History
Before forming Key, the founding members worked for another visual novel development company called Nexton under the brand Tactics. 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—Naoki Hisaya, Jun Maeda and OdiakeS—joined Tactics and contributed to two more games: Moon released on November 21, 1997, and One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e released on May 29, 1998. Due to differing opinions between Nexton and most of the production staff in Tactics on how to produce the brand's next game, most of Tactics' staff left Nexton to pursue work in another publishing company where they could have the freedom to produce their next game.[1]
Itaru Hinoue, who had previously worked at Visual Arts once before, introduced Key's founding members to the president of Visual Arts, Takahiro Baba.[1] Baba gave the developers the freedom they desired, and they officially transferred to Visual Arts where they formed Key on July 21, 1998. With the production of Key's debut title Kanon still in its early stages, a brand name had still not been decided on by the developers. The tentative brand name was Azurite (アズライト) at first, but Jun Maeda was not pleased with this and wanted a name that would capture the image of the brand. Maeda came upon the name Key when he saw it on a sign for a musical instrument store he would always pass on his way to work and instantly liked the name.[1] The name Key for the studio was ultimately decided by majority rule.[2] Key released Kanon on June 4, 1999, as an adult game,[3] though the scenes containing adult content were kept to a minimum. This gave the player more of a focus on the characters' stories and on the visuals and music, especially for a visual novel at the time of its release. A year later, on September 8, 2000, Key released their second game Air, which was also an adult game and similar in storytelling to Kanon.[4]
Key's third game Clannad is a visual novel similar to Key's previous games, but contains no adult content. Clannad was meant to be released in 2002, but was delayed, leading to the game finally being released on April 28, 2004.[5] Seven months after Clannad's release, Key released their shortest game, Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet, on November 29, 2004 with a rating for all ages.[6] Planetarian, in contrast to Key's past games, is a linear visual novel that does not require the user to make choices during gameplay; this is what is referred to as a kinetic novel. The brand's fifth game is Tomoyo After: It's a Wonderful Life, an adult game and spin-off of Clannad released on November 25, 2005, which expanded on the scenario of the heroine Tomoyo Sakagami from Clannad.[7] Key released their sixth game, Little Busters!, on July 27, 2007 with no adult content,[8] but released another version of the game entitled ''Little Busters!
In commemoration of Key's ten-year anniversary, Key and Visual Arts held a two-day event between February 28 and March 1, 2009, called "Key 10th Memorial Fes: Ano Hi kara Hajimatta Bokura no Toki o Kizamu Uta" (～あの日から始まった僕らの時を刻む唄～).[11] Key collaborated with P.A. Works and Aniplex[12][13] to produce the anime series Angel Beats! that aired between April and June 2010. Key's eighth game Kud Wafter was released on June 25, 2010, as an adult spin-off of Little Busters!, which expanded on the scenario of the heroine Kudryavka Noumi from Little Busters! and Ecstasy.[14] Key released their ninth game Rewrite on June 24, 2011, with a rating for all ages,[15]
Key announced the development of three kinetic novels in October 2020: Loopers, Lunaria: Virtualized Moonchild, and Stella of The End.[24] Loopers was released on May 28, 2021.[25] Lunaria: Virtualized Moonchild was released on December 24, 2021.[26] Stella of The End was released on September 30, 2022.[27] Key also revealed in October 2020 the multimedia project Prima Doll in collaboration with plastic model and figurine manufacturer Kotobukiya.[28] A 12-episode anime television series for Prima Doll[29] aired between July and September 2022. Key released the Planterian Ultimate Edition on September 3, 2021, which also included Planetarian: Snow Globe, a kinetic novel version of the previously released prequel short story of the same name.
Key Sounds Label
In 2001, Visual Arts created the record label Key Sounds Label (KSL).[35] The music albums and singles released by Key after this were put under this label, meaning that this does not include the first two albums and one single which were released before it was officially formed. The first album on this label 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 the label are mainly composed by Key's signature composers: 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.[35]
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.
