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Kyoto Animation Studio Tragedy!


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Just saw the news about the suspected arson attack on Kyoto Animation studio, with a feared 23 dead and 36 more injured.

The fire broke out at a studio of Kyoto Animation Co. on July 18 in Kyoto, Japan.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/18/asia/kyoto-animation-fire-intl-hnk/index.html

My heart aches for all the victims of this terrible crime.

Edited by Shizuka the Cat
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[mumbles darkly] ...At least it's a violent event not involving firearms. Here in the states, that kind of attack is measured in when, not if. How often do events like this happen involving the mentally ill in japan (or eastern Asia in general)?

https://www.npr.org/2019/07/18/742981029/japanese-anime-studio-hit-with-suspected-arson-killing-at-least-16?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20190718&fbclid=IwAR12T6Y-JLwa011Jrs_ZEskreaXgLpbEomP-7vsQrt0SvqFTh7daU_Aveqc

When I saw this mentioned on FB yesterday, there was one KIA. Now? 26 to 33 depending on whom you ask.

Parent me is shaking my head in mild grief.

Gamer me, however, is darkly wondering if some anime studios are celebrating the destruction of a competitor studio apparently known for actually paying their employees (as well as reviewing security around their properties). In my middle age, I no longer just assume that everyone wants to be the Lawful Good Paladin...

 

Edited by TehPW
Welp, it's quite worse...
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Oh god, the death toll went up from when I last checked.  

I hate this.  I love Kyoto Animation.  They are considered to be a studio that produces high quality animations and stories, but also treats its employees a lot better than other animation studios do in Japan.

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Evil intent is the one commodity of which humanity will never be exhausted.  Somehow too, whether it be a murder, or something like this that claims many lives, it's always good people or good institutions that somehow fall prey.  My heart goes out to these people and this company, and I hope the company makes a strong comeback.

As for the perpetrator, there's no fitting punishment to make up for all the loss he's caused; sometimes, it's unfortunate that we can only die once.

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What a disaster.  :( 

Kyoto Animation has an impressive filmography of really beautiful animation work, the loss and injury of so many talented animators and support staff is a genuine tragedy for the anime industry.

 

 

2 hours ago, TangledThorns said:

Sad. Curious about motive.

I don't think the police have officially commented on the culprit's motive yet.

Spoiler

I have seen some posts on Japanese social media pages this morning that claim KyoAni was receiving anonymous death threats for some time before the arson, from someone claiming they had plagiarized his work.  No clue if there's any truth to it, but that's just what I've seen.

 

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It's top news on Japan Times and Yomiyuri.  Not to mention TV news.

10 hours ago, Old_Nash said:

The article appears to have the wrong location: the fire occurred in the Kyoto, Fushimi Ward branch, not the Uji located head office.

More articles:

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/07/18/national/anime-fans-shocked-arson-attack-famous-kyoto-studio/

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0005880591

 

In Japanese (has video of the fire): https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/national/20190718-OYT1T50248/

As per the article: "33 people died: 20 women, 12 men, and 1 who's gender cannot be determined.  2 were on the 1st floor, 11 on the 2nd, and 20 in the stairs to the roof from the 3rd floor."  "While some were heavily injured, others died from carbon monoxide poisoning without (other) injuries.  17 more people are heavily injured."

"Usually employees must use an ID card to enter the building.  However, because there was a meeting/conference today with people from outside of the company, the card access system had been cancelled from the morning."

 

As for the perpetrator, the Japanese article says: "burns over his whole body.  Fell unconscious after being 'secured'.  It appears that he is neither an employee nor has never done work for the company in the past.  He currently lives in Saitama."  "He had 2 20 L gasoline cans, and had a rucksack and bag with several kitchen knives and hammers."

Edited by sketchley
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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/19/world/asia/japan-fire-kyoto-animation.html

"Japan Fire Killed Mostly Women, at a Studio Known for Hiring Them"

God frakking damn it. (Entire article quoted here in case you can't access NYT, but you should give them a sub.)

By Eimi Yamamitsu, Motoko Rich and Makiko Inoue


July 19, 2019

KYOTO, Japan — He can’t get the women out of his mind.

A day after an apparent arson killed 33 people at an animation studio in the Japanese city of Kyoto, a neighbor, the 81-year-old Ken Okumura, remembered seeing several women jump from the building’s second floor. They were so badly burned that blood was coming from their noses, and all of their clothes but their underwear were gone.

“Just horrible,” Mr. Okumura said on Friday, as the smell of burning still hung in the humid air.

Much was still unknown about the Thursday fire, which appeared to be Japan’s worst mass killing in decades. The police identified Shinji Aoba, 41, as a suspect in the case, based on statements they said he made when he was apprehended. They said Mr. Aoba was being treated for severe burns and had not been arrested.

Japanese news reports, citing unnamed police sources, said the suspect had told the police that he started the fire because he believed the studio, Kyoto Animation, “stole a novel” from him.

NHK, the public broadcaster, reported that Mr. Aoba had served time in prison for robbery and that he was being treated for an unspecified mental illness. The report, which cited an unidentified source, said he lived in the city of Saitama, near Tokyo.

As of Friday, none of the names of the 33 people killed in the fire had been released. What was known was that almost two-thirds of them — 20 — were women.

That appears to reflect a trend in Japan’s animation industry, as well as the hiring practices at Kyoto Animation. There are about twice as many women as men among working animators in their 20s, according to Daisuke Okeda, a lawyer and adviser to the Japan Animation Creators Association.

Male animators still lead the industry, and they outnumber women among animators over 35, Mr. Okeda said. But Kyoto Animation — known as KyoAni to its fans — is known for employing more women, particularly younger women.

More than half of the workers in the burned building were women, based on figures released by the Kyoto fire officials about the dead as well as the dozens of injured.

On Friday, a man distraught about his 21-year-old granddaughter, who worked at Kyoto Animation, told NHK that he could not find her name on lists of people taken to local hospitals.

“She was my pride,” the man, Kazuo Okada, 69, said of his granddaughter, Megumu Ohno. “Her name started appearing on the screens of anime movies. I was so happy to see that. I was proud of her. I want to see her face soon.”

Kyoto Animation was co-founded by Yoko Hatta and her husband, Hideaki Hatta, in 1981, and went on to produce high-quality, meticulously detailed works. They included “The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya,” a science fiction series based at a high school, and “Lucky Star,” whose intelligent female protagonist is distracted from her studies by anime and video games.

Kyoto Animation also played a role in the careers of two star women directors of television anime, said Patrick W. Galbraith, a lecturer at Senshu University who has written extensively about the art form. “That’s significant,” he said.

Naoko Yamada directed the series “K-On!” for Kyoto Animation, and Hiroko Utsumi directed “Free!” a series about a boys’ swimming team. “Free!” stood out in the anime world, often known for being preoccupied with the female form, because it focused on the male body instead.

Ms. Utsumi has since moved to another anime studio, Mappa. According to Nikkan Sports, a daily newspaper, Ms. Yamada was not hurt in the fire.

Kyoto Animation is also unusual among anime studios in that it pays its workers salaries, rather than freelance fees. Japan’s animation industry has been accused of exploiting workers, who work long hours for low wages.

Ironically, KyoAni’s system may have exposed its workers to greater risk by concentrating so many of them in one studio. “It’s a rare system in the industry,” Mr. Okeda said.

The arsonist is believed to have purchased about 10 gallons of petroleum at a gas station near the studio, about half an hour before starting the fire. According to police reports, the man brought it to the studio in two cans, on a hand cart, then poured it out on the building’s first floor and ignited it with a lighter.

“We saw yesterday that anyone can cause mass killings and tremendous damage with cheap and easy tools anyone can obtain in daily life,” said Daiju Wada, a lecturer on security at Seiwa University in Chiba, Japan, and a security consultant. “It’s difficult not to sell gasoline to people.”

Hatsumi Yamashita, 74, who teaches dance at a nearby community center where firefighters treated some of the injured in a garage, remembered seeing one woman sitting on a staircase, wearing what Ms. Yamashita first thought was a jet-black outfit. “But when she laid down on the floor, I saw she was so burned that she was almost naked,” she said.

“I could never forget this young woman,” Ms. Yamashita said.

Eimi Yamamitsu reported from Kyoto, Japan, and Motoko Rich and Makiko Inoue from Tokyo. Hisako Ueno contributed reporting from Tokyo.

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Sound Euphonium is one of my favorite non-mecha Anime series ever, I watched A Silent Voice a few weeks ago, loved it. This studio and all the people behind it are nothing short of extreme talent (That's just my opinion). Maybe things will move on one day and maybe they won't. For now it's just a really dark day & time for all those families (the nightmare they must be going through) and yes even the fans. Anime & Manga have always been an escape from reality (for me & millions of others... most likely the creators/writers as well) into other worlds, adventures, experiences, etc. 

Not sure what else to say on this. I mean really, what do you say to make it better? 

Image result for kumiko sound euphonium crying gif

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*shakes head* Well, that man will probably get all the mental health needs he rates, once he gets to prison. What if he commits seppuku before trial? Is that still a thing with mere rank & file Japanese?

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3 hours ago, TehPW said:

*shakes head* Well, that man will probably get all the mental health needs he rates, once he gets to prison. What if he commits seppuku before trial? Is that still a thing with mere rank & file Japanese?

He also could very well get the death penalty considering the number of people that died as a result of the fire. 

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I am actually curious about the building's fire safety situation. It seems strange that 1 person could set a fire that killed so many people so quickly in a building that should have exits for that kind of situation. It just doesn't make any sense. Crappy situation all around

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57 minutes ago, frankell05 said:

I am actually curious about the building's fire safety situation. It seems strange that 1 person could set a fire that killed so many people so quickly in a building that should have exits for that kind of situation. It just doesn't make any sense. Crappy situation all around

Before addressing the fire safety: please keep in mind that the guy used up to 40 L of gasoline—so much, that there was an explosion when he lit it, and he was so badly burned that he, himself, fell unconscious after fleeing the crime scene (which is a blessing in disguise, as he appeared to have prepared hammers and kitchen knives to attack people fleeing the building!!!)

Fire safety situation: Japanese news is reporting that the building met the local fire safety regulations.  Speaking as a Canadian, however, those standards are what I would consider subpar: no sprinklers!

I don't know if the building had other emergency exits (e.g. escape ladders in lockers under the windows), but the impression I have is even if they had them, they would have been unusable due to the large size and intensity of the fire (it started with an explosion in a large pool of gasoline), as well as it's location.

Sadly, the exit to the roof was locked.  While it's easy to dismiss that as gross negligence, please keep in mind that roof access is restricted on many buildings in Japan due to the high suicide rate.  So, as bizarre and counter-intuitive as it may seem, it may have been locked for insurance reasons.

Correction:  the door to the roof was not locked, it was just "hard to open".  Ref: Unusual door to roof 'was hard to open,' survivor of fire at Kyoto anime studio says https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/07/21/national/kyoto-animation-arson-survivor-hints-unusual-door-roof-may-prevented-employees-escaping-blaze/

Edited by sketchley
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