!
, on July 27, 2007 with no adult content, but released another version of the game entitled Little Busters! Ecstasy on July 25, 2008 with added adult content, story, and visuals.
Key's eighth game, released on June 25, 2010, is an adult spin-off of Little Busters! Ecstasy called Kud Wafter
, which expanded on the scenario of the heroine Kudryavka Noumi from Little Busters! and Ecstasy. Key announced their ninth game Rewrite
on April 1, 2008, and release it on June 24, 2011. In commemoration of Key's ten-year anniversary, Key and Visual Art's held a two-day event between February 28 and March 1, 2009 called "Key 10th Memorial Fes, . Key collaborated with ASCII Media Works
' Dengeki G's Magazine
to produce a mixed media
project named Angel Beats!
, which was produced into an anime
which aired between April and June 2010.
Key Sounds Label (KSL). 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 was Humanity...
, though the only direct connection to Key's works is that it contains a remixed version of the opening theme to Air. The albums under this label are composed by Key's signature composer
s: Jun Maeda, Shinji Orito
and Magome Togoshi
. Three of the singles feature songs sung by Lia
and one album, Love Song, features the singer Riya
from Eufonius
. Three drama CDs
have been released as well.
To celebrate Key's ten-year anniversary, Key hosted a concert
called KSL Live World 2008: Way to the Little Busters! EX on May 10, 2008 in Tokyo, Japan, and again on May 17, 2008 in Osaka
, Japan. Each time, the concert lasted for two and a half hours and featured songs sung by Lia
, Rita, Chata
, and Tomoe Tamiyasu
who have previously sung songs for singles and albums released under Key Sounds Label. Another concert called KSL Live World 2010: Way to the Kud-Wafter was held in Tokyo between May 21–22, 2010.
show called in regards to the company with the first recording released on December 13, 2007. It is hosted by Shinji Orito
and Itaru Hinoue
of Key, and another woman named Chiro who works for Pekoe, another visual novel studio under Visual Art's
. Listeners can submit thoughts about the show and any requests they may have for the show, along with submitting questions to the host trio. The broadcasts for the first 30 episodes 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. The broadcasts can also be listened to on Visual Art's' YouTube
channel named Visual Channel.
For the first six episodes, the show had five corners, or parts, which started with opening greetings from the hosts and went onto 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. 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 under Key Sounds Label
play in the background.
, 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 sold Kanon
-related products (as Kanon was their only release at the time); one such product was a Zippo
lighter. The first Air-related products Key sold at the convention were at Comiket 59 in December 2000. Typical products include: postcard
s, telephone card
s, calendar
s, posters, and album
s. The products Key sells at Comiket are all related to the visual novels the company produces.
Key, through Visual Art's, generally participates at the winter Comiket in conjunction with other brands under Visual Art's, but has been known to appear at the summer Comiket too, such as with Comiket 70 in August 2006 where they sold Planetarian: Chiisana Hoshi no Yume related products. The combined total of the products Key sells at a given Comiket range in price between 3,000 yen
(about US$27) and 5,000 yen (about US$45). This includes the selling of music albums released under Key's record label
Key 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 Art's has been known to set up an online mail order
to sell the remaining goods from all the brands under Visual Art's that participated at Comiket. After Comiket 73 in December 2007, Visual Art's 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. At the end of the second day of Comiket 75 in December 2008, all of Key's goods at the convention were sold out.
. Most of the main staff have been with Key since its formation, and do the majority of the work involved. 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 all of Key's games except Planetarian. Maeda was reported to say in the February 2007 issue of Comptiq
that after the completion of Little Busters!, he would not be working on the scenario staff for Key any longer. However, in an interview in the December 2007 issue of Dengeki G's Magazine
, Maeda said that he would still be working on the music for Key's next game. Itaru Hinoue
is Key's main artist and was the art director for Key's first three games. Na-Ga
, another prominent artist in the company, mainly worked with background art in earlier games, but with Little Busters! was given the position of co-art director with Hinoue. Further computer graphics have been provided in the past by four graphic artists: Shinory, Mochisuke, Minimo Tayama, and Torino. Key's main composer
, Shinji Orito
, has been with the company since Kanon. With Maeda no longer contributing to the scenario, another scenario writer, Yūto Tonokawa
, joined Key and first worked on the scenario in Little Busters! and later worked on the scenario for Rewrite. Jun'ichi Shimizu joined Key in 2009 and headed the musical composition in Kud Wafter.
had worked as one of the main scenario writers for Kanon, but once the project was complete, he left the company; Hisaya later provided the original concept for Sola
. Another member of the staff that made Kanon was OdiakeS
, an outsourced composer who has since helped Key with two music albums, one each released for Air and Clannad, but has done nothing with Key since 2004. Three staff members only worked with Key on Air: Takashi Ishikawa as one of the scenario writers, Kazuki Fujii as a scenario assistant, and Din as a background artist. Air and Clannad had Tōya Okano and Kai who contributed as scenario writers; Kai later headed the planning and design of Kud Wafter. Another scenario writer, Yūichi Suzumoto
, worked with Key between Air and Planetarian. Eeji Komatsu worked as the art director for Planetarian, and another artist, Fumio
, worked as the art director for Tomoyo After. Leo Kashida worked as an outsourced writer with Key on Tomoyo After and Little Busters!. Chika Shirokiri, another outsourced writer who worked with Key on Little Busters!, also wrote the scenario for Kud Wafter. Two composers—Manack and PMMK—helped with the music in Little Busters!, and MintJam helped with arrangement
. One of the original computer graphics artists, Miracle Mikipon, left after Clannad. Magome Togoshi
had been with Key since Air, working as one of the signature composers, but left the company in October 2006. Two out-sourced writers worked on the scenario for Rewrite: Ryukishi07
of 07th Expansion
, and Romeo Tanaka
.
(primarily the adult game
variant) world stems from before Key was formed and most of the founding members of Key worked for Tactics
under Nexton
. Due to an influence by Leaf's
visual novel To 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. Tactics' second title One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e
was created based on this formula.
After One was complete, the development team quit Tactics to form Key where they developed their first title Kanon
also based upon on this formula. 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." The success of One and Kanon 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, the Memories Off
series by KID
, D.C.: Da Capo by Circus
, Snow by Studio Mebius (also under Visual Art's
), and Wind: A Breath of Heart by Minori
.
Ryukishi07
of 07th Expansion
wrote in 2004 how he was influenced by Key's works during the planning of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
. 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 of Higurashi but instead of leading the player to cry, Ryukishi07 wanted to scare the player with the addition of horror
elements. In this way, Ryukishi07 wished to be in some way associated with Key who he described as a "masterpiece maker".
Key is one of seventeen brands under Visual Art's with games included in the Lycèe Trading Card Game
published by Broccoli
. Characters from Key's first five games were included in the first three out of four Visual Art's card sets, and characters from Little Busters! were featured in the fifth Visual Art's card set. There are also seven out of fifty-five rare promotional cards with characters from Key titles. Other big-name visual novel companies included in the card game include: AliceSoft
, August
, Leaf
, Navel
, and Type-Moon
.
(BBS) based on the interface of the large Japanese Internet forum
2channel
(2ch) was formed on January 26, 2000 named , otherwise nicknamed as . The board originated from 2ch's video game discussion board due to a dispute involving the game Kizuato
in December 1999; Kizuato was an early game of another visual novel producing company named Leaf
. Ultimately, fans of the game moved to 2ch's adult game
board, but there was not much resolution, and at the time Key fans on the board were being shunned for discussions on Kanon and, at the time, Key's upcoming game Air. This resulted finally with the Leaf and Key fans moving away from 2ch and forming again on the PINKchannel Internet forum. 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 default anonymous
posting setting, and the default name is , a reference to the heroine Mizuka Nagamori from One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e
who uses the words "dayo" and "mon" frequently.
Visual novel
A is an interactive fiction game featuring mostly static graphics, usually with anime-style art, or occasionally live-action stills or video footage...
studio which formed on July 21, 1998 as a brand under the publisher Visual Art's
Visual Art's
, formally , is a Japanese publishing company specializing in the publishing and distribution of visual novels for a large list of game developers. Visual Art's has developed the game engines their brands currently use, including the current engine, called Siglus, and older engines RealLive and...
and is located in Kita
Kita-ku, Osaka
is one of 24 wards of Osaka, Japan.-Economy:West Japan Railway Company has its headquarters in Kita-ku. Nihon Bussan has its headquarters in Kita-ku. Dentsu and Yomiuri Shimbun have branch offices in Kita-ku. Mazda has an office in the Umeda Sky Building Tower East. Air France has an office on the...
, Osaka
Osaka Prefecture
is a prefecture located in the Kansai region on Honshū, the main island of Japan. The capital is the city of Osaka. It is the center of Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto area.- History :...
, Japan. Key released their debut visual novel Kanon
Kanon
is a Japanese visual novel developed by Key and originally released as an adult game on June 4, 1999, playable on a Microsoft Windows PC. An all ages version for the PC was released in January 2000, and was later ported to the Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation Portable...
in June 1999, which combined an elaborate storyline, an up-to-date anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
-style drawing style, and a musical score which helped to set the mood for the game. Key's second game Air released in September 2000 had a similar if not more complex storyline to Kanon and a more thorough gameplay
Gameplay
Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game, and in particular with video games. Gameplay is the pattern defined through the game rules, connection between player and the game, challenges and overcoming them, plot and player's connection with it...
. Both Kanon and Air were originally produced as adult games
Eroge
An or Ero-ga is a Japanese video or computer game that features erotic content, usually in the form of anime-style artwork. Eroge originated from galge, but unlike galge, they feature erotic/pornographic content.-History:...
, but Key broke this trend with their third title Clannad which was released in April 2004 for all-ages. Key released their ninth and latest game Rewrite
Rewrite (visual novel)
is a Japanese visual novel developed by Key that was released on June 24, 2011 as a DVD playable on a Microsoft Windows PC and is rated for all ages. Rewrite is Key's ninth game, along with other titles such as Kanon, Air, and Clannad...
in June 2011, and has worked in the past with Interchannel
Interchannel
Interchannel is a Japanese game developer and publisher. Previously known as NEC Interchannel and before that NEC Avenue, it was originally a subsidiary of NEC before 70 percent of the company was sold to Index Corporation for approximately 3 billion yen in 2004...
and Prototype
Prototype (company)
is a Japanese software company established on March 27, 2006 by Toshio Tabeta, a former producer of Interchannel. While still with Interchannel, Tabeta's team was responsible for mainly developing and publishing versions of visual novels originally published by Visual Art's for consumer platforms...
for the consumer port releases of previous Key titles. Key collaborated with ASCII Media Works
ASCII Media Works
is a Japanese publishing company in the Kadokawa Group which formed on April 1, 2008 as a result of a merger between ASCII and MediaWorks where MediaWorks legally absorbed ASCII. Despite this, the former president of ASCII, Kiyoshi Takano, became the president of ASCII Media Works. The company...
' Dengeki G's Magazine
Dengeki G's Magazine
is a Japanese magazine published by ASCII Media Works and sold monthly on the thirtieth that primarily contains information on bishōjo games, but also includes an entire section on anime based on bishōjo games, and serializes manga and light novels based on such games. The "G's" in the title...
to produce a mixed media
Media franchise
A media franchise is an intellectual property involving the characters, setting and trademarks of an original work of media , such as a film, a work of literature, a television program or a video game. Generally, a whole series is made in a particular medium, along with merchandising and endorsements...
project named Angel Beats!
Angel Beats!
is a 13-episode Japanese anime television series produced by P.A. Works and Aniplex and directed by Seiji Kishi. The story was originally conceived by Jun Maeda, who also wrote the screenplay and composed the music with the group Anant-Garde Eyes, with original character design by Na-Ga; both Maeda...
, which was produced into an anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
which aired between April and June 2010.
Co-founder
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
Jun Maeda
Jun Maeda
is a Japanese writer working for the software company Key; he has majorly contributed as a scenario writer, lyricist, and musical composer for the visual novels the company produces. His birth name in kanji was written as , though there is no change in pronunciation...
is a prominent figure in the company, he having contributed on the planning, scenario, and music composition in the majority of Key's visual novels. Itaru Hinoue
Itaru Hinoue
is a female Japanese artist from Osaka, Japan, and is one of the founding members of the software company Key. Hinoue's choice of her pseudonym stems from the manga C by Shō Kitagawa; the protagonist in the manga was named...
, also a co-founder, is Key's main artist and was the art director for Key's first three games. Na-Ga
Na-Ga
Na-Ga is a male Japanese artist who is employed as a graphic designer and illustrator for the company Key known for such famous visual novels as Kanon, Air, and Clannad among others...
, another prominent artist in the company, mainly worked with background art in earlier games, but with Key's sixth game Little Busters!
Little Busters!
is a Japanese visual novel developed by Key which was originally released, rated for everyone as a limited edition version, on July 27, 2007 playable on a Windows PC; a regular edition, also rated for everyone, followed on September 28, 2007. Little Busters! is Key's sixth game, along with other...
was given the position of co-art director with Hinoue. Shinji Orito
Shinji Orito
is a Japanese musical composer originally from Hyōgo, Japan working for the software company Key. Before forming Key, Orito worked for another software company named Leaf where he contributed to four games...
, Key's main composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and another co-founder, has composed music for all of Key's titles. Yūto Tonokawa
Yuto Tonokawa
is a Japanese scenario writer originally from Saitama, Japan working for the visual novel developing company Key under Visual Art's. He began working with Key on their sixth game Little Busters! and wrote the scenarios for two of the main heroines: Komari Kamikita, and Yuiko Kurugaya. Tonokawa also...
, a scenario writer, first worked on the scenario in Little Busters!. Jun'ichi Shimizu, a music composer, first contributed with the music in Kud Wafter.
Key has been an active participant at the Comiket
Comiket
, otherwise known as the , is the world's largest self-published comic book fair, held twice a year in Tokyo, Japan. The first Comiket was held on December 21, 1975, with only about 32 participating circles and an estimated 600 attendees. Attendance has since swelled to over a half million people....
convention since Comiket 57 in December 1999, where they sold Kanon-related products; Key's latest appearance at Comiket was at Comiket 79 in December 2010. In 2001, Visual Art's created the record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
Key Sounds Label
Key Sounds Label
Key Sounds Label is a Japanese independent record label formed in 2001 as a brand of the publishing company Visual Art's. Key Sounds Label was formed to catalog and release music related to visual novels produced by the brand Key, also under Visual Art's, known for developing such titles as Kanon...
to release music albums and singles with music related to Key's visual novels. In December 2007, Key began to produce an Internet radio
Internet radio
Internet radio is an audio service transmitted via the Internet...
show called Key Net Radio in regards to the company.
History
Before forming Key, the founding members worked for another visual novel development company called TacticsTactics (company)
Tactics is a Japanese visual novel studio which specializes in the development of dating sim and eroge style games. Tactics is actually a branch of the joint company Nexton. Their debut release was a game entitled Dōsei in mid-1997, followed by Moon. in the same year, and One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e in...
. At the time of Dōsei
Dosei
is a Japanese adult social simulation game developed by Tactics, a brand of the joint company Nexton, and first released on May 23, 1997, the same day as the famous To Heart by Leaf...
s production, Tactics' first game, four of Key's original staff worked on the game: Itaru Hinoue
Itaru Hinoue
is a female Japanese artist from Osaka, Japan, and is one of the founding members of the software company Key. Hinoue's choice of her pseudonym stems from the manga C by Shō Kitagawa; the protagonist in the manga was named...
as art director, Shinji Orito
Shinji Orito
is a Japanese musical composer originally from Hyōgo, Japan working for the software company Key. Before forming Key, Orito worked for another software company named Leaf where he contributed to four games...
as musical composer, and Miracle Mikipon and Shinory contributing to the computer graphics. After Dōsei, the rest of Key's founding staff joined Tactics and contributed to two more games: Moon.
Moon.
Moon. is a Japanese adult visual novel developed by Tactics, a brand of the joint company Nexton, and first released on November 21, 1997 playable on a Windows 95 PC as a CD-ROM; the game was re-released five more times between 1998 and 2003. The game was described by the development team as a...
, and One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e
One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e
is a Japanese adult visual novel, developed by Tactics, a brand of the joint company Nexton, and released on May 26, 1998 playable on the PC for Windows 95. Much of the staff that created the game later became the founding members of the visual novel company Key. The game was later ported to the...
. After the release of One on May 26, 1998, these developers transferred to Visual Art's
Visual Art's
, formally , is a Japanese publishing company specializing in the publishing and distribution of visual novels for a large list of game developers. Visual Art's has developed the game engines their brands currently use, including the current engine, called Siglus, and older engines RealLive and...
where they formed Key on July 21, 1998; the name Key for the studio was decided by majority rule
Majority rule
Majority rule is a decision rule that selects alternatives which have a majority, that is, more than half the votes. It is the binary decision rule used most often in influential decision-making bodies, including the legislatures of democratic nations...
. Key released their debut title Kanon
Kanon
is a Japanese visual novel developed by Key and originally released as an adult game on June 4, 1999, playable on a Microsoft Windows PC. An all ages version for the PC was released in January 2000, and was later ported to the Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation Portable...
on June 4, 1999, an adult game
Eroge
An or Ero-ga is a Japanese video or computer game that features erotic content, usually in the form of anime-style artwork. Eroge originated from galge, but unlike galge, they feature erotic/pornographic content.-History:...
, though the scenes containing sexual intercourse 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 game Air, which was also an adult game and similar in storytelling to Kanon.
The third game named Clannad is a visual novel
Visual novel
A is an interactive fiction game featuring mostly static graphics, usually with anime-style art, or occasionally live-action stills or video footage...
similar to Key's previous games, but is entirely clean, without any adult
Hentai
is a Japanese word that, in the West, is used when referring to sexually explicit or pornographic comics and animation, particularly those of Japanese origin such as anime, manga, and computer games. The word hentai is a kanji compound of 変 and 態...
content. Clannad was meant to be released in 2002, but was delayed, leading to the game finally being released on April 28, 2004. Seven months after Clannads release, Key released their shortest game, Planetarian: Chiisana Hoshi no Yume, on November 29, 2004. Planetarian, in contrast to Key's past games, is a linear visual novel that does not require the user to make choices during gameplay, but just sit back and enjoy the story; this is what is referred to as a kinetic novel
KineticNovel
is a brand of the Japanese software publishing company Visual Art's. Visual novels produced on the KineticNovel label are not done like other traditional visual novels in that no choices are given to the player to advance the story in alternate directions, and there is only one end...
. The company's fifth game was Tomoyo After: It's a Wonderful Life, an adult game and spin-off
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
to Clannad released on November 25, 2005, which expanded on the scenario of the heroine Tomoyo Sakagami from Clannad. Key released their sixth game, Little Busters!
Little Busters!
is a Japanese visual novel developed by Key which was originally released, rated for everyone as a limited edition version, on July 27, 2007 playable on a Windows PC; a regular edition, also rated for everyone, followed on September 28, 2007. Little Busters! is Key's sixth game, along with other...
, on July 27, 2007 with no adult content, but released another version of the game entitled Little Busters! Ecstasy on July 25, 2008 with added adult content, story, and visuals.
Key's eighth game, released on June 25, 2010, is an adult spin-off of Little Busters! Ecstasy called Kud Wafter
Kud Wafter
is a Japanese adult visual novel developed by Key and was released on June 25, 2010 as a DVD playable on a Microsoft Windows PC. The game is Key's eighth similar game in its history. Focusing on the title character Kudryavka Noumi, also known as for short, the gameplay follows a plot line which...
, which expanded on the scenario of the heroine Kudryavka Noumi from Little Busters! and Ecstasy. Key announced their ninth game Rewrite
Rewrite (visual novel)
is a Japanese visual novel developed by Key that was released on June 24, 2011 as a DVD playable on a Microsoft Windows PC and is rated for all ages. Rewrite is Key's ninth game, along with other titles such as Kanon, Air, and Clannad...
on April 1, 2008, and release it on June 24, 2011. In commemoration of Key's ten-year anniversary, Key and Visual Art's held a two-day event between February 28 and March 1, 2009 called "Key 10th Memorial Fes, . Key collaborated with ASCII Media Works
ASCII Media Works
is a Japanese publishing company in the Kadokawa Group which formed on April 1, 2008 as a result of a merger between ASCII and MediaWorks where MediaWorks legally absorbed ASCII. Despite this, the former president of ASCII, Kiyoshi Takano, became the president of ASCII Media Works. The company...
' Dengeki G's Magazine
Dengeki G's Magazine
is a Japanese magazine published by ASCII Media Works and sold monthly on the thirtieth that primarily contains information on bishōjo games, but also includes an entire section on anime based on bishōjo games, and serializes manga and light novels based on such games. The "G's" in the title...
to produce a mixed media
Media franchise
A media franchise is an intellectual property involving the characters, setting and trademarks of an original work of media , such as a film, a work of literature, a television program or a video game. Generally, a whole series is made in a particular medium, along with merchandising and endorsements...
project named Angel Beats!
Angel Beats!
is a 13-episode Japanese anime television series produced by P.A. Works and Aniplex and directed by Seiji Kishi. The story was originally conceived by Jun Maeda, who also wrote the screenplay and composed the music with the group Anant-Garde Eyes, with original character design by Na-Ga; both Maeda...
, which was produced into an anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
which aired between April and June 2010.
Key Sounds Label
In 2001, Visual Art's created the record labelRecord label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
Key Sounds Label (KSL). 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 was Humanity...
Humanity...
-External links:*...
, though the only direct connection to Key's works is that it contains a remixed version of the opening theme to Air. The albums under this label are composed by Key's signature composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
s: Jun Maeda, Shinji Orito
Shinji Orito
is a Japanese musical composer originally from Hyōgo, Japan working for the software company Key. Before forming Key, Orito worked for another software company named Leaf where he contributed to four games...
and Magome Togoshi
Magome Togoshi
is a Japanese video game composer for visual novel studios. He began work as a composer in 2000 where he started working for the software company Key under Visual Art's to produce music for Air. Between then and 2006, Togoshi helped compose music for four more titles by Key, along with other games...
. Three of the singles feature songs sung by Lia
Lia (singer)
Lia is a female Japanese singer-songwriter who is a former member of I've Sound. Lia has also participated in happy hardcore singing, producing four such albums with this style of singing; these albums have her name in all capital letters. She is notable as the singer for the opening and ending...
and one album, Love Song, features the singer Riya
Riya
Riya, born February 18, is a female Japanese singer from Fukuoka, Japan. In her early career, she admired Akino Arai. Riya eventually became the lead singer and lyricist to the J-pop band Eufonius, which debuted in 2004.- Albums :...
from Eufonius
Eufonius
Eufonius is a Japanese progressive rock music group which debuted on October 11, 2003 with the release of their first album Eufonius which was also an independent release. The band has produced songs for various anime and video games, such as Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl, Himawari!, Noein, True...
. Three drama CDs
Radio drama in Japan
Radio drama in Japan has a history as long as that of radio broadcasting in that country, which began in 1925. Some consider the first Japanese radio drama to have been "" which was a radio broadcast of a stage play. Others consider the Japanese translation of Richard Hughes's "Danger" or to be...
have been released as well.
To celebrate Key's ten-year anniversary, Key hosted a concert
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
called KSL Live World 2008: Way to the Little Busters! EX on May 10, 2008 in Tokyo, Japan, and again on May 17, 2008 in Osaka
Osaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
, Japan. Each time, the concert lasted for two and a half hours and featured songs sung by Lia
Lia (singer)
Lia is a female Japanese singer-songwriter who is a former member of I've Sound. Lia has also participated in happy hardcore singing, producing four such albums with this style of singing; these albums have her name in all capital letters. She is notable as the singer for the opening and ending...
, Rita, Chata
Chata
is a Japanese singer who has performed theme songs for games and anime.She has also participated in various dōjin music circles. Her own private circle is called Usagi Kinoko.-History:...
, and Tomoe Tamiyasu
Tomoe Tamiyasu
is a female Japanese voice actress and singer, generally performing for adult games, and is from Hiroshima, Japan. She debuted in 2005 as a voice actress and started her singing career in 2006. Tomoe has been the host of three Internet radio shows, and has been a guest on a fourth...
who have previously sung songs for singles and albums released under Key Sounds Label. Another concert called KSL Live World 2010: Way to the Kud-Wafter was held in Tokyo between May 21–22, 2010.
Key Net Radio
Key began to produce an Internet radioInternet radio
Internet radio is an audio service transmitted via the Internet...
show called in regards to the company with the first recording released on December 13, 2007. It is hosted by Shinji Orito
Shinji Orito
is a Japanese musical composer originally from Hyōgo, Japan working for the software company Key. Before forming Key, Orito worked for another software company named Leaf where he contributed to four games...
and Itaru Hinoue
Itaru Hinoue
is a female Japanese artist from Osaka, Japan, and is one of the founding members of the software company Key. Hinoue's choice of her pseudonym stems from the manga C by Shō Kitagawa; the protagonist in the manga was named...
of Key, and another woman named Chiro who works for Pekoe, another visual novel studio under Visual Art's
Visual Art's
, formally , is a Japanese publishing company specializing in the publishing and distribution of visual novels for a large list of game developers. Visual Art's has developed the game engines their brands currently use, including the current engine, called Siglus, and older engines RealLive and...
. Listeners can submit thoughts about the show and any requests they may have for the show, along with submitting questions to the host trio. The broadcasts for the first 30 episodes 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. The broadcasts can also be listened to on Visual Art's' YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
channel named Visual Channel.
For the first six episodes, the show had five corners, or parts, which started with opening greetings from the hosts and went onto 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. 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 under Key Sounds Label
Key Sounds Label
Key Sounds Label is a Japanese independent record label formed in 2001 as a brand of the publishing company Visual Art's. Key Sounds Label was formed to catalog and release music related to visual novels produced by the brand Key, also under Visual Art's, known for developing such titles as Kanon...
play in the background.
Comiket involvement
ComiketComiket
, otherwise known as the , is the world's largest self-published comic book fair, held twice a year in Tokyo, Japan. The first Comiket was held on December 21, 1975, with only about 32 participating circles and an estimated 600 attendees. Attendance has since swelled to over a half million people....
, 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 sold Kanon
Kanon
is a Japanese visual novel developed by Key and originally released as an adult game on June 4, 1999, playable on a Microsoft Windows PC. An all ages version for the PC was released in January 2000, and was later ported to the Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation Portable...
-related products (as Kanon was their only release at the time); one such product was a Zippo
Zippo
A Zippo lighter is a refillable, metal lighter manufactured by Zippo Manufacturing Company of Bradford, Pennsylvania, U.S. Thousands of different styles and designs have been made in the seven decades since their introduction including military ones for specific regiments.-Establishment:George G...
lighter. The first Air-related products Key sold at the convention were at Comiket 59 in December 2000. Typical products include: postcard
Postcard
A postcard or post card is a rectangular piece of thick paper or thin cardboard intended for writing and mailing without an envelope....
s, telephone card
Telephone card
A telephone card, calling card or phone card for short, is a small plastic card, sized and shaped like a credit card, used to pay for telephone services. It is not necessary to have the physical card except with a stored-value system; knowledge of the access telephone number to dial and the PIN is...
s, calendar
Calendar
A calendar is a system of organizing days for social, religious, commercial, or administrative purposes. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months, and years. The name given to each day is known as a date. Periods in a calendar are usually, though not...
s, posters, and album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
s. The products Key sells at Comiket are all related to the visual novels the company produces.
Key, through Visual Art's, generally participates at the winter Comiket in conjunction with other brands under Visual Art's, but has been known to appear at the summer Comiket too, such as with Comiket 70 in August 2006 where they sold Planetarian: Chiisana Hoshi no Yume related products. The combined total of the products Key sells at a given Comiket range in price between 3,000 yen
Japanese yen
The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third most traded currency in the foreign exchange market after the United States dollar and the euro. It is also widely used as a reserve currency after the U.S. dollar, the euro and the pound sterling...
(about US$27) and 5,000 yen (about US$45). This includes the selling of music albums released under Key's record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
Key Sounds Label
Key Sounds Label
Key Sounds Label is a Japanese independent record label formed in 2001 as a brand of the publishing company Visual Art's. Key Sounds Label was formed to catalog and release music related to visual novels produced by the brand Key, also under Visual Art's, known for developing such titles as Kanon...
which has been releasing albums since Comiket 60 in August 2001 with the release of the label's first two albums, Humanity...
Humanity...
-External links:*...
and "Natsukage / Nostalgia". If there are any unsold products by the end of a given Comiket, Visual Art's has been known to set up an online mail order
Mail order
Mail order is a term which describes the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote method such as through a telephone call or web site. Then, the products are delivered to the customer...
to sell the remaining goods from all the brands under Visual Art's that participated at Comiket. After Comiket 73 in December 2007, Visual Art's 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. At the end of the second day of Comiket 75 in December 2008, all of Key's goods at the convention were sold out.
Main
Key's main staff members are attached to the visual novel studio, and therefore Visual Art'sVisual Art's
, formally , is a Japanese publishing company specializing in the publishing and distribution of visual novels for a large list of game developers. Visual Art's has developed the game engines their brands currently use, including the current engine, called Siglus, and older engines RealLive and...
. Most of the main staff have been with Key since its formation, and do the majority of the work involved. Jun Maeda
Jun Maeda
is a Japanese writer working for the software company Key; he has majorly contributed as a scenario writer, lyricist, and musical composer for the visual novels the company produces. His birth name in kanji was written as , though there is no change in pronunciation...
has worked on the planning for the individual projects and was one of the main scenario writers; he has also composed music for all of Key's games except Planetarian. Maeda was reported to say in the February 2007 issue of Comptiq
Comptiq
is a Japanese computer game magazine, first published in 1983, by Kadokawa Shoten. The name "Comptiq" came from combining the words "computer" and "boutique". Originally a PC magazine, its focus shifted from computers to computer games. As of September 2003, it has been known as a "MediaMix Game...
that after the completion of Little Busters!, he would not be working on the scenario staff for Key any longer. However, in an interview in the December 2007 issue of Dengeki G's Magazine
Dengeki G's Magazine
is a Japanese magazine published by ASCII Media Works and sold monthly on the thirtieth that primarily contains information on bishōjo games, but also includes an entire section on anime based on bishōjo games, and serializes manga and light novels based on such games. The "G's" in the title...
, Maeda said that he would still be working on the music for Key's next game. Itaru Hinoue
Itaru Hinoue
is a female Japanese artist from Osaka, Japan, and is one of the founding members of the software company Key. Hinoue's choice of her pseudonym stems from the manga C by Shō Kitagawa; the protagonist in the manga was named...
is Key's main artist and was the art director for Key's first three games. Na-Ga
Na-Ga
Na-Ga is a male Japanese artist who is employed as a graphic designer and illustrator for the company Key known for such famous visual novels as Kanon, Air, and Clannad among others...
, another prominent artist in the company, mainly worked with background art in earlier games, but with Little Busters! was given the position of co-art director with Hinoue. Further computer graphics have been provided in the past by four graphic artists: Shinory, Mochisuke, Minimo Tayama, and Torino. Key's main composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, Shinji Orito
Shinji Orito
is a Japanese musical composer originally from Hyōgo, Japan working for the software company Key. Before forming Key, Orito worked for another software company named Leaf where he contributed to four games...
, has been with the company since Kanon. With Maeda no longer contributing to the scenario, another scenario writer, Yūto Tonokawa
Yuto Tonokawa
is a Japanese scenario writer originally from Saitama, Japan working for the visual novel developing company Key under Visual Art's. He began working with Key on their sixth game Little Busters! and wrote the scenarios for two of the main heroines: Komari Kamikita, and Yuiko Kurugaya. Tonokawa also...
, joined Key and first worked on the scenario in Little Busters! and later worked on the scenario for Rewrite. Jun'ichi Shimizu joined Key in 2009 and headed the musical composition in Kud Wafter.
Former and outsourced
Many of Key's staff have left the company over time, or have been briefly employed as outsourced contributors. Naoki HisayaNaoki Hisaya
, born , is a Japanese screenwriter who has worked for Tactics, Key and Siesta, but as of 2006, he is a freelance writer. He is well known for being the main writer of the popular visual novel Kanon while working under Key. Additional works include Moon., One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e, and Moon Childe....
had worked as one of the main scenario writers for Kanon, but once the project was complete, he left the company; Hisaya later provided the original concept for Sola
Sola (manga)
Sola is a Japanese work originally conceived by Naoki Hisaya with original character design by Naru Nanao . Sola is a mixed media project, first unveiled through the prologue of the manga featured in the Japanese manga magazine Dengeki Daioh on December 21, 2006, published by MediaWorks...
. Another member of the staff that made Kanon was OdiakeS
OdiakeS
OdiakeS is a Japanese composer from Tokyo, Japan who has worked for a variety of visual novel companies. His first work was on the game One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e under Tactics. When the staff of One left Tactics to create the company Key, OdiakeS became a member of Key and had a hand in the musical...
, an outsourced composer who has since helped Key with two music albums, one each released for Air and Clannad, but has done nothing with Key since 2004. Three staff members only worked with Key on Air: Takashi Ishikawa as one of the scenario writers, Kazuki Fujii as a scenario assistant, and Din as a background artist. Air and Clannad had Tōya Okano and Kai who contributed as scenario writers; Kai later headed the planning and design of Kud Wafter. Another scenario writer, Yūichi Suzumoto
Yuichi Suzumoto
is a male Japanese novelist originally from Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka, Japan, though he now lives in Osaka, Japan. As of 2006, he works for Aquaplus, known for being the publishing company of Leaf. Before going to Leaf, Suzumoto worked at the publishing company Visual Art's as a scenario writer for...
, worked with Key between Air and Planetarian. Eeji Komatsu worked as the art director for Planetarian, and another artist, Fumio
Fumio
is a Japanese illustrator from Osaka Prefecture who works on the art for adult visual novels. He has worked for several different visual novel companies, such as Front Wing, Jaleco, Circus, F&C, and Key.-Games illustrated:*Crank In*Hoshiuta...
, worked as the art director for Tomoyo After. Leo Kashida worked as an outsourced writer with Key on Tomoyo After and Little Busters!. Chika Shirokiri, another outsourced writer who worked with Key on Little Busters!, also wrote the scenario for Kud Wafter. Two composers—Manack and PMMK—helped with the music in Little Busters!, and MintJam helped with arrangement
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
. One of the original computer graphics artists, Miracle Mikipon, left after Clannad. Magome Togoshi
Magome Togoshi
is a Japanese video game composer for visual novel studios. He began work as a composer in 2000 where he started working for the software company Key under Visual Art's to produce music for Air. Between then and 2006, Togoshi helped compose music for four more titles by Key, along with other games...
had been with Key since Air, working as one of the signature composers, but left the company in October 2006. Two out-sourced writers worked on the scenario for Rewrite: Ryukishi07
Ryukishi07
is the pen name of a Japanese man originally from Chiba Prefecture who is well known as the original creator for the idea of the visual novel series Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Umineko no Naku Koro ni. He is the representative member of the group 07th Expansion...
of 07th Expansion
07th Expansion
07th Expansion is a Japanese dōjin group that specializes in the creation of visual novels known as sound novels. They started out drawing for the trading card game Leaf Fight, but they are most famous for creating the dōjin game series Higurashi no Naku Koro ni...
, and Romeo Tanaka
Romeo Tanaka
is a male Japanese free artist and scenario writer for bishōjo games and adult games. At one time, he had attended the University of Tsukuba. In 2007, Tanaka started to write his first light novel series entitled Jinrui wa Suitaishimashita which is published by Shogakukan...
.
Impact
According to Satoshi Todome's work, A History of Adult Games, Key's impact on the visual novelVisual novel
A is an interactive fiction game featuring mostly static graphics, usually with anime-style art, or occasionally live-action stills or video footage...
(primarily the adult game
Eroge
An or Ero-ga is a Japanese video or computer game that features erotic content, usually in the form of anime-style artwork. Eroge originated from galge, but unlike galge, they feature erotic/pornographic content.-History:...
variant) world stems from before Key was formed and most of the founding members of Key worked for Tactics
Tactics (company)
Tactics is a Japanese visual novel studio which specializes in the development of dating sim and eroge style games. Tactics is actually a branch of the joint company Nexton. Their debut release was a game entitled Dōsei in mid-1997, followed by Moon. in the same year, and One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e in...
under Nexton
Nexton
is a Japanese software company specializing in the publishing and distribution of visual novel video games for a nine game developers that Nexton is partners with. The company is located in Osaka Prefecture, Osaka, Japan...
. Due to an influence by Leaf's
Leaf (company)
Leaf is a Japanese visual novel studio under the publisher Aquaplus, and has offices in Yodogawa-ku, Osaka, and Tokyo. It and its competitor Key are the most popular and successful dedicated visual novel studios operating today. It was launched out of obscurity by its early release ToHeart...
visual novel To 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. Tactics' second title One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e
One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e
is a Japanese adult visual novel, developed by Tactics, a brand of the joint company Nexton, and released on May 26, 1998 playable on the PC for Windows 95. Much of the staff that created the game later became the founding members of the visual novel company Key. The game was later ported to the...
was created based on this formula.
After One was complete, the development team quit Tactics to form Key where they developed their first title Kanon
Kanon
is a Japanese visual novel developed by Key and originally released as an adult game on June 4, 1999, playable on a Microsoft Windows PC. An all ages version for the PC was released in January 2000, and was later ported to the Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation Portable...
also based upon on this formula. 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." The success of One and Kanon 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, the Memories Off
Memories Off
is the title of a series of Japanese romance visual novel video games released by KID. The first game in the series, simply called Memories Off, was released in 1999 for the PlayStation. Memories Off titles have been released on the PC as well as video and handheld gaming consoles such as the...
series by KID
KID
KID, whose name is an acronym of Kindle Imagine Develop, was a Japan-based company specializing in porting and developing bishōjo games....
, D.C.: Da Capo by Circus
Circus (company)
Circus is a Japanese visual novel studio known for creating adult-oriented bishōjo games. In addition to the normal Circus brand name, there are other brand divisions including Circus Northern, Circus Fetish, Circus Metal, and Sanctuary...
, Snow by Studio Mebius (also under Visual Art's
Visual Art's
, formally , is a Japanese publishing company specializing in the publishing and distribution of visual novels for a large list of game developers. Visual Art's has developed the game engines their brands currently use, including the current engine, called Siglus, and older engines RealLive and...
), and Wind: A Breath of Heart by Minori
Minori
is a Japanese visual novel company which created the games Bittersweet Fools, Wind: A Breath of Heart, Haru no Ashioto and Angel Type. Their latest game as of 2009 is Eden*...
.
Ryukishi07
Ryukishi07
is the pen name of a Japanese man originally from Chiba Prefecture who is well known as the original creator for the idea of the visual novel series Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Umineko no Naku Koro ni. He is the representative member of the group 07th Expansion...
of 07th Expansion
07th Expansion
07th Expansion is a Japanese dōjin group that specializes in the creation of visual novels known as sound novels. They started out drawing for the trading card game Leaf Fight, but they are most famous for creating the dōjin game series Higurashi no Naku Koro ni...
wrote in 2004 how he was influenced by Key's works during the planning of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
, known simply as When They Cry for the North American release of the anime adaptation, is a Japanese murder mystery dōjin soft sound novel series produced by 07th Expansion. The games are built on the NScripter game engine and are playable on Microsoft Windows PCs...
. 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 of Higurashi but instead of leading the player to cry, Ryukishi07 wanted to scare the player with the addition of horror
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
elements. In this way, Ryukishi07 wished to be in some way associated with Key who he described as a "masterpiece maker".
Key is one of seventeen brands under Visual Art's with games included in the Lycèe Trading Card Game
Lycèe Trading Card Game
The Lycèe Trading Card Game is a Japanese collectible card game developed by Silver Blitz and published by Broccoli that uses characters from a variety of visual novel computer games. Lycée is a French word roughly meaning 'high school'. Most of the cards are given unique, fanmade artwork...
published by Broccoli
Broccoli (company)
is a Japanese media company that publishes manga, anime, and video games through its various subsidiaries.- About :Broccoli is the parent company of Broccoli Music Publishing, Broccoli International USA, and Anime Gamers USA Inc...
. Characters from Key's first five games were included in the first three out of four Visual Art's card sets, and characters from Little Busters! were featured in the fifth Visual Art's card set. There are also seven out of fifty-five rare promotional cards with characters from Key titles. Other big-name visual novel companies included in the card game include: AliceSoft
AliceSoft
was established in 1989, as an eroge publisher for the computer market, first for the PC-88 and PC-98, and later for PCs running Microsoft Windows platforms. Its first titles were Rance and Intruder, released simultaneously in July 1989. It has continued to release several titles each year,...
, August
August (company)
is a Japanese visual novel studio under the publisher . Although the company's name is spelled in Japanese using katakana, on the Internet August is known by the slang term . Hazuki and Hachigatsu mean August in Japanese....
, Leaf
Leaf (company)
Leaf is a Japanese visual novel studio under the publisher Aquaplus, and has offices in Yodogawa-ku, Osaka, and Tokyo. It and its competitor Key are the most popular and successful dedicated visual novel studios operating today. It was launched out of obscurity by its early release ToHeart...
, Navel
Navel (company)
is a Japanese label of Omega Vision Inc. a publisher of bishōjo eroge visual novel video games. Its name is a reference to the navel orange.-Games produced:By Navel*Shuffle! *Soul Link...
, and Type-Moon
TYPE-MOON
is a Japanese game company, best known for their visual novels, co-founded by author Kinoko Nasu and illustrator Takashi Takeuchi. It is also known under the name for its publishing and corporate operations...
.
Leaf, Key BBS
A bulletin board systemBulletin board system
A Bulletin Board System, or BBS, is a computer system running software that allows users to connect and log in to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, a user can perform functions such as uploading and downloading software and data, reading news and bulletins, and exchanging...
(BBS) based on the interface of the large Japanese Internet forum
Internet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...
2channel
2channel
is a Japanese textboard. In 2007 there were 2.5 million posts made every day. Launched in 1999, it has gained significant influence in Japanese society, comparable to that of traditional mass media such as television, radio, and magazines. As of 2008, the site generates revenue upwards of ¥100...
(2ch) was formed on January 26, 2000 named , otherwise nicknamed as . The board originated from 2ch's video game discussion board due to a dispute involving the game Kizuato
Kizuato
is a Japanese visual novel released on July 26, 1996 by Japan's Leaf studio.-Story:Koichi Kashiwagi , a college student, goes to his cousins' for his father's funeral. After the ceremony, as he is on summer vacation, he stays with them...
in December 1999; Kizuato was an early game of another visual novel producing company named Leaf
Leaf (company)
Leaf is a Japanese visual novel studio under the publisher Aquaplus, and has offices in Yodogawa-ku, Osaka, and Tokyo. It and its competitor Key are the most popular and successful dedicated visual novel studios operating today. It was launched out of obscurity by its early release ToHeart...
. Ultimately, fans of the game moved to 2ch's adult game
Eroge
An or Ero-ga is a Japanese video or computer game that features erotic content, usually in the form of anime-style artwork. Eroge originated from galge, but unlike galge, they feature erotic/pornographic content.-History:...
board, but there was not much resolution, and at the time Key fans on the board were being shunned for discussions on Kanon and, at the time, Key's upcoming game Air. This resulted finally with the Leaf and Key fans moving away from 2ch and forming again on the PINKchannel Internet forum. 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 default anonymous
Anonymous (group)
Anonymous is an international hacking group, spread through the Internet, initiating active civil disobedience, while attempting to maintain anonymity. Originating in 2003 on the imageboard 4chan, the term refers to the concept of many online community users simultaneously existing as an anarchic,...
posting setting, and the default name is , a reference to the heroine Mizuka Nagamori from One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e
One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e
is a Japanese adult visual novel, developed by Tactics, a brand of the joint company Nexton, and released on May 26, 1998 playable on the PC for Windows 95. Much of the staff that created the game later became the founding members of the visual novel company Key. The game was later ported to the...
who uses the words "dayo" and "mon" frequently.