Kyoto Animation Fire: Arson Many Dead

This is going to upset my anime "expert" son

TOKYO (AP) — A man screaming “You die!” burst into an animation production studio in Kyoto, Japan, and set it on fire early Thursday, authorities said, killing seven people and leaving at least 16 more presumed dead.

The blaze injured another 36 people, some of them critically, Japanese authorities said. Most were workers at Kyoto Animation, known for mega-hit stories featuring high school girls.

The fire started in the three-story building in Japan’s ancient capital after the suspect sprayed an unidentified liquid accelerant, Kyoto prefectural police and fire department officials said.

Seven have been confirmed dead with severe burns, said fire department official Satoshi Fujiwara. Six people also found on the first and second floors were presumed dead, Fujiwara said.

On the third floor, more than 10 people were found unresponsive, he said. Some of them were found on the stairs, where they apparently collapsed while gasping for air and trying to go out to the roof.

The suspect was injured and taken to a hospital, officials said. Police are investigating the man on suspicion of arson.

Survivors who saw the attacker said he was not their colleague and that he was screaming ”(You) die!” when he dumped the liquid and started the fire, according to Japanese media reports. They said some of the survivors got splashed with the liquid.

Footage on Japan’s NHK television showed gray smoke billowing from the charred building. Other footage showed windows blown off.

“There was an explosion, then I heard people shouting, some asking for help,” a female witness told TBS TV. “Black smoke was rising from windows on upper floors, then there was a man struggling to crawl out of the window.”

Witnesses in the neighborhood said they heard bangs coming from the building, others said they saw people coming out blackened, bleeding, walking barefoot, Kyodo News reported.

Fire department officials said more than 70 people were in the building at the time of the fire and many of them ran outside.

Kyoto Animation, better known as KyoAni, was founded in 1981 as an animation and comic book production studio, and its hits include “Lucky Star,” ″K-On!” and “Haruhi Suzumiya.”

With at least 23 killed or presumed dead, the fire was the worst mass killing in Japan since a man stabbed and killed 19 people at an assisted living facility in western Tokyo in 2016.

Kyoto Animation, better known as KyoAni, was founded in 1981 as an animation and comic book production studio, and is known for mega-hit stories featuring high school girls, including “Lucky Star,” ″K-On!” and “Haruhi Suzumiya.”

 

Unbelievable. I was shocked when I read the news on the BBC. My favourite anime TV shows, K-ON, Lucky Star, and Haruhi Suzumiya was made there.

My avatar is Azusa Nakano from K-ON, also made by Kyoto Animation.

 

From the latest update the arsonist murderer is under police guard in hospital
........Twenty people were confirmed dead and about 10 were showing no vital signs, an official for the Kyoto City Fire Department said, a term authorities often use before a death has been confirmed by a doctor.
........There was an outpouring of support for the studio on Japanese-language social media, with some users posting pictures of animation. Many posted with the hashtag ”#PrayForKyoani” - using an abbreviation for Kyoto Animation.

 

The GoFundMe campaign for the animation studio, setup by Sentai Filmworks (who licensed KyoAni related works to North America), has now grown to over $350K USD.

 

Just read about it this morning. Very sad. Who was that f****** fool!?

 

The latest

Thirty-three people were confirmed dead, an official for the Kyoto City Fire Department said.

The studio produces popular series such as the “Sound! Euphonium”. Its “Free! Road to the World - The Dream” movie is due for release this month.

“I am heartbroken,” Hideaki Hatta, the studio’s chief executive told reporters. “It in unbearable that the people who helped carry Japan’s animation industry were hurt and lost their lives in this way.”

There was an outpouring of support for the studio on Japanese-language social media, with some users posting pictures of animation. Many posted with the hashtag ”#PrayForKyoani” - using an abbreviation for Kyoto Animation.

The studio has an outsized impact on Japan’s animation industry that outstrips the list of works it has produced, said Tokyo-based film commentator Yuichi Maeda.

“It has a huge presence in animation here. To have this many people die at once will be a huge blow to the Japanese animation industry,” he said.

 

Cannot imagine what would motivate somebody to do this. An expresion of art, a joy of creation, a craft so appreciated in that part of the world. Now wiped out by somebody apparently more inspired by the destroying of things.

 

Horrible!

 

Terribly tragic news, just awful to read the linked news... and thank you for sharing the GoFundMe information!

 

My wife saw one of their films fairly recently. She just Tweeted:

A Kyoto Animation film I saw in January. My heart goes out to the victims, the survivors, their families, friends and fans. Such a tragic, horrible loss.​

... Responding to her original tweet:

39) A Silent Voice @ Rosemont. Japan. Directed by Naoko Yamada (female!). From IMDB: "A young man is ostracized by his classmates after he bullies a deaf girl to the point where she moves away. Years later, he sets off on a path for redemption." Very unusual, very good.​

Burning to death is a horrible way to die, I can't even begin to imagine what was going through this person's mind.

 

More....
Tokyo (CNN)The suspect at the center of Japan's worst mass killing in almost 20 years told police that his work was plagiarized and that used gasoline to torch the renowned Kyoto Animation studio, killing 33 people.

Police identified the suspect as 41-year-old Shinji Aoba during a press conference on Friday and said he has unspecified mental health issues.
Kyoto Fushimi Police spokesperson Ryoji Nishiyama said they were not yet aware of a link between the suspect and the studio in Kyoto's Fushimi-ku district.
The suspected arson attack on Thursday has left anime fans world-over grieving the loss of life and a studio, which claimed to put its employees first and was a major force in the industry.


Twelve men, 20 women and another individual whose gender was unknown died in the blaze and 35 were injured. All of those who died were employees.
As they apprehended the suspect, police said the man spoke about his work being plagiarized but cautioned that they need to wait until the suspect is formally interviewed before confirming a motive.
Officers have so far been unable to question the man, who remains sedated in hospital owing to the severe burns he sustained during the attack.
Grim details started to emerge from the scene on Friday as police began their inspection of the site.
After dousing flames, firefighters entered the building and found 20 bodies lying on the staircase leading to the roof exit. Another team found 11 bodies on the second floor of the building and two on the ground floor.
Police said that 74 people were inside the building at the time of the blaze.
The fire spread so rapidly that many inside did not have time to escape, Kyoto Prefectural police told CNN. Several people jumped out of the second and third floor windows and suffered bone fractures.

 

They went over 1M in less than a day. Anime fans are serious!

 

Incredible! It went over $1.4 million just now. My faith in humanity has been restored more from this.

 

My son just told me that this will now never happen. All its content both digital and physical was destroyed in the fire.

 

That anime studio was noted not just for the 'polish' of their productions but also the superior working conditions and higher than average proportion of female animation staff. A senseless waste of lives.

 

I loved Dragon Maid. Hilarious from beginning to end.

A real tragedy when you can't even mind your own business at work without the possibility of a maniac going on a rampage.

 

The latest word is that the killer alleges that the company "plagiarized" work of his.

 

He had mental issues, was well known to police, had assaulted multiple women and spent time in jail for robbing a shop at knife point.

 

The latest.....
A week after a tragic fire at Kyoto Animation’s No.1 Studio, which left 34 people dead, fans have reached into their wallets to show their support.
From Forbes
Combined fundraisers including a GoFundMe from North American anime licensing company Sentai Filmworks and a direct donation link to Kyoto Animation’s bank account have raised more than $5 million for the victims since Thursday, July 18.

From the Hollywood Reporter
Yasuhiro Takemoto, director of TV series Lucky Star and co-director of feature The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, both by Kyoto Animation (KyoAni), is feared to be among the 34 who died in the arson attack on the studio July 18.
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This last is confirmed. He was the person so badly burned they could not identify his gender.
Continuing with the last article
The world premiere of KyoAni's Violet Evergarden Gaiden is to go ahead at Germany's AnimagiC convention Aug. 3 and 4 "at the express request of the studio," according to organizers.

Violet Evergarden started life as a 'light novel' published by KyoAni after winning the grand prize at the studio's Kyoto Animation Award in 2014. It was turned into an anime series in 2016 and licensed by Netflix in 2018. Violet Evergarden Gaiden is a spinoff feature and before the arson a sequel was set for release next year.

Series director Taichi Ishidate and series producer Shinichiro Hatta will not now attend the premiere in Germany, but music producer Shigeru Saito will represent the film in their place.
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According to my son it would not have happened on a normal day, but the director and several key people were there to be interviewed by NHK, and thats why the front entrance which would normally only open with a key card was unlocked for the idiot to enter.
The stars aligned.
The idiot is still alive in the hospital and had his apartment searched for clues. He will probably be charged with murder and arson of an occupied structure. That is if his mental defects don't prevent justice.

 

Correction, 35. One person passed in hospital this week.