Kyoto Animation confirms it received novel from writer with same name, address as arson suspect

Probably angry and lashing out against the studio because of his own lack of talent. what a loser.

Also i noticed that one of the headlines being linked at the end of the article mentions how "Kyoto calls for stricter gas sale control". Haha... meanwhile in America people think selling extremely efficient tools of murder to criminals and people known to have mental issues is totally ok... Must be an extreme culture shock for them to read that article.

 the company did receive a novel from a person named Shinji Aoba, and from an address that matches that of the suspect’s apartment.

Why are they going on with all this malarky? If it was submitted by a person with the same name and address it was submitted by him.

However, on Tuesday, Kyoto Animation’s attorney said that they have since confirmed that the company did receive a novel from a person named Shinji Aoba, and from an address that matches that of the suspect’s apartment.

The plot thickens, so there is a very high likelihood that his novel was stolen after submission like he has apparently claimed. They ripped him off and he got his revenge - murder and arson went a bit far, but I wonder what his legal position was prior to this attack.

Andrew Crisp

so there is a very high likelihood that his novel was stolen

very high because he claimes?

murder and arson went a bit far

a bit far?

there is a very high likelihood that his novel was stolen after submission like he has apparently claimed.

Um, what specifically makes this a "high likelihood"? And how have you therefore determined that this guy wasn't just bitter that they didn't like his work?

@Andrew Crisp

There will always be works that looks similar from one another. There's always the route of going through copyright laws or submitting complains to the company.

From the information gotten so far he just started sending threats and then proceeded to carry out his actions.

The plot thickens, so there is a very high likelihood that his novel was stolen after submission like he has apparently claimed.

No. It's more like the nutcase was miffed that he was eliminated in the first round, and since then has looked for any reason to make a claim literary theft or plagiarism. He was angry and was looking for any excuse to take that anger out on KyoAni.

It wouldn't take much for an independent review of their catalogue and the murderers story.

Not that it would ever excuse his mass murder, but it would give a reason.

Kyoto Animation’s attorney went on to say that the novel submitted by Shinji Aoba was formally eliminated from the contest in the first round of judges’ evaluations. “We have confirmed that it has no similarity to any Kyoto Animation works,” he added.

Why should we accept the word of their own counsel? This requires an independent review.

Honestly his reasons don't matter. They don't justify what he did. I'm surprised they're even looking into this as if it was some sort of mitigating factor.

Until we see/read his novel, we won't know if his novel's theme matches anything that KyoAni has done so far.

darknuts, of course it's important they look into this. And of course it never excuses that mass murder.

But it would give a reason why that madman lost his head. So it is absolutely mitigating.

And it would be a crime by the studio, IF they plagiarised his story (IF).

Because if society doesn't want people losing their heads and burning innocent people to death then society needs to seem fair. Otherwise we will see an increase in people losing it like this.

But it would give a reason why that madman lost his head. So it is absolutely mitigating.

What?! No it's not.

And it would be a crime by the studio, IF they plagiarised his story (IF).

Which would have given him right to sue the company. It gives zero right to be violent.

strangers, doesn't society want to know why a human being burns 40 people to death at work? Maybe you accept that as something that happens and just hurry up and give him the death sentence. But wouldn't you want to know why this happens?

Of course you should sue 'IF' your work is plagiarised, but my point is that we may never know whether Kyoto Animation plagiarised it because people like you don't really care and just want to go straight to sentence and pass on the reason.

Why aren't the police investigating the lack of Fire Evacuation Plan? Or Why there was only ONE exit..?

There's legal standing in the U.S. & EU, (not sure about Asia...) regardless of whether there was a physical written LAW on the books or NOT, it's "reasonable" to assume that any building in case of a fire, esp one which is composed of highly flammable materials, the owner or building custodian, "Should Have" known and should have planned for having more than one exit, or sprinklers, anything at all to mitigate a fire blocking the main entrance...!

This was a 3 story building, even if you jumped off the roof, the likelihood of a fatal injury would be slim, unless you landed on your head...

Now is the time, for law's to be enacted, owners & building mangers to act..

This kind of, "crazy guy sets a fire" scenario happens about every 2 or 3 years in japan.

No one should have died in 3 story building... PERIOD!

Let's make sure no has to perish next time!

I wish I had been drinking.

My point is that in Japan once they have the suspect and enough evidence they really don't care about anything else. Not interested in stopping it at source.

My point is that in Japan once they have the suspect and enough evidence they really don't care about anything else.

No, that is not correct. Notice how people always complain that they always post the employment status of the suspect, and if they are a foreigner etc? If you look at how Japanese study history, it's much the same as the way they report news. Japanese people want to know why, they want to know the circumstances surrounding what happened. Westerners want to know what and how. They are fundamental differences in reporting, and if you've done any study and comparison of the two, it's quite clear that your assertion is not correct.

Strangers, I completely disagree with your theory. I'm western. I want to know the why and the circumstances. Japanese prosecutors and police only want to know what and how.

@TigersTokyoDome Today 05:52 pm JST

But it would give a reason why that madman lost his head. So it is absolutely mitigating.

This motive is so out of proportion with what he did (in comparison with more "normal" cases of murder) that it is a hooliganistic one (one that shows contempt for society) that becomes an aggravating factor.

And it would be a crime by the studio, IF they plagiarised his story (IF).

Plagiarism until extremely recently in Japan is not a crime, only a civil tort. And frankly it should have stayed that way. Intellectual property is not that significant.

My position is that it is an insignificant element of the case, and even investigating it may give the false impression the two are close to equivalent, which they are not. Let the defense try to push it as a defense if he's that interested, otherwise...

@np completeToday 06:20 pm JST

It has already been explained (in previous threads on this topic) that the building involved complied with the fire codes. At that point, it is impossible to suggest negligence liability.

To insist on liability despite all the normative requirements being met is a violation of the principle of legality.

Why should we accept the word of their own counsel? This requires an independent review

Look. If the arsonist wants to sue the animation company for stealing his work, he has every right to do so-even after he’s been incarcerated for the murders and other crimes he committed. And it’s entirely plausible that he wins such a case against the animation company IF there is evidence of a crime having been committed.

In any case, that has nothing to do with any punishment he has coming.

Sounds like the anime company has a great lawyer, and not fully satisfied with what the internal lawyers are saying. An independent review should be warranted and media kept briefed with developments and reported to the people. re" the building was compliant with all local fire codes, such regulations are largely designed as precautions for accidental fires, not the sort of pre-meditated attack that was carried out on the anime production company." this response itself sounds much like a dance of words and masks the real truth.

His name is a near rip off of a certain prime minister...and half is a rip off of a certain Eva pilot. He is a walking copyright violation.

Okay, here is what I see so far. The guy's novel was rejected in the first round because it was mediocre. The guy may not have gotten a rejection slip. That shouldn't happen but it happens a lot. Unfortunately, the rejected novelist was a madman.

Okay. If you are a professional writer you get lots of rejection slips. You throw or put way the rejection slip and go on. When you are told wait 4 months and you wait 8 months with no reply it is really bothersome. In old analogy days you had an editor to contact. Now you have to deal with bots. I've had to send notices to journals' Facebook pages to say I'm withdrawing my submission. It Is very important to send rejection slips instead of sending nothing.

Professional writers have to deal with things like this and worse crud. Professional writers do not burn down the publishers' offices or even write letters telling them to go to hell. Profession writers put the bad stuff behind them and go on.

It is the amature writers who are a pain. If you were ever an editor or publisher you know what I am talking about.

Typo! |In old analogy days" should read "in the old analogue days". I'm fighting the timeout clock and make mistakes.

I'm curious whether he really got his work ripped off. Doesn't justify what he did, of course. In America, lots of disgruntled people go shoot up places so there are crazies like that.

This sort of mess could have easily been avoided by having a "no unsolicited submissions" policy in place. Allowing submissions by the general public is how you end up in lawsuits for stolen ideas/works, and in this case, provoking an unhinged, psychopath into firebombing your headquarters and killing half your staff.

That Kyo-Ani's president seems wishy-washy.

First, he hastily says they never received any work from the suspect nor has he ever seen his name. Then now, they say they did.

He said that their building had a security system that required an access card to enter the building. Then later, they say there was no such system, anyone could enter freely.

Not sure I trust this guy.

The news is now saying that they found online posts by somebody claiming he/she got ripped off by Kyo-Ani and that he will go destroy the place.

What is wrong with some of the people here? A horrible mass murder committed by an obvious madman, and all you can think about is "what if they stole his story?"

There is no evidence at all that they stole his story. People make claims like this all the time. They write a story about boy meets girl, girl gets sick and dies, but he stays with her to the end. A typical canned story line that has been done 1000 times. But because they wrote it, they believe it's unique among all the world's millions of stories. So when they see a similar story, they believe they were ripped off.

There is no reason to give any credence at all to the claims of a murderous madman. What he did is of such a completely different scale than the crime he believes was committed against him that it's pointless to discuss. It's no better than "I didn't like the way he looked at me" as a murder excuse. Even if they stole his story word for word (for which there is absolutely zero evidence so far), it wouldn't mitigate his crime in the least.

I beginning to think they used parts of his novel or ideas even from other people's novels into their animation. Sounds like they all packed originality Soo they had to outsource ideas.

Saying that, it doesn't make what he did right. Be careful what you do. There's some crazy people out there.

Nobody is applauding what this psychopath did - and if there is such a person, they should be shunned.

But any company which openly accepts solicitation of ideas/works from the general public is opening itself up to potential lawsuits at the very least, and at worst re: this story.

Douglas WhitmanToday  10:54 am JST

But any company which openly accepts solicitation of ideas/works from the general public is opening itself up to potential lawsuits at the very least, and at worst re: this story.

Maybe we should have a rule: Anything you submit becomes the intellectual property of the company. The only "punishment" a submitter has if his work is "unfairly plagiarised" after being rejected is to not submit another work.

In fact, is this already the rule? Not too up on copyright law and practice I admit.

Nobody here, and I mean nobody, is trying to justify his mass-murder of innocent people. So posters need to stop putting words into other peoples posts.

Surely it is crucial that the full story is heard in court, even though the result should surely be the death sentence. If the accused is going to lose his life for these crimes, shouldn't the court at least hear the full truth whether they stole his idea or whether that is a fantasy of his.

It is crucial for the prosecution too. Because he could also be proved to be lying about the plagiarism, and that lie would be so important for a full prosecution.

So despite posters here saying his accusation of plagiarism is not relevant, and all the incorrectness comparing Japanese thinking to western thinking, it really is important for the court case.

@TigersTokyoDomeToday 01:24 pm JST

For a homicide conviction, the prosecution only needs to prove a few factors:

1) Shinji Aoba

2) committed an act (such as pouring and igniting gasoline)

3) with at least conditional intent

4) that caused at least one death (the ones that did not die may also be egligible for attempted homicide)

Ironically, the truth value of his claim is actually unimportant. For one thing, the claim in this case is insignificant. However, supposing he has a claim that can be "serious competition" (the more legal term would be something that qualifies as a "provocation"), it will be more important to show that he honestly believes his claim than whether it is true or whether a "reasonable man" would have believed such to be so ("objective" standard).

If he is correct, he gets on the justificatory arc and if he is incorrect he gets a cut on the excuse arc - either way he gets a mitigation ... unless of course his claim is so weak (like now) relative to what he did the judge is liable to see it as an aggravating factor rather than a mitigating one.

Frankly if I'm his lawyer I'll see if I can get some psychiatrist to agree he is insane. If no one shows up I won't even mention the claim and hope the prosecutor won't either - it might actually increase the punishment.

Kazuaki, please reread my previous post. There is no justification to his act. And there is no doubt he will, and should, receive the death penalty (I don't believe in those but these are the laws of Japan).

My point is very simple. His claim of plagiarism should not be ignored. And (I keep repeating myself) the result of such investigation should not dilute his punishment.

But if the company had plagiarised his story then that also needs to come out. It's a separate story to his crime but it's a claim that needs to be investigated.

@Kazuaki Shimazaki

No, that is the complete opposite of what anyone wants - not the company nor the submitter. You'll commonly see this policy in the entertainment industry (major record labels, movie studios, booking agencies, literary agencies, etc). They won't accept unsolicited submissions. If you sent your script, music cd, etc - it will be discarded without being opened. This is to avoid stuff arriving which they don't want, as well as to avoid litigation in accusations of stolen work, borrowed ideas, etc.

You or anyone can check any company website for these type of industries and it will detail whether they accept solicitations or not. If not listed, a simple call or email will answer it.

But submitting your work does not transfer your ownership of the work to the company who openly accepts it, nor if they don't accept it, either. It does make sense to only submit to a company who wants to see your work to begin with.

Imagine that you submitted your life long work upon a "project" beit, art or science... and found that after being rejected the place that you had submitted your work to, had taken it and presented it as their own. For some Art/Science types this may be enough to push them over the proverbial edge. The Government can not sit back here, and absolve themselves... Japan used to be a Rip-off Culture back in the 1970's/80's., but it seems that some things have been left unaddressed. More protection needs to be given to the Creators of ideas when presenting them in similar situations going forward.

As for this chap - he needs at best, a lot of medical attention... some (if parents of those affected) may say with a rope to the neck, and I'd understand that totally. Though whatever happens, Japan needs to revise Laws to protect the original author such that this type of situation never occurs again.

@mmwkdw

Okay, let's go.

Let's assume that the company actually did steal the novel and use the material without creditting him. Let's assume that the team working directly on the animation based on this material is entirely aware that this material was stolen. Let's assume it was their intent to use and take credit for the stolen material for themselves. These are some pretty decent sized "if"s already but let's roll with them because they really don't help your case when it gets down to it.

Now, here's the thing. A lot of those people even with those assumptions... They had nothing to do with his novel. They'd done nothing wrong in relation to him. They were just having another day at the office, working on their own projects. There were, undoubtedly a lot of people in the building who weren't related to the project on which accused them of stealing. This is a large animation studio, they're typically working on multiple projects in multiple teams at a time. The people who worked on Violet Evergarden were not neccessarily the same people who produced Liz to Aoi Tori. This is common logic.

So, even if we can take it as this being enough to justify him being pushed over the proverbial edge... Even if we can take it as this being enough to justify murder... The method he took to accomplish this murder was such that he undoubtedly knew he would catch many unrelated to him in the crossfire. He knew he was killing people who hadn't neccessarily done anything wrong to him. He knew that people who were just there, doing their jobs and working to create works that they could be genuinely proud of would be caught in the crossfire. Yet he took their lives in one of the cruelest, most sickenning ways imagineable.

He slaughtered many potentially innocent people simply because they worked at the company he'd felt snubbed by. Regardless of whether they'd stolen his work or not, he still killed people who had not directly wronged him at all... And he didn't care. He stood out the front of that door, pouring gasoline onto the building to set them all ablaze. It's only a pity that the fire he'd set hadn't taken its weight in karma and finished burning him alive along with them.

All that's left is the grim satisfaction that the scars he suffered from this attempt will likely plague him for the rest of his life. It may be too much to hope for that he might have enough of a conscience that the faces of the innocent which he so happily slaughtered might haunt his dreams and nightmares for the rest of his life so as to lend weight to the crime he committed. He doesn't deserve the rope, it is too easy. He deserves to continue on to live an empty, pointless life filled with nothing but sadness and pain until he either dies or takes his own life. At the very least he deserves to spend a lifetime of forced service to the families of those who suffered, trying to make up for the weight of the sin he has committed.

Do not treat his wounds. Do not tend to his mind. He deserves both the pain and the insanity he brought upon himself.