Key

Background

Key is a Japanese visual novel studio formed in July 21, 1998 in Osaka by members Naoki Hisaya, Jun Maeda and OdiakeS. They're most famous for popularizing the nakige (emotional game) subgenre of visual novels with their early titles Kanon, Air, and Clannad, with all three titles receiving anime adaptations by Kyoto Animation (as well as a 2002 adaptation of Kanon by Toei Animation). Portions of their game library have been ported to consoles by InterChannel and Prototype. Since 2009, Key has collaborated with several anime producers like P.A. Works and Aniplex, resulting in some of their popular original anime productions Angel Beats, Charlotte, and The Day I Became a God. They're currently owned by visual novel publishing company Visual Arts. In 2023, it has been announced that Visual Arts have sold their assets to Chinese company Tencent.

Logo (June 4, 1999-)

Visuals: On a white background, the word "KEY" is shown in the form of handwritten streaks in black, with a red underline below "KE", and the top horizontal line of the "E" being red.

Variants:

Some games have the logo fade to the intro cinematic.
In some trailers, the logo is superimposed to the opening scene.
On Kanon, snow is shown falling in front of the logo.
On Rewrite, a letterboxed blue background appears with a fountain of particles shown at the center, then the logo fades in. A ripple then appears behind the logo as the screen brightens up.

Technique: Mostly none.

Audio: None, or the opening theme.

Availability: Seen on all their games since the release of Kanon, including most console ports.