14 ms·

33 dead after arson attack at Kyoto Animation studio, dozens injured

397 points by xbmcuser 7y ago

hello_tyler 7y ago
The article says "At least 36 people were injured, 10 of them seriously." but doesn't mention deaths anywhere. I really hope the title is wrong and this is just some kind of horrible mistake. That's so many good people to have died for one selfish asshole. Can anyone confirm/deny ?
unityByFreedom 7y ago
Arson, not an accidental explosion, > A plastic container and a knife were found left at the scene. The 41-year-old suspect told prefectural police that he set fire to the building. Police are treating the case as arson.
- kristofferR 7y ago
  Details from other outlets are much more lurid: A man shouted “Die!” as he sprayed a flammable liquid all over an animation studio in Japan on Thursday and set the building on fire, killing up to 26 people, authorities said. “We have received protests against our company, not a few of them if not on a daily basis. There were murder emails including those which said ‘die,’” he told broadcaster NHK. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/suspected-arson-attack-on-japanese-animation-studio-leaves-at-least-dozen-dead/2019/07/18/4f3112b6-a91d-11e9-8733-48c87235f396_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/suspected-...
- mirimir 7y ago
  Technically, yes. Very likely at worst "just" a flash fire. Not likely any substantial overpressure, as you could get with with methane, propane, etc. Getting a large-scale gasoline-air explosion is nontrivial, I gather.
Quequau 7y ago
The number of casualties is horrific and hard to understand. I'm not a huge fan of anime but I understand that this is a major studio with a long history. So I'm sure that this will have a major impact on the entire industry.
- throw20102010 7y ago
  Yes. For those not familiar, KyoAni is not a "huge" studio, in that it usually only produces one show per season, and often none at all. They are highly respected due to the shows that they do make are very high quality (the animation is nearly always great, and stories are usually hand selected now as part of a competition). If you want to watch one of their recent series that received lots of acclaim, the show Violet Evergarden is on Netflix. Very hard to understand why anyone would want to attack them. An attack with over 20 dead with more injured could mean over half of their employees are dead/hurt.
- _wmd 7y ago
  The BBC article mentions many died on the stairs to the roof. Sounds like a locked door could have been involved
  - fiblye 7y ago
    Japanese buildings also are massively lacking in emergency exits. Almost no building would pass US safety codes or even come close to it.
    - gitrebase 7y ago
      > Japanese buildings also are massively lacking in emergency exits. This does not sound right. On the contrary, I have always seen emergency exits in Japanese buildings.
    - aikinai 7y ago
      Where did you come up with this? Japan has incredibly strict safety regulations and building codes.
ksec 7y ago
My favourite Anime of All time, Full Metal Panic were produced by Kyoto Animation. If you are are into Robot / Tech Anime it is well worth a watch, I simply felt in love with Chidori Kaname, female protagonist of the series, partly because the male protagonist is a ( Real ) nerd, and it is what some of the nerds first girl friend would act in real world. Its Companion Series Full Metal Panic Fumoffu is also hilarious. Kyoto is one of the best Animation Studio not only in Japan but in the world, I remember they have a "Making of" section in the DVDs and show how much details they put into each drawing, taking thousands of Photos in Hong Kong and redraw them in the Story. So those places aren't made up and for anyone living in Hong Kong it would have been instantly recognisable, even accurate to the sign of a poster and banner of shops. And it isn't just the quality of those drawing, there are Studio which could do decent Animation but completely lack the skill in Story telling, Character Build up and Tempo etc. Kyoto not only has it all, but they have also been doing it consistently for the past 20 years if not more. Those 20+ must have been some of the best in the industry. I pray and hope there will be no more casualties from this incident. And those that passed away, RIP. I read the Japanese Animation are still very much labour intensive, and not a lot of computer graphics involved, I am not sure if that is still true. ( And if it is, why are there little to no innovation to improve its efficiency ) And Animation, Manga industry tends to have long working hours even by Japanese Standards.
- mrpara 7y ago
  It's still true. Japanese animators are paid by the pennies and work ridiculous hours. Since they're often paid on a per-frame basis rather than hourly pay, sometimes it adds up to less than minimum hourly wage. KyoAni was actually one of the few who were known to pay reasonably well, and they also had sort of dormitories slash training facilities for their animators. As for computers, generally speaking the frames are still drawn on paper and scanned, and then colored digitally.
  - Mengkudulangsat 7y ago
    Why though?! It frustrates me that the industry have to rely on fans / foreign distributors / bootleg to get an audience out of Japan. Leaves so much money on the table. I would be more than happy to pay Eiichiro Oda and his team for an english .pdf of the latest One Piece delivered to my inbox the second it comes out.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
aaron695 7y ago
This wasn't arson, it was an attack. Some news reports the fuel was used on people. Sounds so far like mental illness, so perhaps 'attack' Seems probably 30 dead.
- Finnucane 7y ago
  Presumably more charges can be added as the investigation continues. The police arrive at the scene with enough clear evidence of arson they can hold and charge the suspect. But it certainly looks like additional charges, including murder, will be added.
- Razengan 7y ago
  Is "arson" generally not considered a targeted attack?
  - Cthulhu_ 7y ago
    I can imagine not, that is, if you set fire to a car it's arson, if you set fire to a car with someone in it it's attempted murder.
userbinator 7y ago
At all the places I've worked at, a stranger would not have made it far past the front entrance without being stopped by security, or even been able to enter the building at all (access cards, etc.) Maybe it's a cultural difference, or does the tech industry just have a much higher concern for securing offices?
- lqet 7y ago
  At all the places I've worked at (Germany), a stranger could basically just walk in, take the stairs / the elevator and enter the office. No locked doors, no security, nothing. Often left my keys, smartphone or wallet on the table when going to lunch. Never had any problems whatsoever. It's not a cultural difference, but a question of company size.
  - tetris11 7y ago
    Jupp.
  - drcode 7y ago
    My dad was an small-time advertising exec in Germany during the "Mad Men" era... being able to make unannounced visits to senior offices (with a ton of charm to pull it off) was a central part of his strategy for acquiring new customers.
- JonAtkinson 7y ago
  I imagine that is due to the combination of easily available firearms in the US and the ethically dubious position of a lot of SV companies. I work in the UK and I have only worked in one office with a security desk. Most are very relaxed.
- chrischen 7y ago
  I’d say in Japan this type of thing “doesn’t happen” so people leave their iPhones on tables to hold seats at busy coffee, and do other things that give the benefit of doubt to strangers.
- donkeyd 7y ago
tus88 7y ago
I wish Japan and most of East Asia did more to recognize and tackle mental health. And overwork. And a lot of things.
- CryptoPunk 7y ago
  Major US cities are overrun by drug addicts suffering from severe mental illnesses, with literally thousands dying from overdoses every year.
  - gregallan 7y ago
    This is pure whataboutism. The parent comment said nothing about the US to even imply there isn’t also a problem there.
    - Jach 7y ago
      On the contrary, the GP is a (light) instance of the chinese robber fallacy. https://rationalconspiracy.com/2015/03/08/the-chinese-robber-fallacy/ https://rationalconspiracy.com/2015/03/08/the-chinese-robber... They're using "a generic problem to attack a specific person or group, even though other groups have the problem just as much (or even more so)" and should be called out on it.
      - danielg6 7y ago
        Super light
fisherwithac 7y ago
For those who are able to and want to help, there's a GoFundMe campaign right now to help the studio recover [0]. There isn't much of an explanation of what the money will go towards, but it's better than doing nothing IMO. I'm not a huge consumer of anime/manga, but some of my favorites (namely, Nichijou and Full Metal Panic) have come from this studio. I'm also aware that the industry as a whole is considered to be in a bad state right now, with this event certainly not helping things. My condolences to those effected by this. I do hope, though, that this serves as a springboard for better things to come for the industry. [0] - https://www.gofundme.com/help-kyoani-heal https://www.gofundme.com/help-kyoani-heal
- dangThatSucks 7y ago
  Do we know if the (apparently Texan) organizer of that fundraiser is affiliated with the victims in any way, or is credible, or might that be a scam?
  - t0astbread 7y ago
    Sentai Filmworks is a reseller of KyoAni works (amongst others) in the west. They linked to this campaign from their official Twitter account: https://mobile.twitter.com/SentaiFilmworks/status/1151726531896643584 https://mobile.twitter.com/SentaiFilmworks/status/1151726531...
  - samfriedman 7y ago
    Sentai Filmworks shared the campaign on their Twitter: https://twitter.com/SentaiFilmworks/status/1151726531896643584 https://twitter.com/SentaiFilmworks/status/11517265318966435... so it's at least not someone masquerading as the company.
  - fisherwithac 7y ago
    From what I can tell, yes. According to their about page [0], they're a licensing/localization company for Japanese animation. Looking at their catalog [1], they've localized various Kyoto Animation productions. As other comments on this thread have pointed out, the company also shared the campaign on their Twitter account. [0] - http://www.sentaifilmworks.com/about http://www.sentaifilmworks.com/about [1] - http://www.sentaifilmworks.com/catalog http://www.sentaifilmworks.com/catalog
zaarn 7y ago
Some producers and designers are under the people reported missing, notably the producers of Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid , Free! and Violet Evergarden (afaict from people translating in a discord chat)
- _0ffh 7y ago
  It's a tragedy one way or another, but somehow that makes me feel even worse. Kobayashi-san chi no meidoragon is one of the most heartwarming series I have ever had the pleasure of watching.
devilmoon 7y ago
Apparently the motivation for the attack was that "KyoAni has stolen something from the attacker", unconfirmed reports that the something in question was a Light Novel the attacker wrote but got rejected by KyoAni, which apparently then got turned into an original work by the studio (possibly stealing here and there from the LN or anyhow drawing inspiration from it) without crediting the attacker or compensating him. I can see this happening in all honesty, I am sure that editors get to read a lot of stuff from applicants which can then be polished to produce something in-house, kind of like when bigger companies fish for start-ups tech to reimplement it in-house. Anyhow, the article doesn't mention it but I just though I would write this down in case anyone was curious about the potential motivation.
- mrob 7y ago
  Japanese sources are reporting a eyewitness account of the suspect saying "パクりやがって", which could be translated as "they plagiarized" (and definitely not "I'm sorry" as Google Translate claims). See https://www.edrdg.org/jmdictdb/cgi-bin/entr.py?svc=jmdict&sid=&q=2020400 https://www.edrdg.org/jmdictdb/cgi-bin/entr.py?svc=jmdict&si... https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20190718-00000075-asahi-soci https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20190718-00000075-asahi-s...
- mabbo 7y ago
  That's half of it (if true). The other half is a mentally ill person.
  - goldenkey 7y ago
    Explain to my why you value life over principles in a universe that neither designates value to either? Having a different world view does not make a person mentally ill. Willing to die for principles means strong feelings, no more, no less. You may find what he did heinous but violent behavior is not necessarily indicative of mental illness. It just tends to be a combination of 3 things: 1) value of self biology/life 2) value of others biology/life 3) strength of belief that ideology and impact of events supercedes 1 and 2 It is convenient to claim every violent person is mentally ill when the reality is moreso the 3 aforementioned precepts, and a short-temper/hot handle.
IanDrake 7y ago
This is terrible. There's been an uptick in attacks of this nature. Clearly its time for some common sense gasoline control. They should limit the size of gasoline containers. Why would anyone need more than a 1 gallon container? They should also make all the gasoline container spouts pour slowly, that way this can't happen again. It will give victims a chance to get away or tackle the lunatic.
Razengan 7y ago
Very depressing to see news like this from a place like Japan that's generally well regarded for its safety and peacefulness, especially against a target like an animation studio, that has only ever provided joy to people. They did not even produce anything controversial as far as I can tell. The glaring issue here seems to be the death threats they received prior to this attack. That should have been taken more seriously by the authorities, anywhere.
- pmlnr 7y ago
  > well regarded for its safety and peacefulness Here, dig deeper: http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201904170050.html http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201904170050.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/29/world/asia/japan-rape.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/29/world/asia/japan-rape.htm... https://web.archive.org/web/20190421032136/http://japaneseruleof7.com/poverty-in-japan/ https://web.archive.org/web/20190421032136/http://japaneseru...
  - whywhywhywhy 7y ago
    It's not a competition...
    - pmlnr 7y ago
      There are boatloads of people out there who idolize Japan for peacefulness and never actually read about reality there. I'm just simply tired of the "ah, but Japan" attitude. BTW, in my opinion, Japan is ~20years "ahead" of socilogical problems of the West - such as extreme isolation of elderly, young glued to the screens not even leaving a flats because everything can be done online, etc - mostly because their 80s housing boom bubble burst in the 90s and not in 2008. But this is unrelated.
      - deleted 7y ago
        [deleted]
      - Razengan 7y ago
s9w 7y ago
Three people in here immediately blamed this on mental illness/mental health. That feels like such a strange reaction and oversimplification to this. If what I read is true: The work of the person who did this did get his work stolen and maybe as a consequence missed out on a lot of money. Then doing something like this might be quite an overreaction, but is at least in the realm of understandable, no? Revenge is in human nature.
- Cthulhu_ 7y ago
  It's not actually; whatever financial damage the perpetrator suffered is trivial compared to the loss of human life. I mean he could've sued them instead. Or publically call them out on it. Instead he went for the nuclear option and went on a killing spree. This is morally abject and I can't believe you're even suggesting it might be a fair action.
  - s9w 7y ago
    I literally called it an overreaction. But there is a very strong motivation for this. It's not like it came out of nowhere - which calling him mentally ill somewhat suggests. Who knows how big the financial damage was - maybe he lost his marriage or whatever.
    - Aeolun 7y ago
      I just don’t think overreaction covers this. Even if there is no more appropriate word in the English language, it is still incorrect. Having your family killed gives you a strong motivation. Losing out on a bunch of money? That doesn’t even come close to being anything worth killing over. Let alone mass-murder.
      - s9w 7y ago
        If he gets in front of a court, his stolen work will literally be called a motive. And that's all I'm saying. The rest is just about how much of an overreaction this was. And it certainly was very much that - as I repeatedly said. That's liteally what an overreaction is.
bazooka_penguin 7y ago
This is why businesses need strict security. You never know what kind of nutjob is going to just try and waltz right in. I assume Japan's culture around workplace security is a little different, since they're statistically safer than most countries, but I wouldnt leave anything to chance.
- marcinzm 7y ago
  I presume that you avoid all cars and locations in the vicinity of cars due to their much higher risk of causing you injury than a crazy at your office in Japan. After all, you don't want to leave anything to chance do you?
  - bazooka_penguin 7y ago
    What's the point of responding with idiotic rhetoric that only presents two extremes of virtually no security or hermit lifestyle. This guy reportedly had enough time to lock up their fire exits and then toss gasoline around. AND was waiting to toss gasoline on people trying to flee out the main exit where he was waiting for them. A couple of security guards on duty and a camera system could have prevented the murder of over 30 people. I can buy a set of 5 cameras and a pc to operate a camera network for under $1000, surely an reputable business can afford a few guards and a security system a little more sophisticated than consumer cameras so some psycho doesnt go around blocking all of the safe exits to your building and still have time to prepare his attack, and then stick around with gas to attack fleeing victims. So spare me the braindead, false dichotomy because you felt like being a smartass. When someone tells you to always check your stove twice before you go out do you respond "HURR JUST STAY HOME AND WATCH YER STOVE ALL DAY"? Moron.
m45t3r 7y ago
This is really sad. KyoAni (Kyoto Animation) is, as said in other thread, one of the current best animation studios in the world. I grow up watching their animes and thinking how they're amazing compared to the majority of japanese studios. Some animes bought by them: - Full Metal Panic (many laughs, amazing characters and great animation) - Air (this is the first time that I did cry in a series of any kind) - Kanon (really good adaptation of this great Visual Novel) - Clannad (a really emotional series for me, even if the Visual Novel is better the anime still does a great service for this series) - Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu (this is the anime that made me fan of them, a unique approach of slice of life and overpowered beings that was great in its time) - Lucky Star (funny otakus done right) - K-On! (a good anime showing cute girls doing cute things) - Hyouka ("Sherlock Holmes goes to a japanese high school") - Nichijou (funny nonsense done right) - Sound Euphonium (I still remember that amazing scene at episode 11) - Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid (a great surprise, this seems like a goof series on its premise however it is so heartwarming) - Violet Evergarden (this is available in Netflix and I recommend simply because the animation is amazing and the story is really emotional) I don't really care about the reasons of the suspect, there are better ways to claim copyright infringement, and even if it didn't, there is no reason to take human lives.
DINKDINK 7y ago
Maybe it's denial stage but something doesn't add up about 25/"33" dead[1]. Is it possible that there's something being lost in translation? EFL People often mistake casualty to mean a death/mortality when it's also used as (deaths+injuries). I could see that easily being mistranslated by an ESL person as deaths. [1]Seems to be corroborated by: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/07/18/national/dozens-injured-fire-kyoto-anime-studio-man-questioned-police/ https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/07/18/national/dozens... GoFundMe page for charity: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-kyoani-heal https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-kyoani-heal
- yoru-sulfur 7y ago
  From what I've read, at least the "25" figure came directly from a police statement https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20190718/k10011997921000.html https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20190718/k10011997921000.ht...
- swebs 7y ago
  I'd say the majority of native English speakers not from a military background also make the same mistake.
pvaldes 7y ago
A Pony bottle could fit under any worktable or coin and would provide pure air for five minutes or so, probably enough to avoid the toxic fumes in the stairs trap, or to alleviate the poisoning at least, and maybe to save two or three lifes if shared. Most people can stop breathing for another minute if avoid the need to cough (the dive mask regulator atached to the bottle will help) Price around $170, oxygen portable cans are smaller and cheaper, around $50. With people so disciplined and educated as japanese, a shared standard scuba dive bottle could had saved most of this people until reaching a safe vented place. The dismayed people could had been dragged outside also by the other. The problem is that a scuba bottle could explode after catching fire unatended, but in a vicious fire the building will be damaged in any case and people goes first.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
TheAsprngHacker 7y ago
KyoAni is responsible for my favorite anime; K-On, as well as Hibike! Euphonium, another anime that moved me. I hope for the best for the families of the dead people, and I hope that the wounded people recover as soon as possible. An attack on KyoAni is an attack on passionate artists following their dreams.
Markoff 7y ago
how can 33 people out of 70 for in 3fl building? why not jump out of window, even top floor must be survivable. hard to understand unless they were attacked directly with knife or he made some kind of flamethrower

397 points by xbmcuser 7y ago

The article says "At least 36 people were injured, 10 of them seriously." but doesn't mention deaths anywhere. I really hope the title is wrong and this is just some kind of horrible mistake. That's so many good people to have died for one selfish asshole. Can anyone confirm/deny ?

unityByFreedom 7y ago

Arson, not an accidental explosion, > A plastic container and a knife were found left at the scene. The 41-year-old suspect told prefectural police that he set fire to the building. Police are treating the case as arson.

kristofferR 7y ago
Details from other outlets are much more lurid: A man shouted “Die!” as he sprayed a flammable liquid all over an animation studio in Japan on Thursday and set the building on fire, killing up to 26 people, authorities said. “We have received protests against our company, not a few of them if not on a daily basis. There were murder emails including those which said ‘die,’” he told broadcaster NHK. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/suspected-arson-attack-on-japanese-animation-studio-leaves-at-least-dozen-dead/2019/07/18/4f3112b6-a91d-11e9-8733-48c87235f396_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/suspected-...
mirimir 7y ago
Technically, yes. Very likely at worst "just" a flash fire. Not likely any substantial overpressure, as you could get with with methane, propane, etc. Getting a large-scale gasoline-air explosion is nontrivial, I gather.

Quequau 7y ago

The number of casualties is horrific and hard to understand. I'm not a huge fan of anime but I understand that this is a major studio with a long history. So I'm sure that this will have a major impact on the entire industry.

throw20102010 7y ago
Yes. For those not familiar, KyoAni is not a "huge" studio, in that it usually only produces one show per season, and often none at all. They are highly respected due to the shows that they do make are very high quality (the animation is nearly always great, and stories are usually hand selected now as part of a competition). If you want to watch one of their recent series that received lots of acclaim, the show Violet Evergarden is on Netflix. Very hard to understand why anyone would want to attack them. An attack with over 20 dead with more injured could mean over half of their employees are dead/hurt.
_wmd 7y ago
The BBC article mentions many died on the stairs to the roof. Sounds like a locked door could have been involved
- fiblye 7y ago
  Japanese buildings also are massively lacking in emergency exits. Almost no building would pass US safety codes or even come close to it.
  - gitrebase 7y ago
    > Japanese buildings also are massively lacking in emergency exits. This does not sound right. On the contrary, I have always seen emergency exits in Japanese buildings.
  - aikinai 7y ago
    Where did you come up with this? Japan has incredibly strict safety regulations and building codes.

ksec 7y ago

My favourite Anime of All time, Full Metal Panic were produced by Kyoto Animation. If you are are into Robot / Tech Anime it is well worth a watch, I simply felt in love with Chidori Kaname, female protagonist of the series, partly because the male protagonist is a ( Real ) nerd, and it is what some of the nerds first girl friend would act in real world. Its Companion Series Full Metal Panic Fumoffu is also hilarious. Kyoto is one of the best Animation Studio not only in Japan but in the world, I remember they have a "Making of" section in the DVDs and show how much details they put into each drawing, taking thousands of Photos in Hong Kong and redraw them in the Story. So those places aren't made up and for anyone living in Hong Kong it would have been instantly recognisable, even accurate to the sign of a poster and banner of shops. And it isn't just the quality of those drawing, there are Studio which could do decent Animation but completely lack the skill in Story telling, Character Build up and Tempo etc. Kyoto not only has it all, but they have also been doing it consistently for the past 20 years if not more. Those 20+ must have been some of the best in the industry. I pray and hope there will be no more casualties from this incident. And those that passed away, RIP. I read the Japanese Animation are still very much labour intensive, and not a lot of computer graphics involved, I am not sure if that is still true. ( And if it is, why are there little to no innovation to improve its efficiency ) And Animation, Manga industry tends to have long working hours even by Japanese Standards.

mrpara 7y ago
It's still true. Japanese animators are paid by the pennies and work ridiculous hours. Since they're often paid on a per-frame basis rather than hourly pay, sometimes it adds up to less than minimum hourly wage. KyoAni was actually one of the few who were known to pay reasonably well, and they also had sort of dormitories slash training facilities for their animators. As for computers, generally speaking the frames are still drawn on paper and scanned, and then colored digitally.
- Mengkudulangsat 7y ago
  Why though?! It frustrates me that the industry have to rely on fans / foreign distributors / bootleg to get an audience out of Japan. Leaves so much money on the table. I would be more than happy to pay Eiichiro Oda and his team for an english .pdf of the latest One Piece delivered to my inbox the second it comes out.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

aaron695 7y ago

This wasn't arson, it was an attack. Some news reports the fuel was used on people. Sounds so far like mental illness, so perhaps 'attack' Seems probably 30 dead.

Finnucane 7y ago
Presumably more charges can be added as the investigation continues. The police arrive at the scene with enough clear evidence of arson they can hold and charge the suspect. But it certainly looks like additional charges, including murder, will be added.
Razengan 7y ago
Is "arson" generally not considered a targeted attack?
- Cthulhu_ 7y ago
  I can imagine not, that is, if you set fire to a car it's arson, if you set fire to a car with someone in it it's attempted murder.

userbinator 7y ago

At all the places I've worked at, a stranger would not have made it far past the front entrance without being stopped by security, or even been able to enter the building at all (access cards, etc.) Maybe it's a cultural difference, or does the tech industry just have a much higher concern for securing offices?

lqet 7y ago
At all the places I've worked at (Germany), a stranger could basically just walk in, take the stairs / the elevator and enter the office. No locked doors, no security, nothing. Often left my keys, smartphone or wallet on the table when going to lunch. Never had any problems whatsoever. It's not a cultural difference, but a question of company size.
- tetris11 7y ago
  Jupp.
- drcode 7y ago
  My dad was an small-time advertising exec in Germany during the "Mad Men" era... being able to make unannounced visits to senior offices (with a ton of charm to pull it off) was a central part of his strategy for acquiring new customers.
JonAtkinson 7y ago
I imagine that is due to the combination of easily available firearms in the US and the ethically dubious position of a lot of SV companies. I work in the UK and I have only worked in one office with a security desk. Most are very relaxed.
chrischen 7y ago
I’d say in Japan this type of thing “doesn’t happen” so people leave their iPhones on tables to hold seats at busy coffee, and do other things that give the benefit of doubt to strangers.
donkeyd 7y ago

tus88 7y ago

I wish Japan and most of East Asia did more to recognize and tackle mental health. And overwork. And a lot of things.

CryptoPunk 7y ago
Major US cities are overrun by drug addicts suffering from severe mental illnesses, with literally thousands dying from overdoses every year.
- gregallan 7y ago
  This is pure whataboutism. The parent comment said nothing about the US to even imply there isn’t also a problem there.
  - Jach 7y ago
    On the contrary, the GP is a (light) instance of the chinese robber fallacy. https://rationalconspiracy.com/2015/03/08/the-chinese-robber-fallacy/ https://rationalconspiracy.com/2015/03/08/the-chinese-robber... They're using "a generic problem to attack a specific person or group, even though other groups have the problem just as much (or even more so)" and should be called out on it.
    - danielg6 7y ago
      Super light

fisherwithac 7y ago

For those who are able to and want to help, there's a GoFundMe campaign right now to help the studio recover [0]. There isn't much of an explanation of what the money will go towards, but it's better than doing nothing IMO. I'm not a huge consumer of anime/manga, but some of my favorites (namely, Nichijou and Full Metal Panic) have come from this studio. I'm also aware that the industry as a whole is considered to be in a bad state right now, with this event certainly not helping things. My condolences to those effected by this. I do hope, though, that this serves as a springboard for better things to come for the industry. [0] - https://www.gofundme.com/help-kyoani-heal https://www.gofundme.com/help-kyoani-heal

dangThatSucks 7y ago
Do we know if the (apparently Texan) organizer of that fundraiser is affiliated with the victims in any way, or is credible, or might that be a scam?
- t0astbread 7y ago
  Sentai Filmworks is a reseller of KyoAni works (amongst others) in the west. They linked to this campaign from their official Twitter account: https://mobile.twitter.com/SentaiFilmworks/status/1151726531896643584 https://mobile.twitter.com/SentaiFilmworks/status/1151726531...
- samfriedman 7y ago
  Sentai Filmworks shared the campaign on their Twitter: https://twitter.com/SentaiFilmworks/status/1151726531896643584 https://twitter.com/SentaiFilmworks/status/11517265318966435... so it's at least not someone masquerading as the company.
- fisherwithac 7y ago
  From what I can tell, yes. According to their about page [0], they're a licensing/localization company for Japanese animation. Looking at their catalog [1], they've localized various Kyoto Animation productions. As other comments on this thread have pointed out, the company also shared the campaign on their Twitter account. [0] - http://www.sentaifilmworks.com/about http://www.sentaifilmworks.com/about [1] - http://www.sentaifilmworks.com/catalog http://www.sentaifilmworks.com/catalog

zaarn 7y ago

Some producers and designers are under the people reported missing, notably the producers of Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid , Free! and Violet Evergarden (afaict from people translating in a discord chat)

_0ffh 7y ago
It's a tragedy one way or another, but somehow that makes me feel even worse. Kobayashi-san chi no meidoragon is one of the most heartwarming series I have ever had the pleasure of watching.

devilmoon 7y ago

Apparently the motivation for the attack was that "KyoAni has stolen something from the attacker", unconfirmed reports that the something in question was a Light Novel the attacker wrote but got rejected by KyoAni, which apparently then got turned into an original work by the studio (possibly stealing here and there from the LN or anyhow drawing inspiration from it) without crediting the attacker or compensating him. I can see this happening in all honesty, I am sure that editors get to read a lot of stuff from applicants which can then be polished to produce something in-house, kind of like when bigger companies fish for start-ups tech to reimplement it in-house. Anyhow, the article doesn't mention it but I just though I would write this down in case anyone was curious about the potential motivation.

mrob 7y ago
Japanese sources are reporting a eyewitness account of the suspect saying "パクりやがって", which could be translated as "they plagiarized" (and definitely not "I'm sorry" as Google Translate claims). See https://www.edrdg.org/jmdictdb/cgi-bin/entr.py?svc=jmdict&sid=&q=2020400 https://www.edrdg.org/jmdictdb/cgi-bin/entr.py?svc=jmdict&si... https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20190718-00000075-asahi-soci https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20190718-00000075-asahi-s...
mabbo 7y ago
That's half of it (if true). The other half is a mentally ill person.
- goldenkey 7y ago
  Explain to my why you value life over principles in a universe that neither designates value to either? Having a different world view does not make a person mentally ill. Willing to die for principles means strong feelings, no more, no less. You may find what he did heinous but violent behavior is not necessarily indicative of mental illness. It just tends to be a combination of 3 things: 1) value of self biology/life 2) value of others biology/life 3) strength of belief that ideology and impact of events supercedes 1 and 2 It is convenient to claim every violent person is mentally ill when the reality is moreso the 3 aforementioned precepts, and a short-temper/hot handle.

IanDrake 7y ago

This is terrible. There's been an uptick in attacks of this nature. Clearly its time for some common sense gasoline control. They should limit the size of gasoline containers. Why would anyone need more than a 1 gallon container? They should also make all the gasoline container spouts pour slowly, that way this can't happen again. It will give victims a chance to get away or tackle the lunatic.

Razengan 7y ago

Very depressing to see news like this from a place like Japan that's generally well regarded for its safety and peacefulness, especially against a target like an animation studio, that has only ever provided joy to people. They did not even produce anything controversial as far as I can tell. The glaring issue here seems to be the death threats they received prior to this attack. That should have been taken more seriously by the authorities, anywhere.

pmlnr 7y ago
> well regarded for its safety and peacefulness Here, dig deeper: http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201904170050.html http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201904170050.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/29/world/asia/japan-rape.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/29/world/asia/japan-rape.htm... https://web.archive.org/web/20190421032136/http://japaneseruleof7.com/poverty-in-japan/ https://web.archive.org/web/20190421032136/http://japaneseru...
- whywhywhywhy 7y ago
  It's not a competition...
  - pmlnr 7y ago
    There are boatloads of people out there who idolize Japan for peacefulness and never actually read about reality there. I'm just simply tired of the "ah, but Japan" attitude. BTW, in my opinion, Japan is ~20years "ahead" of socilogical problems of the West - such as extreme isolation of elderly, young glued to the screens not even leaving a flats because everything can be done online, etc - mostly because their 80s housing boom bubble burst in the 90s and not in 2008. But this is unrelated.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    - Razengan 7y ago

s9w 7y ago

Three people in here immediately blamed this on mental illness/mental health. That feels like such a strange reaction and oversimplification to this. If what I read is true: The work of the person who did this did get his work stolen and maybe as a consequence missed out on a lot of money. Then doing something like this might be quite an overreaction, but is at least in the realm of understandable, no? Revenge is in human nature.

Cthulhu_ 7y ago
It's not actually; whatever financial damage the perpetrator suffered is trivial compared to the loss of human life. I mean he could've sued them instead. Or publically call them out on it. Instead he went for the nuclear option and went on a killing spree. This is morally abject and I can't believe you're even suggesting it might be a fair action.
- s9w 7y ago
  I literally called it an overreaction. But there is a very strong motivation for this. It's not like it came out of nowhere - which calling him mentally ill somewhat suggests. Who knows how big the financial damage was - maybe he lost his marriage or whatever.
  - Aeolun 7y ago
    I just don’t think overreaction covers this. Even if there is no more appropriate word in the English language, it is still incorrect. Having your family killed gives you a strong motivation. Losing out on a bunch of money? That doesn’t even come close to being anything worth killing over. Let alone mass-murder.
    - s9w 7y ago
      If he gets in front of a court, his stolen work will literally be called a motive. And that's all I'm saying. The rest is just about how much of an overreaction this was. And it certainly was very much that - as I repeatedly said. That's liteally what an overreaction is.

bazooka_penguin 7y ago

This is why businesses need strict security. You never know what kind of nutjob is going to just try and waltz right in. I assume Japan's culture around workplace security is a little different, since they're statistically safer than most countries, but I wouldnt leave anything to chance.

marcinzm 7y ago
I presume that you avoid all cars and locations in the vicinity of cars due to their much higher risk of causing you injury than a crazy at your office in Japan. After all, you don't want to leave anything to chance do you?
- bazooka_penguin 7y ago
  What's the point of responding with idiotic rhetoric that only presents two extremes of virtually no security or hermit lifestyle. This guy reportedly had enough time to lock up their fire exits and then toss gasoline around. AND was waiting to toss gasoline on people trying to flee out the main exit where he was waiting for them. A couple of security guards on duty and a camera system could have prevented the murder of over 30 people. I can buy a set of 5 cameras and a pc to operate a camera network for under $1000, surely an reputable business can afford a few guards and a security system a little more sophisticated than consumer cameras so some psycho doesnt go around blocking all of the safe exits to your building and still have time to prepare his attack, and then stick around with gas to attack fleeing victims. So spare me the braindead, false dichotomy because you felt like being a smartass. When someone tells you to always check your stove twice before you go out do you respond "HURR JUST STAY HOME AND WATCH YER STOVE ALL DAY"? Moron.

m45t3r 7y ago

This is really sad. KyoAni (Kyoto Animation) is, as said in other thread, one of the current best animation studios in the world. I grow up watching their animes and thinking how they're amazing compared to the majority of japanese studios. Some animes bought by them: - Full Metal Panic (many laughs, amazing characters and great animation) - Air (this is the first time that I did cry in a series of any kind) - Kanon (really good adaptation of this great Visual Novel) - Clannad (a really emotional series for me, even if the Visual Novel is better the anime still does a great service for this series) - Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu (this is the anime that made me fan of them, a unique approach of slice of life and overpowered beings that was great in its time) - Lucky Star (funny otakus done right) - K-On! (a good anime showing cute girls doing cute things) - Hyouka ("Sherlock Holmes goes to a japanese high school") - Nichijou (funny nonsense done right) - Sound Euphonium (I still remember that amazing scene at episode 11) - Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid (a great surprise, this seems like a goof series on its premise however it is so heartwarming) - Violet Evergarden (this is available in Netflix and I recommend simply because the animation is amazing and the story is really emotional) I don't really care about the reasons of the suspect, there are better ways to claim copyright infringement, and even if it didn't, there is no reason to take human lives.

DINKDINK 7y ago

Maybe it's denial stage but something doesn't add up about 25/"33" dead[1]. Is it possible that there's something being lost in translation? EFL People often mistake casualty to mean a death/mortality when it's also used as (deaths+injuries). I could see that easily being mistranslated by an ESL person as deaths. [1]Seems to be corroborated by: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/07/18/national/dozens-injured-fire-kyoto-anime-studio-man-questioned-police/ https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/07/18/national/dozens... GoFundMe page for charity: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-kyoani-heal https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-kyoani-heal

yoru-sulfur 7y ago
From what I've read, at least the "25" figure came directly from a police statement https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20190718/k10011997921000.html https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20190718/k10011997921000.ht...
swebs 7y ago
I'd say the majority of native English speakers not from a military background also make the same mistake.

pvaldes 7y ago

A Pony bottle could fit under any worktable or coin and would provide pure air for five minutes or so, probably enough to avoid the toxic fumes in the stairs trap, or to alleviate the poisoning at least, and maybe to save two or three lifes if shared. Most people can stop breathing for another minute if avoid the need to cough (the dive mask regulator atached to the bottle will help) Price around $170, oxygen portable cans are smaller and cheaper, around $50. With people so disciplined and educated as japanese, a shared standard scuba dive bottle could had saved most of this people until reaching a safe vented place. The dismayed people could had been dragged outside also by the other. The problem is that a scuba bottle could explode after catching fire unatended, but in a vicious fire the building will be damaged in any case and people goes first.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

TheAsprngHacker 7y ago

KyoAni is responsible for my favorite anime; K-On, as well as Hibike! Euphonium, another anime that moved me. I hope for the best for the families of the dead people, and I hope that the wounded people recover as soon as possible. An attack on KyoAni is an attack on passionate artists following their dreams.

Markoff 7y ago

how can 33 people out of 70 for in 3fl building? why not jump out of window, even top floor must be survivable. hard to understand unless they were attacked directly with knife or he made some kind of flamethrower