That’ll only strengthen @Rippleshadow’s Hinata love, I promise you 
Not yet; since school started I’ve been spending my free time playing FE, practicing the piano, and reading a book called Red Queen 
Once I set my mind to it, though, I’ll definitely read HD.
I was originally thinking Misuzu. first for her obviously pure heart and kindness. But she is not just kind, strong and earnest. Even when she is alone and in pain she still stays strong and doesn’t blame others, she takes everything on herself without feeling sorry for herself. she adorable and impressive and defintiely my second favorite key character. However despite this she is a relaticely flat character, almost too perfect, and every good character needs flaws.
That’s why my number one spot goes to Kyousuke Natsume. I love his carefree friendly exterior mixed with his caring and deep interior. Not only this but he is attractive, intelligent, athletic, etc but never thinks himself as better than others. Awesome and humble. However what makes him interesting are his flaws. the depression he sinks into in refrain really show his human side. He seems like an almost imperfect entity but when everything goes wrong he shuts himself up and gives in. But when Riki proves himself he is willing to move on and accept that Riki has the ability to be the leader of the little busters he really has a special place in my heart as one of the kindest and deepest character key has ever made.
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Well I might as well contribute to this topic by first posting this collage of my favorite Key characters I randomly decided to make a couple of hours ago.
And now I might as well explain myself and my choices.
Kanade (Angel Beats!): First off, she is my waifu as well as my all time favorite anime character, outranking other greats like Kamina from Gurren Lagann and Lucy from Elfen Lied (the latter of whom I considered my waifu until I watched Angel Beats!). I’ve got an undying love for the dandere archetype, Kanade being in my opinion the best example of this type of character. She’s soft-spoken and socially isolated (not really by choice), but still does what she can to help others. I personally relate to these character traits, and is the reason I have pretty much fallen for her.
Nagisa (Clannad): Even though I say Kotomi is best girl when you look at the harem aspect of the anime/visual novel (though where I stand now is just the anime since I’ve yet to read the VN), the way she contributes to the over arching story and Tomoya’s development as a character put her at the top of the cast. She’s almost childish and rather awkward at times, but is still very sweet and charming. More importantly, she gave Tomoya something to care about, someone to call family, and something to live for. I could also go into how her death was a major turning point in Tomoya’s life, but I think I’ve spent enough time on Nagisa for now.
Kyousuke (Little Busters!): The only guy on the collage through pure coincidence/process of elimination, he stands out as one of the very best. He’s charismatic, always looking for a fun time, and sees and treats every member of the Little Busters like family, old and new. However, the main reason he’s this high is because of all of the pain and suffering the he has went through for Riki and Rin to help them grow stronger, make them more independent and less reliant on him, and to prepare them for the harsh reality that awaited them in the real world. Kyousuke is a man who I would be willing to follow into the depths of hell and back while having a blast the entire time.
Mai (Kanon): Once again, I love dandere, Mai being another strong example of one. Beyond that, her chemistry and past history with Yuuichi I felt was the strongest among the girls. I think the one thing about her that appeals to me the most is that how misunderstood she is, whether it be the people in her past or the student counsel.
Yuri (Angel Beats!): One of the character archetypes that I love to see other than dandere and the occasional yandere would be the charismatic leader type characters, Yuri as well as the before mentioned Kyousuke being some of the best examples if you ask me. She’s energetic, playful, and borderline sadistic when she wants to, but is dead serious when she needs to. I think the best quality about her would be her love for those near and dear to her, and I think that stems from how in life she cared for her younger siblings who were taken away from her, and the guilt of not being able to save them lead her to share that same love with the other members of the Battlefront.
Yuiko (Little Busters!): I guess the main reason she’s here is because of how layered she is. She can be rather erotic (and she has the body to pull it off too) and seems to find a bit of a sadistic enjoyment out of messing with the other characters, but she also has an insecure side to her. Another aspect about Yuiko that I’ve fallen in love with is being able to ship her with Riki. At first, this doesn’t really seem like much since Little Busters! is more or less a harem (though I would personally argue for the latter), but it is for the fact that Riki was able to unintentionally teach her how to experience emotions, appreciate the company of others, and what it felt like to love, giving her the most depth of anyone in the cast behind Kyousuke and maybe Haruka.
Haruko (Air): What can I say about Haruko? At first, she seemed like a bad parent: drinking and distancing herself from Misuzu, but she honestly did everything she could for Misuzu. Again, she put a lot of distance between herself and Misuzu, but not because she didn’t care for her (quite the opposite actually), but because she didn’t want to get too attached to her in case Misuzu’s father was to come back for her.
Nao (Charlotte): Very similar to Kyousuke and Yuri, the first thing that appealed to me about Nao would be that she falls under the charismatic leader archetype, but there are several things about her that reminded me a lot of Yuri beyond the fact that they both play the role of leader in their respective groups: add a touch of tsun and have her be more in touch with her romantic feelings (even if it needed some work in the end) and you have one of my favorite characters to come out this year and one of my favorite characters from Key.
Yumemi (Planetarian): The best way I can describe Yumemi would be a symbol of life and hope in a word of death and despair. In the post apocalyptic hell that is the Planetarian setting, she provided a sense of normality. I also loved how she was able to soften the hardened and damaged Junker over the course of the visual novel: her presence acting as some true happiness in an otherwise ruthless world. I think the largest part of her character would be not only her sweet and kind nature, but her child-like innocence and her blind ignorance of what’s going on outside, making the events of the story hit that much harder. Who knew a visual novel with only two characters would end up producing on of my favorite characters from Key? I sure as hell didn’t expect it.
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My favorite Key’s character. This is a hard one, I like almost everyone the VNs of Key that I had read, I even liked (rewrite spoiler?) Suzaki and Brenda, well Brenda was actually for reading the AMIGO description that Kotarou made(Justice Boobs)
Now to chose my favorite, Hinata, because he is so badass, the only sidekick to actually get a GF and he is so amazing that he is even the MC of one manga.
But, Yoshino よしの ヨシノ 吉野 written as luck and field (rewrite spoiler) It matches a lot with his role in Akane’s route by the end) he got the first place because of:
WOW WOW WOW YOSHINO MINNA OMAE NI KANSHASHITERU WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW.
He made me laught a lot in common, in fact I fail to understand why some people didn’t liked the Yoshino humor, that hymn/fansong for Yoshino is the best Key joke that I saw.
Also: “mama, peel this pear for me”, Not even Kotarou nor Kotori were able to withstand this.
Another favorite of mine are Shizuru, Mai and Kotomi, they are so lovable, maybe I like girls who are easy to tease and act cute when they seriously follow the joke.
As a side-note, Tomoya may have loved Kotomi more than Nagisa Kotomi was waiting for him for so long
But this girls doesn’t compare with Yoshino and Hinata, they are the best Key characters.
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Favorite Key character. Durrrr, Shizuru, no doubt. Her story is just beautiful, and might not appeal to everyone, but appealed to me very beautifully.
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My two favourite characters have always been and remain to this day Nishizono Mio, and Natsume Kyousuke from Little Busters.
If anyone has ever personally spoken to me before then you’ll know just how deeply I was inspired by both in a such a way that encouraged me to in my real life to pursue choices I never thought I would ever dream of following.
Letting go of deep rooted regrets from the past and battling with ones own self to accept their place in the world, coupled with someone who embodies will-power, with an unwavering determination to reach their goal no matter how difficult the path ahead might be.
It was reading into these 2 characters at a time of my life when I truly needed it which cemented Little Busters as a story which meant so much more to me than any other work of fiction I’d ever experienced, and it was largely the influence of how powerfully Mio and Kyousuke’s characters resonated with me.
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It probably doesn’t need to be said, but my favorite Key character (and naturally also my favorite Key female) is Haruka.
I think she has the best of any of Key’s character route (so I’m not including After Story, Refrain, Moon, Terra, or Planetarian here), but there’s lots to be said about her personality as well. I usually tend to dislike the super energetic playful types, but the way that personality factors into Haruka’s actual route was really well done and almost sort of served as a sort of deconstruction of the archetype. I think she’s also probably the only Key heroine who has such a heavy amount of absolutely wrathful dialogue. Her VA did such a great job conveying just how goddamn angry Haruka was during the events in her route - you could really feel Haruka just seething with hatred of Kanata, while also being frustrated because of how their relationship used to be. You could feel her anger as she rather immaturely lashed out at just about everyone and everything because of how her family is.
Perhaps above all, Haruka probably just had one of the most downright shitty situations of any Key character. This just makes it worse when you realize her energetic behavior is just her trying to cover up her feelings, as well as a deliberate ploy to get Kanata in trouble. The fact that her route was relatively grounded in reality and didn’t have any supernatural elements just made her troubles seem so much more relevant and real, and that made it really easy for me to feel sympathy for her plights.
Also, her route ending had one of the most glorious feelings of catharsis ever, and I really liked the fact that it sort of hammers that no one was really specifically at fault for what happened.
As far as my favorite Key male character goes, Little Busters once again takes it away with Kyousuke. Nevermind just how goddamn enjoyable the guy is, I think he’s one of the most brilliantly written characters in Key’s arsenal, and a interesting example of deliberately using a “perfect” character who doesn’t need any development to great effect. Kyousuke really feels like the proper protagonist - it’s ultimately him that got the childhood friends together, and it’s by his charisma that they’re still together at the start of the story. I had the distinct feeling that Kyousuke easily could have gathered the girls into the group on his own. Really, the development of Riki is basically getting Riki to become more like Kyousuke. You can really see just how Riki’s character is progressing based on his relationship with Kyousuke. This all culminates in Refrain, which literally has Riki recreating the events that led to the formation of the original Little Busters group.
Also, Kyousuke’s farewell scene man. I sort of like how Kyousuke’s sort of perfection leads to his own emotional turmoils being out of focus for most of the story, then suddenly he just delivers this grand, heartfelt speech that makes you realize that he probably feels the shittiest out of everyone. He loves the Little Busters more than anyone, and despite being the one who tried the hardest to make Riki and Rin grow, he truly doesn’t want to leave them either. He wasn’t childish like Kengo, and manned up and did what he had to do despite how much it fucking sucked. This one scene alone was all it took to elevate Kyousuke to being my favorite Key male, and I honestly think it’s the most powerful moment in Key history. Kyousuke’s VA just fucking hit it out of the park here, it really felt like the dude was bawling his eyes out as he just laid Kyousuke’s emotions bare.
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High five, man.
The Mio faction shall reign supreme!
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I also love Haruka the most. Her route was actually one of the best ones in the anime for me, heck, she was the best one. (I’m an anime-only for LB).
Other than Haruka, I also love Shizuru’s character
In her route, it showcases a lot of things about Shizuru, such as the fact that she erased her memories of her parents, and now they don’t even know who she was. Such a tragedy. But she still has hope. Then she looses more things. She even lost Kotarou in the end, his human form at least. The one person she cared the most about. She lost Touka. And then to make things worse, Shizuru and Kotarou couldn’t stop Kagari from having Salvation.
Shizuru must be one of the best Key-girls that was ever created. Personality-wise, character design-wise, trait-wise, and musical-wise (insert Carnation) (Insert Koibumi).
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…KOTORI. It might just be the Rewrite anime hype that made me give a Rewrite girl as an answer, but I love this girl nonetheless so that’s that. She’s adorable, her voice is the pleasant kind of cute, and it’s cool that she doesn’t let Kotarou get the better of her (case in point: (common route spoiler) the drool scene at the end of her seed-planting quest. And her character display a surprising amount of depth, especially in her route: you can feel the clash in her emotions - her romantic feelings towards Kotarou that is held back by her fears that she rid him of his humanity, her sadness and anger at the situation that she got in to, her pain when she slowly realized in the past that she can’t bring her parents back, the despair and loss of will to live - she’s experiencing all of this yet she had to drag herself through her life mainly because of that said fear. Not to mention that amazing voice acting! She’s basically the reason why I consider Chiwa Saito to be my favorite VA. On a ligher note, shake it now~.
As for the other Key series (haven’t watched Angel Beats yet)
- Kanon: Shiori. It’s been a while since I watched this, and I can’t remember anymore who I liked back then, but she’s nice. Mai and her theme are absolutely gorgeous though.
- Air: Minagi, whom I really wished that she was actually important to the story.
- Clannad: I was still in high school last time I watched this, but I remember liking Fuuko and her route a lot. I still find her adorable even now. (shallow reasons) But then again I need to read the VN so I could give a solid answer.
- Little Busters: For some strange reasons, I find my answer here alternating between Komari, Haruka, and Kurugaya. And maybe Kanata. I love Komari for her endearing personality, Haruka for her pleasantly annoying antics and sad af route, and Kurugaya for her seductive charm. Meanwhile, Kanata for being the best biatch in the right way.
- Rewrite: Kotori of course, but Shizuru and Chihaya are real close.
- Charlotte: …too bad the anime didn’t make me care enough to any of the main characters. Meanwhile, there’s the courage girl from China
and also Angelo because pinoy prayd.
My male character answer: there’s Kyousuke (first anime crush) and Yoshino (it’s the MINNA OMAE NI KANSHASHITERU guy in Rewrite I’m referring to).
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Here’s my favourite key character.
-Angel Beats: Yui, Kanade and Iwasawa
-Clannad: Fuko
-Little Buster: Kudryavka
*Note: This reply can be update later.
Yes, a Fuuko fan! It’s not easy to find fans of hers, after all. ;u;
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She got her own fan club in da anime doe
My favorite characters are
Kanon - Ayu and Makoto
Air - Misuzu and Haruko
CLANNAD - Ushio and Tomoyo
Planetarian - Yumemi and Jerusalem
Tomoyo After - Takafumi and Kanako
Little Busters! - Komari and Yuiko
Little Busters! ~ Ecstasy - Saya and Kanata
Kud Wafter - Yuuki and A-Chan
Angel Beats! - Hinata and Yusa
Rewrite - Kagari and Touka
Rewrite ~ Harvest Festa - Kotori and Shizuru
Charlotte - Nao and Courage-Chan
Harmonia - Shiona and Rei (from what I’ve seen so far)
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Mine is, as you can tell from my profile picture, Saya ^^
Because, well, she is cute and beautiful, also a kinda badass (not Kurugaya-like or Mai-like though).
Not to mention she is one of the best tsunderes I’ve seen so far. Aside from these, I don’t really have any other reason to be attached to her, but I just am.
my favorite key animations character is tomoya because we both are a lot alike
Some of my favorites:
Kanade
I’m really a sucker for just about every aspect of Kanade’s character design. I love long straight hair, silver hair, golden eyes, this style of winter school uniforms, and am quite fond of Kuuderes. I honestly don’t have much of an excuse or anything really critical or well thought out to put here, I just really like Kanade’s character design.
Kyousuke
Because apparently Kyousuke is everyone’s favorite character. God damn if Kyousuke isn’t just the coolest Key character. He’s likable from the beginning of Little Busters! because he is designed to be the charismatic center of the group who thinks of fun, outlandish things to do. And then you get to see throughout refrain that Kyousuke isn’t quite as flawless as he was made out to be in the rest of the VN. His plan to strengthen Rin failed spectacularly, and his actions emotionally abused Kengo and Masato. If anything, Kyousuke is an antagonist for most of Refrain. This imperfection really deepens his character and then you get his farewell to Riki and the floodgates open.
Akio
How Akio acts for the entire second half of Nagisa’s route is amazing. It clashes with how we’ve seen him up until then, which has been mostly playful and sarcastic, but it still feels natural. In Akio’s route (AS and Nagisa spoilers) we really get to see that helping people is as natural to him as breathing, but he’s still capable of acting selfishly. When Nagisa was young him following his dream almost cost her life. Even during the play, the reason he wanted Nagisa to succeed was because he decided that her happiness was far more important to him than his own dream. He wanted her to succeed in part because any father would want to see their daughter accomplish their dreams, but also as… atonement I guess? Like after what he did to Nagisa she deserves happiness.
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Favourite Female character: Akane (Rewrite)
I just love her witch and dark aura and she’s pretty good at her role I mean, acting as the vilain (Chihaya, Shizuru and her OWN route). And I love these moments when she harrasses Kotarou and makes fun of him. And her route was my favourite too. And what made me like her even more was (Terra) herself as a child… She was just sooo cute <3. And there are many many other reasons.
Second to her would be Kurugaya and then, of course, Shizuru <3 .
Favourite Male Character: Sakuya (Rewrite)
Do I need to explain? Sakuya is just an AMAZING character. He’s badass and so tough and he’s just… GREAT. At first, I hate to admit it but, Ididn’t really like him and then I read his route… Erm, I mean Chihaya’s route, and then he just became my favourite Key male character. And his appearance in Moon tho, I was so happy to see him!
Second to him would be Masato and then probably Kotarou.
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Mine’d probably have to be Masato, from Little Busters!, if I absolutely had to choose.
Even though he is a kinniku head and a lovable idiot, he shows his strength does not stop at his muscles. Despite knowing everything going on in the world, Masato still manages to make everyone laugh and be the big oaf everyone adores. He never shed a tear in a non-comedic scenario, to my memory. He even kept it together when he said goodbye, and thanked Riki with that pure smile before disappearing. Just everything about that absolutely got to me. His character just stood out to me. I do have a soft spot for funny characters being put into serious roles.
In the series I’ve seen/read, (I’ll include one for male and female, if there’s a decent size male cast) it’s:
Kanon: Mai
AIR: Misuzu
Clannad: Kotomi, Sunohara
planetarian: (there’s really only one answer to this one)
Little Busters!: Masato, Haruka
Angel Beats!: T.K, Shiina
Rewrite: Yoshino, Shizuru
Charlotte: Nao
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Well, let’s try to write something meaningful here.
First of all, focusing on VNs, I use three criteria to identify if I like a character or not. This is neither rigid nor weighed…
-How the character behaves by itself. I usually tend to prefer believable (considering that it’s fiction and almost all the situations can’t be translated to real life) characters, who behave coherently, and usually if they can’t be categorized as a trope and can take different “roles”.
-How the character interacts with the rest of the story (other characters and other routes). Again, we’re reading stories, so for me, being able to make meaningful contributions to other sections of the story is a plus.
-Subjective criteria: this is a mixed bag. Several things can show up here. For example, when something that affects to the character reminds me of something in my own life, or if the seiyuu is particularly good, or if I like the design…
Considering these criteria, there are quite a lot of Key characters that could be ranked very high in my hypothetical list. Yukito and Hijiri in Air; Nayuki in Kanon (maybe her mom, Shiori and Mai too); Kotomi, Tomoyo and Sunohara in Clannad (plus several others); Riki, Rin, Kyosuke, Yuiko and Mio in LB! (I absolutely loved these 5); Shizuru, Yoshino, Nishikujou and Esaka in Rewrite (to be fair, almost the entire casting), but my favourite isn’t here. My favourite Key character (and, under my point of view, the best character that they’ve ever done, their pinnacle) is…
Hint: look at the pic
Senri Akane
Subjectivity is a heavy factor here, so every opinion is arguable, but I can’t find a better Key character than her. I know she’s a well liked Key character, probably the one with most fans in Rewrite, but not typically considered more than that. She’s not a main character, her role is large but not so important in some sections of the story, maybe she doesn’t show up in some of the absolutely memorable moments which caused that a lot of people loved other characters in different Key works, as Misuzu, Kyosuke, Nagisa…, but she may be the best all-around Key character. Based on the former set of criteria, the reasons for my opinion. This last part won’t be so long, I promise.
-Character by itself: she has a solid background story, is well written and has a defined personality, much more multifaceted than usual in this kind of works. She’s not just a trope, she has a quite complex personality, developed quite logically from her background. Along the story we see her as a comic relief, a “puppet” of a larger being, mysterious, pessimistic, pragmatic, depressed, maniac, and even slightly romantic.
-Interactions: she’s an important part of the whole story and the different routes, and the way she interacts can vary drastically. When she shows up, she makes herself the most important element of the scene (for example, Chihaya and Shizuru endings)
-Subjecticity: most important criterion. Her “personality” clicks me. With her strange humour, cynicism and geekiness, she’s the kind of person that I end up befriending or liking in real life. She improves the interactions with the rest of the cast. Last but not least, in fact it might be very important. Her seiyuu is just amazing! It’s a voice that can sound, for the same character, as a sexy young woman, a cynical rich girl, a pessimistic but powerful woman and a deeply broken and depressed misfit. That’s not easy at all! I still remember, during Chihaya’s route, the way she sounded when Kagari showed her the “dark past” of the world, the way she broke. Goosebumps. That’s ridiculous, what an impressive VA!
Wow, sorry for writing so much. Rereading Rewrite makes you notice even more the amazing character that Akane is.
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