11/10 for Little Busters VN is the best score :D. I consider LB to be vastly superior to any other Key work. It just resonated with me at a level no other work has, although Angel Beats anime came pretty close.
Well you can’t get wrong with Key Visual Novels. This studio showed the world of anime that you can make a good VN without mature scenes. They’re good in certain aspects but completely skippable. My favourite one is Rewrite. God I can listen to the soundtrack everyday, watch an anime everyday without getting bored. Out of all VN from Key studios this is the most reality grounded one. Because if we skip the magic parts Rewrite is a story of how we face problems that concerns our core as a human beings.
Typically, people's favorite KEY work is their first one. So it didn't surprise me at all when you mentioned that Clannad was your first experience with KEY and then called it Jun Maeda's best work. I think the reason for this phenomenon, is that KEY's structure and style is a repetitive one. If you've read one KEY VN (or watched one anime adaptation), to a certain degree you've seen them all, as structurally they all follow a very similar formula. So the magic with KEY, will always hit you the hardest with you first experience, and over time you'll grow a tolerance to it. For reference, my first exposure to KEY was with the Kanon 2006 anime, and that's my personal favorite work by KEY.
That’s not true at all, my first experience with Key was the clannad anime. I watched it, fell in love with it, and even played the visual novel and the tomoyo spin off, and I still love Rewrite more.
Currently my path was Angel beats ->clannad->clannad anime VN->Rewrite->Charlotte->Kami-sama->Summer Pockets->Charlotte->Little Busters, and Summer Pockets holds the Crown
Key's VN works is the reason why im hooked up on playing Visual Novel and watching it's Anime adaptation. My favorite ones are the first three Key Visual Novel that represent every season; Air- Summer; Kanon- Winter; Clannad- Spring. Little Buster is one of the best VN I played not only because of it's amazing plot and story but also it's funny moments, battle simulation and Practice Baseball mini game.
28:46 Simple. *_Long Answer:_* Kanada had a regret when she died which was not being able to thank her heart donor whereas Otonashi didn’t. He even admitted to having lived a fulfilled life during his last moments after regaining his memories which means he had no reason to go there. Kanade on the other hand did which means she was immediately sent to the afterlife place whereas Otonashi’s soul was floating through time until it somehow ended up in the afterlife place. Most definitely to either give Kanada a chance to thank her donor or because his soul was trying reunite with his heart and ended up there because Kanada was there and had Otonashi’s heart. There is legend/myth thing I heard somewhere where the soul and heart have some kind of connection and have to stay together or something (I can’t remember the full details and I might be far from true but it was something like this) which explains why his soul was trying to reunite with his heart *_Short Answer:_* Kanade had a regret when she died which is why she was immediately sent there whereas Otonashi didn’t and was accidentally sent there arriving later than Kanade *_Just imagine it like this:_* You and a friend hang out at a café or something. You then have an appointment of some sort; not the most logical but let’s say at a bank. Your friend also has an appointment at a bank on that day and leaves around an hour later than you. You’re going to a new bank you don’t know at all for the first time whereas your friend already knows which one to go to and safely arrives on time whereas you let’s say, confused with the directions or stuck in traffic have difficulties finding the way. You then come across a bank you don’t know and think it’s the right one. You go inside and see your friend there again. You also discover that you arrived at the wrong bank and need to relocate. How did your friend arrive earlier than you, even though you left an hour earlier than them? Simple. You weren’t meant to go to that bank whereas your friend was and going there was a mistake. That’s how Kanade arrived earlier than Otonashi
I know you wrote this ten months ago but I like to add somewhat of a personal theory to this. For Otonashi. Remember in his backstory. "Thank you"'s are important. It's his main motivator for picking up his life after his sister passed away. You could say it became his main purpose. Even if his life was already fulfilled without any conscious regrets by the time he died. I think in a strange way he might have wanted/needed a "thank you" as heartfelt and similar as the one his sister gave him by the end. And that's exactly what Kanade gave him in the final episode. If the order of them arriving in the afterlife was any different. Many important points in the story probably wouldn't have happened. (Kanade wouldn't have stabbed him and realized he didn't have a heart) and they might have never gotten as close. A girl who desperately wanted to thank the person who gave his heart. And the guy who wanted to be thanked. Probably, the "thank you" from Kanade might be what also allowed him to move on as we see in the after-credits scene. So it could very well be possible that the difference in time between their arrivals in the afterlife was completely on purpose to allow them to bond and for Otonashi to move on further as seen in the after-credits scene of the final episode. This next part is a LOT of speculation, not as sure about it as the previous bits of text but: I know a lot can be said about that end credit scene. And a lot of questions are unanswered. I think it's very well possible that they managed to somehow meet again. Because Otonashi may regret never being able to see Kanade again. the "afterlife" they were in, specifically build to help people move on from their regrets. Recognized that there was no way for that regret to be solved there. And allowed him to move on in a way that would result in their meeting again.
Clannad/After Story was my first Key anime back when i was just starting anime i saw clips of Tomoya trolling and was laughing my ass off so i decided to watch it cause it looked likea great comedy....... Didnt realize it would emotionally wreck me, and over yeard it just gets better upon rewatch (i have read playthroughs of the VN on youtube) as for my opinions on the others Kanon 2006 great Air tv - good but either cut the other 2 girls out or expand to 24 episodes, it was too much in little time. Air movie though was better but not as good animation Little Busters/Refrain - i loved this one if Clannad was a great romance story then LB was a great friendship story and i love it still ive also watched VN stuff of it Angel Beats - great as well but same problem not enough time to properly convey Charlotte - decent most potential but also wasted at the little runtime needed more episodes Planetarian there is an anime for it and it was fine Rewrite - i watched the anime first and i thought it was good then before Moon/terra came out i decided to read/watch the Vn and it became one of if not my favorite VNs it had lots i loved great MC and heroines and a world ending plot one of my favorites , when the Moon/terra anime came out i was little disheartened how much they cut but i did love the ending I have read the common route of Summer Pockets and one of the girls routes who stood out most to me Ao Sorakado and i liked it i may read more sometime
I'm not sure about the visual novel, but I absolutely loved Kanon the 2006 anime. It was relaxing, funny, emotionally powerful, and very true to life in a way that can only make sense by experiencing it. I hope they do release the VN on Switch so I can experience it for myself, though on saying that, I'm still waiting for a UK DVD release of the anime... I think Air was emotionally gripping, but it felt a bit too short and underdeveloped as a story. Maybe the visual novel is different, but I felt like the Air anime wasn't as consistently good as Kanon. It had higher highs, but lower lows in terms of quality. Still waiting for that UK DVD release... Both the visual novel and anime adaptation of Clannad are beautiful. Out of all the Key stories I've experienced so far, I'd say Clannad is their magnum Opus. People remember it for how hard it made them cry, and while I'm no exception, its emotional moments wouldn't have as strong an impact without the other moments. The funny moments, the tense moments, the joyful moments, it's all there. Key grounds these characters in a way few other anime or visual novels do, even among the best examples of their mediums. I can honestly recommend both, because the anime handles some scenes better, and vice versa for the VN which also features story routes not found in the anime (also Afterstory's true ending makes much more sense within the context of the VN thanks to the Orbs of Light mechanic). Planetarian was a blind purchase from me on Switch. I bought it mainly cause Key made it, so I figured I'd be in for a good time. And I was. It's a smaller-scale story priced at £8, and lasted only 4 hours, but the impact it had on me will last a lifetime. Key are experts in crafting profound stories, and this is no exception. An intimate story with just two main characters as its focus manages to invoke so much, like a longing for the past, a brief respite from the cruel world outside, and the emotional attachment between man and machine under certain circumstances. Key really is one of the best of their craft. Their stories are genuine, heart-felt, raw, and inspirational. You won't be the same person going into them as you are coming out.
Amazing video! KEY really love Baseball haha I have only watched Angel Beats and Charlotte then planning on Clannad every soon but I would like to play Little Buster's and Rewrite as a Visual Novel on stream!
I personally am a massive Summer Pockets fan and highly recommend you to play it now that the game is out. I actually couldn’t tell that it wasn’t written by Jun Maeda because its quality was so consistent with Key’s other works, and I thoroughly enjoyed each route with its true ending making me cry nearly to the same extent as CLANNAD Afterstory. The characters are all extremely lovable and memorable, and it honestly was the reason I got into VN’s in the first place.
Personally summer pockets was such a bore for me. The girls seemed too meh and their stories felt samey. I thought chilling with the boys was better. Also the music is not as great as clannad, by a longgggggggg shot
Great overview. For someone like me, who haven't read any of Key novels yet, it's pretty helpful. I have only seen AIR (meh), Rewrite (liked it, also loved the first couple of episodes of the second season where they go full meta, but yeah, it was very confusing for most of the time) and Angel Beats. I also tried to watch Kanon a couple of times, but I think I am going to give it one more try. Lucia's route in Rewrite was in fact written by Ryukishi07, author of Higurashi and Umineko. It's interesting how you said you loved it, while many of Ryukishi's fans claim that is one of the worst things he ever wrote. By the way, kinetic novels aren't always short, just look at Ryukishi's works, they are huge, but feature no gameplay or branching paths.
To add to that, if you really like the lucia route in Rewrite go read anything made by Ryukishi07. IT's also way better when he is not restrain to make his scenario fit with the writing of someone else. Even if there is almost no gameplay in his works, the scenario is the gameplay. By the way, jun maeda didn't write most of kanon, naoki hisaya did. forum.kazamatsuri.org/t/key-scenario-writers-discussion/459
Judging by the voice and the channel names, have i stumbled into one of pseychie's old channels? Either way, i finally found a new video essay channel to binge. good stuff
I love key. By far my favorite visual novels. I actually found rewrite with an English patch however I saw a lot of different people worked on it for different story arch’s so it falls flat. But I loved Kanon. Clannad still my absolute favorite by them followed by little busters. I plan on reading summer pockets next
Dude,that is a great video. I can really tell how much you care abouth these novels. Just one thing,there are some minor spoilers that could have been warned. Small things,but overall,it was great. Learned a lot.
Appreciate your hard work, although I have to disagree on Kanon 2006 the anime. Its my third Favorite when it comes to anime adaptations, behind Little Busters and Clannad
Being finished all key works available in english i want to annouce my 10 favorites. Still i need to learn japanese to play rewrite harvest festa lunaria virtualized moonchild prima doll and jun maeda's novel nekogari zoku no osa. Spoiler alert 10 Kamisama ni Natta Hi: At the beggining i thought like a simple anime and to much dislike the trama the end of the world begins a trascendental part like a treasure chest and to know the conditions of Hina in the hospital make me understand more about how people could treat a person with deficit make me feel to bad and to think that all your supports look like nothing make the final of hope to remember you only need be there. 9 Nekogari Zoku no Osa: I only read the prologue but in he moment when one think that the life don't have a meaning you can interact with one that have hope in life i think this could be one of the masterpieces that Key will give us. 8 Rewrite: Even if the future is closed resumes all kind of opportunities the deicision to change the world or yourself could be a difficult one but you could know the consecuences of being at the extremes of bout. 7 Stella of the End: The last Key work of the robot trilogy. Try to be a human could be so dificult for one who doesn't know the way he want. The question is what I need to be a human cause to be born only is the way to exist and found that you have all things to be human since the beggining is a marvelous form of perception. 6 AIR: The power to trascend the time to make a promise and the reasons the people think that something its dangerous only because exist is part of the principal trama and to know the final when you acommplish the goal make you into a stronger person you are. 5 HEAVEN BURNS RED: A 5 year project i'm still watching at this moment. When the humans can't fight the only hope of the world could be to hope for others to save them. First chapter make you understand that the relationships you have in your group could be the difference and even someone whit the understanding of situations could have a meaning in your present could be better when you remember your bests moments. Chapter 2 make you understand the hard way to be a captain and how to bea helpful tean and the last moments of your life could be of fullfilment when you can protect others. Chapter 3 make you understand what things are the most important to you when you face a great disaster and division and to know ehat you need to do when you discober a secret.And chapter 4 teach you about the purpose in your identity and to be the hope for someone else. I think this is near to be a new masterpiece. 4 Harmonia: When you only live to acomplish something your life could be meaningless and similar to a machine. The colors you feel are the most valuable of all things and you can find your purpose serving others. 3 Planetarian: The best os the robot trilogy and a way to demonstrate what could happen when you forget a valuable knowledge. When you think of the beauty of this world and want to share that beauty to others you'll find a way to interact with the best friend you could have. 2 Angel Beats: When all your troubles make the meaning of the life and obtain one place to be happy you can't look farter than the reflect of you in the water. But in the life and even the afterlife you can found someone who's dealing whit problems and also want to make you happy even if that work make a solitary life. 1 CLANNAD: Each route could be a masterpiece cause CLANNAD mean family and that's the best place where you could obtain an orb to miracles. The routes make you feel in the school a conection to each one. But the After Story it's better than all school life routes together. The solution to the misteries of the ilusory world girl and the garbage robot make you feel happines, next sandness and repeat the process to make the bad or the good end when you obtain all the light orbs.
Kanon and air in the top 5 favourite animes for me. Followed by the classic naruto, lull of the sea, skip beat and the 2000 girl classic for lucky star and haruhi suzumiya. Also alot of key animations look alot like kyoto studio, maybe kyoto took inspiration because the melancholy of haruhi suzumiya and lucky star. Are kyoto animations and key studio one of the same as I've looked it up and it's saying it produced kanon, clannad ect... Also i love key studios because how ethereal the style is down to the music and sound effects. It gives me goose bumps everytime I watch and they are my most memorable anime watches
I finally watched Abenobashi (from 2002) for the first time in Japanese recently. It had an episode that basically was a parody of visual novels in general, and it specifically made fun of Kanon... the character they used for it was even voiced by Yui Horie. I would have missed out on that joke in the dub.
Great video! I really enjoyed watching this, I just finished Little Busters recently and I think it goes in my top 10 visual novels! Next up is Clannad and Rewrite :)
Also I thought Otanashi arrived after Kanade because he died without regret, while she died regretting not being to thank him. So he was brought there after her to fulfill her wish.
Rewrite is the only game I've every 100% on and every single second of it was worth it. The True end {.)(.) actually made me fall out of my chair laughing. 11/10 wish I could forget it so I could play it again
Even though it's 3 years late, I have to comment on one thing here. WARNING: I'll spoil the entire end of Little Busters with this, only read further if you already know or don't care: Still here? Ok. It's funny that I knew about the bus crash thanks to your video from the very first minute I started the VN. BUT, since you never specifiy in what context it plays, I thought it was an end scenario, not that it literellay kicks off the story. I've never made the connection until the very last 60 minutes of the true route. Even though it was clear since Kurugaya at latest that the world the Little Busters inhibit can not be our world. So yeah, good work, you reviewed even the end part of Little Busters without spoilers, even though you mentioned both the good and bad end of refrain.
I only watched the anime’s and Kanon was better than clannad s1 tbh. Kanon was a masterpiece of its time. “It’s called a miracle because it doesn’t happen” I’ll never forget that moment with Shiori. Key’s selling point isn’t its humour but its atmospheric cute and sweet female cast that melt through your heart. Their use of the fantasy genre, colours, sound, music etc is just genius, it brings u into their beautiful world of vibrant colours, slow paced atmospheric music and plethora of cute, sweet waifus who are wholesome and pull at your heart strings. If u think that humour is what differentiates good slice of life vs bad then Key isn’t for u. For me the differentiator is how much I’ve fallen for the female casts, the ultimate waifu if u will. It’s ultimately a dating sim so that’s the correct criteria to use to rate them.
Im fresh from the sci adv series and im thinking of going to key series next. Whats the most easily accessible vn with english patch, either pc or android platform?
Agree with your review for the most part (LB and Rewrite are masterpieces). But your rating system is kind of weird, 7/10 for the least liked and on pair with others? Might be better to separate Story, narrative, music, etc. Also you didnt even mention OST, an important aspect of VN's, which LB and Rewrite might be one of the best emotional ones (just below Umineko, but it's a different genre mostly)
I preferred Kanon over Clannad, both for the VN and the Anime. Angel Beats is in it's own category for me, I didn't really take note of it until it drove a train through my heart when you finally learn how the MC died.
I found this video while shopping for the Steam Summer Sale. I've never really played a VN before- heck, I've only been a weeb for a couple months. I loved Angel Beats but I'm on a limited budget, so I was wondering if I should try Little Busters or Clannad first? And do you think it's worth getting Clannad SS and Tomyo as part of a bundle?
Finished reading Summer Pockets VN today. This is my opinion, but most of the routes were rather silly and predictable. It might be a good novel for beginners, but I can't help but feel disappointed compared to Key's previous works.
Key has some quite impressive portfolio of visual novels. It's a shame that these corporates are buying out the biggest visual novel companies. Age got acquired by Avex Pictures (subsidiary of Avex Group) in 2017 and Mages got acquired by Colopl last year. Who's next? Aniplex (subsidiary of Sony Music Japan) was never close to acquire Key when they worked with them on anime adaptation. They snatched up LiSA from Key Sounds Label and signed her to Aniplex Records which is now Sacra Music (joint-venture with SME Records) since 2017. But Aniplex didn't worked with them on more than anime. If they had started to publish their visual novels then it would have been more red flags for Key to be sold. Corporates work with a company in many years to strengthen their relationship until they end up acquire them. And I'm afraid Type-Moon is up next after the massive success of FGO on smartphones and all recent publishing with their console games by Aniplex. Tsukihime A piece of blue glass moon is the first visual novel Aniplex publish. It's getting closer to the situation of Age and Avex Pictures. Key should stay strong and keep being independent. Nitroplus as well. Key is among my favorite visual novel companies but Type-Moon is my no 1 pick. They make visual novels like nobody else. Choose visuals and art over simple dialogues and adds some animation to go well with music and sound production. Very high-tech quality. Probably because their plot is very action packed. The Shonen Jump of visual novels if you will. I know they are different genres as Key focus mainly on slice of life. But even other visual novels in the action genre are nothing like Type-Moon's.
Key studio at the year 2000 and later wasnt in my opinion good because they looks so ugly in my eyes later in the future the stutdo became visually better and story wise became better to i would say rewrite and Charlotte was good for me because at the time slice of life found its new life and was more Entertaining than the early and mid 2000s
![[FULL] RETROSPECTIVE : Final Fantasy Tactics](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/RUBmYqs1jZ0/mqdefault.jpg)
11/10 for Little Busters VN is the best score :D. I consider LB to be vastly superior to any other Key work. It just resonated with me at a level no other work has, although Angel Beats anime came pretty close.
Well you can’t get wrong with Key Visual Novels. This studio showed the world of anime that you can make a good VN without mature scenes. They’re good in certain aspects but completely skippable.
My favourite one is Rewrite. God I can listen to the soundtrack everyday, watch an anime everyday without getting bored. Out of all VN from Key studios this is the most reality grounded one. Because if we skip the magic parts Rewrite is a story of how we face problems that concerns our core as a human beings.
Typically, people's favorite KEY work is their first one. So it didn't surprise me at all when you mentioned that Clannad was your first experience with KEY and then called it Jun Maeda's best work. I think the reason for this phenomenon, is that KEY's structure and style is a repetitive one. If you've read one KEY VN (or watched one anime adaptation), to a certain degree you've seen them all, as structurally they all follow a very similar formula. So the magic with KEY, will always hit you the hardest with you first experience, and over time you'll grow a tolerance to it. For reference, my first exposure to KEY was with the Kanon 2006 anime, and that's my personal favorite work by KEY.
That’s not true at all, my first experience with Key was the clannad anime. I watched it, fell in love with it, and even played the visual novel and the tomoyo spin off, and I still love Rewrite more.
@@alsosprachzarathustra4756 That's why I used the word "typically": as in often, but not always the case
I read summer pockets first but I think Clannad is my favorite!
clannad is objectively the best one, gtfo.
Currently my path was Angel beats ->clannad->clannad anime VN->Rewrite->Charlotte->Kami-sama->Summer Pockets->Charlotte->Little Busters, and Summer Pockets holds the Crown
Key's VN works is the reason why im hooked up on playing Visual Novel and watching it's Anime adaptation. My favorite ones are the first three Key Visual Novel that represent every season; Air- Summer; Kanon- Winter; Clannad- Spring.
Little Buster is one of the best VN I played not only because of it's amazing plot and story but also it's funny moments, battle simulation and Practice Baseball mini game.
28:46
Simple.
*_Long Answer:_* Kanada had a regret when she died which was not being able to thank her heart donor whereas Otonashi didn’t. He even admitted to having lived a fulfilled life during his last moments after regaining his memories which means he had no reason to go there. Kanade on the other hand did which means she was immediately sent to the afterlife place whereas Otonashi’s soul was floating through time until it somehow ended up in the afterlife place. Most definitely to either give Kanada a chance to thank her donor or because his soul was trying reunite with his heart and ended up there because Kanada was there and had Otonashi’s heart. There is legend/myth thing I heard somewhere where the soul and heart have some kind of connection and have to stay together or something (I can’t remember the full details and I might be far from true but it was something like this) which explains why his soul was trying to reunite with his heart
*_Short Answer:_* Kanade had a regret when she died which is why she was immediately sent there whereas Otonashi didn’t and was accidentally sent there arriving later than Kanade
*_Just imagine it like this:_* You and a friend hang out at a café or something. You then have an appointment of some sort; not the most logical but let’s say at a bank. Your friend also has an appointment at a bank on that day and leaves around an hour later than you. You’re going to a new bank you don’t know at all for the first time whereas your friend already knows which one to go to and safely arrives on time whereas you let’s say, confused with the directions or stuck in traffic have difficulties finding the way. You then come across a bank you don’t know and think it’s the right one. You go inside and see your friend there again. You also discover that you arrived at the wrong bank and need to relocate. How did your friend arrive earlier than you, even though you left an hour earlier than them? Simple. You weren’t meant to go to that bank whereas your friend was and going there was a mistake. That’s how Kanade arrived earlier than Otonashi
That does make a lot of sense, thanks for writing this man.
I know you wrote this ten months ago but I like to add somewhat of a personal theory to this. For Otonashi. Remember in his backstory. "Thank you"'s are important. It's his main motivator for picking up his life after his sister passed away. You could say it became his main purpose. Even if his life was already fulfilled without any conscious regrets by the time he died. I think in a strange way he might have wanted/needed a "thank you" as heartfelt and similar as the one his sister gave him by the end. And that's exactly what Kanade gave him in the final episode. If the order of them arriving in the afterlife was any different. Many important points in the story probably wouldn't have happened. (Kanade wouldn't have stabbed him and realized he didn't have a heart) and they might have never gotten as close.
A girl who desperately wanted to thank the person who gave his heart. And the guy who wanted to be thanked.
Probably, the "thank you" from Kanade might be what also allowed him to move on as we see in the after-credits scene. So it could very well be possible that the difference in time between their arrivals in the afterlife was completely on purpose to allow them to bond and for Otonashi to move on further as seen in the after-credits scene of the final episode.
This next part is a LOT of speculation, not as sure about it as the previous bits of text but: I know a lot can be said about that end credit scene. And a lot of questions are unanswered. I think it's very well possible that they managed to somehow meet again. Because Otonashi may regret never being able to see Kanade again. the "afterlife" they were in, specifically build to help people move on from their regrets. Recognized that there was no way for that regret to be solved there. And allowed him to move on in a way that would result in their meeting again.
Never heard of planetarium but from hearing the intro song which is literally the melody to what a friend we have in Jesus yes I want to play it now
Clannad/After Story was my first Key anime back when i was just starting anime i saw clips of Tomoya trolling and was laughing my ass off so i decided to watch it cause it looked likea great comedy....... Didnt realize it would emotionally wreck me, and over yeard it just gets better upon rewatch
(i have read playthroughs of the VN on youtube)
as for my opinions on the others
Kanon 2006 great
Air tv - good but either cut the other 2 girls out or expand to 24 episodes, it was too much in little time. Air movie though was better but not as good animation
Little Busters/Refrain - i loved this one if Clannad was a great romance story then LB was a great friendship story and i love it still ive also watched VN stuff of it
Angel Beats - great as well but same problem not enough time to properly convey
Charlotte - decent most potential but also wasted at the little runtime needed more episodes
Planetarian there is an anime for it and it was fine
Rewrite - i watched the anime first and i thought it was good then before Moon/terra came out i decided to read/watch the Vn and it became one of if not my favorite VNs it had lots i loved great MC and heroines and a world ending plot one of my favorites , when the Moon/terra anime came out i was little disheartened how much they cut but i did love the ending
I have read the common route of Summer Pockets and one of the girls routes who stood out most to me Ao Sorakado and i liked it i may read more sometime
I'm not sure about the visual novel, but I absolutely loved Kanon the 2006 anime. It was relaxing, funny, emotionally powerful, and very true to life in a way that can only make sense by experiencing it. I hope they do release the VN on Switch so I can experience it for myself, though on saying that, I'm still waiting for a UK DVD release of the anime...
I think Air was emotionally gripping, but it felt a bit too short and underdeveloped as a story. Maybe the visual novel is different, but I felt like the Air anime wasn't as consistently good as Kanon. It had higher highs, but lower lows in terms of quality. Still waiting for that UK DVD release...
Both the visual novel and anime adaptation of Clannad are beautiful. Out of all the Key stories I've experienced so far, I'd say Clannad is their magnum Opus. People remember it for how hard it made them cry, and while I'm no exception, its emotional moments wouldn't have as strong an impact without the other moments. The funny moments, the tense moments, the joyful moments, it's all there. Key grounds these characters in a way few other anime or visual novels do, even among the best examples of their mediums. I can honestly recommend both, because the anime handles some scenes better, and vice versa for the VN which also features story routes not found in the anime (also Afterstory's true ending makes much more sense within the context of the VN thanks to the Orbs of Light mechanic).
Planetarian was a blind purchase from me on Switch. I bought it mainly cause Key made it, so I figured I'd be in for a good time. And I was. It's a smaller-scale story priced at £8, and lasted only 4 hours, but the impact it had on me will last a lifetime. Key are experts in crafting profound stories, and this is no exception. An intimate story with just two main characters as its focus manages to invoke so much, like a longing for the past, a brief respite from the cruel world outside, and the emotional attachment between man and machine under certain circumstances.
Key really is one of the best of their craft. Their stories are genuine, heart-felt, raw, and inspirational. You won't be the same person going into them as you are coming out.
Notes:
planetarian ~the reverie of a planet~ is released on November 2004.
This deserves so many more views.
Amazing video! KEY really love Baseball haha I have only watched Angel Beats and Charlotte then planning on Clannad every soon but I would like to play Little Buster's and Rewrite as a Visual Novel on stream!
I personally am a massive Summer Pockets fan and highly recommend you to play it now that the game is out. I actually couldn’t tell that it wasn’t written by Jun Maeda because its quality was so consistent with Key’s other works, and I thoroughly enjoyed each route with its true ending making me cry nearly to the same extent as CLANNAD Afterstory. The characters are all extremely lovable and memorable, and it honestly was the reason I got into VN’s in the first place.
Personally summer pockets was such a bore for me. The girls seemed too meh and their stories felt samey. I thought chilling with the boys was better. Also the music is not as great as clannad, by a longgggggggg shot
@@auztarmalow15 The boys were the highlight of the game in hindsight
I read little busters whole, so it's my favorite
Great overview. For someone like me, who haven't read any of Key novels yet, it's pretty helpful. I have only seen AIR (meh), Rewrite (liked it, also loved the first couple of episodes of the second season where they go full meta, but yeah, it was very confusing for most of the time) and Angel Beats. I also tried to watch Kanon a couple of times, but I think I am going to give it one more try.
Lucia's route in Rewrite was in fact written by Ryukishi07, author of Higurashi and Umineko. It's interesting how you said you loved it, while many of Ryukishi's fans claim that is one of the worst things he ever wrote.
By the way, kinetic novels aren't always short, just look at Ryukishi's works, they are huge, but feature no gameplay or branching paths.
To add to that, if you really like the lucia route in Rewrite go read anything made by Ryukishi07. IT's also way better when he is not restrain to make his scenario fit with the writing of someone else. Even if there is almost no gameplay in his works, the scenario is the gameplay.
By the way, jun maeda didn't write most of kanon, naoki hisaya did.
forum.kazamatsuri.org/t/key-scenario-writers-discussion/459
Judging by the voice and the channel names, have i stumbled into one of pseychie's old channels? Either way, i finally found a new video essay channel to binge. good stuff
Nice video. I love Kanon though. Also I would generally say that one is actually the first key vn in general
I love key. By far my favorite visual novels. I actually found rewrite with an English patch however I saw a lot of different people worked on it for different story arch’s so it falls flat. But I loved Kanon. Clannad still my absolute favorite by them followed by little busters. I plan on reading summer pockets next
Dude,that is a great video. I can really tell how much you care abouth these novels. Just one thing,there are some minor spoilers that could have been warned. Small things,but overall,it was great. Learned a lot.
Rewrite+ comes out on Steam around the end of this year! Can’t wait
Well looks like Summer Pockets has an official English version now. What's your thoughts on it?
It left me an emotional wreck for an entire day after finishing it. I love it just as much as Clannad and Rewrite
I highly disagree with AIR, I found the anime among one of my favourites because of its unique style
Clannad is my favorite story of all time even beyond the realm of VNs and anime. I'm curious if Summer Pocket is good.
Spoiler alert: it's good. Like an eyelash below clannad in it's story
Is make me cry
Appreciate your hard work, although I have to disagree on Kanon 2006 the anime. Its my third Favorite when it comes to anime adaptations, behind Little Busters and Clannad
Being finished all key works available in english i want to annouce my 10 favorites. Still i need to learn japanese to play rewrite harvest festa lunaria virtualized moonchild prima doll and jun maeda's novel nekogari zoku no osa. Spoiler alert
10 Kamisama ni Natta Hi: At the beggining i thought like a simple anime and to much dislike the trama the end of the world begins a trascendental part like a treasure chest and to know the conditions of Hina in the hospital make me understand more about how people could treat a person with deficit make me feel to bad and to think that all your supports look like nothing make the final of hope to remember you only need be there.
9 Nekogari Zoku no Osa: I only read the prologue but in he moment when one think that the life don't have a meaning you can interact with one that have hope in life i think this could be one of the masterpieces that Key will give us.
8 Rewrite: Even if the future is closed resumes all kind of opportunities the deicision to change the world or yourself could be a difficult one but you could know the consecuences of being at the extremes of bout.
7 Stella of the End: The last Key work of the robot trilogy. Try to be a human could be so dificult for one who doesn't know the way he want. The question is what I need to be a human cause to be born only is the way to exist and found that you have all things to be human since the beggining is a marvelous form of perception.
6 AIR: The power to trascend the time to make a promise and the reasons the people think that something its dangerous only because exist is part of the principal trama and to know the final when you acommplish the goal make you into a stronger person you are.
5 HEAVEN BURNS RED: A 5 year project i'm still watching at this moment. When the humans can't fight the only hope of the world could be to hope for others to save them. First chapter make you understand that the relationships you have in your group could be the difference and even someone whit the understanding of situations could have a meaning in your present could be better when you remember your bests moments. Chapter 2 make you understand the hard way to be a captain and how to bea helpful tean and the last moments of your life could be of fullfilment when you can protect others. Chapter 3 make you understand what things are the most important to you when you face a great disaster and division and to know ehat you need to do when you discober a secret.And chapter 4 teach you about the purpose in your identity and to be the hope for someone else. I think this is near to be a new masterpiece.
4 Harmonia: When you only live to acomplish something your life could be meaningless and similar to a machine. The colors you feel are the most valuable of all things and you can find your purpose serving others.
3 Planetarian: The best os the robot trilogy and a way to demonstrate what could happen when you forget a valuable knowledge. When you think of the beauty of this world and want to share that beauty to others you'll find a way to interact with the best friend you could have.
2 Angel Beats: When all your troubles make the meaning of the life and obtain one place to be happy you can't look farter than the reflect of you in the water. But in the life and even the afterlife you can found someone who's dealing whit problems and also want to make you happy even if that work make a solitary life.
1 CLANNAD: Each route could be a masterpiece cause CLANNAD mean family and that's the best place where you could obtain an orb to miracles. The routes make you feel in the school a conection to each one. But the After Story it's better than all school life routes together. The solution to the misteries of the ilusory world girl and the garbage robot make you feel happines, next sandness and repeat the process to make the bad or the good end when you obtain all the light orbs.
Kanon and air in the top 5 favourite animes for me. Followed by the classic naruto, lull of the sea, skip beat and the 2000 girl classic for lucky star and haruhi suzumiya.
Also alot of key animations look alot like kyoto studio, maybe kyoto took inspiration because the melancholy of haruhi suzumiya and lucky star.
Are kyoto animations and key studio one of the same as I've looked it up and it's saying it produced kanon, clannad ect...
Also i love key studios because how ethereal the style is down to the music and sound effects. It gives me goose bumps everytime I watch and they are my most memorable anime watches
I finally watched Abenobashi (from 2002) for the first time in Japanese recently. It had an episode that basically was a parody of visual novels in general, and it specifically made fun of Kanon... the character they used for it was even voiced by Yui Horie. I would have missed out on that joke in the dub.
Key never reached a newer heights after Clannad, especially when Jun Maeda left the company.
Man you need to play summer pockets. I loved it
Great video! I really enjoyed watching this, I just finished Little Busters recently and I think it goes in my top 10 visual novels! Next up is Clannad and Rewrite :)
Also I thought Otanashi arrived after Kanade because he died without regret, while she died regretting not being to thank him. So he was brought there after her to fulfill her wish.
Rewrite is the only game I've every 100% on and every single second of it was worth it. The True end {.)(.) actually made me fall out of my chair laughing. 11/10 wish I could forget it so I could play it again
Even though it's 3 years late, I have to comment on one thing here.
WARNING: I'll spoil the entire end of Little Busters with this, only read further if you already know or don't care:
Still here? Ok.
It's funny that I knew about the bus crash thanks to your video from the very first minute I started the VN. BUT, since you never specifiy in what context it plays, I thought it was an end scenario, not that it literellay kicks off the story. I've never made the connection until the very last 60 minutes of the true route. Even though it was clear since Kurugaya at latest that the world the Little Busters inhibit can not be our world.
So yeah, good work, you reviewed even the end part of Little Busters without spoilers, even though you mentioned both the good and bad end of refrain.
Fantastic video! Keep it up!
Little busters was the best oh god it was beautiful
nice video man, i have a request and recommendation for you haha, would you try out Muv luv and Muv luv alternative? wanna know your opinion on them
ah a man of culture
I only watched the anime’s and Kanon was better than clannad s1 tbh. Kanon was a masterpiece of its time. “It’s called a miracle because it doesn’t happen” I’ll never forget that moment with Shiori.
Key’s selling point isn’t its humour but its atmospheric cute and sweet female cast that melt through your heart. Their use of the fantasy genre, colours, sound, music etc is just genius, it brings u into their beautiful world of vibrant colours, slow paced atmospheric music and plethora of cute, sweet waifus who are wholesome and pull at your heart strings.
If u think that humour is what differentiates good slice of life vs bad then Key isn’t for u. For me the differentiator is how much I’ve fallen for the female casts, the ultimate waifu if u will. It’s ultimately a dating sim so that’s the correct criteria to use to rate them.
Oh summer pocket realy make people cry all of the route is unexpected
Im fresh from the sci adv series and im thinking of going to key series next. Whats the most easily accessible vn with english patch, either pc or android platform?
2:50 where did you get this?! It looks amazing
Anyone knows why kyoani ended their partnership key in 2009?
37:19 close, but it was Motoki Tanaka who directed the anime, not Romeo Tanaka.
#sasasegawasasamienjoyer.
First Key Novel I watch was Angel Beats and then I recently watched Rewrite and couldn't enjoy it because I was visibly confused.
Agree with your review for the most part (LB and Rewrite are masterpieces). But your rating system is kind of weird, 7/10 for the least liked and on pair with others? Might be better to separate Story, narrative, music, etc. Also you didnt even mention OST, an important aspect of VN's, which LB and Rewrite might be one of the best emotional ones (just below Umineko, but it's a different genre mostly)
did you end up reading summer pockets? and what did you think of it if you did
I cant wait for rewrite+
I don't believe in what I saw at 15:04 lol
How do I get my hands on Key VNs?
I preferred Kanon over Clannad, both for the VN and the Anime. Angel Beats is in it's own category for me, I didn't really take note of it until it drove a train through my heart when you finally learn how the MC died.
Summer pocket is good, youll regret it if u skipping it
Jun maeda just announced a new anime original project called "the day i bacame a god"
It'll probably get delayed, lol
"the air anime is a complete joke"
proceeds to rate it 6/10
bro why the FUCK does this only have 45 views????????????????????
11:00 the first VN i read was a kinetic VN, it was Eden* from Minori, really good one and it made me giving a chance to the VN genre
I found this video while shopping for the Steam Summer Sale. I've never really played a VN before- heck, I've only been a weeb for a couple months. I loved Angel Beats but I'm on a limited budget, so I was wondering if I should try Little Busters or Clannad first? And do you think it's worth getting Clannad SS and Tomyo as part of a bundle?
Why don’t you watch it on kissanime.ru dont worry it ain’t a bug website but it’s free to watch anime on this website
SamplayZ_ YT I’m talking about VNs, not anime. I pirate my anime.
Finished reading Summer Pockets VN today. This is my opinion, but most of the routes were rather silly and predictable.
It might be a good novel for beginners, but I can't help but feel disappointed compared to Key's previous works.
Kanin Clannad and Air😭😭😭
You say that you don't really like kanon but 7 is a good rating
Great video, but the use of the r-slur really threw me off.
YOU DARE SKIP KUD?!
If you mean Kud Wafter then I'm going to tell you that there's no English version of the game that's why it's never featured here.
your title says *ALL but you dont review all of them though, lol good vid though
Key has some quite impressive portfolio of visual novels. It's a shame that these corporates are buying out the biggest visual novel companies.
Age got acquired by Avex Pictures (subsidiary of Avex Group) in 2017 and Mages got acquired by Colopl last year. Who's next?
Aniplex (subsidiary of Sony Music Japan) was never close to acquire Key when they worked with them on anime adaptation. They snatched up LiSA from Key Sounds Label and signed her to Aniplex Records which is now Sacra Music (joint-venture with SME Records) since 2017. But Aniplex didn't worked with them on more than anime. If they had started to publish their visual novels then it would have been more red flags for Key to be sold.
Corporates work with a company in many years to strengthen their relationship until they end up acquire them. And I'm afraid Type-Moon is up next after the massive success of FGO on smartphones and all recent publishing with their console games by Aniplex. Tsukihime A piece of blue glass moon is the first visual novel Aniplex publish. It's getting closer to the situation of Age and Avex Pictures.
Key should stay strong and keep being independent. Nitroplus as well.
Key is among my favorite visual novel companies but Type-Moon is my no 1 pick. They make visual novels like nobody else. Choose visuals and art over simple dialogues and adds some animation to go well with music and sound production. Very high-tech quality. Probably because their plot is very action packed. The Shonen Jump of visual novels if you will.
I know they are different genres as Key focus mainly on slice of life. But even other visual novels in the action genre are nothing like Type-Moon's.
too bad lil busters ex on steam is censored
and they never fully patchd the orignal vn with H scenes
READ REWRITE
Clannad and Air ruined me do you hear me they ruinnneeeddd me
Charlotte is a 5 at best lmao. The rest are scored well tho
Also, saying that you dont really like kanon but then giving it a 7? Lul
Woahhh
bunny girl senpai is not that bad
Key is garbage. Recycled plotlines, awful presentation, non endings.
Stage nana destroys Key
Preference bruh
Key studio at the year 2000 and later wasnt in my opinion good because they looks so ugly in my eyes later in the future the stutdo became visually better and story wise became better to i would say rewrite and Charlotte was good for me because at the time slice of life found its new life and was more Entertaining than the early and mid 2000s