The "Key Magic" Motif

Key Discussion
#1

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You know exactly what Im talking about.

Key stories are almost notorious for their magical elements. In many of their earlier titles, this magic is often only hinted at for most of the story, and is then revealed in full at the climax. However, in recent titles, such as Angel Beats!, Rewrite, and Charlotte, the supernatural elements are not only evident, but are defining characteristics of the story, from the very beginning.

Because of the manner in which they have been employed, many people have likened Key’s use of magical elements to the literary trope “Deus ex Machina”, a plot development in which a seemingly unsolvable problem suddenly is solved through some source external to the characters. This label is arguably the most common criticism against Key stories, as Deus ex Machina are seen usually seen as lazy writing or as forcing a “happily-ever-after.”

The purpose of this topic is the discuss the use of “magic” in Key stories as it relates to the plot, characters, and setting. Discussion is not limited to supernatural elements that are employed at the climax/end of the stories, even though that is commonly what “Key Magic” refers to.

Points to address could include (but are not limited to):

  • Does “Key Magic” in fact fit under the label of Deus ex Machina?
  • If yes, do you consider this to be a necessarily negative aspect? Why/why not?
  • Discuss foreshadowing and its importance in reference to supernatural elements.
  • What are the pros/cons of introducing “magic” from the start of the story vs. at the climax?
  • Et cetera!

Of course, the most essential aspect of this topic will be providing examples from Key stories and explaining them. Thus, this is going to be an extremely spoiler heavy topic.

Please do not forget [spoiler] tags, providing adequate context in (parenthesis).

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Key Scenario Writers discussion
#2

This is a question best saved for topic about Key in general, not just Kanon, so it wouldn’t necessarily fit the bill of a Key Point. I’ve chosen to discuss it here in the hopes of keeping things related to the topic at hand.

Still, I think the amount of magic realism used in Key’s endings simply stems from the author’s choices on how to end them. Maeda has gone on record to claim that his writing style is inspired by works with a good deal of surrealism and magic realism, such as Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. Since he was the head scenario writer for Key from AIR all the way up to Little Busters, it’s only natural that his tendencies to use magic realism in his stories would seep into those works. Rewrite didn’t have as much Key Magic in it because Romeo Tanaka is known more for complex philosophical messages that don’t make much sense to the reader than magic realism. Not that it stops Yuuto Tonokawa from following in Maeda’s footsteps in this regard. :wink:

I only speak as an author-in-training here, but I’m also of the belief that very few, if any, writers actually like killing off characters they’ve grown to love. Key Magic is just a simple means of emotional relief for both author and reader, although most of the time it’s executed pretty poorly. In my opinion the best Key stories are the ones where there is real loss, perhaps not of a significant character but something very important to them. I won’t name those routes here, but I feel like Key could step up their game with their future works. Perhaps Harmonia, 2nd Beat and whatever new game Key’s coming up with next will strive to change things for the better. :slight_smile:

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#3

I disagree the assertion that “Key Magic”, as the term is used contextually, exists at all, and in fact, it slightly angers me that people continue to use that term so haphazardly, as it is often element that critics like to use in order to justify why Key stories arent that good.

The term “Key Magic”, to me, is used by people when being lazy, and not putting effort into thinking about and understanding the meaning of the story. I will not go through every example right now (because as people just love to point out, it is a motif), but I absolutely will in the future if prompted to.

It is true. Key stories do employ magical elements. And lots of times, they do seem a little convenient. But I argue that there is always an important purpose for these elements. Either 1) They are innately part of the setting, or 2) Convey an essential message. I defy the thought that “Key Magic” is simply meant to create a happily-ever-after, even if that is how it appears on the surface.

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#4

Well this is a topic sure to get me salty. Of course, this might not be the right place to discuss it, as I fear that it might turn into a circlejerk; we are all Key fans for a reason, and I’m sure none of us wouod be key fans if we couldn’t accept such a big part of the series.

Now then, does Key magic exist? Yes; yes it does. Granted the most recent Key works have shown the magic fairly early on, but I feel that doesn’t defend it from the naysayers who are quick to judge.

But the important question: Is Key magic a form of deus ex machina? For that I give a big NO. So what exactly is a deus ex machina? It’s when a sudden unexpected and/or unexplained factor is introduced in the story that helps the characters solve the problem. It’s been argued fairly many times that “Key magic isn’t unexplained” or “there has been ample foreshadowing” but I think the reason people still find that hard to swallow is because it’s still very open to interpretation. Some people would still deny the power of the (clannad spoilers) orbs of light despite having read the VN.

That being the case, if the solution really is unexpected, then what stops it from being a deus ex machina? It’s the second part of the definition: “solve the problem”. And that’s what people fail to see in Key works. In Clannad, the problem isn’t to try to make Nagisa alive; the problem is getting Tomoya to realize the importance of his own family and that is solved through a very realistic way. To give a more timely relevant example, in Shiori’s route in Kanon, the problem isn’t to find a way to get Shiori to survive; the problem is to get Shiori to realize the importance of her own life, which is, again, solved through a very realistic means.

So to those who say that Key is guilty of deus ex machina, to that I say, you simply aren’t aware of the real problem. You focus too much on the physical problems of the world, and fail to see how characters are people that have more complicated internal problems that they need to solve. The physical problems being solved are nothing more than bonus endings, and in many cases, are even something that you have a choice whether to pursue or not.

All that being said, I just hope this post of mine helps some other people who fail to see the real problem of key stories, and helps give them a new perspective on how to view these intricate stories crafted by Key.

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#5

Yes, this is why I can accept (Little Busters!) it’s not enough. The point of Little Busters wasn’t that everyone would die and that Riki and Rin would live in, it was that they were able to learn the value of their bonds and grow stronger as people, strong enough to overcome any obstacle, even save their friends. Saving them is just another way of showing just how much the characters have grown. Sure, maybe magic was involved to help them find that ending, but what they did was accomplished with their own strength. The magic was just a plot device to enable that event to take place.

However, I can’t say the same for (CLANNAD) the true end of CLANNAD, because it could be argued that all of the development Tomoya experienced in After Story never happened in the true ending, which makes that point null and void. It really bugs me how they used key magic in that way; it just saved Nagisa’s life and made it so Tomoya didn’t need to go through those experiences and grow as a person. It depends on your interpretation sure, but I really wish they handled this more delicately.

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#6

Supernatural phenomenon in story writing is highly beneficial and opens up an almost infinite scope of tools for constructing a narrative, which is only limited by an author’s potential to utilise such tools.

Without the supernatural, as a writer, theoretically you are limited to what is real and grounded in known ‘real life’ science. For this reason, personally speaking, I adore the supernatural genre as it allows for some of the deepest stretches of a writer’s imagination to be conveyed to its reader.

Some of the Key’s so called “magic” are 9 times out of 10, crucial supernatural plot devices which are not only foreshadowed, but clarified facets of the universes that the stories are built around.

With that said,to refer to, say for example, Little Buster’s ripple effect , or Clannad’s light orbs as being “magic” is a naive and ill-informed assessment. ‘Magic’ is only ‘magic’ when it breaks the rules and conventions of what is actually possible in a world that a writer has constructed. To generalise something supernatural happening in a supernatural world as being “magic” is a lazy critic’s heuristic. Uninspired negative connotations which contributes nothing valuable but more needless bandwagon misconceptions about Key.

tl;dr Describing a genuine plot device as “magic” is retarded. Pls stop.

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#7

Oh boy, this is going to be very interesting. I’m probably going to come back to this topic and re-evaluate my thoughts, but to say the least, I DON’T think the supernatural elements or Key magic quote-unquote is an example of deus ex machina.

Firstly, the definition for deus ex machina is “an unexpected power or event saving a seemingly hopeless situation, especially as a contrived plot device in a play or novel” and the thing is the supernatural elements in Key isn’t unexpected. They do foreshadow the usage of the supernatural elements early on; for example in Clannad, (Clannad spoilers) we have the illusionary world that’s been shown to us throughout the VN and in the anime, the light orbs and the explanation of said light orbs in Yukine’s route, and a quote that was said by Sanae to Tomoya during the first episode of the anime “Okazaki Eternal. One that transcends through time.” ,all of which foreshadowed the usage of the supernatural elements in the series. And secondly, the supernatural elements doesn’t always save a hopeless situation, but rather sometimes it helps in creating a problem/dilemma. A good example of such is in AIR with (AIR spoilers) Misuzu’s curse and the existence of Michuru causing Minagi’s mom to forget about Minagi, and there’s also Kanon with (Kanon spoilers) Makoto’s fox curse that causes her to lose her human abilities and eventually die. . So with all that, I can’t really call the supernatural elements or “Key Magic” deus ex machina, cause that would mean coming out of left field which it doesn’t, and always solving a hopeless situation when it doesn’t always do that.

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#8

Thank you so much for saying this and putting it into better words than I could’ve hoped to.

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#9

While I definitely agree with the gist of what your post was saying, I disagree with your arbitrary definition of magic. Magic is a term used in just about every fantasy setting ever to refer to the supernatural elements of that world.

However, as I said, I do agree with your intention that trying to cram the sum of the build up, emotions, messages, interactions, and events that make up the so called “Key Magic” into that one term is indeed lazy, and only serves the purpose of making the whole concept seem much simpler and less intelligent than it truly is.

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#10

Magic in a fantasy setting and Magic in a real-world setting are two very different things. In these real-world setting contexts, the word ‘magic’ is used to refer to something which is impossible. It’s the difference between mystery and fantasy. A girl hunting demons late at night isn’t “magic”, it’s a “mystery” with a definite answer within the confines of this fictional universe. Magic in this case is “candy falling from the sky”. Maybe it could happen in a fantasy novel, but this is the real world, they don’t really mean to imply that such a thing could possibly happen.

When people refer to Key Magic as, well, magic, they’re dismissing what’s happening here as breaking all the rules, doing something which shouldn’t be possible in that universe. But as long as there is evidence and foreshadowing to clarify the cause behind this effect, it’s no longer magic, but just another phenomena in the world which may betray the expectations of what is ‘natural’, but not necessarily what is ‘possible’.

Okay that was very rambly I’m sorry if that made no sense.

#11

So what I’m getting is that we define ‘magic’ as a super natural force that can do otherwise impossible things. The disparity lies in what counts as impossible. You mean impossible in the world of literature while others define it based on the world of reality. Reality has it’s standards set by science and accepted theories. Literature can follow these, or it can break away from them through narrative devices. I feel most people use the word magic defined by reality. That’s the easiest way to do it especially when talking about multiple literary universes that don’t have unified rules. There’s no fault in substituting ‘super natural elements’ with ‘magic’, and I don’t think arguing over semantics is what this topic is for anyway.

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#12

I think people can call any supernatural event in whatever way they want. Some calls it magic, some not, it doesn’t matter . What matters is that whether the supernatural events that happened in key games are relevant/irrelevant? Did it contribute or weakened the story? Why and how? So yeah, i guess we kind of gone side tracked.

Sorry for the wrong grammers

#13

Regardless of whether you call it supernatural elements, magic… (I’ll be referring to it as magic anyway), there are moments in which magic is greatly used and others in which in my opinion, even though they are not incorrectly used, it doesn’t add anything new to the story/theme of the VN or Anime.

Introducing it from the start just gives the story a whole lot more possibilities. Angel Beats! and Charlotte’s stories and main themes revolve around their magic worlds or elements. Basically, it allows the writer to create a whole new set of rules to place the characters in. A great example I find of this, even though it is not from KEY, is No Game No Life. The main characters are sent to a world that works in a very different ways, and you can see how everyone has adapted his lifestyle to those rules.

Introducing magic elements at the climax generally contributes to a big fail. Every single magic element should be slightly foreshadowed or even fully explained, regardless of when it is actually used. The reason for this is realism. For any story to feel realistic it needs to have a decent logic consistency in between the events that happen. When this doesn’t happen the audience / readers are left out thinking that the plot development is all too convenient.

KEY works however, don’t have this problem as far as I know. The magic used at the climax is usually properly foreshadowed.

And this is what I don’t like about those magic endings. As you’ve said, the issue is not (Shiori’s route and CLANNAD After Story spoilers) keeping Nagisa and Shiori alive.

Then, why do you use magic to solve a problem that never existed?

#14

Emotional relief. You can rest easy knowing there is a (possible) timeline where shit doesn’t happen. At least I think that’s the intention; how well it works is a different story.

‘Key Magic’ is a touchy thing for me, mainly because while it doesn’t really bother me when it’s used, I do question whether it enhances the story by being there. I mean if you’ve read all of Key’s works you know that Key Magic isn’t always a thing, and for a second I just want you to imagine what if Key Magic was there as well. Would it affect your enjoyment or even interpretation of the story as a whole?

For me, it’s a yes, and it likely would’ve affected my enjoyment negatively. There’s a time and place for Key Magic and I’m glad it’s not in every single Key story; though I’d even go so far as to say it should’ve been in fewer games. That being said I do recall at least one instance where I believe it actually adds to the story.

(WARNING! Spoilers for ALL of the as of this post translated Key visual novels!) In Little Busters for instance, I feel the Key Magic ending where Riki and Rin manage to save everyone only adds to the story and themes rather than taking away from them. It shows how much stronger Riki and Rin really have become. But I’ve already talked at length about this in the Refrain discussion topic.

Conversely, Tomoyo After very much benefitted from not having a Key Magic ending where Tomoya survives (cautious glare at the all-ages rerelease) since Tomoyo being able to move on and still dedicate her life to helping random strangers is very much part of its themes as far as I’m concerned, and having Tomoya actually survive would actively go against that. There being no Key Magic is instrumental to the very reasons why it’s my favorite Key ending.

In regards to CLANNAD’s After Story I’m rather ambivalent… I don’t feel it really adds much to the story to have the Key Magic miracle occur. The real reason I like After Story so much is everything before that. At the same time, since it’s a separate ‘route’ I don’t think it really takes away from the main story either… since all of the development of the main path still happens in that main path, and it’s not invalidated by Key Magic. That’s tredging very close to the edge of acceptability though, and I think it might have been better if there was no true end.

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#15

To have a happy ending. It’s kind of like a bonus, as they say in Japanese, an “omake”. As shiori said in her route, (paraphrasing here) the reason why we have fiction is so that we can have happy endings that don’t happen in reality.

I see a lot of people calling flak over the ending of clannad, but you know what I think? (CLANNAD After Story spoilers)I think that even if they did skip the timeline where Tomoya learned the harsh lesson of being a father, that still gives value to the story, and in a very big way. Why? Because even though the tomoya that saves nagisa never experienced that, we as readers experienced that. And I think that is the most important thing about Key’s works: that we as readers learn from the growth that the characters experience. The characters are fictional, after all, and them losing all of their growth is merely temporal. But we are people who interact with other people every day, and if we take these lessons that we’ve learned and use them to help other people close to us then, well, I think Key succeeded in the stories that they tried to make..

Non-spoiler summary version for you guys, but I think that the important thing to take from Key’s works is that they aren’t simply stories where we watch a character learn and grow and fight through obstacles; they are stories where we as the readers play a central role in the immersion of the story, and we must grow along with the character, that growth being something more permanent than any character growth in any other piece of fiction.

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#16

Let’s remember what most works of Key are: Games. Make poor choices or fail to understand the characters and you’ll get a bad ending. Guide them to a solution and you get a good ending. Explore the game in its entirety while giving your best guidance to all of its characters and you’ll get the true ending.
Of course, when the element of “difficulty” disappears from the equation due to transfering the story to a different medium (or using a walkthrough), the true endings seem too “magical”. Of course it’ll feel like the happy ending has been reached too easily if you get it without putting in any effort. Of course you’ll hate a lazy dude who inherited his parent’s riches while comparing him to someone who earned his money through hard work.

Now back to focusing on the story aspect. I’ll be quoting my own post from the a different topic:

As was stated several times in this topic, “Key Magic” doesn’t solve a problem. It’s all about the character’s development. It’s all about the struggle they’re going through. Because they have become stronger and better people, because they have reached the goal in the best way possible to them, they are rewarded.

Here’s my favorite example about so-called deus ex machina in Key: Kud route in Little Busters, which way too many people fail to appreciate (Kud and Refrain spoilers):

If you haven’t reached Refrain yet and you don’t pay much attention to the dialogue, then it’s easy to consider the ending of the Kud route a deus ex machina. The power of love saves the day, shattering the chain and saving the loli’s life after a telepathic chat all the way from the other end of the world.
Let’s pay attention to the dialogue now. What does Kud lament? Of course, there’s the sadness of never seeing her beloved again. But that’s not her biggest problem. What pains her the most is that she could never become a great person like her mother, that she remained a useless gear. She actually kinda appreciates dying as a sacrifice to comfort her desperate coutrymen, because she would finally become useful that way! That’s messed up! So the goal here is not survival. It’s for this self-deprecating character to overcome her despair, to appreciate herself again and to forgive herself. And Riki manages to do just that. The broken gear becomes a tool of self-liberation.
And now apply your Refrain knowledge: Kud’s survival on itself does not matter here because she’s actually as good as dead for an entirely different reason. What matters is whether or not she can liberate herself from her regrets. After all, the whole imprisonment and sacrifice thing is something she did in order to punish herself and the goal of the route is to make her realize how wrong that is. She survives the imprisonment because her guilt isn’t binding her anymore and she does not wish to be punished. She saved herself and Riki helped her do it. There was never an external force at work.

I personally prefer feels over realism and good ends over bad ends. But even if I didn’t, I’m pretty sure I still wouldn’t dismiss Key Magic as something like a cheap way out. Once you take a closer look at the stories, you realize how greatly it complements them.

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#17

I seem to be seeing a lot of posts that conflate any implausible resolution with being a Deus Ex Machina; this is not quite correct.
The most important aspect of a Deus Ex Machina is that it is a plot resolution that is set up insufficiently or not at all earlier in the story. In other words, if all the pieces for an ending are in place prior to the final act, then the resolution, no matter how implausible it may be from a real world perspective, cannot qualify as a Deus Ex Machina (henceforth “DEM”).
To examine the difference (as I see it) will require that I bring up some examples from outside the realm of Key. Beware: Spoilers follow.
For an example of a DEM, I’ll direct you to Edge of Tomorrow (the film adaptation of All You Need Is Kill): After Cage (or Keiji) finally kills the Omega, time still resets, even though it was supposed to be the Omega, which is now dead, that facilitates resetting. Not only that, but it sends him back a full two days, when it should have only been one. This irregularity is never explained by the film, and presumably only occurs so that we the audience can see Tom Cruise get the girl in the end. Now, I really thoroughly enjoy this movie, and even its ending, but that doesn’t change the fact that this resolution runs completely counter to everything we the audience have been told thus far about how the film’s universe works.
Now, for an example of an implausible resolution that is not a DEM, let’s examine the Harry Potter series: In the Chamber of Secrets, a Basilisk fang is used to destroy the haunted diary of Tom Riddle, which is explained to carry some part of Voldemort’s consciousness imbued within it. Additionally, the sword of Godric Gryffindor becomes soaked in Basilisk venom. Come the Half-Blood Prince, a larger revelation about the exact nature of Horcruxes, and a brief overview of the kinds of weapons that are known to be effective against them, and the method of ultimately finishing the Dark Lord becomes perfectly clear. Even just within book two however, Dumbledore tells Harry offhand that Phoenix tears possess potent healing abilities. Later, as Harry lies dying of Basilisk poisoning, Dumbledore’s Phoenix, Fawkes, who had already helped out earlier in the battle, sheds several tears into Harry’s wound, saving his life. And, of course, we must never forget Dumbledore’s greatest piece of advice: “Help will always be given at Hogwarts, to those who ask for it”, which he would later amend to “Help will always be given at Hogwarts, to those who deserve it”, a change which carried its own significance as the story progressed. Here, all of these resolutions are set up by earlier events–Jo Rowling went in with a plan, and all she had to do when there were loose ends was to pay off all the plot points she had already set up earlier on.
Now, I haven’t been through every Key story, so I’m not about to speak to all of them, but I think I’m safe in saying that for the ones I do know well (Clannad, Angel Beats!, and a few of the routes from Kanon and Air), the supernatural elements of Key stories fall more often into the latter category: Resolutions which, though implausible, are indeed set up earlier in the story.

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#18

I like a lot of the responses in this thread, but I’ll add my two cents.

Just because an ending doesn’t invoke Deus Ex Machina, it doesn’t mean that ending is satisfying, or that you should expect people to accept “well, it was foreshadowed in the beginning.” People forget a lot of things and if they aren’t primed for the reveal, they will feel cheated.

Case in point: CLANNAD. I love this game to death, but even though the orbs of light were foreshadowed throughout the game/series, nobody expected the orbs of light to bring Nagisa back from the death. This reveal ultimately appears as a plot twist (even though you can argue it isn’t) and since they weren’t expecting it or didn’t have the orbs in the forefront of their mind, they might feel cheated. Specifically, the viewers had absolutely no reason to suspect that Nagisa’s life/death status was tied to the orbs of life.


It makes sense within the narrative. The “need” for the orbs of light didn’t appear until Ushio died. It would be a different story if, say, Tomoya kept wishing for the resolution of his problems, and at the end of the story, his wish was granted. But that isn’t the case. The “trigger” for the light orbs activating doesn’t actually happen until the absolute end of the narrative. There was no way to prime people that “hey, remember those orbs of light? They might be important soon.”

This is all about viewer expectations. You can logically invoke Chekhov’s gun and say “well, that thing at the beginning of the movie? You were supposed to guess that it would be used at the ending” but sticking a few hints in the narrative without context of their use does not necessarily free you from “an unsatisfying ending.”

TL;DR: I think, to be concise, I’d recite some writing advice I received a few years ago: “the ending should be surprising, but inevitable.” The trajectory of the entire story should lead up to that ending. You can say “well, it was foreshadowed” all you want, but that doesn’t mean the ending was “inevitable.” You can use this argument against CLANNAD: there is no reason to expect that Nagisa would be brought back to life, since the latter half of After Story focused on Tomoya’s recovery and also in Little Busters!: there is no reason to expect the Little Busters to live, considering that the entirety of Refrain focused on Riki and Rin “moving past” everyone’s deaths. Like yeah, KEY had their bases covered, but does that make it satisfying? Your mileage may vary. (Neither of those bothered me at all, but I know people that really had problems)

Sorry for rambling, but hopefully I got my point across

#19

“[I]f there’s ever someone you want to save… Search for the light in the other world” That’s from the end of After Story. That’s so blatant you would have to be an idiot to not know what it’s referring to. At that point, anyone with half a brain should realize completing that goal will give you that ending.

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#20

I’m probably conflating the game with the anime because I definitely don’t remember that being mentioned in the anime

edit: and also that my recollection of the gameis from the machine translated After Story, rip