News of Anime in Japan

[pwhodges]

Kyoto Animation death toll currently stands at 33 - out of 70-odd thought to be in the building. Some of the additional 40-odd injured are said to be in a serious condition.

Naoko Yamada, Taichi Ishidate, and Tatsuya Ishihara are apparently all confirmed safe. Eisaku Kawanami (director of most of the Free! franchise) is presumed dead, alongside Yasuhiro Takemoto (director of Hyouka, Disappearance of Haruhi, Dragon Maid, etc.).

The attacker is reported to be schizophenic. There are reports that he chained up some emergency exits, or set booby traps in the form of puddles of fuel.

[Gendo'sPapa]

Truly tragic.
These were just people going to work and doing their job and their lives have been forever altered or ended because of one violent broken man.
Sentai Filmworks has set up a Fundraiser to assist Kyoto Animation and I'm sure many others will as well. Many local Japanese fundraisers are ongoing to help.
This is a great loss for the animation community and the world in total.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-kyoani-heal

[kuribo-04]

This is a tragedy.
Words cannot describe it.

I haven't even seen a complete work of theirs yet.
But I really want to see Haruhi.

This is horrible. I hope all their familiy members find healing.

[Mr. Tines]

Publicity pics of the interior and a plan with the initial numbers of fatalities -- the 3 ended up being 19 according to later reports. That place was a deathtrap waiting to happen, with that chimney in the middle, and the windows obstructed.

[Shamsiel-kun]

Publicity pics of the interior and a plan with the initial numbers of fatalities -- the 3 ended up being 19 according to later reports. That place was a deathtrap waiting to happen, with that chimney in the middle, and the windows obstructed.

I don't see any obstructed windows in the picture. I do see sliding windows that have been decorated on the inside to look like traditional Japanese building windows (probably using frosted glass). The pictures of the outside of the building where the burnt out, broken windows can be seen also count against them being obstructed.
Incidentally, jumping from any floor higher than the second one can be pretty fatal...

In the media, experts have been quoted that gasoline fires have certain characteristics that would have made it disastrous in almost all cases: the production of toxic smoke coupled with 50% higher temperatures (1500 degree Celsius instead of 1000 degree Celsius). Apparently that make such fires unbearable to even be close to, because the victims' lungs are basically getting burned by the hot gasses.
There's also the problem that opening additional avenues (e.g. windows) to bring fire more oxygen causes a nasty draft that enables the fire to spread very quickly if there are any suitable materials nearby - and there will have been.

Furthermore, this was intentional arson, with the arsonist probably intent on killing as many as possible (and therefore setting fire to both staircases). Plus the explosion on the first floor, which was suggested to have been caused by a booby trap.

So maybe, just maybe, we should await for the results of the inquiry into the fire instead of jumping to conclusions...

Edit: Snatched off another forum:

Kyoto Animation damage assessment.

All the animation material and equipment, servers, voice work and talent is OK since they were located in the Uji city building. Their library is also there including all the hand drawn original stuff.

The attack was at KyoAni's historical building, now called the Head Office. were they had all their business meetings and their organization meetings. That's why so many directors died.

33 people died so far, among them there were 8 directors. Including the Maid Dragon director, the Hibike director and the Violet director.

No seiyuu were harmed or died so far.

Apparently the attacker is schizophrenic. The guy studied the floor plans for the building, blocked the emergency exits using chains and padlocks and then set the fire and explosion on the main exit. Most people died because of the smoke.

Well, there you have it. Even the best fire protection won't save you from an attacker who intentionally sabotages it.

[Dr. Nick]

Some western anime news: Alamo Drafthouse starts a new series of theatrical anime screenings.

[Gus Hanson]

Fairy Tail anime to end in 328th episode.
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/daily- ... de/.149400

[Gus Hanson]

Golden Time domestic Blu Ray with new English dub release December 17:
https://www.rightstufanime.com/Golden-T ... -Blu-ray_2

Also, Bloom Into You Blu Ray releasing December 17:
https://www.rightstufanime.com/Bloom-Into-You-Blu-ray

[Gus Hanson]

English dub trailer for Golden Time is out revealing the cast as well.
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2 ... er/.152357

[Mr. Tines]

Fafner Beyond OP -- now we just have to wait for the rest of it to be available.

[Gus Hanson]

Can't decide if what he is saying would be considered delusional or out of touch or both.
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/intere ... cy/.152531

[cyharding]

^I can kind of get where Tomino is coming from, but he didn't have to be an asshole about it.

[Mr. Tines]

he didn't have to be an asshole about it.

It's Tomino, that's just his style.

[Mr. Tines]

Heya Camp episode 0 on time-limited preview
https://youtu.be/9CZmG-ynwIo

[Shamsiel-kun]

Kyoto Animation fire analysis report details what happened:

Kyoto Anime studio quickly filled with smoke, gas hindering escape: fire dept. report

KYOTO -- The second and third floors of Kyoto Animation Co.'s studio, which was badly damaged in a deadly arson attack in July, were filled with combustion gas up to 300 degrees Celsius only 60 seconds after the fire started, making it impossible for many people inside to escape, the local fire department said.

The Kyoto City Fire Department reported the outcome of its analysis on how employees and others inside Kyoto Animation Co.'s 1st Studio in the ancient capital's Fushimi Ward tried to escape to the Kyoto Municipal Assembly's General Affairs & Disaster Prevention Committee on Dec. 23.

Based on the analysis, the fire department will work out guidelines for evacuation in case of arson or an abnormal fire that makes it impossible for those inside affected buildings to escape in a normal way. The department intends to use the guidelines to instruct businesses on how to protect employees and others from blazes.

In the arson attack, 33 out of 70 people inside the building were unable to escape and a total of 36 people, including those who managed to escape, died.

The fire department analyzed how the 70 people tried to escape based on interviews with 34 survivors and a simulation of the fire conducted by the National Research Institute of Fire and Disaster, an affiliate of the Fire and Disaster Management Agency.

According to the simulation, the suspect, 41-year-old Shinji Aoba, poured gasoline on the first floor near a spiral staircase, and used a cigarette lighter to ignite the gasoline. Only 10 seconds after the fire started, the staircase became unusable as an evacuation route because it was filled with fire and smoke. About 30 seconds later, another staircase leading from the second to third floors was filled with smoke, and visibility was lost in the staircase, preventing those on the third floor from going downstairs.

A minute after the fire started, the second and third floors were filled with combustion gas that was 100 to 300C as well as smoke. Some 1 1/2 minutes after the incident began, a penthouse containing a staircase leading to the rooftop was filled with smoke and the entire building was filled with combustion gas 30 seconds after that.

The first survivor escaped from the building several seconds after the fire started and the last one fled about seven minutes later.

Of 12 people who were on the first floor, five of them -- two who were unable to escape and three who managed to escape through the front door -- lost their lives.

Three people who took refuge in a first-floor women's restroom because they were scared of the arsonist shut the door, preventing smoke from flowing inside as a result. Workers outside removed window grating, allowing the three to be rescued within seven minutes after the fire broke out.

Out of 31 people on the second floor, 11 perished. Twenty others went to a balcony, and 18 then jumped to the ground while two others escaped using a ladder put in place by people in the neighborhood.

Only seven out of 27 people who were on the third floor escaped. Six of them went down to the second floor and jumped either from the balcony or through windows to the ground. The remaining one, who was desperate to breathe normally, poked their head through a window in a staircase and managed to get out after finding a ledge on the outer wall and went down through a ladder set up by people nearby.

The fire department assumes that the blaze started at around 10:31 a.m. on July 18. It received an emergency call at 10:33 a.m., and ordered firefighters to go into action two minutes later.

Firefighters brought the blaze under control at 6:20 a.m. the following day. The fire burned a total of 691 square meters of the three-story reinforced concrete structure.

The city fire department said it is determined to apply lessons learned from the incident to protect people's lives from blazes.

"We've learned a lot of lessons from this fire. In order to respond to Kyoto Animation employees' feelings, we're determined to make good use of the lessons learned to draw up guidelines to protect lives from all types of fires and make sure people evacuate safely while conducting further verification and analysis," a fire department official said.