Fueled by the passion of Key fans worldwide, English localization group, Sekai Project's recently released Kickstarter campaign for the translation of CLANNAD managed to reach its target stretch goal of over $140,000.00 within twenty-four hours of its launch. Currently, both the $1,000.00 and $7,000.00 pledge tiers are all sold out, with Sekai Project hinting that they are currently looking to adding a few more spots to the $1,000.00 tier which includes an exclusive B2 tapestry and autographed copy of the game by Key artist Itaru Hinoue. The company has also announced that they are currently exploring bringing over the HD assets from the PlayStation 3 release of CLANNAD.
For fans of Japanese visual novel-style games, the name Key evokes a lot of fond memories, magical storylines and endearing characters that often culminate into an cathartic bliss that I personally like to describe as "tear nirvana." Known as the company behind the scripts for tearjerker anime such as Kanon, Air and most recently Little Busters!, VisualArt's, Key's parent company, has finally begun to localize these timeless visual novels into English as part of a collaboration with the localization company Sekai Project.
With the recent release of the kinetic novel Planetarian already under their belt, the next big project for the two companies will be the upcoming Kickstarter campaign for Clannad; the title that is often arguably seen as the company's magnum opus. Take a trip with us as we interview Genki Tenkumo, one of the scenario writers for Clannad, and Yoshikuni Toyoizumi, one of VisualArt's PR representatives, at Japan Expo USA 2014 to discuss the company's plans and their hopes for the English market.