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© Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.33 dead after man sets fire to Kyoto anime studio
By Mari Yamaguchi TOKYO©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.
115 Comments
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William77
Another heavily mental disturbed person,time to threat mental diseases more openly and not hide such issues.
Gregory Zimmerman
Japan is changing
Jade Sze
Noooooo our beloved KyoAni :( feelsbadman
Paul McCool
I will never understand what drives someone to act in such a depraved manner. Yes, I know mental illness must play a part, but ultimately, it takes some serious personal demons to want to lash out so violently.
KariHaruka
Disgruntled former employee?
Thoughts to the victims and their families though :( and I hope that the death toll doesn't rise any further..
Danny Nguyen
Who in the world can have such a grudge against a studio that is known to be the very best in terms of working conditions? Man, the world is going too crazy nowadays.
Whoever did this better be ready for a severe sentence now that we can talk of premiditated action leading to homicide (murder). Of course, we can all talk of mental illness and the need to treat it. But it still and always takes a huge lot for anybody to come up with murderous intent.
Chinchan Zu
10 are now confirmed dead
taj
NHK says the Kyoto fire team is reporting numerous people "in a state of cardiac arrest" still in the building.
Nobnaga
probably he was thinking he is in an anime world !! how could he ?
hope they will punish him good for what he have done regardless if he have mental issues or not
Madden
My guess is that the guy is another jobless twat who got angry at the studio because he was upset about how one of their anime shows turned out. Disgraceful!
Danny Nguyen
Strong assessment, but quite plausible. I will wait to see what the profile of the arrested suspect says about him.
Strangerland
That's sad. RIP to the victims.
Wesley
I have heard that anime studios work their employees to death. Could this be a person who finally snapped?
In any case, RIP to the departed. Truly sad.
gogogo
Wow tragic :(
Danny Nguyen
Not KyoAni. It's true that many animation studios have poor working conditions, but not that studio.
Again, I'll wait for a final report to tell everyone who the perpetrator is as well as to what motivated him to do that. However, I think it is disingenuous to pin the problem on working conditions at KyoAni.
ArtistAtLarge
Damn. Just damn.
Strikebreaker555
Just burn in hell bastard! This is why we still have death penalty enabled.
To kill innocent peoples who just love making good and touching Anime, is absolutely unforgivable.
To hear about a person who actually carried out an attack on this studio is just utterly heartbreaking.
DNALeri
Some news outlets are saying that the criminal had accused the studio of "stealing his ideas".
Alejandro Coyle
Cannot agree more with the first comment. Another stressed, burned out character. Keep pushing people Japan!
papigiulio
Just saw some of the pictures on twitter, im shocked on how he could make the fire so big and cause so many victims. No fire-exits? 10 confirmed dead and still 20 missing. Hope he hangs for this.
smithinjapan
Based on the fact that it seems like such an odd place to attack, and we're not hearing motive, I'm guessing we're dealing with a mentally ill person, angry at the world, who wants to die (ie. death penalty), but can't do it himself.
RIP to those lost.
stormcrow
Mental illness or terrorism. It's hard to distinguish one from the other.
lostrune2
Did the suspect hate KyoAni for what happened to his waifu?
obladi
Partially because it's Kyoto.
Jeremy Sharples
I love KyoAni and some of their works like Lucky Star have been inspirational to me. Honestly I don't care what reason the guy who committed this had, personally I can only wish him the most cruel and painful death imaginable. I hope KyoAni can emerge from this stronger and will be cheering them on. Tonight my thoughts will be with them :'(
Vince Black
Disgruntled former employee, nutcase anime fan unhappy about a cancelled show , doesn't matter.
Japanese cultural stigmas were the cause. Fear of being open about mental illnesses because of what others might say or, god forbid, think about you.
There are many great things to appreciate about Japanese culture, but openness about mental illnesses is way down the list.
As far as I'm concerned, these people were murdered by Japans inherent ignorance to mental health
Kazuaki Shimazaki
They may never recover. Since Kyoto Animation has a good reputation both in the quality of shows they produce (though they didn't work in the "right" genres and I don't remember anything I really loved from them) and working conditions, many anime fans no doubt want this guy's neck. Animators and companies that are willing to see anime as anything more than "just business" are a rare species these days...
Disillusioned
There were 70 people working in that small building? No doubt there was only one small set of stairs and no fire doors. Being a manga artist studio it also would have been full of paper, paints, inks and accelerants, which obviously would have added to the ferocity of the fire and and toxicity of the smoke. Fire prevention does not seem to be taken seriously enough. There have been many purposely lit fires that have resulted in multiple deaths in recent years in Japan. Perhaps, if better fire prevention measures were on place not so many people would have died. This building seems to have been overcrowded and no doubt contained large amounts of highly flammable materials. It was a tragedy waiting to happen and it only took one nutcase to kill half of the people working in that building. A very sad story!
Mister X
How much more casualties do we have to mourn before the Japanese government and society will openly talk about mentall illness and ways how to tackle the issue ?
Mental illness is not a weakness and is nothing to be ashamed about, if you are experiencing those problems or know someone who does please seek professional help.
On a population of 128 million people there are bound to be many who suffer from mental issues and we need to help them before they do something tragic like today.
My condolences to the families of the victims, so so sad this had to happen...
Andrew Crisp
Maybe there is something about this so called "lost generation" and the possibility of them taking revenge against society, especially after the mass knifing a few months back - will be interesting how the rest of the year plays out.
Toasted Heretic
RIP to the victims of this senseless attack. It's an act of domestic terrorism, regardless of the mental health of the perp. Or job status.
Agree with you on that. The less stigma and demonizing of people with mental health problems, and the more services available, the better.
Aaron Bell
To this studio, the people in it, and their families. Your art lifted the dust off my soul and me and many others smile. You've done something important. Even as you, your coworkers, your families suffered and still suffer from this injustice and physical pain, at least know you brought something really valuable to the world before this happened. I didn't feel the physical burning like you guys did, but my heart burned when I read about it. I love you guys, and I hope you come back ten times as strong as before.
bogva
Horrible - RIP to the victims and hope the injured get full recovery.
Thus said health problems are best to be tackled with improving the social environment .
Patricia Yarrow
Ten people died on the top floor, which implies they were trying to escape to the roof and could not get out of the building and up on the roof. Horrifying.
Bugle Boy of Company B
Sick sick stuff
TigersTokyoDome
For those that think the accused has mental issues he had enough fortitude to set fire to the ground floor and to use materials that created a rapid inferno. He probably also knew of the flammable materials risk in that office.
Unfortunate to have to say it but there will be big questions asked about the fire drills in that company - outside escape stairs, access to the roof, number of exits. Considering the flammable risk in that office.
Bugle Boy of Company B
According to what the news reported the culprit shouting (パックリやがって!) he may have been upset over what he believed as his creation being stolen by the company. (My guess.)
darknuts
23 people. That's more than most mass shootings.
redelmotalking
Tragic. That number of fatalities would suggest the place was highly flammable, overcrowded and that fire drills, escape doors and preparation etc. was lacking. Those poor people. We need to always be aware that personal disasters are just around the corner every day and that we never know when they will strike.
CrazyJoe
Very sad to hear.
quercetum
This seems like a revenge for something the company did.
Hokkaidoboy
Those blaming mentall illness, for sure, this guy has serious mental issues, that doesn't make mental ill people arsonists nor murderers. I suffer from schizophrenia and would never take a match for a paper. Don't confuse things please.
Chingompiew
Fire Prevention is something Japan does not understand and I'm not being sarcastic. If you've ever been in a Don Quiote Store you'll know what I'm talking about. Can't remember how many places I've been to where I thought I'd die if a fire ever broke out. No escape, many restaurants, bars and clubs even block secondary exits to make people take the elevator.
Historians will tell you how bad fire management was in the Japanese Navy and how their lack of training in fire prevention hastened their deaths when struck.
TigersTokyoDome
As Hokkaido says. This guy must be sentenced as normal because he knew exactly the extent of his attack.
BertieWooster
Hmmm. He's probably had "treatment" or is in the middle of it. Most people who commit this kind of crime are.
Do the hustle
Yes, that is right. And, in the last sensors conducted in 2008 they concluded that 27% of Japanese adults suffered from some kind of mental or emotional illness. That’s nearly one in three. Be careful who is standing behind you on the train platform.
Oh, and it’s a population of 26 million and decreasing with a quarter over 65 years old.
Funko Toyoda
My deepest sympathy to the families and friends of the victims. It is a great pity to lose lives because of disturbed minds.
A hug to the Japanese people
KariHaruka
I can't believe that the death toll has now risen to 23 :( Too many lives lost and families affected. And I doubt that KyoAni will be able to fully (if ever) recover from this...
I wouldn't be surprised either if the man that caused all of this faces the death penalty..
Gorramcowboy
Any news on whether the building was up to code?
Like many businesses here, complete and utter fire hazards/traps.
Godspeed recovery to the physical and mentally affected by this.
Aga Tango
"Is it just me or is it getting crazier out there?"
CaptDingleheimer
Some 40 year old loser who still lives with his parents and spends all day in his room watching cartoons, no doubt.
Blattamexiguus
certainly the attacker bears most of the blame but I have to wonder about fire trap buildings in Japan. Why did it spread so quickly and why so many couldn't get out?
many questions...expect few answers or changes.
Bugle Boy of Company B
I imagine that many buildings that are up to current fire code standards would still be a fire trap if someone intentionally spread gasoline, etc. and started a fire with the intent to kill. Building fire codes are designed to keep fires from spreading. Arsonists look for ways to circumvent those designs.
Blattamexiguus
everyone knows but nobody wants to say is a monster problem in Japan.
Not just fire safety. Same problem gave us the Fukushima meltdown mess.
lots of legislation but poor enforcement (or none) at best.
safety Japan indeed!
John Smith
It's good that Japan has the death penalty, it is scientifically proven to dissuade criminals here in the US...everyone deserves true justice after the fact, and effective dissuasion before the criminal act.
Carcharodon
He had 40 litres of petrol which he sprayed onto the premises and occupants. 40 litres of a highly flammable accelerant in a wooden building ( wooden walls and flooring they said) packed full of flammable objects :papers, paints, furniture, it was said to be a cramped office, will get a roaring fire going in seconds, not minutes.
Those on the lower floors who got sprayed, and set alight alight, either died a very horrific death or are in hospital right now i an world of pain. Terrible.
Many of the dead where on the second and third floors who were quickly overwhelmed by the toxic stew of the thick black smoke, which reportably was very high in Carbon Monoxide. They barely had a chance.
Death toll now at 33 as I type. Watching the news..
2 on the first floor
20 in the staircase. So there you go, it appears they were overwhelmed as they tried to get out.
Spare a thought for the fire crew. Tough day for those guys.
What a shocking waste of life. Pointless.
u_s__reamer
So much unimaginable suffering caused by one sick mind (and a fire trap?). This is a major human tragedy; so many families plunged into grief by this sudden, life-changing event, so much creativity wasted. Apart from the individual culpability of the perpetrator, Japanese society owns this tragic incident, too. This should be a wake-up call for better mental health care, but even with the best treatment perhaps a sick person will always be able to somehow slip through society's safety net. Such shocking incidents like this put one's own petty problems into a different perspective.
jeancolmar
Horrifying. My condolences to all. The loss of artists is a cultural and spiritual loss.
simon g
looking at the smoke damage on the door at the roof this place went up like a tinderbox. No sprinklers I'm guessing. RIP everyone and condolences to all their loved ones.
u_s__reamer
@ John Smith
It's good that Japan has the death penalty, it is scientifically proven to dissuade criminals here in the US
Where did you study science? Trump University? Murder rates in states that still have the death penalty exceed those in states that have abolished it. There, fixed it for you. And, btw, executing the arsonist might well bring comfort to you, but none, I imagine, to the victims' families.
Hiroto Hasegawa
The perpetrator is 41 year old. AGAIN a guy in despair from the generation of the employment ice age.
By the way, Kyoto Animation is one of the sacred places of creepy anime culture whose fans are mostly chauvinists.
oldman_13
I'll say it again, something is seriously gone wrong with this society at its root. We see things like this all over the world, where deranged people mass murder innocent strangers in public. When are we going to stop blaming mental illness and just realize we live in a world where perfectly same people commit horrible crimes just for the attention and notoriety to stroke their monstrous egos?
25psot
Sad day for Japan..mental illness or mind control, outcome very tragic.
PhantomAgent
Terrible incident. We have to deal with so many natural disasters! Why things like this? A review of building safety standards would be good, though,
Bugle Boy of Company B
33 dead.
Company president said he had received emails from the perp claiming some kind of infringement on his work.
Ganbare Japan!
Rest in Peace to all the victims. This tragedy will destroy the life of hundreds of people . All the victims were doing was working hard, for their family. Its unforgivable what a this evil man did, what a coward. He will be hung by his neck.
Roger Jolly
I followed the whole day the development on TV. No one has ever even pointed out how is it possible that such a relatively small building had no fire security, no emergency stairs and no other countermeasures against fire even if it was filled up with as many as 70 people... That is really unbelievable!
smithinjapan
It was in 2001 or so that a fire killed many people because the fire escapes were all blocked and there was only one exit -- where the fire was. I think it was the fifth biggest post-war death toll in a fire. This may well exceed it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myojo_56_building_fire
Point is, the government promised to tighten things up and make safety a priority. How soon we forget, since it seems like there was no adequate way for these people to escape.
Concerned Citizen
Horrors. I feel so sad for those who perished in such a terrifying manner and pray for those who have suffered burns and other injuries and trauma.
Concerned Citizen
The sad consequences of harbouring bitterness and anger, it seems. No matter how deeply we've been wronged, it's better to just let it go and get on with life.
Jonathan Prin
Let's wait for info to judge even the criminal.
I wonder if the guy's life was not destroyed by stealing his work.
I want to hear all sides of story.
If the president knew of any risk, he surely mismanaged to inform his personnel and take any preventing measures like monitoring surveillance.
As a former fire safety engineer, one guy cannot block all 33 people who died.
Moreover easy way to escape was to jump from windows in desperate cases since building is not high.
In particular, I am about sure no fire alarm went on.
Rip to all of the victims.
Grenaiel Comillor Venezuela
What a very sad outcome, many innocent lives were taken for a one person's rage. How many more people are going to die due to deranged thoughts of a mentally ill person? How many more families are going to mourn for their lost ones?
If only everyone is willing to choose method that could result to peaceful solutions in both parties. If only everyone is willing to hear the cries of the suffering.
I pray for the souls of the departed ones, their families and everyone involved. May God give them peace.
Mister X
Even if that was the case it can never be an excuse to take even the life of one innocent person let alone starting a horrible massacre...
extanker
You think that would justify causing the deaths of 30+ people? Nothing that could have happened to him could possibly justify his actions.
CoconutE3
Hope this guy gets capital punishment. If this man gets away with lifetime prison sentence by pleading insanity, it will be an embarrassment of the Japanese judicial system. This coward didn't think twice about taking other people's lives. Lets see how he responds/feels when his own is at stake.
CrisGerSan
We are shocked and horrified at this tragedy. KyoAni is one of the finest studios with wonderful management and superb series that have been created some of the best anime by any. The man is crazy and evil and I hope he is punished at hard as possible. There is no place here to attack anime or Japan this is a time of tragedy and mourning and I ask posters here restrain their impulses and show respect. I am sure the Studio will continue they are brave and good people and will do all they can to honour the memory of those who were so sadly lost. Please be polite and kind.
Fox Sora Winters
Truly mortified to hear about this. I'm quite familiar with the works of KyoAni, and I struggle to believe that someone could ever want to cause this level of harm. Even if the claims that the studio had stolen something from him (ideas I'd imagine) were true, that doesn't justify this. A lawsuit would be better than this. Whether or not mental illness is a factor remains to be seen, but certainly they were emotionally unbalanced.
What is equally surprising is that there were so many people in a building that size, and that there appeared to be a severe lack of fire exits and fire prevention systems. From what I've seen in several comments, this is quite normal in Japan? That's highly alarming if true, and would have contributed to the losses suffered in this tragedy. It seems then that there may well be several factors to this incident, all of which need to be addressed desperately, before history repeats itself.
Danny Nguyen
And? There is a reason courts of law and attorneys exist to settle legal battles on copyrights if he felt that wrongdoing was committed. How many times have we seen successful lawsuits on the topic of copyrights before? Even that part cannot be confirmed, which would set doubts on the man's mental status.
But all of that doesn't matter anymore because the man is now a mass murderer who deserves to see the end of his days before the gallows (hopefully very soon), isolated from all and rejected by all of his ashamed relatives on whom he brought the good name into the mud himself. Since I learned more and more of the news, I don't think I have stopped cursing the perpetrator by all names under the sun.
33 innocent lives lost... There is just no way anybody can justify this.
Hokkaidoboy
Not trying to justify this disgusting individual in anyway, should he receive the death sentence if he was "mobbed"? I think not.
canigetawhatwhat
He deserves to die a slow death. Those people didn't deserve that.
darknuts
No it's not. Studies show the opposite. Please stop posting misinformation as fact.
dd22dd
The perpetrator got out of prison only recently. Out of work, desperate, extended suicide if you will.
David Van Cleef
What I was able to put together from Japanese sources:
The perp was a train otaku and was active on 5channel.
David Van Cleef
Oops, got posted before I typed everything:
The perp was a train otaku and was active on 5channel.
He apparently had 2 beefs with KyoAni:
One of their series caused a lot of tourism to one of his favorite trainspotting locations.
The studio coincidentally used his online handle, Barisaku, in one of their productions.doel jusino
I know the mind set of Japan's society is I don't want to get involved, But when this guy entered through the door and started yelling and spraying the gasoline around that's the time when the people should have gotten involved and tackled this guy before he started the fire. For his action their should have been a reaction from the people inside the studio. Didn't this studio have a security guard posted at the entrance ????
dabestsushi
What in the world......
Kyle
I hope everyone affected has a fully recovery.
Belrick
He deserves to die for this crime. 33 lives senselessly taken. He had no guilt in killing any of them, so excuse us for not having any about hanging him!
therougou
If you were in command, would you tell your men to risk their lives pulling out dead bodies from that mess? Believe it or not, they know what they're doing. There was no chance of rescuing people from that wooden death trap.
Alex Einz
not deflecting from madness of attacker, it seems the bosses of kyoto animation need to get fair share of the blame for not establishing or following fire emergency codes and providing emergency exits and fire drills, this is even more severe given their main work too is paper which is highly flammable.
I certainly hope the police will not just push all the blame on the madman but drop the mgmt in jail too.
Strangerland
Oh, I hadn't seen this reported anywhere yet. Had they not done any of these things? Where is this being reported? Have they been charged?
Jonathan Prin
Some think I am trying to blame the victims.
No. Trying to find the root cause of this tragedy to never occur again, at least that sadly for 33 persons and dozens of burnt and smoke injured others.
Saying just kill that mass murderer is not enough for me.
Long life to anime and prayer for the victims.
1glenn
Sincere condolences to everyone who died and/or suffered. It sounds like they did nothing wrong, but that they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
There is no way to prevent every attack by a mad person. Not too long ago a father over here was killed while having dinner with his wife and children, for no reason. A crazy, homeless person walked up to him and stabbed him in the neck. They did not know each other. A terrible tragedy.
I do not understand calls to condemn management. Unless they were negligent in complying with fire codes, why are they guilty of anything?
Strangerland
In the Age of Outrage, someone is always at fault, and management is guilty without even an investigation.
jeancolmar
Difficult as it talk about at this tragic time, it must be said. That building was a tinder box waiting for a disaster to happen. These wonderful artists should have had a safer workplace.
jeancolmar
Difficult as it is to talk about at this tragic time, it must be said. That building was a tinder box waiting for a disaster to happen. These wonderful artists should have had a safer workplace.
Oakland, California recently had a similar disaster. In 2016 a fire broke out in a warehouse that had been converted into a living space with studios. Thirty-eight people died in the fire. In this case it was not the work of an insane person but negligence of the owners.
Brian Wheway
Oh boy Oh boy! this is so sad, If this perpetrator had got or made allegations of theft, he should have involved a solicitor to take legal action against the company, not taking the law into your own hands. Its so tragic that all of these innocent people have lost their lives.. next, from the photo, I can't see any fire escapes, why not? was there any fire extinguisher in the building when they know that there is flammable materials on site? was there a sprinkler system in the building? did any one have basic fire fighting training? these are a few basic thing/steps that could have prevented such a tragic loss of life. As for the perpetrator, as much as I am against the death penalty, in this case it would be fitting, and justified.
Alex Einz
if they were complying with fire codes, how come there was no fire exit, it aint a private house., its a highly flammable facility in itself. ,what is the fire would occur from someones heater burning up ... would it be just shoganai?
Where were sprinklers? and so on so forth....
if any building would just burn trapping everyone inside from a simple gazoline spill and a match .. maybe someone in fire dept doesnt do work properly or getting paid under table.,I thought fire drills were also mandatory and safety inspector usually assigned in companies.
That said in my personal experience when applying for airbnb management docs, all I was asked for a 3 story bldg is if i got one extinguisher and if i got smoke alarms... no checks ever....
Alex Einz
yes strangerland, mgmt is always and always should be guilty for death or injury of employees while working or travelling to work hours.
CrazyJoe
I watched a movie by Kyoto Animation recently on Netflix called A Silent Voice and it was absolutely beautiful, it dealt with bullying, suicide, and redemption. It's heartbreaking that this happened, the company and employees push the boundary of anime. Prayers to the family of those lost.
BertieWooster
I posted yesterday that Shinji Aoba most probably had been "treated" for mental illness or was in the middle of "treatment" because the majority of such cases are. And it turns out to be true:
TOKYO (Reuters) - The man suspected of torching an animation studio and killing 33 people in Japan’s worst mass killing in two decades had been convicted for robbery and treated for mental illness, public broadcaster NHK said.
Psychology and psychiatry are useless in situations like this. All they can do is prescribe drugs. They cannot cure anything because basically, they haven't a clue what they are doing.
gokai_wo_maneku
Japanese press is reporting that most of the dead are women.
Steve Cooper
Condolences!
Reese
Social media has consequences.