I always liked the male characters since they almost always get more depth, honestly. KEY girls are usually formulaic, as much as I hate to say it: a girl with 1-2 quirks with a sad backstory that defines them. (Exceptions are Nagisa, Tomoyo, and Mio imo)
I think Tomoya Okazaki is the most “complete” character, for lack of a better word. Kotarou is a close contender.
As far as personal preferences goes, I’d rank my characters Tomoya >= Kyousuke > Masato > Nagisa.
Yeah but keep in mind we are primarily seeing the story through the male protagonist’s eyes. That would be the primary reason why we see male characters get more development and depth. If we were to see the story through a female protagonist’s eyes, it might end up with the male characters being all formulaic and the female characters getting all the depth. That said, is Key ever planning on making a story were the protagonist is a female?
I actually have to argue against this, especially in the case of Little Busters. We don’t see the game through the eyes of Kyousuke, Masato or Kengo, but we can see just how complex these characters are compared to the females of Little Busters.
Though, if I may argue, I think the reason why LB girls are “formulaic” is specifically because female characters are often made formulaic by other media of the same type. Like, we have the dojikko, tsundere, genki girl etc etc etc. Put those qualities in a male character and, arguably, it seems less formulaic.
Just a theory though 
Male character: I’m between Tomoyo After’s Tomoya and Refrain’s Riki
Female character: Misuzu because waifu and character development; Haruka because wide range of emotions and Haruko because fang, Kansai-ben, light hearted and what she did in order to become Misuzu’s true mom
Per VN
Kanon: Anime did a great job atmaking me root for Mai, but VN made me love Shiori more.
Air: Misuzu, Kanna and Haruko
Clannad: Kotomi, Tomoyo
Tomoyo After: Kanako!!!
Little Busters!: Can’t really decide; all are awesome
Rewrite: Yet to play it
I don’t think Baba will approve Key making otome game. Maybe the staffs can make female-oriented games, but I think they’ll create a new branch company instead of putting it in Key. Hinoue actually had contributed in BL game from Pekoe, one of VA’s child company. If anyone’s interested, [here you go][1].
That said, I find the boys in Key’s work mostly incredibly attractive, so it’s not really impossible.
[1]: https://vndb.org/v3525
Hmm, true, in the case of little busters yeah. I was mentioning more on the lines of less male dominant series like Clannad or Rewrite. But yeah, that’s what I like of Little Busters/Angel Beats so much, it’s not just the male protagonist amongst 3-5 girls.
Time to talk favourite characters.
Favorite overall character: Kyousuke. He’s just so charming and endearing with his childlike and fun-loving personality, and he’ll go so far for the sake of loved ones.. He’s done so much for his friends and really is an amazing person. Kyousuke is a brilliant character and I really love him.
Favorite males:
Little Busters - Kyousuke, of course. My second favorite male character is Masato. He’s a really funny character and very loveable. Riki and Kengo are great too, of course. Honestly, I don’t even like picking a least favourite male for Little Busters.
Angel Beats - Hinata.
Clannad - Akio
Rewrite - Sakuya
Girls:
Little Busters - Rin. She’s so adorable and precious. I love her personality and she’s really cute too.
Angel Beats - Kanade.
Clannad - Kotomi.
Rewrite - Shizuru.
I’m leaving Air and Kanon out since it’s been so long since I last saw their respective anime and I haven’t read the Air VN yet or finished reading the Kanon VN.
I normally don’t approve of topics like this as they usually just tend to be giant arguments, but this one seems to be going in a much more positive direction, so I’ll contribute what I think.
Favorite character from Key? Kagari. More specifically: Moon Kagari
she barely ever says anything in the route mostly about her, and I thought it was a great decision to have her not speak. It’s like they built a whole character, but the character doesn’t even speak a known language, so the whole struggle of getting to know her with basically no communication was really interesting to me.
as for each game:
Kanon: Sayuri. That smile is amazing
Air: uhh… Air didn’t have many interesting characters IMO.
Clannad/Tomoyo After: Kanako. Definitely. Best. Period.
Little Busters/Kud Wafter: Kengo. The one bro who never gave up on Riki. No matter how much pushed him away he stood there with him when it mattered most.
Rewrite/Harvest Festa: See above. also, honorable mention to Sakuya and Akane; both of which were absolutely amazing characters
Tidied up the topic a bit. I’d prefer that we focus on your overall favourite Key characters for now. I don’t mind if you listen, but keep the discussion focused on your overall favourite(s)! I’ll take the time to share my own favourites at a later date.
Well there is no wrong answer for Key characters. Okay if anyone said like the student counsel president from Kanon I’d question their sanity, but besides that pretty much everyone has something to make them best girl/guy/dog.
THE FUTAKI FAMILY DID NOTHING WRONG!
Kanon: Yuichi
Yuichi is just an amazing character he introduced me to the lovable doclerag character archetype which remains one of my favorite today. In a way it gives you a perspective on people like him. You can be a horrible horrible person and still be a good person as much of an oxymoron it is.
Air: Misuzu
GOAL!
Clannad: Sunohara
Nothing like Sunohara, he is one suave motherkisser… At least he believes he is. But he’s a character who would always do his best for his friends. No matter how much of a tool he may seem he could be counted on.
Little Busters!: The boys, all of them.
You can’t make me choose, I wont choose. I love them all more than they love me! ;-;
Angel Beats!: TK.
Truthfully I don’t remember much of Angel Beats. :< TK is the character that stands out most in my mind though due to all his silly shenanigans.
One: To the Radiant Season(I’ll count it cause Jun Maeda): Kouhei
The main protagonist of One was like Yuichi without restraints.
He would pull all sorts of pranks such as tying a poor tsundere’s hair to her chair and then RIIIIIIIIIIIIP. Kouhei reminds me that there are worse people than me or @Kanon and makes me feel better in comparison.
I excluded Rewrite as I haven’t finished it yet.
Whooooa. That’s a name I wasn’t expecting.
His pranks are so harsh sometimes I wouldn’t even call them pranks!
cough
Kanon: My favorite would be the loveable and beautiful Makoto. Although her nightly pranks during the common route get really old really fast, I still think she’s adorable and funny and a great character. And the wedding makes me cry buckets
Air: Misuzu will always be my #1 favorite Key character. Her inability to make friends no matter how hard she tries and how she just wants someone to be her friend really breaks my heart and her beautiful personality and way of viewing the world can never be replaced. And it’s so unfair she’s one of the few Key heroines that doesn’t really have a happy ending. Yes the curse is broke but she’s still dead.
Clannad: Nagisa because Nagisa is such a butterfly. She may appear weak but I think she is actually one of the strongest Key heroine’s in my opinion because no matter what happens she’s happy just being with Tomoya. If he has to work she’s content knowing she’ll get to see him that night. If things don’t go according to plan she still has a smile on her face because the person she loves is by her side. That’s a kind of strength I aspire to have in my life.
Planetarian: Not much of an option here. Yumemi is really cool but I don’t feel as emotionally attached to her as I do other Key characters.
Little Busters: Rin. But everyone in Little Busters is amazing (and as much as I initially couldn’t stand Masato he is growing on me)
Angel Beats: I don’t ever remember her name but I really like the blonde girl in GirlsDeMo who is on the phone/headset backstage
I haven’t played Rewrite so I can’t say much about those characters yet
My favorite KEY character is…
I wonder. The characters may not forgive me for doing favouritism, but well if I have to name one of out them KEY characters, then it has got to be…
… ah I can’t do this. I love most of them.
OK, I’ll just do it like everyone else then.
Kanon: Nayuki, because she’s the cutest for me.
Clannad: Akkio and Sanae. Supposed to pick one, but I’m sorry, I just can’t separate those two. Best couple eveeeeeer!!!
Clannad Tomoyo After: Takafumi, because he is a great younger brother.
Air: Misuzu, because gaoooooooo.
Little Busters: There are two favorite here because the number of their votings are tied in my heart. Kyousuke; he reminds me of myself (lol) and Komari for her spiral of happiness. That theory is just beautiful… I think it was fate that made me ship these two favourite characters of mine.
Angel Beats: HINA lad the awesome. (and Yurippe, because she’s smokin’ hot)
Rewrite: not play it yet. But from the looks, I think I’ll go for Akane.
If you don’t mind me asking, what’s the reasoning behind this? (If there even is any)
I’m interested because apparently not many people liked Akane’s personality.
I was under the impression that most people had the opposite opinion. Akane is definitely one of my favourites.
I think probably Touka is my favourite though.
She did win the character popularity poll in Japan, but the majority of people I’ve talked to didnt like her when they first met her. Though it’s entirely possible that I’m speaking for a biased sample.
I guess I’ll play my cards.
Kanon: Ahaha~ There are three that will always compete for the top spot here, just for one) abuse of Sayuri’s laugh, two) Mai > Sayuri, but at the same time Sayuri > Mai to me, as in both are never wrong. And 3) Nayuuukkiiiiiiiii. Considering one was at one point my alarm to wake up… Nayuki.
Clannad: Still Kyou. I can’t change that opinion.
Tomoyo After: Takanako. I don’t care, I’m putting the couple together. Both are such great characters, but specifically for their role together. I find Takafumi kind of a ruined character just through being interpreted through Tomoya (foreigner Takafumi was a hilarious set of scenes)
Air: I WANT to say Potato… but then I remembered Summer. Kanna-bi. It’s odd thinking my way back, but she’s a sweet and genuine character.
Little Busters: This is rough on me. As much as I want to say Kanata like I did with the heroines… Kyousuke is just that great of a character.
Angel Beats: Thanks to her getting a personality… I shouldn’t like her due to that personality… but Yusa. There’s something about me and making things my favorites if they’re flawed but I like them within those flaws. Yusa is such an example. I don’t dislike her hatred of males, and it makes me want to reverse it all the more because she’s so cute.
Rewrite: Shiz… Sakuya. I COULD cheat and say Shizuru & Sakuya… but no. I still love the moments Ian told me “oh 80% of people hated him at first and came to love him” and I joined that group that came to love him. No homo.
