The idea of the male character in the medium of visual novels and in particular the galge sort of story structure is one that I feel goes criminally misused. With perhaps the lone exception of Kitagawa, and even then the anime of Kanon 2006 rectified this by giving him a proper character, whenever Key has stempted to write a male character they have always been fine at worst and legendary at best. Taking a strictly non romantic roll these characters offer a different lens and often represent different ideals than the heroines can.
Of these the standouts for me are Sakuya, Kyousuke, and Yoshino from Rewrite, Little Busters, and Clannad respectively who each take on the roll of flawed mentor to the protagonist. Unlike any of their contemporaries these characters arc as a guidepost of potentiality, representing both the strengths the protagonists can reach as well as the flaws and failures. In each of these instances the male cast goes far to demonstrate the stories themes but more often than not in a retrospective way. This is something that is also not often touched upon, but can be seen in characters like Sayuri in Kanon.
Sakuya’s sacrifices demonstrate the value of connection and the weight of duty where Kyousuke’s determination and drive for his goals so wonderfully paints the ideas of friendship that Little Busters is constructed around. Yoshino’s tale is for me the single most emotional part of Clannad, telling wonderfully the value of connection and family, and it is in this that we see another common thread within the male cast of the Key games–and that’s heart.
Ryuuya, Yoshino, Masato, Kengo, Kyousuke, Kappei, Akio, Komura, Sakuya, Gil, and even Potato we see some of the most emotional vertexes of each of the Key narratives, tapping into different kinds of connection and interpersonal dynamic than is able with the heroines. It is a shame that characters like Rewrite’s Yoshino don’t get the full attention that the Little Busters boys do, becauuse while they don’t tell these kinds of stories often the tales of the boys are some of my favorite the company has ever produced.
Best,
Bread