An Introduction Guide to Key/Visual Arts Part 1: Introduction & Works

Addiction, that's what this is.
Having just finished virtually every Key work, here is a general guide for the company as a whole, why it's worth checking it out, and a general guide to entire work they've made from the very first title to the latest release.

What is Key? - 0:00
Kanon - 3:08
AIR - 5:14
Clannad - 7:15
Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet - 10:54
Tomoyo After: It's a Wonderful Life - 12:58
Little Busters - 14:00
Kud Wafter - 16:09
Angel Beats - 17:23
Rewrite - 19:56
Charlotte - 22:36
Harmonia - 25:11
Summer Pockets - 26:44
The Day I Became a God - 28:48
Continue to Part 2 - 29:42

I do not claim any ownership over any music, images, or sound effects, they are owned by their original creators.

#VisualArts #KyoAni #JunMaeda

[TheAugustHail]

Great job! This is a really great comprehensive guide to Key, including recommendations and even information on the anime. Now while I have read only a couple of the VNs and watched the anime adaptations, I do think that Key's at its strongest when it is focusing on characters and their themes compared to the departures into different genres.

[NerevarineKing]

Angel Beats was my first experience with Key and I was actually a bit disappointed after it was hyped up so much. Years later, I'm finally playing through their VNs in release order and enjoying them quite a bit.

[Zuudo]

hello i am going to cry now thank you very much

[CoasterCrest]

Just watched this a couple days after finishing Little Busters true ending (working on EX still). I never thought Clannad could be topped in its own genre, and I won't say for certain that it was, because the 2 definitely have a very different feel and approach, but That was so incredibly good. Hearing you use some of the songs from Little Busters in this video brought me to tears. Thank you. Kanon is now officially localized on Steam, so I've got that, the 2 kinetic novels, Rewrite+, and Summer Pockets to look forward to playing.

[kamina_Sea_You_Again]

Beautiful and informative Video Manpig, I only wish i took your words to heart sooner, because after giving your words a go and trying my first piece of key media, That being Little Busters as you know. All i can say is my heart absolutely aches during the LB section of this video.

I can't express in any way that does LB justice, But what a masterpiece, Never have i cried as hard as LB made me and still does. Crying like a baby into my desk for what felt like hours, It leaves my heart a void full of sadness yet overwhelming positivity that truly changed my life, I thank you manpig for giving me that small push so i could experience the beauty that is LB.

Though my time with LB is almost over, I know my journey ahead is going to be a beautiful journey full of happiness, sadness, more life changing lessons and a pair of lips, being my own that are never going to shut up about Key.

Now in all kindness, Let me strangle you for having this video make me burst into tears : )

[rodrigo]

Always nice to find vn focus channels. Rewrite and clannad are my favorites, but i still need to read little busters.

[justintime]

Was interested in learning more about Key, your video was exactly what I was looking for!

[Toonie]

Such a well done video! I'm going to check out Planetarian on stream now and watch Kanon!

[MistressTomoe]

6:21 Surprising to see Air anime (KyoAni) rated a bit lower though! Because I really loved it. Beautiful Character designs, straight story, best ending theme. I also showed it to my dad, and he also liked Until Crow part. I also agree Crow part kinda lowered Air's positive traits.

[gegeji]

Besides âge with their VNs (Muv-Luv, Kiminozo etc.) Key VNs is my next favorite (espacially Little Busters and Clannad) ones and are what introduced me to VNs in generell. And besides being good tearjerkers they also one of the best in the Slice of Life genre.

[nayukiseru]

Angel Beats, Kanon, Clannad, Rewrite, Charlotte❤❤❤

[RogerSmith]

Honestly I think the Clannad Movie is a solid romance film on its own, and I think Dezaki's direction makes it worth a look, but I also think it has a very different vision from the original story, so I don't think it's really going to sell the appeal of Key's works. If anything I have noticed that a lot of people who don't like Key stuff tend to prefer the Clannad and Air films for that reason. So in that regard, I can agree.

Overall it's a very solid vid, I can tell you are really passionate on the subject and I've been recently getting back into Key works, so this was well timed.

[cy]

19:02 Type-Moon fans: Huh, tell me about it.
But seriously, if Tsukihime remake taught me anything is to stay positive, and miracles will eventually happen~

[cyberianvagabond]

Nice introduction here. I do have to take some exception to your description of Rewrite though. While it does incorporate urban fantasy, I think it marries this to its slice of life nakige roots pretty well. The entire occult club is much more about slice of life moments than it really is about urban fantasy (ironically, much more paranormal and fantasy stuff happens when Kotarou ISN'T doing club activies). I also have to disagree about rewrite not offering a lot of emotional heartfelt moments or lessons. I don't really want to get into spoilers, but I think I can say generally that Kotori's route, Akane's route, and ESPECIALLY Shizuru's route offered a lot of opportunities for heartfelt moments and tears. I can agree, however, that the true routes did not focus on this as much as in earlier works. Terra is awesome, but it isn't really a tear-jerker for me.

On the lesson aspect, I think Rewrite is actually incredibly important in its message about not accepting false choices. Speaking vaguely, Kotarou is placed in a situation in the common route where it looks like he is forced to pick one of two sides. If you're not one, you must be the other. However, both of these options SUCK. It is only through casting out this system and forging his own path in the true routes that he finds fulfillment. This mindset of "this or that" is everywhere, from politics to even other anime (how many times have you heard "do you love me or hate me" in a romance anime?). It's unhealthy. I think that is the lesson that Rewrite is trying to teach. While it's not as concrete and easy to see or apply as, say, Clannad's emphasis on family, it is there, and it is important.

It's this lesson that made me really enjoy and respect Rewrite, especially on my second reading. The first time, I felt pretty betrayed by Terra and what it did, but looking back, that was kind of the point. Then again, my opinions on action VNs are pretty unorthodox. I really disliked Muv-Luv, Grisaia, and yes, Fate/Stay Night.

[jimwhite]

In a way, Key's first work is actually "One ~Kagayaku Kisetsu e~, " as it is essentially the same people who made Kanon and so on. It also has all of the elements that Key is most well-known for.

[五毒学生]

Your local anime club?? Lucky man! LB was my first visual novel, Mio forever.

[alip]

Clannad VN is the reason why I became VNs fan

[jimwhite]

I don't know any visual novel fan who hasn't heard of Key. It's pretty much impossible to dab even a little into the visual novel community and not hear of Key.

Also, Clannad is a treasure, I doubt they will ever be able to produce another work like it. Just trying to copy it won't work either, for obvious reasons. It may be successful to copy it again but it won't top it. Little Busters and Rewrite are both great but they're not quite on the level of Clannad.

[ramonaharrison]

I kind of like the air movie, even though it changed a lot of things, I enjoy it, (I guess it's mostly because yukito doesn't die)

[SuperOtakuKyo]

Very thorough and informative video. Its a shame about Angel Beats' VNs. I kind of hope they will return to them, but I slowly doubt it as every year goes by. After reading the fan translation of 1st Beat, I can already tell it could've been something really amazing and rival their other works. I hope Rewrite+ releases soon and hope Visual Arts will do an official english translation of Summer Pockets Reflection Blue, bought Summer Pockets just to support them in hopes of it coming and hopefully other Key titles. Wouldn't mind if they touched up Kanon and Air and re-released those officially as well.