According to Japanese media reports, at about 10:30 a.m. local time on July 18, the Kyoto Animation Studio No. 1 (No. 10000). Because it coincided with the weekly working hours, the scene suffered heavy casualties, 33 people were killed, and more than 30 wounded people were sent to the hospital, including 10 seriously injured, and all the buildings of about 691 square meters were burned down, and the police arrested the suspects of arson on the spot.
The Kyoto City Fire Department in Japan said that the fire was confirmed to be completely extinguished at 6:20 local time on the 19th. On the afternoon of the 19th, the Kyoto police held a press conference saying that the identity of the arson suspect had been confirmed, and that shinji Aoba, 41, lived in an apartment in Saitama City, Japan, but due to serious burns, the suspect was still in a coma.
On the afternoon of the first day of the fire, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe issued a prayer to Kyoto Animation, and people in the animation industry gathered their strength. Kyoto Animation produced "The Melancholy of Haruhi Ryogu", "Lucky Star", "Soft Voice Girl", and "Blow It! Popular animations such as "Upper Bass Horn" and "Violet Eternal Garden" are famous. The first studio, which was tragically set on fire, is the birthplace of many of its masterpieces. For many anime fans and anime houses that call themselves "two-dimensional people", this is also an unbearable dark day, and it is also the darkest day in the history of anime.
Tragic arson shocked the anime world, Kyo Ani carried a generation of "touch"
July 18 is the darkest day in anime history for insiders.
"I don't urge me now, I hope everyone is well!"
"Today is bound to be the darkest day in the history of Japanese animation, and here we would like to observe a moment of silence to mourn the deceased, and at the same time to pray for Kyo Ani, hoping that Kyoto Animation can survive, continue to serve as the conscience of Japanese animation, and continue to dedicate good works to animation fans all over the world."
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This arson disaster not only brought huge mental and property losses to Kyoto Animation and the families of the victims, but also became an irreparable memory of fans and anime practitioners who considered themselves "two-dimensional people". For them, the fire struck not only the artists and manuscripts, but also the confidence of the animation practitioners, as well as the series and style that may never be recovered.
In the eyes of the anime house that lives in the "second dimension", Kyoto Animation, nicknamed "Kyo Ani" (Kyoto Animation's English name is Kyoto Animation, often referred to simply as KyoAni, which is also known as "Kyo Ani" in Japanese writing, is a place that carries many memories, tears, and dreams. Here, "All Metal Frenzy", "The Melancholy of Haruhi Ryogu", "CLANNAD" series, "Light Voice Girl" ("K-ON!" were born. Light Music Department"), "Ice Cream", "Tamago Market", "Blow It! Upper Bass Horn", "The Other Side of the Realm", "The Shape of Sound", "Violet Eternal Garden" and many other works. These well-made anime make Kyoto Animation a guarantee of word-of-mouth in the anime circle.
Under Kyoto Animation's Twitter, a large number of fans left messages expressing their sorrow and prayers, saying that in addition to exquisite pictures, beautiful character paintings and super high animation quality, Kyo Ani had brought more "touching" to a generation.
Fans in the anime circle have left messages under Kyo Ani's Twitter, praying for it and shedding tears for it.
On the afternoon of the 18th, Kyoto Animation's animation "Free! The series officially announced the suspension of publication of "Summer 2020", which was originally scheduled to be released on July 19. In addition, according to the "Sankei Shimbun" and other media reports, many of the animations in production are also very likely to be postponed indefinitely because of this sudden fire. For example, the theatrical version of "Violet Eternal Garden", which was launched last year, is currently in production and is scheduled to be released in January 2020; it may be affected by "Blow It!" which has won the second place in the Japanese media survey as the most popular anime for men. Upper Bass Horn", etc.
《Free！ announced the cancellation of the theatrical version of the anime. The TV anime "Free! First broadcast in July 2013, it is based on the light novel "High☆Speed!", based on the original light novel "High☆Speed!", based on the original light novel "High☆Speed!", which tells the life of the four protagonists in the original book after high school.
For the Japanese animation industry, this loss is quite huge. Most of the dead and injured are painters, directors, and screenwriters, and in the industry, it takes a decade or more to train a mature professional. The original paintings preserved on the first floor of the small building of the first studio are as precious as national treasures in the minds of fans, so much so that some fans use the notre dame fire in Paris as a metaphor for the weight of the loss of this fire disaster.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe tweeted his condolences and regrets on the matter, saying in a tweet: "Today, there were many dead and injured in the arson killings in Kyoto, and the tragic situation has made me speechless. I pray for the victims. At the same time, we also expressed our condolences to the injured and hoped that everyone would recover as soon as possible. ”
As a well-known animation company in Japan, Kyoto Animation mainly focuses on animation planning, production, and related technical guidance, and established Kyoto Animation Studio in 1981 and a painting department in 1986. Compared with many large animation companies that were based in Tokyo from the beginning, Kyoto Animation came from an outsourcing business, and in its early years it was engaged in outsourcing business such as coloring distributed by various companies in Tokyo, and its staff were mostly housewives. Today, Kyoto Animation still has a large number of female workers, which is ahead of other companies in the industry.
Since the release of the fantasy-style OVA "MUNTO" (also known as "The World in the Eyes of a Girl Looking Up at the Sky") in 2003 and the campus animation of "All Metal Frenzy (Explosion Crisis)", Kyoto Animation has begun to produce animation independently, and Kyo Ani has gradually ushered in its own highlight moment. So far, Kyo Ani has launched nearly thirty TV anime dramas and nearly twenty animated films. According to public information, the animated film "The Shape of Sound", which was launched by Kyoto Animation productions and released in the Chinese market in 2017, has a cumulative box office of nearly 45 million yuan.
The people who live in the Japanese archipelago cannot imagine Japan without anime
The history of animation in the world is only more than 100 years.
In 1906, newspaper cartoonist J. Stuart. Blackton created The Humorous phases of Funny Faces on a blackboard. The three-minute chalk talk show is considered the world's first animated film.
In January 1917, during World War I, Japan's first anime film, The Starlings of Tarogawa, was staged by Aoshi Shimokawa, a disciple of Kitazawa Lotte, known as the "Ancestor of Japanese Manga." At that time, Shimokawa was only 25 years old. After that, Junichi Kouchi's "Scroll of the Famous Knife in the Cave" and Kiyotaro Kitayama's "Battle of the Apes and Crabs" were released successively, and these three films also became the beginning of Japanese animation. Shimokawa, Junichi Kouchi, and Kiyotaro Kitayama have also become the originators of the Japanese animation industry.
In January 1963, Japan's first feature-length television anime series, Astro Boy, began airing on television, and its creator was Osamu Tezuka, who was regarded as the "god of manga". Studio Bugs, founded by Osamu Tezuka, has also become the cradle of many animators in Japan. Yoko Hatta, the founder of Kyoto Animation (Kyo Ani), worked at Osamu Tezuka Studio to color the finished animation.
So far, the history of Japanese animation has been 102 years. The reason why a fire touches people's hearts is precisely because Kyo Ani carries the blood and glory of the development of Japanese animation. In his preface to the book "Manga Brain" by Shinko Tang, Tezuka production animation director Junji Kobayashi combed through the source of such sublimation of Japanese manga culture, which is Osamu Tezuka. Whether it is Tokiwa-sho, who is obsessed with the Showa era, or Kyo Ani, who has left too much youth and tears, all of them are passed down to Osamu Tezuka.
It can be said that astro boy's success has made tv animation a matter of course, which can be established as a job. As Junji Kobayashi said, before the advent of Osamu Tezuka, it was inconceivable that many people who liked to draw could live manga and animation as a living and be able to establish it.
In Japan, the popularity of anime and manga is unmatched. In a 2017 sales figure, Eiichiro Oda's One Piece topped the list with a circulation of 360 million copies, which is obviously eye-popping. As Tang Xinzi said in the book "Manga Brain", "The people living in the Japanese archipelago are accustomed to manga as if they were accustomed to the sea." You can't imagine Japan losing the sea, and you can't imagine Japan without manga. Manga not only dominates the reading life of Japanese people, but also influences the way of thinking of Japanese people, adjusts the spiritual world of Japanese people, and penetrates every corner of Japanese daily life. ”
Obviously, animation has the same treatment. For anime houses around the world today, every year a large number of anime houses go to the Kyo Ani Animation Production Building in Uji, Kyoto, to conduct a "Holy Land Tour", and travel thousands of miles to Kyoto, stopping to gaze at the pale yellow building belonging to Kyo Ani. But now it's burned.
People try to seek answers from the man who set him on fire, and of course, no matter what the answer is, they cannot forgive him for his evil deeds. Arson was considered the most serious crime in ancient Japan, and during the Edo period, the fire fugue (the shogunate's official position specializing in arson) could be cut off first if it was found to be suspected of arson. Even in modern society, Japanese people have been exposed to various fire prevention education since childhood, and the importance they attach to fire can be seen.
The Japan Animation Association said the motive for the arson was completely unclear, and it was unclear whether the male suspects of the arson were intentionally targeting Kyoto Animation. According to local Japanese media reports, the man who set the fire had burns to his face and chest and had been taken to a hospital in Kyoto City, and he was neither an employee nor a former employee of Kyoto Animation Studio One.
Some media reported that some people saw this man with a look of hatred on his face and rushed to arrest him and shouted: "ぱくりやがって!" The phrase was translated by some media outlets as "let you plagiarize" and suggested it might have been the cause of the man's arson. However, in fact, this sentence can also be translated as "Come, arrest me!" "At this time, it is not clear exactly what explanation should be made.
The suspect in the arson case was controlled by the police about 100 meters from the building, and was seriously burned and taken to the hospital.
"33 victims, shouldering the hopes and future of Japanese anime." According to NHK, after the fire, Kyoto Animation President Hideaki Hatta said about the incident, "The fire scene is the core place of the company. It may be a bit of an exaggeration, but the company's employees are all talented people who are saddled with the future of Japanese anime, and even if only one person dies due to injury, I can't accept it. ”
Author: He An'an
Editor: Zhang Jin; Proofreader: Xue Jingning