Let’s have a talk about how romance is depicted in Key’s works. Romance means a lot of things to different people, and I’d love to explore some of these different ideas with you guys. At the very least, I’d like to limit this to the romance of intimate relationships between two characters. Since Key’s games are built on the foundation of galge, we have a huge variety of different relationships to look for romance. But which relationships depicted romance that entertained or intrigued you the most?
Ah what’s is love anyways? I have always believed that CLANNAD’s romance was the best out of all the Key works. However, it is very idealistic. Basically, the romance between Nagisa and Tomoya really only works because both people are willing to lean on each other to better themselves as people. Now, I’ve never been in a relationship so I’m not sure if real people have they kind of romance they share but I feel like what they have is a goal for relationships. I won’t gonna into details about it unless this conversation picks up and it comes to why I think this.
TLR, CLANNAD has the best romance imo.
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I agree wholeheartedly. Nagisa’s character fits Tomoya’s natural love of taking care of someone despite his attitude and impressions.
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I feel like anything meaningful I’d have to say has already been said in more relevant topics… But I will say, it’s a bit of a struggle to think of Key romances. I find that there’s very few Key stories in the forefront of my mind that I’d call romances. You get the one romance-heavy route per VN generally, and Clannad in particular had a lot of romance… But beyond that it’s rough to distinguish.
I don’t think Kanon, or AIR, or Litbus or Rewrite were romance heavy… And it’s weird because, despite thinking as such, I’d still call them romance stories if someone asked me to describe them.
Also Nagisa sucks 
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I can only think of a few good romances in Key routes: Kurugaya/Riki, Mio/Riki, and, hands down best romance I’ve ever seen, Lucia/Kotarou. Now, that’s not a bad thing imo. Most VNs rely heavily on romance. But the problem is that the majority of them can’t handle romance well. So, if you can only write crappy romance, then it’s better not to write it at all.
Key is praiseworthy on this subject. It does not focus on romance most of the times (unless you call relationships as tasteless as Akane/Kotarou romance, which was basically an acquaintanceship with a kiss), but when it does, it knows how to do it. Few mundane, boring conversations, few ichaicha, and more ‘real’ romance, that’s how you do romance in VNs imo.
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Yeah I agree with Takafumi, but I typically discribe Key stories as “Drama’” rather than “Romance.” Romance is rarely a huge central part of the story, its just that relationships are used as a tool to drive the story forward. Even most of the routes that implement romances well could be rewritten to make them platonic (this happened in a lot of the anime adaptations, for better or worse).
Baby don’t hurt me?
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I’m not into romance ( too old and cynical !) so I was hesitant about reading Clannad (based on what some Steam reviewers said about it), but when I actually read it for the most part it doesn’t feel like a romantic story, rather as @Arete said a drama. The only story in which traditional fictional romance can really be said to be integral to the arc is with Kyou/Ryou where that is quite obviously being used to show you just can’t force romance where one of two parties is being railroaded into it ( and even Ryou’s feelings are not completely what they seem as we find out ).
I really like the Tomoya /Nagisa story because it’s not using traditional romance elements (going on dates, the associated awkwardness as a couple try and get to know and figure each other out, falling out/getting back together, jealousy etc), but this grows through a very slowly evolved process. Tomoya isn’t initially romantically drawn to Nagisa nor vice versa, it’s a relationship that grows through curiosity and friendship first and foremost and for the reason @cjlim2007 says. To me that feels true to life as I’ve always felt alienated from “the dating game” and prefer to get to know someone in a natural situation and see what develops (if anything, usually nothing!).
For me that applies less to Tomoya & Tomoyo as it develops more quickly in Tomoyo’s route and IAWL with Tomoyo being a little more “clingy” (not the right word really, more “enthusiastic”). That feels more like a traditional story romance of overcoming the odds - both having the “dark and troubled past” and “what does she see in him?”, but with a twist of course in IAWL.
Since I’ve only read Clannad my post can only really relate to that.
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To me the most interesting romance in Key is the contrast between Tomoya x Nagisa and Tomoya x Tomoyo, both perfectly believable romances that work for entirely different reasons. It’s quite fascinating.
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“If love had a shape, I’m sure it would be round.”
“If love had a temperature, I’m sure it would be warm.” ~ Shiona 
I’ve always been okay with Key romances, but always questioned the romance in AIR and Little Busters! I think the romance in AIR shouldn’t even be a thing, since Yukito has a motive, and getting into a romantic relationship would just hinder it (unless the romantic relationship has something to do with his motive), but even then, the girls aren’t really compatible with Yukito. I feel as though with Little Busters!, since the idea of friendship and adolescence are present, I think getting into a relationship within the group would affect the themes a lot, since if one pair breaks up, there may be an awkward tension, or even the idea that they may want to spend more time together alone, than with the rest of the group, moving on with life, with that person. Actually, even getting into a relationship outside of the group could also cause similar results. I’ve always seen this happen, especially with real life, so I’m not sure I’d ever fully support having romance in Little Busters!, unless the romance is with Saya, to which, I can support fully (or Kyousuke because why not). As for the romance in the routes themselves, I think Saya and Kurugaya are the only 2 that I thought had a genuinely good chemistry with Riki. The others felt unnatural and lacked motivation for me, especially when compared to the 2 above. I just think with the others, they use their terrible past/recent troubles as a way to start and maintain a relationship with Riki, however, with Kurugaya, she finds motive and reasonings to actually start a romance with Riki, and the same thing with Saya, which changes the romance from being “love me and help me”, to “love me as a person and we can lean on each other” with the specific Little Busters! heroine routes.
I also agree with this very much! Tomoyo and Nagisa couldn’t be more opposite of each other, yet their romances with Tomoya both work very well with each other. I believe this is because 1 girl has a life Tomoya wishes deeply for, but she is also very opposite of Tomoya in a lot of ways physically, and mentally, which makes them depending on each other all that much more important and genuine, evening things out, because 1 can do what the other may not be able to do. While the other girl can relate to Tomoya very well, yet chooses to walk a different path than him, which can easily make the romance work out well too, because of being able to relate to each other and also being able to depend and lean on each other because the other will understand the feelings and emotions one may be going through, and not to mention she can change Tomoya’s life for the better (with how much they relate and all). Honestly, these 2 pairs are 2 of the most interesting Key pairs in existence because of the way their relationship works. It’s not your average romance pairing. They’re relationships where you have to take their lives, life experiences, motives, mindset, and correlations with each other to understand why their relationships work well, which is something I very much love, since you can discover something new about their relationship every day with a new perspective. I love these 2 Key pairings, and am very glad Tomoyo got a continuation with Tomoyo After, since Nagisa had hers also in (CLANNAD) the After Story route that closed her route off well .
By the way, moving onto Rewrite, with the Kotarou and Kagari romance, did he only love her because of the fact that in Terra’s route, Kagari was the only one to accept Kotarou as “Kotarou Tennouji”, and not as someone who had special abilities, nor as Suzuki/Kazamatsuri Bond ? Or is it something more, since there was also Jasmine, who could fall into that category.
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I don’t think that romance is a particularly critical portion of very many key routes, so my choices are quickly limited to the routes where I actually think it plays a significant role. Thinking about the Key romances that I remember particularly well, it quickly boils down to 3 routes (and naturally, 2 of them are from Clannad).
The obvious choice is Tomoya and Nagisa, and I have an extremely difficult time thinking any of Keys other romances even hold a candle to this one. It’s a very organic romance between two very different characters, and it’s a 2 way street with both characters supporting each other. That last aspect alone pretty much immediately elevates it above nearly every other key romance in my eyes. In a way, I think it’s the only one where the characters really feel “made for each other”, if that makes sense.
I think Tomoya and Tomoyo is also a pretty good one, largely because the romance is the underpinning of the drama in her route and thus is actually critical to driving the narrative. Like with Tomoya and Nagisa, the romance strengthens the development of both characters, and Tomoyo even tries to support Tomoya in her own way. So again, just having that aspect elevates it above most key romances for me.
The last contender for me is Yuuichi and Shiori, and I think the romance really shines in this one (especially in comparison to the other routes in Kanon) due to its more down to earth premise. I think it has a greater focus on the dynamic between the two characters than other key romances tend to, and more importantly I just don’t believe the route would be nearly as effective without it.
As for other routes, I’d color the romance as pleasant but not necessary most of the time. However, in some cases (I think Rewrite tends to be particularly guilty of this) I find that it actually obfuscates the narrative by burying stronger portions with romance elements that are neither needed nor particularly strong.
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When I started reading Visual Novels, I was expecting the stuff I’ve caught a glimpse of in “The World God Only Knows” - Galge. Games where your obective is to win over the heart of the heroine of your choice via strategic decision-making. It would mostly consist of encounters, dates, presents, flirting and other romantic ways of spending time with your designated “target”. Confession + optional kiss would mark the successfull completion of a route, while rejection means Game Over. Strictly speaking, none of the games I’ve played so far were like that. Surprisingly, Clannad is the closest one to match those criteria, at least in certain routes.
In works of Key, romance is never a standalone. It’s just one out of several elements of the story and it’s never the main one. Usually, “life” and whatever problems it throws at the characters take the spotlight. The only exception that comes to mind would be the Kyou route in Clannad, because from beginning to end, it’s purely about romance.
Sometimes, a Key route ends with romance or prospects of such, like a reward for overcoming a far more urgent and difficult trial. Sometimes, it’s just a thing happening in the background, providing some motivation and making you feel good. The routes I would describe as truly romantic would be those where carefully maintaining the romantic relationship is integral to the completion of the route. Only two examples come to mind here - the aforementioned Kyou route (Clannad) and the Haruka route (LB). I like those routes due to how much more difficult and turbulent they are. Do you truly understand the heroine? Do you truly understand the situation you’re in? It’s easy to slip up and get the bad ending without realizing what exactly you’ve done wrong.
There’s also routes featuring relationships that have skipped the ‘romantic’ phase entirely and gone over to “spending their (serious) everyday life together” - Nagisa (Clannad) and Akane (Rewrite). To be perfectly honest, I like these kinds of relationships far less than the rest, because, how should I say it, it feels like the most juicy part has been left out.
I’m particularly fond of the relationship between Riki and Kud in her route (LB), in fact, it’s my favorite relationship, because it started romantically and continued on as such, with way more intimacy than any other Key route. These two actually got a decent amount of time to just spend as as a lovey-dovey couple before the next problem appeared. But again, the core conflict of the route is not related to their relationship (heh).
So, if you’re looking for a doki-doki syrupy sweet boy-meets-girl high school romance, Key is not where you should be looking for it. For Key stories, romance is merely a layer on the emotinal drama cake, only one of the many parts of their characters’ lives.
I think I get what you’re saying. The reason I like Key romance, especially my favorite Tomoya x Nagisa, it’s because it isn’t just pure romance. The characters, much like real people, have problems in life that they must face and they face them with the support of each other. This is exactly why I believe that it sets a goal of what romance should be. If characters were only defined by their relationship then I believe that either A, they’re too attached and fail to have a healthy relationship, or B are one dimensional. So at least in my favorite example, Key romance is actually better than others I’ve seen. But I only really, really have paid attention to that couple when I think about my opinion on relationships.
