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Official Site: Key

is a fictional character and the main hero in Key's adult visual novel Kanon, followed closely by Nayuki Minase who is the only Kanon heroine to appear with Ayu on three of the official game covers released by Key. Ayu was created by Naoki Hisaya who wrote her scenario for the visual novel, and designed by Itaru Hinoue. Hisaya commented on how he thought Ayu was the one character in Kanon that he felt he grasped the best, but noted it was very difficult to write her character due to Ayu being primarily energetic. After Hinoue drew wings on Ayu's backpack, Hisaya suggested that they remove them due to spoiler reasons, and while Hinoue went along with it at the time, the wings were later included once again.

The main focus of both Kanon anime is Ayu, who has also appeared in all of Kanon s adaptations, and has been incorporated into numerous dōjin games. who also voiced Ayu during her cameo in Air. A leitmotif named is associated with Ayu which is played in Kanon numerous times during scenes which involve her, and is also used in a similar fashion throughout Kyoto Animation's Kanon anime. In a review by Anime News Network, Ayu is described as a character that "persists on a degree of earnest cuteness that will endear her to some viewers."

Ayu's character designer, Itaru Hinoue, commented in an interview that she put a lot of effort into Ayu's design, and Ayu was her favorite character to create among the Kanon characters. Hinoue was able to design Ayu any way she wanted, and by all means she wanted Ayu to wear her large tan duffle coat, and be depicted as a strong character. but not about everything. At the time she was formulating the character design, many festivals were going on in Osaka, Japan where Key is located. When Hinoue had a chance to attend, there were many people around wearing angel wings as part of the festival, and because she thought they looked really cute, chose to later draw them onto Ayu as well. Hinoue later read Ayu's finished scenario and became aware of an unintentional form of foreshadowing on her part due to wing imagery factoring into Ayu's story. Shortly after, Hisaya suggested to Hinoue, "Since they seem to have become a spoiler, let's lose the wings." The wings were thus removed, but before long they were attached again. While Hinoue had originally chosen the colors for the hair and eyes of the characters herself, these were later discussed by the development team and altered accordingly, though Ayu, Mai, and Nayuki did not change much. It came to the point where Hinoue had to constantly go back and forth between her intentions and what was later decided by consensus.

Ayu is strange and mysterious seventeen-year-old girl, the same age as Yuichi, though due to her short stature at 154 cm (5'1") and comparatively low body weight at 41 kg (90 lbs), she is perceived initially by Yuichi to be much younger; in fact, Ayu is the shortest and least heavy character introduced in Kanon. Ayu's three sizes are 80 cm - 52 cm - 79 cm (31" - 20" - 31"), and are the closest to Shiori's despite Shiori being one year younger. When first introduced, Ayu is seen wearing a large tan duffle coat over a sweater and shorts, despite the cold winter weather, and is the only Kanon character seen to regularly don mittens. On her feet, she wears brown argyle socks and snow boots. She is immediately recognizable by the red Alice band in her short brown hair, and a small backpack she wears which has two attached wings on either side. In later appearances, she is sometimes seen without her coat or mittens. As a child of ten, Ayu is depicted wearing a pink sweater, a short skirt, and a large white bow in her hair, which is grown-out slightly longer than when Ayu is seventeen.

Ayu Tsukimiya has not been a contender in any CBUB matches.