Key's Jun Maeda, writer of Kanon, Clannad and Angel Beats!, reveals pharyngeal cancer and chooses palliative care to keep creating
Visual Arts said on October 19 that the 51-year-old scenario writer and composer is hospitalized and has declined aggressive treatment so he can conserve his strength for work, including Heaven Burns Red and a set of new songs.
Jun Maeda, the writer and composer whose stories for Key became Kanon, Air, Clannad and Little Busters!, has been diagnosed with pharyngeal cancer. Key's parent company, Visual Arts, shared the news on October 19 in Japanese and in an English-language statement.
The company says the 51-year-old first felt something wrong in his throat in early spring. By summer, swelling and pain had set in, and a thorough examination led to the diagnosis. Having weighed his condition and outlook, Maeda opted for palliative care instead of aggressive treatment, so that he can save his energy for creative work. He is in hospital now.
What happens to his projects
Much of the statement concerns Heaven Burns Red, the mobile RPG for which Maeda supplies the original concept, scenario and music. His portion of the main story is written up to the first half of Chapter 6, as are the lyrics and compositions for that stretch, and he has also set down the main beats needed to finish the chapter. Visual Arts warned that, depending on how his illness develops, later scenarios and songs may go ahead without him.
Maeda had also been planning a new original music project to roll out on YouTube over a long period. Concluding that he has little production time left, he changed course: songs already in progress will be completed as fast as possible and, at his own request, uploaded to YouTube one after another.
Messages, not gifts
Visual Arts apologized to fans and partners for the abrupt announcement and asked everyone to respect Maeda's wishes. Letters and messages will be forwarded to him, though he cannot reply to each one, and the company will not accept gifts or get-well items.
It is not the first serious illness Maeda has made public. In 2016 he spent from late February to early July in hospital and afterward disclosed idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy, a condition of the heart muscle.
Beyond the visual novels that built Key's reputation, Maeda created the original TV anime Angel Beats! and The Day I Became a God, and more recently provided the original concept and music for Summer Pockets.
