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With news of the incident spreading over to the mainstream, the staff here at RandomC wanted to take a moment to express our profound condolences for what happened to Kyoto Animation. It was a senseless act of violence that not only affected a beloved studio but the families of all the talented individuals that worked there.
Below is a post written by retired writer Samu on the situation as well as links to how to support Kyoto Animation in this wild time.
– Takaii
In Support of Kyoto Animation
This will go down as one of the darkest days in anime history.
Written by Samu
Early on Thursday morning a 41-year old man committed an act of arson on Kyoto Animation’s Studio 1 in Rokujizou. The death toll currently stands at 33 of the 70+ members of staff, with 36 injured, making it the largest single mass murder incident in post-war Japan.
Reports of the arsonist pouring oil not just on the building, but also people inside, are being circulated, as well as incidents of survivors running to nearby shops to call for help. There were also multiple knives found on the scene, though whether they were involved in this incident is yet to be confirmed. It has, however, been confirmed that the culprit has no direct involvement with the company.
What must be said in light of this tragedy is that in an industry where animators literally work themselves to death to churn for minimal pay per cell, Kyoto Animation has been an example of a studio that invests and cares for its staff deeply, fostering the creativity of aspiring artists by training animators in their own school, and actually offering them salaries (unlike most other animation studios). They take ownership of their property and consistently put out technically impressive works in part because their positive workforce who are not put under the same intense stress as other Tokyo companies – one example of this is that their shows are usually fully animated by the time the voice actors record their parts near the end of the production process; typically, by nature of the limited time for too much work, the industry standard is for most voice actors to act based on early thumbnails and sketches, with the animators and working up until the last possible moment.
Anyone who recognises my name knows I retired from RC back in 2017, but following this news I was asked by my friends still writing here to make this post, as they know how much love I have for this studio. As any of you who have read my posts on Hibike! Euphonium or any other Kyoto Animation property in the past will know, they are my favourite in the industry. I view them as a symbol to aspire to, both creatively and ethically. I haven’t quite wrapped my head around the everlasting consequences of today’s events, but this attack is likely to cause irreparable damage and we must be prepared for the worst, but still show our support. Directors and artists and other members of staff that we may recognise or look up will not have survived, but their legacy can still live on. The physical copies of most of Kyoto Animation’s work may be gone, but we cannot stop supporting them. All projects will likely be postponed or put to an end depending on who was working on which project, and we all must realise that is just how things have to be. So many talented artists have died for working on what they love, and the survivors will likely wear emotional scars for the rest of their lives. It’s too early to say, but Kyoto Animation as we have grown to know and love may never recover from this.
This is without a doubt the darkest day in anime history.
I’d issue some caution to those immediately giving money to the “Help KyoAni Heal” GoFundMe due to it being unconfirmed whether KyoAni will directly receive these funds. If you want to help in other ways then you can support the company instead by buying their products (specifically their digital images) directly from their website or even by streaming as you normally would, as little as it may help. Spread the word and show your support.
Support Pages and Other Reading
- How-To Guide on buying stuff directly from KyoAni’s Online Store.
- Gofundme started by Sentai Filmworks’s President John Ledford to help KyoAni.
- The Evolution Of Kyoto Animation: A Unique Anime Studio And Its Consistent Vision by Sakura Blog
This is a sad day for the anime industry. 🙁
Truly unbelievable. I’ve been following this on the news since 1AM and there aren’t words to express.
Samu, thank you for putting your thoughts and feelings into these beautiful words. I’m just still so shocked and at a loss for words. I’m grieving and it’s just so hard to process. I still can’t believe this happened, to people as amazing as the ones at KyoAni, who are so dedicated to their craft in wanting to bring happiness to the world and paint smiles on faces through their works. The journalistic coverage of the situation in Syria comes close, especially where the body of that three year old boy washed up onto the beaches. But no other international disaster has hit home quite so hard due to the personal connection I feel towards KyoAni and their amazing staff.
I love KyoAni. They made me believe in the potential of anime and what it could do. I went through some very dark times and they (together with Key) made me believe in this life through Clannad After Story. I will never stop believing in KyoAni and now it’s my turn to give back in the ways that I can, however little they may be. Let’s offer our prayers and love to those who’ve died, those who’ve come out in critical condition and those who have survived to bear the trauma of today’s event, and all loved ones to the aforementioned. We should definitely keep our expectations realistic, but I’d encourage the anime community to be remain united in our affection and belief towards KyoAni.
An unthinkable act of barbarity. I know I’ve not appreciated some of KyoAni’s recent output as much as their earlier works, but I would not wish this on any company or any person. It’s the sort of atrocity that for various reasons might make it difficult to recover from, but let’s just hope that in the fullness of time the company and its surviving employees can make a full recovery.
My heart breaks for these immensely talented people and their families. They worked so hard to bring us so many beautiful shows and there is just a pit in my stomach. What a senseless act of violence. I wish nothing but peace and healing to all the victims of this tragedy.
What a shock. Prayers for all effected by this senseless act.
Seeing this news just breaks my heart, I love all of their works and Clannad was actually one of the first shows that got me into anime, it just hurts and all I can say is thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected by this tragedy T T
Oh Samu, I’m so sad that the joy of seeing your byline comes at the expense of you having to write about such an awful thing. I feel terrible for everyone whose life was changed by this.
I’m still shocked. KyoAni is one of the best animation studios we ever had and one of my favourite: I laughed so much watching Full Metal Panic Fumoffu or Kobayashi-san’s and shed stream of tears with Kanon 2006, Clannad and Koe no Katachi but I never imagined I’ll shed a tear for you one day.
I just want to say thank you KyoAni and all its talented employees for putting a lot of emotions and passion into your works, triggering those same feelings within people watching them.
May your employees rest in peace or get prompt recovery.
Was seeing the news on this update all day as it got worse and worse. So sad. 🙁
And I’ll certainly try and help their recovery by buying their products when I can.
Man, I’ve said things like this before againts this particular studio and few others (the last one the studio that animated Arifireta, just a week ago).
I said things like “I will burn their studio because I disagree with this…”, or “I will put a bomb in their building because I hate they made that…”, but seeing someone actually doing it make me feel really bad. It was just a phrase of frustration and disagreement. But to think that some fat hardcore otaku actually did it… I will never play with this again. Fucking lunatics!
While I’ll gladly give anime studios a good dressing down for poor pacing, questionable narrative choices, off-model moments (unless it’s a comedy anime), not being faithful in adapting the source material, obvious “rush jobs”, “crunch culture” (reminiscent of some “Triple-AYYY” videogame studios recently), and the like, I do try to stop short of wishing them any sort of harm.
1. It’s in bad taste;
2. It’s counterproductive (read: not conducive to perfecting their craft); and
3. At the end of the day, animators are still people like you and me who sometimes make mistakes and are just trying to make an honest living.
The good people who died in the KyoAni fire certainly didn’t deserve to go the way they did. And I certainly would not wish that kind of tragedy on other anime studios just because of a botched anime adaptation of a beloved manga/light novel/visual novel series.
Definetly. Those where just rants, but obviously I’ve never wish for the death of anyone. This is beyond evil. If the attacker had a personal problem, there is the law, and Japan is known to be a country of a low level of impunity, so he could even have won if there really was a copyright/plagiarism issue.
This sucks for us Otakus how are we gonna get our anime fills
That puts it squarely in perspective. This is a tough industry.
We poke fun at terrible works that are sometimes produced and are
awed by some of the amazing creations sometimes produced, but I
don’t think (at least not me) anyone ever forgets that there are
people living their lives behind it all and just trying to make
their way in their life. Nobody deserves a fate like that.
For the amount of damage this single man was able to do, it seems
like there was quite a bit of planning involved in his crime.
Nothing could mitigate such an act upon innocent people, but I
wonder what the trigger was. Was he rejected by a woman who worked
there; a medication failure or personal tragedy — to know why if
only to understand the motive and hopefully prevent a repeat in
this industry or any workplace anywhere.
My prayers go out to the victims in this senseless act of murder.
It was heartbreaking to wake up to this news. So many talented and amazing people were taken away by such a horrific attack. I grew up with KyoAni and my main exposure to seasonal anime was through their work on Haruhi, Lucky Star, and K-ON. I’ve been enjoying their anime for so many years and it’s admirable to look into their approach for creating anime and how it contrasts with the more freelance-heavy studios. With such an interconnected crew tied to some of our favorite series, it’s devastating to see them in the news under the context of being the targets of a heinous firebombing. We will learn more about the circumstances behind the attack and who the victims were with time, but for now, I want to do what I can to pay them forward for making my exposure with anime brighter and fonder, and dedicate what I can to support KyoAni, those who have died in the attack, and their enduring future.
I been a devoted fan since 2006. A ton of what I do online has been either inspired or directly connected in association with KyoAni anime. My mind has been reeling since the incident, I can’t think straight and I have trouble focusing. I know more developments and answers will come soon but I just hope all the grieving families will be okay. I worry that KyoAni’s specialness will disappear, they won’t be able to fund the courses, or they won’t be able to pay their employees well anymore. I worry this could happen to other studios too. I’m trying to keep on with my life but it’s hard.
Let me say that tragic circumstances aside, it’s wonderful to have an emeritus writer like Samu back on the RC masthead. I had no hesitation in urging that Samu be the one to write the RC entry on this tragedy – it just wouldn’t have felt right if it had been anyone else.
Horrified when I first saw the news from Japanese Twitter. More horrified to wake up finding how many people were murdered. I hope the remaining employees will recover with time, and get all the medical and mental help they require.
I am disturbed to know that someone would go as far as commit such atrocity. It is utterly unjustifiable, and no one at all deserves it. My heart and condolences go to those affected. This is truly sad and horrifying.
> I am disturbed to know that someone would go as far as commit such atrocity
same
> It is utterly unjustifiable
..it’s the capitalism, bro
drives people beyond the breaking point
> My heart and condolences go to those affected
> This is truly sad and horrifying
Amen..
Es un tragedia pensar en esto de verdad me eriza la piel, como todos dicen un día negro en el mundo del anime, mucho consuelo para las familias !!
#PrayForKyoani
This was terribly sad and utterly senseless.
Kyoto Animation’s works have given many great joy. It is horrific to see this happen to them. In addition to those who lost their lives or were injured, my heart goes out to the survivors and the trauma they must have endured.
We don’t know who may have perished, but in addition to any well known creators, it it is terrible to think what promising talents and young lives may have been lost to the future in this tragic attack, likely the result of one person’s lack of empathy and fixation on their own (imagined?) grievances or entitlement without understanding or caring what it means for the lives of others.
This act was beyond malicious. We can but hope that those who were injured get better and heal as much as medical science can provide.
I don’t know and can’t understand why anyone would want to do something like this. KyoAni has always poured so much love into their work. You can see it and feel it in every frame. There are so many creative minds gone from this world now, but that love is something they passed on to every individual who enjoyed their works. May their families be looked after.
This has been a devastating day.
Rumor going on that dude did not do it with no reason, rumor has it that KyoAni stole arsonist’s work, completely discredited him and published as their own, sad news indeed, but i am going to be skeptical and wait for full story. We literally know nothing about KyoAni internal affairs, there is always an underside to every story, perhaps man worked his entire life on singular piece of work that was stolen from him, his life became meaningless, and we know how Japanese react when they lose purpose.
The arsonist also has a history of criminal record and mental health disorder.
Most likely, the arsonist has manic-depressive disorder (also commonly known as bipolar I disorder). When he is manic, he feels like he is on top of the world, with delusions of grandeur, like he can do anything. When he is depressive, everything comes crashing down.
So during his manic phase, he believed that he was responsible for the fantastic work that KyoAni made, and when he turned depressive, he believed that everything was taken from him. He blamed KyoAni for his depressive state and believed that all his “success” while he was manic was stolen from them.
In short, this is all in his head and he directed it at the KyoAni staff through violent arsonist behavior.
KyoAni president Hdeaki Hatta said that the dude never submitted anything to their contests.
To think that a studio that produced so much joy and dreams would met such a nightmarish,dream-crushing fate, this is just too cruel.
Sad day indeed, not only to anime community but to Japan in general, since it is largest mass murder since at least infamous Tokyo metro Sarin attack.
I fully expect the perpetrator to get death sentence. Japan still carries them out even if very rarely because of low murder rate.
From witness statements it seems the arsonist may have a grudge against KyoAni for stealing his idea. But even if his intellectual property was stolen that is no justification for his action. Instead of appealing to a court of law he sought the worst way of righting any real or perceived wrong against him. I feel terrible for the KyoAni staff and their families who are going through this trauma right now. Life will not be the same after this fire, both for those directly affected and for the industry and fans alike. I hope police, both in Japan and around the world, will take death threats more seriously. Even though most threats never amount to anything real, it only takes one bad apple, one unstable person to wreak this much pain and carnage.
This still feels so surreal. I’ve loved their work since I watched K-ON and I’d say their anime is the most consistent in term of quality. May those who passed away rest in peace.
I don’t think we’ll ever get another studio again which consistently produces high quality animation in 1080p. They were truly masters of their craft and if this is the end of them as we know it, they will leave a huge void in the industry and in the hearts of their fans.
Or should i say The Hardest Slap in the History of Eastern Animation Industry That i would shockingly to say
Show Spoiler ▼
I could imagine of something like Xilam (France) or Klasky Csupo (USA) would been hit with arson attack like this (Yeah Although is really impossible) what would be the reaction for that? Well it would be devastated right? but not as heavily tragic as this…But i Agress!
as for the Arsonist, it’s sure he is a deranged that he thinks they stolen their his idea from them, but i could imagine something more cynical than this, i could imagine that if there will be another arsonist attack on the second studio building or perhaps another anime studio (i.e: Sunrise, bones, Doga Kobo, etc), is this some sort well handed plan for a massive take down on every Animation Studios in Japan? OOPS! No Hard feeling People Please!
and as for the studio, I for one to be honest, this studio isn’t special but i feel like they became a little more better now when time goes by until this happens…
So yeah it was a Really Heavy Day for KyoAni…Still not all is lost…They will Come Back!
They might took very long…BUT FOR SURE!
I’ve been regularly refreshing a mega thread on reddit and checking other sites all day and managed to catch what has to be some of the stupidest and self centered responses to this tragedy. People freaking out that in response to the arson and all the deaths that Enen no Shouboutai is going to go on hiatus, or that the show will be cancelled or that the entire series anime AND manga are going to get canceled.
I could make a lot of excuses for them, like how they don’t want to accept the reality and size of this travesty so they try to make it smaller by focusing on one thing, but I’m really not going to.
Sometimes people are just selfish, entitled f*cking pricks.
I just heard from a local that the guy’s motive is that KyoAni stole his story idea for an anime. =/
Someone on Reddit mentioned the building’s poor design likely led towards worsening the situation.
“This is the inside of the building: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/366683144428060694/601622004403273728/wood-jpg.png
“(It had) No (visible) fire doors…walls..(and it was wooden) No (visible) sprinkler system. A wooden spiral staircase that ran throughout the building in the center of it. A stairwell that wasn’t pressurized, allowing smoke to go in immediately. And I’m hearing on discord the windows were designed not to open to prevent suicide attempts.”
“NHK (says the spiral staircase likely) acted as a chimney. The worst fire was in the stairwell, followed by the spiral staircase.”
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/366683144428060694/601622283177426957/diagram-jpg.png
“The worst thing? This building was built 5 years ago for KyoAni. It was “up to code.””
Lowrise building code in japan seems to be seriously lacking. Allowing that wooden spiral staircase was likely what made the fire so intense. Lack of sprinklers always boggles the mind but even in NA low rises don’t require them typically.
A lot can change in the span of 5 years. I’m pretty certain KyoAni’s studio would have been up to code 5 years ago, but it’s possible that there are amendments/revisions/updates to the building code since then that would make the previous code outdated–and make the building vulnerable to worse disasters.
For the older readers who can still remember, I’m reminded of the Kobe/Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995* where the the latest building code was implemented for newer structures of the time, but minimal to no retrofits (though feel free to refute me on that) were done for older structures like the Hanshin Expressway and the older suburban houses in Kobe before the earthquake hit. Note that I’m just focusing on the building code/s of the time and not other factors regarding the quake.
It was only after the quake that Kobe City was rebuilt to the latest engineering standards, as well as the point where the Japanese started to have a reputation for being “crazy prepared” for disasters.
Closer to my neck of the woods was the Ozone Disco fire of 1996. There, the design of the building (doors that only opened inward, emergency exit blocked by another building) plus the increase in patrons that night (mostly high school and college students celebrating their graduation) contributed to the death toll. Most damningly, (unscrupulous) city officials gave it the green light to operate despite those obvious structural design flaws.
TBH, a certain amount of crazy-preparedness for any conceivable disaster (man-made or natural) should be required when designing and building a structure, but some construction companies will cut corners for extra profit instead of investing in improved safety features of the building. Sadly, both the Great Hanshin Earthquake and the Ozone Disco fire were cases where tragedies had to occur first before amendments/revisions/updates to building codes were made–and regrettably, the same might be said now of the KyoAni fire. Though I will concede that there is also an element of sheer bad luck (the studio expecting visitors that day and the arsonist striking at that exact time) and lax security, though that’s a discussion for another thread.
(* – For the young ones born after 1995, feel free to search and watch that episode of Seconds From Disaster on YouTube. Speaking of which, if there’s a new season of that series and there’s an episode about the KyoAni fire, I wouldn’t be surprised, but will still feel uneasy nonetheless.)
I woke up yesterday and this was the first thing I read while still in a semi-sleeping state. The news was being vague, calling it an animation studio in Kyoto, which is why I knew exactly what studio they were talking about. It shocked me awake. I spent yesterday thinking in disbelief about what had happened; no-one deserves something like this happening to them, it must have been horrifying inside.
Yesterday evening I spent some time rewatching parts of their wonderful anime. From Hibike! Euphonium, to K-On, Koe no Katachi and Hyouka. All of them wonderful productions, which I hope KyoAni will be able to make again once they’ve recovered. I’ll be the optimist in thinking they will be able to recover. Reading reactions online of fans has given me that optimism. Along with help from their fans I’m sure they will recover. Though the loss of life is something that cannot be replaced. I’ll express my condolences to the staff of KyoAni and to the families of those that were lost. I wish for those injured a swift and full recovery. May they make us smile like before again with their love filled animation.
PS: It’s good to see you back for this post Samu, though I wish it was under better circumstances.
Thoughts and prayers to all effected. May the survivors recover, may the dead pass on in peace to whatever heaven you believe in. No one deserves this kind of senseless violence.
There’s nothing someone could possibly say to excuse even a fraction of something like this. I don’t care what the perpetrator was supposedly a victim of, this was an act of pure, selfish evil that couldn’t have come from anything but a dark and twisted soul.
There really needs to be a harsher punishment for absolute monsters like this guy. Maybe set him on fire and see how it feels.
I was really heartbroken when I heard this news. Kyoani’s works have always given me good emotions. I have a lot of history with them, from Haruhi to Violet Evergarden. I hope for a strong recovery.
Japanese news interviews people at the site: http://himado.in/465884 (no subs)
The man interviewed and his coworker entered the building and rescued 4 people before the emergency crew arrived at the premise.
It’s no doubt a tragedy what happened, but I’m hoping more people will also acknowledge the good people that rushed to help.
My reaction to seeing the news break on ANN yesterday:
“It can’t be… You’re kidding me, right?”
My reaction to additional developments throughout the day, the eventual death toll, and seeing the story make its way to local (in this case, Philippine) news media:
“What a senseless waste of human life.”
God-fricking-damnit… It’s downright unthinkable that something like this would happen to the one anime studio I’ve always held in high regard.
To the people who loved Kyoto Animation’s works (K-ON!, CLANNAD, Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu + FMP: The Second Raid, Amagi Brilliant Park, Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions, and Violet Evergarden–to name a few closest to my heart), they were an oasis of sanity in an increasingly insane world. So it sickens me that the lives of those who worked to make KyoAni an admired, well-respected pillar of the anime industry (and an oasis of sanity) were snuffed out all because of one deranged individual with a grudge.
Yes, talented people (and young ones, at that) will be hard to replace. Yes, this is a major blow for the anime industry and anime community as a whole. And yes, this will dash the hopes of people who were longing for KyoAni to make an anime adaptation of Komi-san Can’t Communicate. (NGL, I feel your pain, guys. TT_TT)
However–and I’d like to paraphrase a certain Celine Dion song–something beautiful has come out from the ashes of this tragedy. The show of solidarity, support and love for Kyoto Animation by anime fans worldwide has been quite overwhelming. Whenever deranged psychos or sociopathic individuals lower a person’s faith in humankind, the best response is always to come together to show compassion, empathy and humanity–and prove those individuals and their twisted viewpoints wrong.
But for now, may the souls of the deceased find peace, and may the survivors be given all the necessary means to heal.
P.S.: I’ve been wanting to visit Kyoto again after having to cut short my first visit there last year (and missing out on seeing Sajusangen-do and Fushimi Inari-taisha). But after this tragedy, re-visiting Kyoto won’t be the same anymore without the once-vibrant KyoAni studio.
Insane….what was the motive?
First of all, we don’t know for sure. They may not want to officially publish the motive if it results in negative press for KyoAni. Basically, current rumor is that KyoAni “stole/copied/ripped off his idea without crediting him”. This rumor is based on what people heard the perpetrator say.
Please stop. Everyone really needs to stop circulating these rumors, and the idea that it’s true but they’re holding it back? That’s disgusting.
The ONLY thing known is that he shouted something that roughly translates to being “ripped off” and that’s it. Everything else it just speculation, and creating these rumors, especially rumors about wrongdoing on KyoAni’s part right now, is just awful.
There are numerous possibilities for why he said that, including that he was just deranged. We just don’t know, and the rumors need to stop.
I beg of everyone not to help these rumors circulate. If you hear/read them, let them stop with you.
@hjerry2000 :: Yes, totally agree and I want to add that right
or wrong, nothing could justify taking the action that he took, nothing.
I agree that people are reading too much speculation into
the small number of facts that have been made public; people
will tend to do those things as people are people (some are
malicious and some are sincere). It’s hard for normal people
to imagine that a person could just do something like this
without some reason, which is why they’re anxious to
put a “reason” to his action so that they can digest it.
The best we can do is to not fuel those rumors by repeating
them and give it time for all of the facts to be made public,
which I suspect will take some time given the magnitude of
the crime.
I understand these are difficult times and people are feeling very emotional. But instead of arguing, I think we should remain united as a community, and not let these events divide and tear us apart. The attacker’s goal might have been to cause maximum chaos and make people angry and bitter like they were feeling. If that’s the case, we can’t let them succeed at doing that.
In my heart, I believe this is not what the deceased and living at KyoAni would want, nor would it stand for their particular values, so I would encourage you to remain civil and not lash out at each other. We are all in grieving, it’s tough, but we should remain together through all of this instead of attacking each other.
Quite a sad event.
First time I looked them up was after watching Kanon. Was impressed by how much they put into it. Ended up re-watching Haruhi and Fumofu just to check out all the details I missed.
Hopefully all is not lost, and they have managed to pass on knowledge and techniques to others. That means for some of those lost, at least their legacy lives on. Wishing for the recovery of those hospitalized and hope that these trials will push them to new heights.
Looking at the pictures, there really seems to be a lot of wood inside. I really hope their sound equipment are okay. Sound/Audio rooms are notorious for having lots of flammable stuff inside.
Admitting here first that past terrorist attacks never really shocked me that much, until this incident.
I feel a part of me, my past and my life is gone.
Thank you for this post Samu.
It feels so unreal and in my mindset I still tell myself “this did not happen” but it did – and it sure pains me and many others as well. So many memories of watching their shows & movies and most anime fans from all over the world who are in deep sorrow right now will remember the victims by their works they were involved with and created with passion for others and their fans. And while I fear that the studio might not recover from this for many years from now on, I wish that the families and friends of the victims find enough strength to eventually move on.
I feel sad, but mostly angry… real angry and sick to my gut.
How was one individual be able to drench the whole place with gasoline? was there resistance by the staff? there were no guns involved according to the latest sources and if he had knives, he was alone. Multiple people could have stopped him. If there was resistance, how did he still succeed in setting the whole building on fire and even drench some people with gasoline. Earlier videos like this…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzJY2N49vcI
makes it look like there was a flash fire of some sort. This whole event makes me viscerally sick. The surviving victims are severely burnt and or are will be having permanent breathing problems because of the toxic fumes along with the psychological damages. Non-surviving victims are burnt to death or are suffocated to death by the toxic fumes, trapped.
It just makes me really sick and angry. I sincerely hope Kyoto Animation will be able recover from this because if they don’t, the arsonist is able achieve what he intended to do and I believe non of us, foreign or Japanese, anime fan or not want.
He did not drench the whole place, he had 20, possibly 40 litres of gasoline. (Both have been reported but the discarded gasoline cans look much more like 10 litres each to me.)
But even 20 litres is a lot of destructive power particularly when some of it has turned to fumes. Combined the interior of wood with lots of paper it would have led to very rapid over ignition of the rooms where the fire started. (Not sure if “over ignition” is the right English word, what I mean is the point when the whole room is on fire)The reports of an explosion sound may well indicate a flash fire or a fire so violent and rapid that it behaved close to one. And once the ground floor was on fire the design of the building seems to have created a death trap with an open stair case in the middle of each floor allowing smoke and fire to spread with deadly results.
To put things bluntly civilians, particularly civilians in a low violence society such as Japan are ill prepared to identify and react to threats. The intial act itself is also not one that triggers a fight or flight response as he entered the room and with a bucket and threw a liquid on people. Takes precious seconds for the brain to realise that it is gasoline, it is not a sick joke and even then the thought that he is going to try and burn you alive is very far fetched because it is so extreme and far from the ordinary reality. And even if you identify the threat how perpared are you to take action and take the right action? Surprise is a deadly weapon and the agressor has the advantage, it takes luck, a special individual or relentless training to react decisivly in response.
In a situation like that it sounds like there wouldn’t be a whole lot of breathable oxygen & time for those on the higher floors to escape. Basically hell on earth.
Yes, hell on earth or something very close to it. They would not have had the time do deal with problems like the somewhat complex way the door to the roof was opened (it opened with two levers which would have been close to impossible to find in the smoke.)
@Gars & @Lyfe
More detailed information about the victims makes it even harder for me to accept this event. I feel numb.
As you probably know, many victims died trying to get the roof via the spiral staircase. Having a bit of background in the human body and pathophysiology does not help at all. The victims died in of one of the most horrific means possible. They were mostly around the same age as I am, in their 20s.
The work of this studio made me discover many lessons about living, the importance of having different perspevtives, and empathy. I feel numb.
When I first saw Kyoto Animation trending on Twitter I thought maybe they announced something really big and fans were excited. I never could have imagined they would have been burned to the ground by a monster. It’s so sad.
Well I’m shocked by this awful news. To read about a production company and those creators who work for Kyoto Animation being harmed like that is terrible. I understand that anything can happen at any country but It is an unpleasant surprise to hear such a crime took place in Japan. The criminal took too aggressive of an action.
Do we know if this criminal consulted Family and Friends before making a move? Was this criminal under some kind of mental stress due to the media, industry or just just hate Anime in general?
I don’t want to find out a few months down the line this criminal with this act of violence was an assistant of a Mangaka that Kyoto Animation picked up and didn’t portray the story the way the Mangaka intended.
Super sad, grew up watching Clannad and Air …
Oh goddess… I just read through the linked article about The Evolution of Kyoto Animation. The last paragraph breaks my heart.
that guy got mental illness why japan no lockup in mental hospital???
waiting for incident to happen???
where is the Security Guard???
japan company now will hired security company protect their building from trepasser and other danger!!!
I became a fan and supporter of KyoAni back in my college days after I watched/rewatched FMP Fumoffu, Suzumiya Haruhi, Kanon and Air TV during the early days of digital fansubs. Since then, I’ve collected DVDs/BDs of nearly all of their works. When I read the news articles about this event, it hit me hard. It was surreal that this would actually happen to an animation studio. Yet, here we are.
Since I wanted to do something for the victims and families impacted, I donated to the Help Heal KyoAni GoFundMe campaign before I even saw this RandomC post or the Reddit threads. I know one should always be cautious about GoFundMe campaigns, but several news outlets (WashingtonPost, Independent UK, etc) referenced the GoFundMe campaign, so I assumed there was some level of accountability and legitimacy to the campaign. I also saw Sentai Filmworks’s President, John Ledford, respond to a tweet stating that they are working with their legal team to get the funds to where it’s needed. The last thing I want to hear is that someone used this horrific event for their own gain. I hope the next update from Sentai Filmworks is positive confirmation for these funds.
It’s easy to see how much heart and care KyoAni put each of their works by their influence in the anime industry. Yeah, not all of their works were masterpieces and one can argue that what KyoAni made was just “entertainment.” However, who can argue against the fact that many of their series put gigantic smiles on our faces or how some of their series and movies taught little life lessons that made us better humans?
Why someone would do something so senseless to fellow humans still baffles me. It’s times like these that I wonder if our human species will survive into the future. This event was by definition a crime against humanity.
When I hear news about someone dying on TV an what not, this dude got shot here and there. Whatever, I don’t care. However when I saw the news about KyoAni…omg. all sorts of feels hit me. talented animators and directors, all passionated individuals losing their lives in some nonsense. Just makes me realize how small we all are in this world. Death is unpredictable.
Not only does this sadden me that this horrific event claimed 33 lives which their family will now need to cope, but the remaining survivors will not be the same. Ever. Imagine seeing hellish flames everywhere engulfing your colleagues and hearing or seeing them being burned alive around you. Even if they make it out today, their lives from now on will be a battle. It is the cruelest thing this monster did to these people.
I hope this event cause a big legislative push in reforms in building codes, data backup, and company security.