The K.E.Y. Content: Letters to VisualArt's/Key

[Aspirety]

One of the great aspects of the Key15th Anniversary Letter Project, and originally it’s primary focus, was that it gave a voice to Key fans hoping to reach the creators of the stories they love and convey that passion to them. While the focus of The K.E.Y. has deviated from this due to how much Key’s relationship with their western fans has developed over the years, I think a lot of people would still like to see this aspect brought up in The K.E.Y. in some form. We can’t exactly include all the letters from the original project since they’re largely irrelevant and outdated now, but what we can do is gather new letters, and dedicate a small section of the book to them.

So in this topic, I’d like you all to post letters to VisualArt’s/Key, with a word limit of 280 160. We will be choosing a small select few letters to be included in the book and translated into Japanese, with the hope that when we deliver the book to VisualArt’s/Key, they will read these messages you guys leave. While we won’t be able to include and translate all letters, we plan to include a link to this forum topic in the book itself, so try to stick on-topic with your replies! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to PM me.

As for our criteria for which letters will be selected… Well, I can’t say. We’ll be looking for letters that really stand out from the crowd and probably have something interesting to say, or even letters that are just really well written. You’re welcome to edit your letter at any time, but please keep it to one letter per user.

So, what would you like to tell VisualArt’s/Key?

[Glenn_Irish]

Before hearing AIR’s Natsukage I had no future goals. I would just spend all day watching anime and playing games without thinking about the future whatsoever, but once I heard that song everything changed. Every time I heard it I couldn’t believe how perfect it was. Every note and every sound was absolutely wonderful. It inspired me to the point where I knew I had to learn how to play it myself. I first just learned the piano but eventually my interest in creating music grew and I began to learn songwriting and sound production on my own. Now I am just studying Japanese in Japan, but I hope to soon attend a trade school to study audio engineering with the hopes of working in the industry that inspired me so much. If I hadn’t found key or Natsukage, I feel like I would still spend every day lazing around without any direction. Key changed my life.

AIRの夏影を聞く前に将来の目標が全然ありませんでした。毎日思い切りアニメを見たり、ゲームしたりしていました。将来について考えたくなかったです。しかし、その曲を聞いた結果全部が変わりました。聞くたびに夏影の美しさが信じられませんでした。全ての音符や音は完璧でした。すぐ僕もその曲を弾いてみたいが分かりました。最初にピアノの弾き方しか習いませんでしたが、どんどん音楽の関心が高まりまって、作曲とサウンドプロダクションも習ってみました。今日本で日本語を勉強していますが、いつか大好きなアニメ産業で働くためにもうすぐある専門学校で音響芸術を勉強するつもりです。Keyと夏影を見つけなかったら、まだ毎日だらしが無く時間を潰しているだろう。Keyは僕の人生を変えました。

[42Megabytings]

I think you saved my life.

I am an engineering student, and once was more severely depressed than what I believe is up with me at the moment. All I had was my room, myself, and a backlog of Key things, starting with Planetarian.

When you have as much time as I think I did to sit around and feel sorry for myself, having something to do was definitely better than nothing, so I sit around and wrote, and what I wrote about and drew was Key. I suppose it’s silly, making up new misadventures for Yumemi I’m 100% certain she’d never be able to go on, but it made me a better writer, a better storyteller, gave me something to do, which was vital in keeping going in my darkest moments…and I suppose Planetarian gave me a purpose.

Not just the writing, but that we still have a starry sky over us, and that I’ll be damned if I let other people reach for a piece of it without me joining them. I’m due to graduate this summer, and when I do I know my ambition is to work in aerospace and on spacecraft. If I have my way, the next hands that reach up to grab a piece of the heavens will be mine. And until then? I’ll continue writing, creating homages to the stories that inspired me so much - and even sending the one who inspired me on a few more of her own.

Sounds a little crazy, but bigger changes have been made on less. Thank you for making me dream again. I’ve never stopped since.

[Khsellhu]

Well, let me say my thanks for creating such a “not-Key-like” VN like “Rewrite”.
Thank you very much.
I am probably far from being a really devoted fan of “Key”, but I really love Key’ works.
For example…
Kanon always brings me back memories of my childhood days and youth.
Some years ago CLANNAD helped me to get through a hard period of life…
And then Rewrite gave me a reason to rethink what really matters to me, what I want to do.
After reading Rewrite I thought that I just can’t give up on myself, that there is no need to endlessly regret past mistakes, that there are still things I can do, things I can strive for!
…Now I just want to see Key’s works localised into Russian. Well, actually I want to be the one who translate it.

最初はまあ・・・感謝の言葉を捧げたいのです。
有難うございます。最もKEYらしくないVNを、「リライト」を作ってくれて有難うございます。
多分なんですけど、自分は熱狂ファンとかではないのですね・・・強いて言えば、ただただKEY作品が大好きです。
そう、例えば・・・
「Kanon」はいつでも子供の頃の記憶や高校時代の出来事を思い出させる作品です。
「CLANNAD」のお蔭で何年か前には人生の難しい時期を乗り越えることは出来ました。
そして、「Rewrite」は色んなことを考え直す切っ掛けになりました・・・例えば、自分には一番大切なモノはなんですか？本当にやりたいことはなんですか？
「Rewrite」を読み終わって確認した・・・自分に絶望するのは早いんだって！過去の間違いを永遠に悔やみ続ける意味なんかないんだって！やれることも、目指す場所も自分にはまだまだあるってのさ！っとまあ、意外と熱気的になってしまいました。
最後に願望を言ってみたいのです。
自分としては、KEY作品がロシア語に翻訳され発売することを見てみたいのです・・・と言うより、自分がその翻訳をやり遂げたいのです。

[EisenKoubu]

To VisualArt’s/Key:

I want to start by saying thank you, not just for the games you make, but for the people whose hearts you touch with them. I am proud to be a member of a community that is dedicated to fun, wholesome, uplifting stories like these. They are flawed, but well-meaning people that can relate to the equally flawed but likable characters in the novels we read and enjoy.

I remember getting into Key works during a stressful time in my life. I was in dual credit at the time, and my grades weren’t the best. Games and anime seemed like the best way to cope with it, and it was at this time that I found CLANNAD. It moved me in ways I could not imagine, and from there I started reading the visual novels. Key works still continue to surprise me, as I feel Harmonia lives up to its predecessors while adding its own flavor to the mix.

I can’t say Key games were the reason I became a fiction writer, but they are a massive inspiration for the stories I write. I have written six stories based on Key works, about half of which are works-in-progress. Rewrite seems to be my favorite Key game to write fanworks for, as the setting and lore are full of possibilities for story content. Hinoue-sama and Tanaka-san would be proud of how popular Rewrite is here at Kazamatsuri.

I feel humbled to have experienced such passionate and well-crafted stories. I am always looking forward to the next Key game, and I hope that VisualArt’s/Key will gain the worldwide recognition that it deserves. Once again, thank you very much.

EisenKoubu

[Mogaoscar]

I had finished school and was moving towards university. That was when I experienced CLANNAD. I would be what you could consider a perfect student, but I lacked personality.

One year later, I’ve found my own reasons to keep living, I’ve discovered true goals that I myself created and that no one imposed on me. Music used in KEY works inspired me to learn how to play an instrument, hoping that someday I’ll be able to play any piece of OST in KEY’s works. CLANNAD made me realize that emotions were something I still had and that I shouldn’t hide from others. Angel Beats! taught me that we should always fight for our goals and that we will regret it if we did otherwise.

That’s why I decided to go out and see world and I’m learning several languages to accomplish that, started playing the piano, and, despite not being a very emotional person, I started being more open and talkative to complete strangers and commited myself to never be afraid to tell someone that I love them (which isn’t working for now, but we’ll see in the future LOL).

Overall, I became a proactive person thanks to KEY. Without it, I’d be nothing more than a soulless pawn moving according to what people in my surroundings advise me to do.

Thank you KEY, for your works, that I know have saved some lives from desolation and changed many others for better. You give people hope and teach life lessons that, if put into practice, are probably the most important things that school will not teach you.

Once again, thank you for all your work,

Óscar Moreno García

[MAEBATAME]

What I lacked in these adolescent years of mine was what Little Busters represented to me with: youth.

To spend those days hanging out with your friends, having fun and playing games with them, to grow up together with them, whether they were new or old friends. These concepts are ones that I personally never really understood because I’ve never had any close friends; Little Busters made me realized how important friends are, how cool it was to have a group of friends that would hang around each other side-by-side, how awesome it’d be if we stand up for each other under our own banner.

Little Busters was the reason why I would put my friends (and theirs) under a group that we would identify with, it was why I became determined to try my best becoming a social chameleon of sort that would think up of new activities and games for our group, sometime even to drag them out, Kyousuke-style. Of course I didn’t kept to myself any more less in general, but within the circle named “Weebs of the Round Table” (it was came up on a whim), I finally found a place where everyone can be ourselves and enjoy our youth together, just like how the Little Busters did.

Of course, it wasn’t that Little Busters told me how to enjoy my youth with friends, it was why I should.

[DangoDaikazoku]

Even in the depths of my crippling paranoia, Clannad taught me to see the best in those around me. As a socially awkward, self-absorbed introvert, I have trouble reaching out to other people. I overanalyze even the slightest gestures from those around me. Be it a fleeting glance, or an upturned brow, I’d take it as a sign the passerby wanted nothing to do with me. I used such paranoid delusions as an excuse to avoid my peers. I reasoned, “If there are really so many people kind enough to be friends with me, why don’t they just talk to me already?”

Clannad told me otherwise. Nagisa’s struggle to make friends helped me realize that in all those years I spent hiding, I never tried to understand the circumstances of those around me. I instantly assumed they wouldn’t be interested in me, without taking the time to understand their thoughts and feelings. Just as Nagisa feared that none of her senior classmates would be interested in a shy, awkward repeater, I feared no one would be interested in a meek, fidgety middle schooler. However, when Nagisa finally started conversing with others, she discovered her conceptions were wrong. Although the people she talked to were different from her, they still had things they liked doing and goals they hoped to reach. Strangers don’t have to be aliens; she just needed to take the time to understand them. Over the next few years, I’d discover this lesson myself. I found that people weren’t nearly as hostile as I thought they were. Instead, they were kind and thoughtful people who loved me in spite of my flaws.

Had I never identified so closely with Nagisa’s struggles, I never would have gained the courage to reach out.

[Hardscope]

Even in the depths of my crippling paranoia

Sounds like something I would say

[Sonic112003]

Well, I like to thank VisualArt’s/Key for creating such wonderful and inspiring works that made me love these characters and the stories created are truly remarkable. I love how I belong to a community that expresses their views on how much they love Key, made some very great friends who care about me, and how all of us come together despite age, race, gender, and ethnic background that we share our common interests.

I used to be a really shy person and was never quite able to make friends in the past. There were times that I felt depressed and lonely that I didn’t think I could move on with life. CLANNAD was one inspiring work that changed my perspective on things. Nagisa is my favorite character from the series that made me realize that change is not all bad. It’s not easy dealing with life’s problems but to know there’s always hope at the end of the tunnel makes me feel that I can keep moving forward. It also made me realize that things don’t have to be this way so that’s why I have to work hard and do my very best.

To be honest, if it wasn’t for my friends that I made in this community, I would not be here. I’m truly grateful that VisualArt’s/KEY really made my life so meaningful! You guys are so amazing that you all deserve the wonderful credit to the people you’ve inspired and will continue to do so in the future! Thank you so much!

Sean J. Henderson

[Naoki_Saten]

Ladies and Gentlemen of VisualArt’s/Key,

The stories you have written, the music you have composed and the games you have created have gone far beyond the usual boundaries of “fiction” and “entertainment”. Rather than fleeting objects of observation, the characters you have created have become our friends, siblings, parents, the stories have become a part of us and you, you have become our teachers. By incorporating the most intimate of your feelings and making full use of your honed skills, you have allowed us to experience the most powerful emotions and to live through countless situations many of us otherwise never would have. They have felt so vivid, so intense, so overwhelming, that we keep carrying these experiences within our hearts as our own. From a myriad of perspectives, you have taught us about life itself. Countless of us have told you that you have changed our ways of thinking, our world, and our lives and countless others will doubtlessly keep telling you that in the future. We are deeply thankful to you for swaying our hearts, sharing your passion with us, inspiring us and impacting our very being far more than a mere pastime ever could. You can stand tall with your heads held high. You can be proud of your accomplishments, for you have achieved something only very few are capable of. For you have taken hold of and connected the hearts of people all over the world. Thank you for giving us so much.

May you spend your days pursuing your passions, may you always be blessed with good health, and may you be accompanied by happiness wherever your life journey takes you.

[Aspirety]

I’ve updated the OP with our revised word count. Try your best to stay around 160 words if you can.