Anime Some asshole just set fire to Kyoto Animation

[RC821]

On July 19 at 10:00 AM, an idiot managed to burnt down Kyoto Animation and people are either dead or injured.

I hope as Pokemon fans will give love and support to the fans of the shows KA makes and those who worked there.

 

[prog rocker]

Don't know who they are, but damn, that's horrible. Apparently, there were 26 casualties and 36 injured people. Doesn't help that apparently it was started by a guy accusing them of "plagiarism" and "ripping off"... something (him probably?). Talk about petty.

 

[RC821]

Don't know who they are, but damn, that's horrible. Apparently, there were 26 casualties and 36 injured people. Doesn't help that apparently it was started by a guy accusing them of "plagiarism" and "ripping off"... something (him probably?). Talk about petty.

I hope Kyoto Animation will deny the "plagiarism claim".

 

[Tactician Karina]

I've read that 33 people were killed and 36 were injured, some critically so. At least they got the guy that did it, a 41 year old man that shouted "You die!" when he ran into the studio. I want to know what his motive was though, apparently a witness said that something of his was stolen by the company? But it was mentioned he didn't even work for the company, so who knows. Hope police will notify what it is though, regardless even if something of his was plagiarized by KyoAni he should've just settled it in court, not set fire to the studio. Then again, this man is clearly unhinged, so he probably would've done this regardless sad as it is to say.

My heart goes out to the survivors and the deceased's families.

 

[prog rocker]

This is kinda similar to the Dimebag Darrell murder now that I think about it.

 

[dragon_nataku]

View: https://twitter.com/Bulbagarden/status/1152027259802275840?s=20

 

[Nerd Violence]

A friend of mine who spends quite a bit of time in Japan speculates that the man was severely mentally ill. (Yes, yes, anyone who burns down a building is "crazy", but no, for real -- delusional mental illness.)

I know nothing concrete on the topic, but if it turns out that the arsonist was some schizophrenic who fell between the cracks of the Japanese mental healthcare system I wouldn't want to call him an asshole.

Regardless, an absolute tragedy.

 

[Tactician Karina]

I know nothing concrete on the topic, but if it turns out that the arsonist was some schizophrenic who fell between the cracks of the Japanese mental healthcare system I wouldn't want to call him an asshole.

Nah he's still an asshole. Mental illness shouldn't be used as an excuse for committing a crime like this. I have no qualms calling this guy for what he is. Yeah the Japanese mental health system isn't the best I agree, but it's still not an excuse regardless.

 

[Nerd Violence]

Nah he's still an asshole. Mental illness shouldn't be used as an excuse for committing a crime like this. I have no qualms calling this guy for what he is. Yeah the Japanese mental health system isn't the best I agree, but it's still not an excuse regardless.

Once someone has lost touch with reality, I don't think you can make judgements on their character like that. I'm not saying "Oh he's not an asshole for burning down a building if he had major depression." I'm saying that if a person burns down a building in a schizophrenia-induced break from reality, I'm not going to call them an asshole.

There is a point where a person becomes unfit to stand trial and at that point you have to ask yourself if a person is even capable of making moral decisions.

Or, to put it another way, if a two year old sets a house on fire because they were playing with matches, you can't really call them an asshole, because they didn't have the faculty to truly understand what they're doing. It's an unbecoming parallel but if one is suffering from delusional mental illness to the point of losing touch with reality then, again, they're not really an asshole because they've lost the faculty to grasp precisely what it is they're doing.

Of course, it's all speculation until we actually know what happened and why, so maybe it's not worth debating to begin with. Maybe the guy was a domestic terrorist or out for revenge. At which point, sure, asshole. Or maybe he's like the guy who stabbed the school children at the bus stop a few months back and was suffering delusions, at which point, still a terrible and tragic thing, but I'm just not comfortable calling him an asshole.

 

[Tactician Karina]

Once someone has lost touch with reality, I don't think you can make judgements on their character like that. I'm not saying "Oh he's not an asshole for burning down a building if he had major depression." I'm saying that if a person burns down a building in a schizophrenia-induced break from reality, I'm not going to call them an asshole.

There is a point where a person becomes unfit to stand trial and at that point you have to ask yourself if a person is even capable of making moral decisions.

Or, to put it another way, if a two year old sets a house on fire because they were playing with matches, you can't really call them an asshole, because they didn't have the faculty to truly understand what they're doing. It's an unbecoming parallel but if one is suffering from delusional mental illness to the point of losing touch with reality then, again, they're not really an asshole because they've lost the faculty to grasp precisely what it is they're doing.

Of course, it's all speculation until we actually know what happened and why, so maybe it's not worth debating to begin with. Maybe the guy was a domestic terrorist or out for revenge. At which point, sure, asshole. Or maybe he's like the guy who stabbed the school children at the bus stop a few months back and was suffering delusions, at which point, still a terrible and tragic thing, but I'm just not comfortable calling him an asshole.

We're just going to have to agree to disagree then. Cause personally I have no sympathy for this guy even if he's mentally ill, using mental health as an excuse has always annoyed me. People died and some got critically injured, at this point I'm glad he's caught and hope he'll stay in prison.

But yeah no reason to make a debate on this since we don't know his motive, though a witness said that apparently KyoAni plagiarized his work or something. I just hope we'll know soon, it's just making me curious as to why he did this.

 

[Nerd Violence]

We're just going to have to agree to disagree then. Cause personally I have no sympathy for this guy even if he's mentally ill, using mental health as an excuse has always annoyed me. People died and some got critically injured, at this point I'm glad he's caught and hope he'll stay in prison.

But yeah no reason to make a debate on this since we don't know his motive, though a witness said that apparently KyoAni plagiarized his work or something. I just hope we'll know soon, it's just making me curious as to why he did this.

I really don't think it's reasonable to say that mental illness is never a mitigating factor when mental illness runs such a broad gamut. Sometimes it is, and sometimes it isn't. Black-and-white thinking is rarely helpful or useful in my opinion -- and I say this as someone diagnosed with BPD, a personality disorder that leans one towards black-and-white thinking (among other things) to a fault. I also say this as someone who would be an asshole if I committed arson, because my disorder doesn't impede my faculties.

It's a matter of nuance, but I don't foresee myself convincing you to change your mind and honestly, I don't really want to try. Either way, I want to be clear that I don't hold any ill will over you not seeing things my way. C'est la vie, or whatever. I don't know French.

I know "thoughts and prayers" don't do much but I'm too poor to donate (srsly, $10 to get through July) so that's all I can really offer. My sincerest well-wishers for the victims and their families and everyone affected.

 

[Parissong]

View: https://twitter.com/Bulbagarden/status/1152027259802275840?s=20

Just saw this and actually went out and bought some Hibike! Euphonium wallpapers. Even though I really only bought one (215¥ one), I hope a little can go a long way! Also retweeted it to my friends and some have bought some too. Thanks for sharing. Let's continue the cycle of positivity!

 

[King Robert]

Can someone help me navigate the page? I don't know Japanese, and even with Google Translate it's hard for me to tell what the items are or where they're from.

 

[Tactician Karina]

So an update, police now have the guy's name, Shinji Aoba. Here's an article that mentioned witnesses saying he had a grudge against KyoAni, even though again he didn't work for them. Reading more also mentions he was in prison before for robbing a convenience store, so this guy was already an asshole before. I'm hoping he just stays in prison, this crime is inexcusable.

Can someone help me navigate the page? I don't know Japanese, and even with Google Translate it's hard for me to tell what the items are or where they're from.

On Mimiko's Twitter there is a step by step chart on how to purchase from their store. I'll put it here in a spoiler to make it easier.

Spoiler: How to purchase from KyoAni's online store

 

[Juliko]

This is absolutely horrible. I hope the guy responsible is kept in jail forever. Nobody should have to go through something so awful. My heart goes out to the survivors and the friends and families of the deceased. I was only able to donate five bucks to Sentai Filmworks' GoFundMe page for KyoAni, but better that than nothing, right?

 

[dragon_nataku]

Just wanted to add something about Japan's policies regarding GoFundMe's, and why we linked to the KyoAni store instead:

MasatoshiYesterday at 8:27 PM

Regarding the GoFundMe, while it's made by Sentai Fanworks and I'm sure that they'd send the full money to the victims, I am under the belief that the Japanese companies do not accept any kind of donations, so we're supposed to buy stuff from their shop.

Dr ArchaicYesterday at 9:05 PM

The reason for linking to the Japanese shop and not the international shop is because the Japanese one, being just wallpapers and images, is fully automated.

Whereas the international shop requires Koyoani to ship physical goods, which they're obviously not going to be doing for a while.

And yeah, Japanese tax law makes those GoFundMe things basically useless.

 

[King Robert]

So an update, police now have the guy's name, Shinji Aoba. Here's an article that mentioned witnesses saying he had a grudge against KyoAni, even though again he didn't work for them. Reading more also mentions he was in prison before for robbing a convenience store, so this guy was already an asshole before. I'm hoping he just stays in prison, this crime is inexcusable.


On Mimiko's Twitter there is a step by step chart on how to purchase from their store. I'll put it here in a spoiler to make it easier.

Spoiler: How to purchase from KyoAni's online store

The only problem is, as much as I would LOVE to support them in this horrible hour...I don't really watch too much anime, so I don't know any of the characters featured.

 

[dragon_nataku]

The ages have been released of the victims. Only one age was listed to be over 60, which would most likely be [name removed out of respect for the family]. Their ages range from 20 to 61
20s: 15
30s: 11
40s: 6
60s: 1
There will be a police press conference at 4pm JST today to discuss the current investigation. Names are expected to be officially released then as well.

 

[King Robert]

I'm really worried that with this situation, anyone with a disability, such as myself, will be arrested in the future randomly.

 

[dragon_nataku]

That's why it's so very important to get rid of this stigma against people like us, that we're dangerous somehow just cause of a few evil people out there who happen to share one trait with us.