Fire at Kyoto Animation
 

Arson, they currently believe. Fire at Studio 1, apparently several serious injuries.

Disgruntled employee - or worse yet, crazed fan? Who knows at this point, but obviously a terrible story.

Sourced from Twitter

Authorities believe that this might be a case of arson and appear to have apprehended one male suspect, although details are scant at this point.

While there are a lot of studios where you wouldn’t be surprised if an ex-employee who’d been abused did something like this, Kyoto Animation isn’t one of them. Whatever you think of the end product their working conditions are among the best in the industry (as low a bar as that is). Their fanbase is pretty out there sometimes though, which does make you wonder.

I wouldn't presume to suppose that it's an unhappy fan: I know that a lot of folks hated Kyoto Animation and some of their titles with every fibre of their being (K-On! comes to mind), but it's the height of stupidity and ignorance to torch a studio because of one's thoughts on their work. We'll have to wait and see what the cops say; for now, I just hope that casualties are minimal.

Damn, someone must have serious issues somewhere.

I will also wait to see what the investigation says, but that's arguably the lowest of the low for anybody to torch such a company for whatever reason. Considering that the fire happened when people worked in there, that person is a serious nutcase for starters.

That fool better get ready for a long time in jail because he will sit in there for a while.

I’m not presuming anything - just observing. If this was arson the broad categories are pretty limited - disgruntled employee, crazy fan or personal grudge. If this was a known black company, you’d be more inclined to think #1 but that KyoAni is not.

Tragically this sounds very bad - many critical injuries and extensive damage to the main studio. What a horrible thing to happen.

That really sucks to hear.

Seems there's some deaths now.

https://mobile.twitter.com/nhk_news/...94842117754881

EDIT:https://mobile.twitter.com/mainichi/...98158935658498

Seems to be just one person for now.

F***, f***, f***! :upset: :( :(

Horrible news. I can now only hope that the law will punish that arrested suspect very harshly. He better not get away with anything lenient at all now that homicide will be in the charges.

horrible news

This is terrible, doesn't matter how much that guy hated Kyoani, doing this to other people is unforgivable.

This is premeditated with intent to harm, so it's technically probably murder.

I just heard the news. I thought it was a joke at first, but when I saw the news and read the articles I was pissed beyond belief. From the “send her back” rally(s) and now this...Where’s aspirin when you need one?

My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families. Regardless of the perpetrators excuse I hope he won’t be getting off lightly. Considering the horrendous damage that was done. Sick bastard I swear.

https://mobile.twitter.com/ultimatem...19692018552832

Seems to be a mass murder now. Sigh.....

Judging by the number of horrible people making jokes already on Twitter ("Should never have made "Free", ha ha!") my inclination to suspect a sicko disgruntled fan seems to be quite realistic.

Oh, geez... That would beyond contempt against humanity if that's the suspected trail. Shitting on one title (of which I enjoyed BTW) after KyoAni gave us Full Metal Panic, Air, Haruhi Suzumiya, Clannad, Clannad: After Story, K-On!, and Violet Evergarden is totally out of order.

Besides, do Japanese authorities actually hunt people making extremely displaced comments about this or that on the web? That would help if an effective cybercrimes division could spot those people and lead to their arrest before they become too dangerous.

When you consider that, at 10 people dead and that's probably minimum, this is already one of the worst mass killings in modern Japanese history.

[mod edit: Removed inconsiderate comment]

Anyways, dang, you don't hear much of these types of mass murders from Japan that often, so it is a surprise. :eyespin:
RIP.

I guess I hope I'm wrong, but in the end it doesn't make any difference - is it any less of a tragedy if it was a former employee or a jilted lover of an executive? Whoever it was is psychotic, and the victims are still the victims. The company will survive this, but the recovery is going to take a long time.

In any case, **** the perp.

That person will be condemned to death by hanging based on existing laws, and he will feel what true loneliness is by the time he is brought to the gallows.