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