Apparent Arson Attack Devastates Kyoto Animation Anime Studio With Dozens Confirmed Dead (theverge.com) 179
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Several people have been killed after an apparent arson attack gutted a building at Kyoto Animation, one of Japan's most renowned anime studios. NHK reports that 33 people are confirmed dead and many more have been injured. An explosion was heard around the studio at around 10.30AM local time. Police are questioning a man in his 40s who was seen spreading and lighting a gasoline-like liquid in the 1st Studio building, which is said to be where most of Kyoto Animation's mainline production takes place. The Mainichi Shinbun newspaper reports that the man said he started the fire. Kyoto Animation, also known as KyoAni, is best known for series like K-On! and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzimiya, and release standalone feature A Silent Voice in 2016. Netflix picked up the streaming rights to KyoAni's Violet Evergarden series and made it available worldwide last year.
UPDATE: Several sources are now reporting that the man who set fire to the building screamed angrily, "they faked it." According to The Daily Beast, "The word he used in Japanese, pakuri, can reference stealing an idea, ripping off a product, or plagiarizing someone else's work."
UPDATE: Several sources are now reporting that the man who set fire to the building screamed angrily, "they faked it." According to The Daily Beast, "The word he used in Japanese, pakuri, can reference stealing an idea, ripping off a product, or plagiarizing someone else's work."
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Or he found out that a series he liked was not getting a second season.
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He didn't have access to guns, so he used fire.
I guess we'll now hear cries for the need for "sensible match laws", eh?
No, but we might call for changes to building code (Score:2, Insightful)
If someone actually wants to help... (Score:2)
Sentai Filmworks has set up a gofundme page. [gofundme.com]
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Japanese media is reporting witnesses saying that he was shouting something about "you ripped me off" or "you stole it". Not sure what that could mean, maybe a story idea or something. Clearly a very disturbed individual.
They have him, so I'm sure we will find out in due course.
Thoughts go out to the victims and their families.
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Japanese media is reporting witnesses saying that he was shouting something about "you ripped me off" or "you stole it". Not sure what that could mean, maybe a story idea or something. Clearly a very disturbed individual.
The BBC story says he's reportedly not a current or former employee, so most likely either something he's published or shown them as his portfolio. Clearly the Japanese version of going postal, though I must admit the casualty figures seem extremely high for a fire with 40L of gasoline in a relatively low-rise building. I wonder if all the fire codes were followed or if people disregarded the fire alarm or if he intentionally blocked emergency exits. I mean you expect a drill, an accident or worse case a sh
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The BBC story says he's reportedly not a current or former employee, so most likely either something he's published or shown them as his portfolio.
Not necessarily, at all...
Paul Schrader, writer of Taxi Driver (1976), had a guy seek him out - to ask him "how he found about him".
The guy saw a movie about a man with mental issues, saw himself in it, then hitchhiked from Seattle to Los Angeles to find out from the writer "Who told you about me?"
Not about being a taxi driver, or writing about being a taxi driver...
The guy saw a man with a pathology, recognized himself in it - and being pathological concluded that someone must be watching him.
Maybe with on
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I wonder if all the fire codes were followed or if people disregarded the fire alarm or if he intentionally blocked emergency exits.
Current reports is that the building had no fire sprinklers or internal fire hydrant, and seemingly had one central staircase, and few windows, but was up to current Japanese fire codes. Most of the dead were in the top of the central stairwell trying to get to the roof, but the door was locked. My guess is that the casualty count is so high because they were trapped there because the only exit was blocked by the fire.
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You actually can't tell in Japanese who was doing the stealing from whom. For all we know, this asshole could have been annoyed that they "stole" something from some other fandom.
It didn't even occur to me that shouting "pakuri" could mean he was angry about his work being stolen till English media started translating it as such. It is so common for these otaku types to get frothing-at-mouth mad over accusation of some works being a rip-off. "Pakuri" is just a word people like to use to disparage something or someone. Every work is to some extent derivative and "pakuri" has basically lost its meaning at this point.
We should ban fire starters and associated items (Score:1)
Lighters (ignitor and fuel)
Matches (ignitor and fuel)
Igniters (ignitor only)
Fuels (gases, liquids, solids)
Anything else that can make a spark, fuel a fire, or anything associated with using or extolling fire
Re:We should ban fire starters and associated item (Score:4, Funny)
Personally, I blame Prometheus.
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Indeed. Ban fire, or implement lots of "fire control" and "fire-free" zones, I am sure that will help. We also need knife control, car control, hammer control, fist control, fertilizer control, milkshake control, pressure cooker control, etc...
Fire codes. (Score:2, Insightful)
For everyone just-asking-questions about fire safety standards in Japan, no number of emergency exits and fire drills will stop a nut with enough accelerants from doing this sort of thing.
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If any of you tech nerds are also anime nerds, (Score:5, Informative)
Sentai Filmworks put up a GoFundMe [gofundme.com] that's almost at $1M. Alternatively some people are buying digital goods from KyoAni's online store [shop-pro.jp] (Japanese) since they'll get 100% of the money that way.
Naturally, r/anime has a megathread [reddit.com] if you want to know more.
Plagiarism dispute (Score:2)
This took a while to show up on slashdot so there's more information available now. I thought for sure this had to be the work of some crazy weeb or otaku mad about his animes but apparently it was some guy claiming they stole and ripped off his work.
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The studio itself has one of the best reputations in the industry for not only paying workers properly, but paying them an excellent wage. The company itself also doesn't have the standard corporate culture that is the norm. The stuff coming off 5ch is a lot of speculation, but the guy believed that the studio "stole his stuff" in turn this was his answer. There's also been speculation that he was tied to aum shinrikyo, but that's just speculation. Despite the top leadership being hung until dead after
Re:Plagiarism dispute (Score:4, Interesting)
tl;dr: Nobody knows anything and all this stuff about someone being ripped off is pure speculation based on context-free words of an injured lunatic who is now in a medically-induced coma.
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they stole and ripped off his work
Is this the guy who draws his characters with the really big eyes?
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I thought for sure this had to be the work of some crazy weeb or otaku mad about his animes but apparently it was some guy claiming they stole and ripped off his work.
He chose to burn at least 33 people to death. Regardless of whether he felt he had some grievance, or was just acting randomly - "crazy" almost certainly applies.
Why isn't anyone talking about... (Score:1)
Why isn't anyone talking about the lack of fire safety or effective evacuation plans? It was a little gasoline. I would blame the company's possible lack of safety for being responsible for the death of almost three dozen people.
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Condolences to the families (Score:3)
Condolences to all the families of those who lost people or who were injured in the fire. This sort of thing just makes me sick at heart.
From what I hear, those launching fundraising efforts have pledged that the money will go to those most in need of the financial assistance, so I hope that works out. There are likely a few newly made widows, and a number of people with severe injuries that will required significant time to heal. Money won't bring back loved ones, but it can at least lessen financial burdens on those affect by this.
Now what? (Score:1)
Time to make fire illegal.
Senseless attack (Score:2)
I hope they put up a donation page directly, I'll shower them in coin for the rebuilding effort. I'm sure I won't be alone
Suspect was a train enthusiast/otaku and an imageb (Score:5, Informative)
source [delitopi.com]
Re:Suspect was a train enthusiast/otaku and an ima (Score:4, Interesting)
There were a number of problems with this fire. First, its possible the roof was locked, but I read that the fire chief said it was unlocked. There were 2 stairways to the roof the "good" one which was blocked and the "bad" one. The bad one was a metal spiral staircase in the middle of the office that looked like it would be hard for more than one person to go up. Many people were found on this stair case. Likely someone based out from smoke inhalation and made it difficult to traverse upwards and the smoke got the rest.
The other big problem with this fire is that the studio was basically built inside a converted apartment building. If you've seen apartments in Japan this would be immediately apparent. The studio was in a residential area. This building pretty much wasn't the best for handling an emergency like this unfortunately.
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Apartment buildings of that era, at least in Europe, are usually built around the idea of containing the fire to one apartment via fire doors, and using smoke extraction to prevent smoke spreading too far from it so people can escape.
The problem is when you convert apartments into offices they want to rip all the fire doors out and make it more open. The fire safety system gets completely screwed up and can even end up doing more harm than good. Authorities are slowly getting wise to it and requiring fire s
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I've just discovered that the studio was working on the second season of "Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid".
b,b,b
Can you all feel the love? (Score:2)
There is just too much love overflowing for everybody on this thread. People expressing there sincere good will around, it's so touching that I just thought I'd leave these few words of praise for everyone sharing that love around.
Everyone is so happy - it's beautiful.
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There is just too much love overflowing for everybody on this thread. People expressing there sincere good will around, it's so touching that I just thought I'd leave these few words of praise for everyone sharing that love around.
Everyone is so happy - it's beautiful.
Yeah, wait until the Slashdot crowd figures out that they employed a lot of women, and that their cartoons featured female characters with actual agency.
A truly wonderful thing when you encounter it in real life.
The disgusting misogynist failures will soon change their tune and start celebrating the deaths.
You sound very angry!
The arsonist deliberately blocked escape routes. (Score:1)
According to a comment by fractal324 on the site of the article,
"There are two points of entry to the building, clustered nearby on the north and west sides, with a big spiral staircase visible upon entry from both, and a regular staircase in the back connected to the roof access. The guy spread what is probably gasoline near that spiral staircase, blocking both egress points and sending the fire up all three flights pretty quickly."
In addition, apparently, the arsonist locked the door to the roof, and the
Disgusting activity (Score:1)
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No, just fire plan training so that people know how to get out of a burning building, or at least a decent fire control system
From the sounds of the story, most people were trapped and suffocated
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And don't get me started on the dangers of dihydrogenoxide
That stuff can kill you if you breathe too much of it in.
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And don't get me started on the dangers of dihydrogenoxide
That stuff can kill you if you breathe too much of it in.
Dihydrogen monoxide dumbass.
Same thing, twat!
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If he had access to guns, I'd think he would just have shot several people inside before putting the building on fire.
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Most mass shootings involve fewer victims.
https://www.cnn.com/2013/09/16... [cnn.com]
Out of over 20 mass shootings only 3 had more victims, most had less than half..
The people in this case might actually have been better off if he had used a gun.
I don't know about you but I think I'd rather get shot in the head than burned alive.
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Most people likely suffocated from the smoke though. It's hard to say whether that's a better way to go than being shot.
Trumph of stupidity (Score:2)
You're just feeding a troll on the gun safety topic. Japanese policemen have guns, but you can't put them everywhere.
This guy was a raging madman and idiot. Too bad he didn't burn himself more badly, though I hope he has the most painful hospitalization imaginable and I sincerely hope he dies from the sheer pain as soon as they get a few more details of his confession.
Provisional reply, actually. Because of the tattoos, I'm still not sure if there wasn't a yakuza connection. If he did it for money then I wa
OR A SAMURAI (Score:1)
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If you're so stuck up that you can't handle a jocular short name for a group of people then you are the asshole.
Nobody bats an eye at the equivalent terms for Americans-- burger, yank, yankee. But use a short bit of slang for any other people group and all a-sudden everyone loses their minds! Saying "jap" isn't even remotely related to anything bad anyway! It's not like the N-word or anything like that. It's literally just a one-syllable version of "Japanese". Are you saying that to refer to the Japanese as
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Nobody bats an eye at the equivalent terms for Americans-- burger
As an American, I find that patently offensive.
The correct term is BORGER, typed in all caps, with plenty of salivation causing a mild stream of anticipation to spatter all over one's screen.
We earned the right to be insulted correctly, because we have 100% American all-beef patties topped with gorgeous Wisconsin cheddar and a capitalistic host of assorted condiments, not a pathetic mere slice of moldy cheese between two barely soft hunks of bread like poor, barbaric Europeans.
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I own a business for 12++ yrs.!
So 13 years, or is 14? Why 12++? why not just the actual number?
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YOU are the absolute SCUM of the EARTH. May you die an unceremonious and long-forgotten life. Bloody POS. You're the problem with society!
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Will you say the same thing about Hollywood movies once the really big earthquake sinks half of California under the ocean?
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The California media & entertainment industry is ready for earthquakes, in terms of buildings being up to code and having backup power systems.
But they might not be ready for the social disorder that follows a major earthquake...
Also keep in mind that most "Hollywood Movies" are not made in "Hollywood" any more due to "runaway production" driven by state tax deals. The amount of on-location movie production in Los Angeles has plunged by 60% over the past 15 years. In 2005, 82% of all new television pil
A better question (Score:2, Insightful)
A better question might be "why the fuck are you on slashdot?
An obvious answer (Score:1)
Because seemingly people around here take the bait every time. It's a game to get attention, and people around here still fall for it as if message boards were just invented yesterday. You can't shame it. You can't correct it. It feeds on hate. The best course of action is to ignore it and let the moderation system serve it's purpose.
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I think it could be fixed by helping the trolls render themselves less visible. Essentially people should earn a favorable (multidimensional) reputation by saying positive things, and earn bad reputations by acting like the typical ACs. The default setting should by slightly positive, though I'd want to set my visibility higher (considering Dunbar's number). In time terms, mine is limited and I hate to waste it with fools, especially rude fools.
However, putting on my sociologist's hat, I wonder why this sto
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I think you just described the existing system. It works well at keeping the gutter trash in its place, until some white knight feels the need to respond while quoting it or not changing the subject title. I actually really like /. moderation system when people aren't undermining it. It's good enough.
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I feel like asking "How do you define 'good enough'?" It would also help to clarify how you use the moderation. Maybe you know some tricks that I could use? However, I have spent quite a while tweaking my settings, and I also actively try to use the moderation to support my tastes.
Let me clarify. My time is limited. I prefer to spend more time with nice people and less time with dickless, gutless trolls (notwithstanding that I believe most of them have XY genes).
In solution terms, I mostly think karma shoul
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The best addition to /. moderation would probably be a "Does not conform to my ideological world view" option that does nothing. Point is, no matter how elaborate the moderation system is it can only be as good as your moderators.
There's also something to be said about an even playing field.
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There can be some dimensions for that sort of thing for people who want to give such dimensions relatively heavy weight, but I actually like different viewpoints, as long as they are actually based in some sort of testable evidence rather than pure faith. If someone is reasoning from actual facts, it's at least interesting to see how they got there, but if they started with the desired conclusions and the reasons are just whatever works and damn the evidence, it's just a waste of time. For example, I stoppe
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On Topic: I wouldn't be surprised if it was some otaku who just went too far with his death threats. If anything, he's going to find himself drowning in the Sanzu rather than crossing it. (Styx should give the same concept as well if you think about it.)
But of course said bozo is going to be hanging about in a few places, last one being before a statue of the Buddha.
Off topic: You want to see people burning in Hell for loving anime?
All I have to say is you are one sorry little bitch who is about to find out
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Just saw the second day's coverage on NHK. Seems likely that he was basically insane and among his delusions were that they had copied some of his ideas. I'm reasonably sure the reality is that they never heard of him and never borrowed any ideas from him, but it is not unlikely that his random delusions did include some ideas that he saw in anime later on. Probably just a coincidence that Kyoto Anime was the specific studio.
Maybe he thought they stole his ideas using telepathy and a time machine?
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