Lead: Visual Arts/Key has announced a Jun Maeda pharyngeal cancer diagnosis, and the Kanon and Clannad writer and composer has chosen palliative care while he works to finish his remaining Heaven Burns Red material and a set of new songs.
What happened
On Monday, October 19, Visual Arts/Key posted a statement on its official website about the health of Jun Maeda, the co-founder of Key and the writer behind Kanon, Air, Clannad and Angel Beats!. Siliconera reports the statement came from Visual Arts president and CEO Genki Tenkumo.
According to the announcement, Maeda has been diagnosed with pharyngeal cancer. After weighing his condition and the outlook for possible treatment, he has decided to focus on palliative care. Anime News Network reports that Maeda is currently in hospital and, in its translation of the statement, that he “remains strongly determined to devote himself to creative work through to the very end.”
The statement also covered his active projects:
- Heaven Burns Red: Maeda has finished his work on the first six chapters of the game, including the major story beats that carry the plot to the end of Chapter 6. Anime News Network adds that he has also completed lyrics and music for the songs in the first half of Chapter 6.
- Further writing: Depending on how his illness progresses, he may not be able to take on writing or songwriting beyond those finished segments.
- YouTube music project: Maeda had been preparing an original music project for YouTube as a long-term plan. He now intends to complete the songs already in development as quickly as possible, and they will be released on YouTube one by one at his request.
Visual Arts also published an email address and a postal address where fans can send messages and letters of encouragement. The company asked that fans send letters only, with no gifts or get-well items. Full contact details are on the company’s statement and in both linked reports below.
Why the Jun Maeda pharyngeal cancer news hits anime fans hard
Few writers shaped 2000s anime as much as Maeda did from the script and music side. Kanon, Air, Clannad and Little Busters! all started as Key visual novels he wrote, and all of them became anime that are still recommended as reference points for emotional drama. Fans call his style “nakige,” or crying games: stories built around loss, illness and the people left behind.
He then moved straight into original anime. Maeda wrote the story and music for Angel Beats! and Charlotte, and created and wrote The Day I Became a God. His concept for the Summer Pockets visual novel reached TV in 2025. On the games side, Heaven Burns Red, which launched in February 2022, was his first completely new game in 13 years, and its staff said in August that the main story had entered its final chapter.
This is not the first time his health has been in the news. Anime News Network notes that Maeda was in hospital for five months in 2016 with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy, a heart condition he later said would require a transplant. That history makes the decision to keep working through palliative care even more striking, and it explains why Visual Arts is being so specific about which of his work is already finished.
What we know vs what is rumored
- Confirmed: Visual Arts/Key announced the pharyngeal cancer diagnosis on October 19, and Maeda has chosen palliative care.
- Confirmed: He is in hospital, has completed his Heaven Burns Red work through Chapter 6, and plans to finish and release his in-progress YouTube songs.
- Confirmed: Fans can send letters and messages through Visual Arts; gifts are not accepted.
- Unconfirmed: Who will write Heaven Burns Red after Chapter 6, and how many songs from the YouTube project will be released, or when. Visual Arts has not said.
- Note: Siliconera describes his finished Heaven Burns Red work as covering Chapter 6, while Anime News Network specifies that his finished songs cover only the first half of that chapter. We have used the more detailed wording.
What happens next
The next updates are likely to come through Heaven Burns Red as it moves through its final chapter, and through YouTube as Maeda’s finished songs go up. Any further statements about his health will come from Visual Arts/Key, and we will not repeat speculation from social media. If you want to send a message, use the official channels in the statement and keep it to a letter, as the company asked.
Sources: Anime News Network — Kanon, Air, Clannad, Heaven Burns Red’s Jun Maeda in Palliative Care for Pharyngeal Cancer; Siliconera — Visual Arts Announced Jun Maeda Diagnosed With Pharyngeal Cancer