Jun Maeda is all my all-time favorite. However, I also enjoyed the work Naoki Hisaya did with Shiori and Nayuki. Both were charming and had good chemistry with Yuichi. It makes me wish he still worked with the company. Yuto Tonakawa also impressed me with Kurugaya, who I felt was unique for a Key heroine. You don’t often get the uber confident,grin-prone, flirty heroine in Key’s visual novels. Yuichi Suzimoto impressed me with both the way he portrayed Kotomi’s character growth in Clannad (even if the plot felt a bit contrived and out there), and Planetarian was EXTREMELY well-written.
The only Key writer I have a real sore spot for is Kai. I don’t like how he unceremoniously sidelined Kyou in Kappei’s route, and I REALLY don’t like how he did Kyou’s route. (Kyou route spoilers) I just can’t see Tomoya getting into a relationship with someone unless he really likes them. He doesn’t do anything like that in any of the other routes, and the implication is he takes romance pretty seriously. Kyou IS pressuring him, but he’s not usually this much of a doormat. And it leads to cringe-worthy scenes where he vents his stress by indulging in his romance with Ryou. This is Makoto Itou-level jerkishness, not Tomoya Okazaki. And what’s with Kyou pulling dumb stuff like kissing SUNOHARA to hide her feelings? OF COURSE no one’s going to believe that. And even though the route tried to make it balanced, Ryou felt like such a victim here. If people just talked about their feelings… haah…
Sorry about the random rant. I just needed to vent.
