Poll: Which of Key's works is the saddest?

Key Discussion
#1

This poll was closed on September 26, 2018 due the options being outdated. We will make a new one if there’s interest.

  • Kanon
  • AIR
  • CLANNAD
  • Tomoyo After
  • planetarian
  • Little Busters!
  • Kud Wafter
  • Angel Beats!
  • Rewrite
  • Charlotte
  • Harmonia

0 voters

Bringin’ the polls back to y’all. To quote the sage @Karifean in his original topic,

Key stories have a penchant for making people cry, or at the very least making people feel sad, regardless of if it’s their visual novels or anime works. Which one takes the cake for you as their saddest story, and why?

Remember to use spoiler tags and be sure to tag what it is you’re spoiling.

Poll: Saddest Key Game/Series
#2

I think my opinion may change when I read other Key works, but for now CLANNAD takes this. Even though LB is my favourite, in LB the strongest sadness is nearer to the end (although it is a lot more), and in LB it’s generally lighthearted until then. In CLANNAD the sadness goes on for a lot longer, and the timeskips are crazy. Starting from Nagisa’s death, there’s still a big amount of story left afterwards, which is mostly extremely sad. There are several moments of peak sadness before the end too. For example Tomoya crying on the train, and the scene in the field with Ushio.

#3

For me it’s Little Busters. I cried in pretty much every route (except Kurugaya, I just dont really like her) and Refrain was just killing me. Nuff said.

#4

Gonna have to agree with Little Busters. Tough competition with CLANNAD, but the moment you realise that everyone in the Little Busters knows that as soon as their dream ends they will all die, it’s so tragic and heartbreaking. You try to deny it, but then Masato and Kengo leave, and Kyousuke bursts into tears, and it hits so hard. From CLANNAD, Tomoya crying on the train when Ushio asks about mommmy takes a very close second in terms of feels.

1 Like
#5

I like how you point out “saddest” as the one that made me cry the most is not necessarily the saddest :stuck_out_tongue: Actually, what usually makes me cry like a baby is the final actualization of one’s wish.

Now, when I think back as to which key series made me the saddest, then that’s a toughie. Clannad made me feel all sorts of things but sad was one of the minor feelings. Little Busters made me, in fact, happy despite it making me cry. Rewrite was more inspiring due to the numerous links of hope in the different endings. Air was… Well I wanna read the VN before I judge. Angel Beats was, well, more romantic because what moved me the most from that is the Yui x Hinata scene :stuck_out_tongue:

Which leaves Kanon and planetarian. Kanon was pretty sad compared to the other key works. Especially Makoto and Shiori route. But, planetarian, I feel, edges out Kanon in the sadness department. The ending should speak for itself. Yumemi destroyed, the junker barely living, carrying her memories in a medium that god-knows-when he’ll be able to read again. Yeah, pretty heavy shit right there.

tl;dr my vote goes to Planetarian :wink:

4 Likes
#6

I’ve heard Tomoyo After is very sad but I haven’t read it so for me it’s Air all the way. The one thing Air does differently is the ending isn’t happy like not at all. The kids at the end get a new chance at a happy life but Misuzu and Yukito don’t get anything. There are single moments in other novels that outweigh the big scene in Air but when comparing the complete stories Air wins and Planetarian is a close second.

1 Like
#7

It’s a really hard to tell if it’s Little Busters or Clannad.

Clannad has Tomoyo, Kyou and After Story routes, containing around 5 extremely sad moments in total, namely breaking up, rain scene, tell me about mommy and the two deaths. Additionally, the death scenes remain more sad in the reader’s memory, because their reversal happens only right at the end of the game.

However, LB also has around 5 of those. Haruka’s route, where misfortune just keeps raining down on her, Kud’s bad end and the farewell of the boys - the 3-bro farewell combo.
But I’ll go with Little Busters after all, because that 3-man combo actually managed to make me cry despite my attempts of holding it in. I’m still feeling the sadness whenever I hear Faraway (Haruka Kanata) - any version of it.

#8

It’s pretty hard to make me cry. Little Busters was the only Key game to make me full-on cry uncontrollably. Specifically, The fake ending in Refrain. So it gets my vote.

5 Likes
#9

If we’re going by cry count, then it’d be either Tomoyo After or Kanon… A total of one cry each. CLANNAD’s routes never really hit a climax, Litbus was imo (as many already know) poorly written, Rewrite had no negative feels apart from rage during the end of Lucia’s route, Air was Air, and AB was rushed.

Sadness though is totally different. I think there are only three contenders - Air, Tomoyo After and planetarian.

Air is just another link in the chain… SPOILERS FOR THE ANIME, VN AND MANGA Every single ending brought to a close the story of Yukito’s journey, and passed it down to the next person, who’ll probably mess up in the same way, and the story of an angel in pain will go on forever.

Tomoyo After is all about the treasure of life. It’s about looking at what makes life “wonderful.” When do decide they just want to… give up? Or do they instead decide to just keep struggling? It’s all about hope for the future, but hope doesn’t come without sadness.

planetarian is set in a dead world. Again, there is a message of hope for the future within the story, but that isn’t expanded on in the original story. In planetarian you get a broken robot and a broken human.

Gonna give the vote to TA because favoritism, but all three have a fairly decent shot at the title of “saddest.”

1 Like
#10

CLANNAD for me. I love Little Busters! the most but the routes struck me odd than sad. In CLANNAD almost all route made me cry a bucket, and just by listening to the music makes me want to cry again. And again.

#11

Even in this poll, CLANNAD wins once again. There is no thing that made me cry more than Clannad. Maybe it was just because it changed my whole point of view on animes and also it broke my promise not to cry anymore (I tought its unmanly), but Clannad literally destoyed it.

Maybe im just symphatizing with Tomoya… what has happened to him, can happen to anyone. And also Clannad’s daily life things makes it feel like you are part of it (at least I felt like it).

Im so bound with all of the Clannad things, that only its OSTs can make me cry whenever, wherever. Its just an automatic procces that happens inside me, and I just wont stop crying for like 1-2 hours.
Especially when it comes to After Story where Tomoya is taking care of Ushio, and is living on his own… that always gets my melts my heart really. All of the psychology as a father and a man that lost his wife just grabbed me really hard emotionally.

tl;dr CLANNAD all the way.

#12

I’ve read planetarian a million times now and every time it’s hit me like a truck.

2 Likes
#13

Little Busters! wrecked my face.

THAT SCENE ripped my soul apart.

3 Likes
#14

3 versions of Faraway in my music. all have 0 plays because I cannot listen to it without crying. CURSE YOU MAEDA!

1 Like
#15

Bizkitdoh: The only person to put spoilers over an extremely well disguised reference.

2 Likes
#16

Should Harmonia even be on this list? It’s not even out yet. It doesn’t sound fair.

As much as I love Kanon, I’d have to say Clannad was sadder because I did not know what to expect at the time. It left a greater void in me than Kanon did. I was depressed for almost a week. Angel Beats was rather rushed, so the final emotional scene did not have the same impact as the other two I mentioned.

#17

I almost said clannad, but I just remembered the credits rolling while playing song for friends after the hospital scene in little busters refrain! damn I thought I would never ball my eyes out more than I did the fiirst time I watched clannad but I was so wrong T_T !!! little busters saikou (could somebody tell me how to blur the spoilers on my coments?)

1 Like
#18 
[spoiler][/spoiler]

We really need a button or something for this. Did you ever find a solution @Aspirety?

2 Likes
#19

[quote=“Inohara, post:17, topic:811”]
(could somebody tell me how to blur the spoilers on my coments?)
[/quote] You have to use [spoiler] [./spoiler] remove the peroid.

I agree with you fully though Little Busters for me when the credits rolled with Song for Friends playing turned me into a blubbering mess it was such a strong moment I can remember everything about that night down to how I was sitting in my chair when it happened.

#20

Little Melody formed a Pavlovian response in me to cry whenever it played.
Literally every time.
Without fail.

1 Like