The Four Color Media Monitor

A horrifying tragedy took place in Japan's anime industry, at one of their notable development studios:

At least 33 people were killed and dozens more injured after an arsonist allegedly set fire to a three-story animation studio in Kyoto, Japan, on Thursday.

Local police confirmed that 70 people were inside Kyoto’s Animation studio when a 41-year-old man threw what appeared to be gasoline, before setting fire to the building at around 10:30 a.m. on Thursday.

At least 33 people have died as a result of the blaze and dozens more taken to hospital, many of whom were in life-threatening condition. The suspect survived the fire but was also taken to hospital for his injuries, meaning police were unable to question him.

The precise motives behind the believed attack currently remain unclear, although various reports indicate that he may have had a vendetta against the studio.

“A person with singed hair was lying down and there were bloody footprints,” a 59-year-old woman told local news agency Kyodo. “He seemed to be in pain, irritated and suffering, but also angry as if he was resentful. I heard him saying something like ‘you copied it.'”

Kyoto Animation Director Hideaki Hatta told local media that the company had recently been receiving threatening emails.

“They were addressed to our office and sales department and told us to die,” he said. “It is unbearable that the people who helped carry Japan’s animation industry were hurt and lost their lives in this way.”

Absolutely, it's repulsive. Buildings and equipment may be replaceable, but lives are definitely not. The New York Post has some more on what's known about the culprit:

The suspected arsonist behind Thursday’s deadly blaze at the Kyoto Animation studio in Japan was “angry” and “discontented” with workers there — and allegedly shouting “about how he had been plagiarized” after setting the place on fire, a witness says.

“They faked it!” the 41-year-old man reportedly yelled in Japanese. [...]

Investigators believe he has no connection to the Kyoto Animation Co., despite his claims of plagiarism.

A woman who saw him being detained Thursday told reporters that he “seemed to be discontented.”

“He seemed to get angry, shouting something about how he had been plagiarized,” she said, according to Reuters.

Assuming this was a mangaka in question, his work will definitely have to be boycotted, blacklisted, anything of the sort to make clear his actions are obscenely abominable, because he's guilty of murdering nearly 3 dozen innocent people. It's terrible that even Japan's not immune to having psychopaths running around loose, and now, it's led to a real life horror story in their anime/manga industry.

Update: Reuters reports the culprit's been identified:

A man suspected of torching an animation studio and killing 33 people in Japan’s worst mass killing in two decades had been convicted of robbery and carried out the attack because he believed his novel had been plagiarized, media said on Friday.

Public broadcaster NHK, which identified the 41-year-old man as Shinji Aoba, citing police, said he served time in prison for robbing a convenience store east of Tokyo in 2012 and, after his release, lived in facilities for former convicts. He had also received care for mental illness, NHK said.

No "plagiarism" justifies the barbarism that demon carried out. He should be sent to the chair for murdering people over petty issues.

Labels: animation, Europe and Asia, manga and anime, violence