Fire at Kyoto Animation Studio

[crazyflyingdonut]

Before I get started with the news, I would just like to say that as a fan of anime and manga myself, I have been crying ever since I heard the news this morning. I can't fucking stop with all the tears and my eyes are as red as a tomato right now.

 

So as many of you may have heard, there was a fire at one of Japan's greatest animation studios today. If you're familiar with such anime as "K-On", "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya", "Nichijou", "Lucky Star", or "Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid", you'll be familiar with this particular studio.

 

Well, somebody set fire to the studio, causing (as of the time of this writing) 34 deaths and 36 injuries, along with sadness from millions of anime fans across the globe.

 

The perpetrator's motives for causing this horrific act of undeserved terrorism have not been revealed yet (as of the time of this writing).

Edited July 19, 2019 by crazyflyingdonut

[haruko haruhara]

oh no i am now sad i love  Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid that is very sad they died!! oh im crying now

[Chopkinsca]

Fires are terrible no matter where they happen. Sad to hear this.

[Doomkid]

Apparently this is the worst post-WWII mass murder incident in Japan. Absolutely tragic, being burned to death or dying from smoke inhalation must be an awful way to go out... More info here: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/19/kyoto-animation-fire-police-search-for-clues-as-donations-pass-1m-mark

[esselfortium]

I've removed some posts from this thread. Let's please refrain from the speculation, gruesome talk, and shitposting. There is no understandable motive that can make sense of this tragedy, and no retribution that can change what's happened.

As a long-time follower of Kyoto Animation and the creators they employ, I can't even find the words to describe what a punch in the gut this week has been. So many lives senselessly ended. There were 74 people in that building, and as of this writing, 34 of them have died, with many others seriously injured. Watching this news unfold on Wednesday night and yesterday morning I felt an immense sense of grief that still won't leave me.

 

KyoAni is a one-of-a-kind studio. They've been known for their inclusive hiring practices, healthy working environment, and consistently extremely high quality output that capture the nuances of body language and human emotion. It's been home to some of the finest artists and kindest people out there, and the animation industry and the world as a whole are far worse off without them.

 

From a New York Times article:

Quote

On Friday, a man distraught about his 21-year-old granddaughter, who worked at Kyoto Animation, told NHK that he could not find her name on lists of people taken to local hospitals.

“She was my pride,” the man, Kazuo Okada, 69, said of his granddaughter, Megumu Ohno. “Her name started appearing on the screens of anime movies. I was so happy to see that. I was proud of her. I want to see her face soon.”

Seeing this quote this morning broke my heart all over again. No one deserved anything like this.

 

If you're not familiar with Kyoto Animation's works, consider watching the film A Silent Voice. (It's on Netflix.) It's a powerful, uplifting, and at times painfully real story about a former bully grappling with depression and trying to make amends. Its director Naoko Yamada is one of the few confirmed survivors of this fire. I hope that she and the other survivors will somehow find the strength to keep creating and bringing their visions into the world.

[Jimmy²]

23 hours ago, crazyflyingdonut said:

So as many of you may have heard, there was a fire at one of Japan's greatest animation studios today. If you're familiar with such anime as "K-On", "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya", "Nichijou", "Lucky Star", or "Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid", you'll be familiar with this particular studio.

 

Good lord. This studio has obviously made such a cultural impact that I was familiar with the names of all of these shows years before becoming interested in actually sitting down to watch and appreciate a bit of anime myself. And real love gets put into all of these shows, clearly.

 

Unspeakable tragedy.

[DooM_RO]

For some weird reason, I always thought that developers/studios are kind of immune to massive tragedies or catastrophes. I know it's illogical but that's how I felt.

 

Just imagine if something like this happened to the guys at Id.

[TheOrganGrinder]

This is just... numbing to me.  It's just so senseless and so unspeakably sad.

[SaladBadger]

man what the fuck. Having watched quite a bit of Kyoani's works (and this entire incident started during a session watching Haruhi with friends, even) I don't think I can put into words just how much this depresses me. Especially with all the gruesome details that have come out over the past few days. Such a horrible and senseless act of violence.

[Test Tickle]

Never watched anything from them much less any anime at all but still, rest in piece.

[Walter confetti]

This Is a tragic news, humanly and artistically... What a terrible tragedy.

Edited July 19, 2019 by Walter confetti

[Gaia74]

it is really devastating to see the images of this tragedy...

Since i saw violet evergarden I became more interested in the anime of this study

 

really a tragedy ;-;

[leodoom85]

Those people didn't deserve to die in such a horrible way thanks to one single person. I don't know much what they did for the anime community to be honest but still, those were people with families and they are devastated. My sincerest condolences to all. 

[Juza]

Very enraging and sad -- shows how any person can take lives at any moment, for any reasons, and very easily. Kyo let it slide once and for a day the building did not have as much security as it usually does, and the consequences were extremely fatal. I hope this incentives studios to better their security so that we never see similar news again.

[obake]

Few words can describe how terrible this is. My heart goes to everyone working at Kyoto Animation, their families, friends, and the industry as a whole.

 

Nothing we do can fully heal their grief, but I believe we are still able to help carry their burden.

 

Here are a few suggestions. One, we can subscribe to their official YouTube and Twitter pages. (Note: I believe these are Kyoto Animation's official ones. If I am wrong, please correct me.)

 

Two, there is a GoFundMe set up by Sentai Filmworks.

 

Finally, for those religious of us, no matter our denomination, let us keep them in your prayers.

 

In all cases, it will be welcome to send a supporting message.

[Gerardo194]

I don't care too much about the studio nor animes... In my opinion, you can die of old, accident or sickness (depending their cases). I care too much about life, and nobody must not be killed any way. The worst thing is it happens everywhere... 

I just imagine their families' s feelings, it must be terrible. 

I imagine myself waking up and going to work to be killed there. That's sad. My condolences.

 

Funnily enough, I know a Japanese person (we know each other years ago) that doesn't care about this terrible tragedy... 

What is happening with peace??

Let's pray, or just wish that the world live finally in peace everytime and everywhere 

Sad... Just sad.

 

 

P.S. My 666 post

[crazyflyingdonut]

On 7/21/2019 at 2:55 AM, Gerardo194 said:

Funnily enough, I know a Japanese person (we know each other years ago) that doesn't care about this terrible tragedy...

Are you talking about https://twitter.com/jashin_slayer_ ? They've been going around on Twitter laughing at the victims of the fire, calling KyoAni's anime "garbage", and attacking people who are upset about the fire. I've tried reporting him many times and it isn't working.

 

This post was totally not made because I am deeply upset about this person and I am totally not trying to spread more attention in order to get more people to report him. I'm totally not trying my absolute fucking hardest to get him banned from Twitter.

[FractalBeast]

As blunt and insensitive as the guy puts his opinion forward, he has a point though. Japan really needs to step up their game in regards to mental illness and abnormal behavior (hikkimoris etc.) because tragedies like this are going to keep happening.

 

It's actually surprising it took this long for an anime studio to get attacked. They get death threats all the time. The Japanese geek/nerd community is sick and diseased. Fucking idols and voice actors having to hire bodyguards whenever they do something to piss off the obsessive freaks over at 2ch. That said, not that the Western geek/nerd community is any better, it's arguably even worse thanks to a long history of sending death threats to videogame developers (since the '90s that I am aware of at least) and the whole contemporary blurring of the videogame community and incel murder death commandos.

 

That said, it's a horrid tragedy and probably a major turning point in the (modern) history of the Japanese entertainment industry. Hopefully, going forward, companies will do a better job protecting their employees from fucked up individuals. And hopefully, Japanese society will just stop burrowing its own head in its arse "if we don't acknowledge it, it doesn't exist" in regards to how mental afflictions harm society.

Edited July 24, 2019 by FractalBeast : strikethrough

[esselfortium]

 

@crazyflyingdonut I don't need to see hateful garbage in here and neither does anyone else, this week has already been enough of a reminder that there are some horrible people in the world.

[esselfortium]

There isn't anything that KyoAni realistically could have done to prevent this. This was a murderer who had stalked out the building in advance to learn its vulnerabilities and was throwing gasoline at the escape routes. The building had been certified as in compliance with fire safety regulations, the problem is just that regulations are there primarily to mitigate damage from accidental fires, and can do little against a premeditated intentional firebombing. There is only one person to blame for these deaths. A twitter thread with more on this here.

 

KyoAni president Hideaki Hatta has expressed that the company is implementing measures to help survivors and family members who are suffering from PTSD, and will be prioritizing its employees' health over production. Aside from the horrific losses of lives and talent, another reason this is so shocking is because KyoAni has long been recognized as one of the most compassionate, employee-friendly, and inclusive companies in Japan. It can't be understated how radically different and revolutionary KyoAni has been, and I hope that this won't be the end of it. A twitter thread with more on this here.

[Gerardo194]

@crazyflyingdonut I don't use my Twitter to see shitty garbage as others say. I use it for fav games, personal tweets and Doomy things.

 

The person I refered to is my ex gf, she's Japanese. She said she doesn't care about this tragedy...

 

I like few anime (old ones) but don't love anime or other cultural things. I love people, and hear tragedies like this that happens everywhere makes me sad.

 

It is just like Costa Rica, my country and many contries admire us for not having an army, we solve problems in peace... That's a fucking lie, we are killing us each other... this year a man killed a seven member family by burning them inside their house and other tragedy: a man on his car pursued and killed a biker and destroyed his head against the concrete. Is Costa Rica a peaceful country?? pura mierda.

 

Love your neightbour as yourself.

[[McD] James]

Consider donating to the gofundme if you are able to. 

[Jaxxoon R]

I've heard a number of them needed amputations. That makes things way worse, since even if they survive they likely won't be able to work in the animation industry anymore. The man literally took their lives and their livelihoods from them forever.

[DooM_RO]

14 hours ago, Jaxxoon R said:

I've heard a number of them needed amputations. That makes things way worse, since even if they survive they likely won't be able to work in the animation industry anymore. The man literally took their lives and their livelihoods from them forever.

 

Depends if we're talking about arms or legs, no?

[Master O]

On 7/22/2019 at 8:03 AM, FractalBeast said:

As blunt and insensitive as the guy puts his opinion forward, he has a point though. Japan really needs to step up their game in regards to mental illness and abnormal behavior (hikkimoris etc.) because tragedies like this are going to keep happening.

 

It's actually surprising it took this long for an anime studio to get attacked. They get death threats all the time. The Japanese geek/nerd community is sick and diseased. Fucking idols and voice actors having to hire bodyguards whenever they do something to piss off the obsessive freaks over at 2ch. That said, not that the Western geek/nerd community is any better, it's arguably even worse thanks to a long history of sending death threats to videogame developers (since the '90s that I am aware of at least) and the whole contemporary blurring of the videogame community and incel murder death commandos.

 

That said, it's a horrid tragedy and probably a major turning point in the (modern) history of the Japanese entertainment industry. Hopefully, going forward, companies will do a better job protecting their employees from fucked up individuals. And hopefully, Japanese society will just stop burrowing its own head in its arse "if we don't acknowledge it, it doesn't exist" in regards to how mental afflictions harm society.

 

Knowing Japanese culture, any chances of reform are dead on arrival. Their entire culture revolves around "not causing trouble for others", so this will be swept under the rug and once the furor dies down, everything will continue as before.  

 

The concept of Face in Asian cultures is a powerful one. Saving face is even more so.