I have to make a confession to officially open this piece. I am a total sucker for Japanese culture. From the food, their punctuality, their work ethics, and most importantly, its cultural heritages from dresses to Shinto shrines. But what made Japan well known the most, it's the animation industry. I started watching Japanese anime when I was in elementary school when Naruto first aired roughly around 2005. Since then, I fell into this seemingly endless rabbit hole of the Otaku life, to the extent of attending some events and festivals dedicated to the Japanese pop culture pre-pandemic years. But behind all those cheers, lies one case that one day would be viewed as the darkest days in the history of the Japanese anime industry, if not the history of Japan itself.
By now, almost all anime connoisseurs are familiar with several anime studios currently existing, and one of those located in the city of Uji, just outside of the city of Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, appropriately named Kyoto Animation (Japanese: 京都アニメーション, Kyōto Animēshon, KyoAni for short). If we take a look inside their catalogue, some of the best anime ever produced came from this studio alone. From slice of life anime like K-ON! to series based on a visual novel like Clannad (not to be confused with the Irish band of the same name) to the more recent works like Violet Evergarden, Kyoto Animation established itself as one of the premier anime studios in Japan. The company itself first founded by a husband-wife team of Hideaki and Yoko Hatta in 1981. It then became a limited company in 1985 and a corporation in 1999. Prior to the company's formation, Yoko-san worked as had worked as a painter at another studio, Mushi Production before moving to Kyoto after marrying Hideaki. Inside the corporate structure of the studio, Hideaki served as president, while Yoko-san as vice president. In 2000, an affiliate company, named Animation Do. Co. Ltd. was established by Hideaki with main purpose to assist production at Kyoto Animation. It was established by the studio's Osaka office, before being incorporated as a limited company in 2000, then a corporation in 2010. During its operation, both companies are run by Hideaki and are run jointly as one. They produce up-and-coming works under the Animation Do label with Kyoto Animation as their main contractor and works where they work as one company alongside Kyoto Animation. They work on most Kyoto Animation projects and many of them have joint signatures. The company itself was fully absorbed by Kyoto Animation on the 16th of September 2020, which included all rights and associated properties.
The studio has an annual Kyoto Animation Awards held every year since 2009. The award itself included three categories: original novels, manga, and scenarios. Some anime produced by the studio had either received an award or at least being included into the studio's honourable mentions. Among those titles included: Tsurune, Beyond The Boundary, Myriad Colors Phantom World, and Violet Evergarden, among others. The studio is regarded as one of the most recognisable studios for their high production values and "sensitivity to the wonders and quandaries of ordinary life". Most anime (at least those that I've watched) always has a "slice of life" element to it. Like Love, Chunibyo, and Other Delusions, where the story details a high school boy trying to escape his junior high years where he suffer from Chuunibyo (Second Grade Syndrome), where he fantasized himself for having supernatural powers, only to run into a girl with similar syndrome herself, and subsequently fell in love as the story progresses. The studio also known for their example of employee welfare, where the workers are on a salary payroll instead of freelance ones, and are trained in-house. They are also one of many companies that champions diversity and encourage more women to enter the industry. They were served with a Diversity Award by Women in Animation in 2020 for this practice.
But on the 18th of July 2019, Kyoto Animation studio 1 in Fushimi, Kyoto Prefecture caught fire, beginning with an explosion at around 10.31 JST. When the fire first started, the perpetrator walked into Studio 1 and set the fire with approximately 40 litres (11 US gallons) of gasoline. The fuel itself was bought 10 km (6.2 miles) from the building, and carried into the scene with a trolley. It was believe that the fuel was planted with the mixture of air, causing the explosion. As the fire spread further, more staff members were trapped inside the building. Along the way, there were 20 bodies found on the stairs from the third floor to the roof, indicating an attempted escape. Associate professor at Disaster Prevention Research Institute of Kyoto University Tomoaki Nishino estimated that the second and third floors were almost filled with smoke within 30 second of the initial explosion. the fire was contained at 3.19 p.m., and was extinguished the next morning at 6.20 a.m. Total confirmed casualties from the fire were 36 dead and 34 injured from approximately 70 people inside Studio 1 and the perpetrator at the time of the incident, with approximately 20 of them were women, one of them was reported as a South Korean citizen. Among the deceased were directors Yasuhiro Takemoto, Futoshi Nishiya and Yoshiji Kigami, as well as colour designer Naomi Ishida, and among the survivors were animation director Naoko Yamada. Some victims were difficult to identify, due to most of them had burned beyond recognition. Autopsy results released on the 22 July 2019 revealed that majority of the victims' cause of death were burn injuries rather than carbon monoxide poisoning. In addition, the fire destroyed most of the computers and materials , though small portion of keyframes were on exhibition in Tokushima at the time, so the keyframes were spared. On the 29th of July, the studio reported that they successfully recovered some digitalized original drawings from a spared server.
The police then went on a hunt for the arsonist, and subsequently arrested Shinji Aoba, at the time a 41-year-old man. Before the attacks, he had prior criminal record in Ibaraki Prefecture, where robbed a convenience store with a knife, earning him a 3,5 years of incarceration. A day before the time of the incident, witnesses spotted a man resembling Aoba near Studio 1. He also reported to be visiting several places of interest related to the anime Sound! Euphonium around the city days before the attack. Aoba was reportedly shout "DIE!" while committing the attacks, and was one of the injured after fled the scene chased by the employees around 100 meters (330 ft.) from the studio. During his hospital trip, he confessed of starting the fire with revenge in mind, accusing the studio for plagiarizing a scene taken from his work. Hatta initially stated that there is no record of any light novels or other works submitted by Aoba to their writing contest. Further discoveries revealed that Aoba had actually submitted a draft novel, but was cut from the competition at the first stage assessment, later confirmed that the work in question bears no similarities to their other published works. Other revelations being the scene Aoba meant was a stereotypical scene used in Tsurune. The scene in question was included on the 5th episode, aired on the 18th of November 2018, where two characters named Minato and Nanao brought discounted meat in a convenience store. This practice is pretty common in Japan, as some goods might nearing its expiration date, so the store chopped the prices, making said goods a lot cheaper, as it would be consumed on that same day. And scenes like this has been used countless times dating decades and seasons of anime.
After countless treatments included skin graft surgery and rehabilitations in Osaka and back to Kyoto due to the severity of his injuries, on the 16th of December 2020 Aoba then charged with multiple counts of murder, attempted murder, arson, trespassing, and breach of the arms-control law, as unused knifes were discovered to be in his possession. Due to his history of mental illness, he had to undergo psychological evaluations. One article revealed that long before the attack took place, Aoba's relatives, his father, grandfather, and sister had all committed suicide for multitude of reasons. Due to this fact alone, it is speculated that the maximum penalty would decrease from death penalty to life imprisonment.
In the aftermath of the attacks, some projects were delayed and even cancelled. A month after the attack, most employees returned to work at the other studio owned by KyoAni. As of October 2019, the number of employees decreased from 176 to 137, 27 of the 33 survivors returned while several others decided to take extended breaks to cope with their conditions. Tributes flooded from around the world, from then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to voice actors and actresses like Aki Toyosaki (Yui Hirasawa from K-ON!), and Aya Hirano (Haruhi Suzumiya from The Melacholy of Haruhi Suzumiya), as well as tributes from world leaders like Justin Trudeau (Prime Minister of Canada), and Tsai Ing-wen (President of the Republic of Taiwan). The building in question were subsequently demolished, completed on 28 April 2020, with no major plans for the site revealed. In an earlier interview, Hideaki expressed a plan for a memorial at the Ground Zero of the attack, but the it was the neighbourhood who didn't wish for the memorial to be build fearing the destruction of the peaceful lifestyle of the local residents.
When the incident took place, I was made aware by some of my fellow hobbyist friends by their social media posts on my timeline. Then my mind spiralled out of control in disbelief on how dare someone had the mind and the audacity to commit such heinous crime, considering that the target was one of the best and established anime studios in Japan, if not the world. During the next weeks after the incident, I made several tributes of my own (unfortunately, those images were lost). Hell, I've even binge-watched all two seasons of K-ON! and Love, Chunibyo, and Other Delusions out of respect during those times.
The story of the Kyoto Animation arson attack is quite an unbelievable one. Regarded as one of the premier studios in Japan, they offered aspiring writers to submit their own original stories with the hopes of being adapted as an anime work. Some of them succeeded, some of them missed the mark. But among those who were unfortunate, one of them falsely accused the studio of plagiarism, and set off to burn the studio out of revenge, his past criminal record and mental illness didn't help the case for him either. For now, he is awaiting punishment for his actions. And to close this piece, I want to state my utmost admirations for the men and women working at Kyoto Animation, for all their works over the years. may those souls claimed during the fire rest in peace, and the survivors could find their own peace and move on from this event. Stay safe, get those jabs, and stay out of harm's way.
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