I’d have to go with Little Busters! although that might not quite be fair, because Little Busters! and Planetarian are the only Key VN’s I’ve read (the rest I’ve just seen the anime). I’m expecting CLANNAD to take the ‘saddest’ slot after I read it when SP’s translation comes out.
But yeah, Haruka’s route, and the end of Refrain though…
That feel when you look at the poll results and planetarian is the only one that ISN’T capitalized…
But anyways I voted Clannad because I watched the anime first and the field scene just hit me so hard. I can’t explain all that much on why but that was the only time I cried and I can’t cry to anything else. I feel like Little busters would have been sadder if I played the vn before the anime but since I watched the anime and knew the secret of the world and all that stuff it just didn’t hit me as hard.
Yeah, Key are a bit weird with titles…
Oh wait really? I thought it was OP’s mistake
I don’t make mistakes.
Especially not when it comes to planetarium.
I voted for Air
Which is weird, because Air is the only Key work that didn’t make me cry.
I mean, Air has some dark twisted stuff happening to the characters which I find quite tragic. And the ending isn’t happy, unlike the rest. It just didn’t make me emotional like the other Key works did.
As far as most emotional, I’d definitely say Clannad, then Angel Beats!. But AB! is sadder than Clannad.
Planetarian is also sad but not very emotion-inducing (for me, anyway…).
Little Busters! has lots of sadness but turns out happy… It didn’t make me super emotional though, which I am blaming the anime for.
I have to go with CLANNAD.
CLANNAD taught me so much about life. How we should appreciate the things we have because not everyone has it. It taught me to not have regrets. Regrets are something that you cannot change, but something that you can overcome. CLANNAD taught me to have hope for the future, how with everyone struggling, we’re here today, living in this beautiful world.
CLANNAD for sure, has one of the best writings and quotes. One of the most beautiful things I’ve ever read. Every route was filled with despair, and the execution of the routes itself made me bawl.
One other news, who voted for Harmonia ? 
Rewrite is my favorite Key VN but I have to go with Little Busters, it still hits me whenever I remember it, I can’t wait to replay the steam ver
CLANNAD and Little Busters are both generally more heartwarming than sad - there are intensely sad moments in both but generally those are resolved in a manner that is almost entirely positive with no bittersweetness to be encountered.
IMO it’s between Planetarian and Tomoyo After, and I think Planetarian edges out Tomoyo After by just a bit. There was almost never a hopeful moment in Planetarian - its a setting of absolute despair and its ending doesn’t do anything to make that feeling any better. Little Busters was the hardest hitting to me, but the saddest? Not by a long shot.
It was a pretty hard decision, seriously. Key works are ALL sad.
I decided to exclude those that seemed the least likely to be the saddest. Well, I can’t judge those I haven’t read already so to me, it’s neither Kud Wafter nor Harmonia. Was Charlotte even sad? Oh right, there is the deaths of Ayumi and that long haired guy who’s always drenched whoes name I forgot but it’s not like deaths are inexistent in other Key works… Planetarian was sad but the only sad part was Yumemi getting broken so I can’t say that it’s the saddest. So, definitly not Planetarian or Charlotte. Kanon was sad… kinda… So was Air but… I can’t get myself to call either of these two the saddest. They are the only Key works that didn’t even make me feel like crying. Rewrite was pretty sad (Uuuu… Sakuyaaaaa, Esakaaaaa, Kotarouuuu) but it felt like the “sad” part wasn’t… important? Nah, it was definitly important but when Rewrite is mentionned, the sad parts just don’t come to me first and I need to particularly remember them to feel like crying… All I can say is that it didn’t feel like the saddest of them. Angel Beats has a pretty sad story but I only watched the anime which didn’t feel all that sad. I expect that the VNs would be WAY more sad but I have yet to read them. Tomoyo After was pretty sad but calling it the saddest wouldn’t feel right to me so I’ll just exclude it.
And so… That leaves me with two VERY hard choices: Clannad and Little Busters. They were both really sad and the closest to make a tear fall from my eyes (I’m not the type to cry because of a story). However, I’ll go with Clannad. Why? Refrain in Little Busters was definitly the saddest route of all Key. However, except for Haruka’s and Kurugaya’s routes (I haven’t read EX so I don’t know about the EX routes), the heroines’ routes weren’t sad, at least, they wouldn’t compare to Clannad’s routes that were almost all equally sad and heartbreaking. So, yeah, Clannad’s the saddest for me.
…How many times have I written the word sad I wonder… I’m too lazy to count.
This topic is heavily subjective, so I’m voting for AIR. The exact memories of it aren’t too recent in my mind, but I remember suffering a long, deep period of sadness when reading it. Maybe, for me, it wasn’t the best Key story. It was also so symbolic that completely understanding the basic themes beneath the entire story is almost impossible without external help. However, for me, reading AIR has been the saddest experience with a Key work. Two main causes of it:
-Nostalgia: The entire VN was soaked by nostalgia. Maybe because of the location, maybe because of the music (that relaxing guitar song that sounded sometimes still has a place in my heart) or maybe because of the MC’s attitude, but almost at every time, when reading AIR, I had the same feeling that you had when remembering a happy summer, in your childhood, which was better than the one you’re currently living.
-Sad stories: without getting into much detail, it felt like reaching something similar to a relatively happy ending was a miracle, both in the heroine routes and the common ones.
After some consideration I’ve changed my vote to planetarian. Of all of the Key VN’s I’ve read, they have sad parts but the fact that planetarian has an ending so devoid of love is too powerful. The Junker tries to hold onto hope by literally holding onto Yumemi’s memories but there is no guarantee he will ever be able to use them. There’s a tiny sliver of hope but planetarian’s ending is, overall, negative. Clannad and Little Busters! made me cry way more than planetarian did (partially due to length) but for both I was smiling by the end.
Even though clannad is my personal favorite, the one which made me cry is little busters. The story was already so sad was combined with the sad soundtrack it felt like someone was chopping onions beside me.
Personally, the saddest would be Air, followed by Kanon, Planetarian and then Clannad. My favorite is Little Busters! because while it didn’t bring as much sadness to me it did shake my emotions more and made me cry like a baby.
Personally, I would say that Kanon or CLANNAD have the saddest stories, but I still voted for CLANNAD in the poll above because it is the only series so far that actually made me cry while watching.
Remembers (CLANNAD spoilers) Nagisa and Ushio dying
Narrative voice : And so formed the Pacific Ocean…
Little Busters has the most votes? Why is that?
Because it’s the most popular. Also most voters wrote their reasons in the topic already.
I’m not sure what to define as saddest. The work that made you feel saddest while reading it, the work that made you cry the most, the work with the saddest ending thus disqualifying any works with happy endings, the work you feel saddest remembering? It makes it difficult for me to decide.
It’s a toss up between Clannad and Air, both of them are good contenders. In the end though, I think I’d go with Air.
I changed my answer to Little Busters. When I read Refrain yesterday, it absolutely destroyed me. I cried at least 5 maybe 6 times. I have never cried that much before. Clannad After Story only had me cry once even though there were many moments that made me tear up. I cried when Masato’s episode reached it’s resolution. I cried when Kengo wished that he had spent more time with the Little Busters. I cried when Masato calmly said his farewell. I cried when Kengo accepted the end of that world. And finally I absolutely lost control when Kyousuke turned around with the tears in his eyes. Never has it felt so real to me. Never have I appreciated a story so much. I will forever treasure Little Busters in my heart. Even though Kyousuke said no more crying, here I was, sobbing uncontrollably in front of my very, very confused roommate.
Well currently i’d say CLANNAD with approx. 3 cries when i watched the anime and some… 6? more when i read the official english release of the VN, which rounding up gives a grand approximate total of 10 cries. However i am yet to read and reread a few so my opinion is bound to change.
