Air is a Japanese visual novel developed by Key, a brand of Visual Arts. It was released on September 8, 2000 for Windows as an adult game. Key later released versions of Air without the erotic content, and the game was ported to the Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Vita and Nintendo Switch. The story follows the life of Yukito Kunisaki, a traveling showman searching for the "girl in the sky". He arrives in a quiet, seaside town where he meets three girls, one of whom is the key to the end of his journey.
Key Sounds Label is a Japanese independent record label formed in 2001 as a brand of the publishing company VisualArt's. Key Sounds Label was formed to catalog and release music related to visual novels produced by the brand Key, also under VisualArt's, known for developing titles such as Kanon and Air. Excluding two albums and one single that were released by Key and VisualArt's before the label's formation, the majority of releases on the label all have a basis from one of Key's titles. There are other albums and singles on the label not directly related to the visual novels, such as two singles by Lia and one album by Riya. Unlike typical record labels, Key Sounds Label does not license any of the artists featured on albums and singles released on the label.
Air is a visual novel developed by Key and published by VisualArt's in 2000. The story follows Yukito Kunisaki, a traveler who arrives in a quiet seaside town during summer who is on a search for the "girl in the sky" that his now-deceased mother told him about and was searching for too. In town, Yukito meets three strange girls and Yukito begins to suspect that one of them may in fact be the girl he has been searching for. It was adapted by Toei Animation into an animated film in 2005 directed by Osamu Dezaki with music direction by Yoshikazu Suo. Kyoto Animation also adapted it into a 13-episode anime television series broadcast in 2005, along with an additional two episodes also broadcast in 2005, directed by Tatsuya Ishihara with music direction by Shinji Orito. The discography of Air and its anime adaptations consists of one EP, one single, two soundtracks, and three remix albums.
Clannad is a visual novel developed by Key and published by VisualArt's in 2004. The story follows Tomoya Okazaki, a discontented high school student whose life changes when he meets a girl one year older than him named Nagisa Furukawa. It was adapted by Toei Animation into an animated film in 2007 directed by Osamu Dezaki with music direction by Yoshichika Inomata. Kyoto Animation also adapted it into two anime television series consisting of 49 episodes broadcast between 2007 and 2009, including two original video animation episodes released in 2008 and 2009, directed by Tatsuya Ishihara with music direction by Shinji Orito. The discography of Clannad and its anime adaptations consists of two studio albums, four singles, two soundtracks, and four remix albums.
Kanon is a visual novel developed by Key and published by VisualArt's in 1999. The story follows Yuichi Aizawa, who has returned to the town where seven years ago he would spend his school vacations, but has forgotten many of the details regarding his previous visits. Over the course of the series, Yuichi slowly regains these memories as he meets new friends and is reacquainted with others from his past. It was adapted by Toei Animation into a 13-episode anime television series broadcast in 2002 along with an accompanying original video animation episode released in 2003, both directed by Takamichi Itō with music direction by Hiroyuki Kōzu. Kyoto Animation also adapted it into a 24-episode anime television series broadcast between 2006 and 2007 directed by Tatsuya Ishihara with music direction by Shinji Orito. The discography of Kanon and its anime adaptations consists of one compilation album, three singles, three soundtracks, and three remix albums.
Jun Maeda is a Japanese writer and co-founder of the visual novel brand Key under Visual Arts. He is considered a pioneer of nakige visual novels, and has mainly contributed as a scenario writer, lyricist, and musical composer for the games the company produces. His style was originally inspired by James Herbert Brennan, and is influenced by Haruki Murakami's novel Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World.
Little Busters! and Little Busters! Ecstasy are visual novels developed by Key and published by VisualArt's in 2007 and 2008. The story follows Riki Naoe, a high school student and member of a close-knit group of friends who call themselves the Little Busters. It was adapted by J.C.Staff into two anime television series broadcast between 2012 and 2013, and an original video animation series to be released in 2014, directed by Yoshiki Yamakawa with music direction by Shinji Orito. The discography of Little Busters!, Ecstasy, and the anime adaptations consists of one compilation album, one EP, eight singles, three soundtracks, and five remix albums.
Love Song is an album containing songs sung by Riya from Eufonius first released on August 31, 2005, in Japan by Key Sounds Label bearing the catalog number KSLA-0019. The album contains one disc with thirteen tracks composed and produced by Jun Maeda of Key. Additional participating musicians include Kendi Sato on electric guitar for tracks two and twelve, AchillesKEN on percussion for track seven, and Weisswurst on violin for tracks seven and thirteen. Cover art for the album was provided by Yoshitoshi Abe who also provided illustrations inside the album's booklet. Love Song is a concept album which tells the narrative of love as it heads toward ruin.
Ma-Na is a compilation album first released on August 12, 2005 at Comiket 68 in Japan by Key Sounds Label bearing the catalog number KSLA-0018. The album contains one disc with four tracks remixed from background music from four of Key's visual novels: Kanon, Air, Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet, and Clannad. The tracks on the album were composed, arranged, and produced by Jun Maeda, Shinji Orito, and Magome Togoshi.
"Spica/Hanabi/Moon" is a collaboration maxi single containing songs sung by I've Sound's Lia first released on August 15, 2003, at Comiket 64 in Japan by Key Sounds Label bearing the catalog number KSLA-0008. The single contains one disc with three tracks composed, arranged, and produced by Jun Maeda, Sorma, Yū Hagiwara, and Takumaru. "Hanabi" was later used as the ending theme for episode six of the 2013 anime series Little Busters! Refrain.
Humanity... is an album featuring songs composed by Shinji Orito, Magome Togoshi, Mitsuru Sekiyama, Yasushi Tanno, and Shigeru Kiyokawa. The album was first released on August 10, 2001 at Comiket 60 in Japan by Key Sounds Label bearing the catalog number KSLA-0001. The album contains one disc with ten tracks; eight of the ten are sung by Hidetsuna Fujita, and Mina Minomo, and the lyrics for the songs were written by Jun Maeda, Tanno, Fujita, and Kazumi Ōtsuka. Excluding the last track, "Tori no Uta ", which is a remix of a song originally featured in Key's visual novel Air, none of the other tracks are related to visual novels by Key.
Key 10th Memorial Fes Anniversary CD is remix album released on February 28, 2009 in Japan by Key Sounds Label bearing the catalog numbers KSLC-0004—0005. It was released at Key 10th Memorial Fes, an event hosted by the visual novel development brand Key under VisualArt's and held during February 28 and March 1, 2009 to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the game brand's establishment. The album contains two discs with sixteen tracks, though only the music on the first disc is of new remixes of music from Key's visual novels. The second disc re-uses older remixes previously released by Key Sounds Label on the albums Recollections and Ornithopter; tracks one through six are from the former, and the remaining tracks are from the latter. The tracks on the album were composed, arranged, and produced by Jun Maeda, Shinji Orito, Magome Togoshi, Takumaru, Manack, Manyo, and PMMK.
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 and Na-Ga are from the visual novel brand Key, who produced such titles as Kanon, Air, and Clannad. The anime aired in Japan between April 3 and June 26, 2010 on CBC. An original video animation (OVA) episode was released in December 2010, and a second OVA was released in June 2015. The story takes place in the afterlife and focuses on Otonashi, a boy who lost his memories of his life after dying. He is enrolled into the afterlife school and meets a girl named Yuri who invites him to join the Afterlife Battlefront, an organization she leads which fights against the student council president Kanade Tachibana, a girl also known as Angel with supernatural powers.
Kud Wafter is a visual novel developed by Key and published by VisualArt's in 2010. The story follows the lives of Riki Naoe and his close friend Kudryavka as they start to see more of each other in a romantic relationship. The discography of Kud Wafter consists of one single, one soundtrack, and three remix album. The core of the discography is the original soundtrack album produced by Key Sounds Label in 2010. The music on the soundtrack was composed and arranged by Jun'ichi Shimizu, Manack, and Donmaru. Four remix albums were released between 2010 and 2020.
Rewrite is a visual novel developed by Key and published by VisualArt's in 2011. A fan disc for Rewrite titled Rewrite Harvest festa! was released in 2012. The discography of Rewrite and Harvest festa! consists of one studio album, seven singles, three soundtracks and seven remix albums. The core of the discography consists of two original soundtrack albums for the visual novels, one for Rewrite and the other for Harvest festa!. The soundtracks were produced by Key Sounds Label and released in 2011 and 2012. The music on the soundtracks was composed and arranged by Jun Maeda, Shinji Orito, Maiko Iuchi, Sōshi Hosoi, and Ryō Mizutsuki. An image song album was released in 2016. Seven singles were released between 2011 and 2017: two theme song singles for the visual novel, and five singles for the anime adaptation. A third soundtrack for the anime adaptation was released in 2017. The remix albums contains tracks from the games remixed by various artists and were released between 2011 and 2021.
Angel Beats! is a 13-episode 2010 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 and Na-Ga are from the visual novel brand Key. The first volume in a six-part episodic visual novel adaptation produced by Key was released in 2015. The discography of Angel Beats! consists of two studio albums, one compilation album, nine singles, one soundtrack and one remix album.
Owari no Hoshi no Love Song is a Japanese pop music concept album produced by Jun Maeda featuring vocalist Nagi Yanagi. It was released on April 25, 2012 by Flaming June, an independent record label established by Maeda. Two of the album's thirteen tracks were previously released on the single "Killer Song" at Comiket 81 on December 29, 2011. Two different editions of the album were released: a regular CD version and a CD+DVD limited edition. Owari no Hoshi no Love Song peaked at No. 6 on the Japanese Oricon weekly albums chart.
Charlotte is a 13-episode 2015 anime television series produced by P.A. Works and Aniplex and directed by Yoshiyuki Asai. The story was originally conceived by Jun Maeda, who also wrote the screenplay and composed the music with Hikarishuyo and the group Anant-Garde Eyes; Na-Ga provided the original character design. Both Maeda and Na-Ga are from the visual novel brand Key. The discography of Charlotte consists of two studio albums, three singles and one soundtrack.
Summer Pockets and Summer Pockets Reflection Blue are visual novels developed by Key and published by Visual Arts in 2018 and 2020. The story is set on a fictional island on the Seto Inland Sea and follows the life of Hairi Takahara, a young man who uses the recent death of his grandmother as an excuse to escape to the island after an unpleasant incident. Once there, he gets to know the townsfolk of Torishirojima and multiple girls who are the focus of the story. The discography of Summer Pockets and Reflection Blue consists of two studio albums, three singles, two soundtracks, and six remix albums.
