Kyoto Animation fire: Arson attack at Japan anime studio...

[Darren_Garrison]

@Equipoise

I saw one of their feature films in the theater a few months ago. It was an unusual and beautiful movie called A Silent Voice. This is what I tweeted about it.

I’ve never seen the anime, but you might want to take a look at the manga that the movie was based on. Here is something I posted to it elseweb in 2016. (Spoilered for spoilers.)

The story is about a mostly deaf girl who is transferred into a middle-school classroom and is bullied, and the primary bully who feels very guilty about his role years later. Started off as a one-shot, was rebooted as a series that ran for 62 chapters. It has flaws: it would have been more compelling to have the deaf girl be the viewpoint character instead of the reformed bully; there is a bit of a “white knighting” feel to the relationship; as it is expanded from a one-shot to a fairly long-running series it experiences the near-inevitable loss of focus as more characters must be added and new storylines invented. But it was apparently good enough to get some sort of endorsement from the Japanese Federation of the Deaf, and I consider it worth reading even with its weaknesses. Read here.

@Equipoise

I’ve been fearing that Naoko Yamada is a victim.

From here:

Music producer Suguru Yamaguchi posted on Twitter that one of the studio’s star directors, Naoko Yamada, has been accounted for and is safe. While there are unconfirmed rumors floating around online about others who died in the event, the names of the deceased have not been released at this time.

[Darren_Garrison]

A new article.

[Skywatcher]

@D_Odds

only anime fans will care in the US.

This has been making the rounds of Facebook groups for animation in general, not just anime.

[Equipoise]

@Darren_Garrison

From here:

Thank you for that! Thank you too for the information about the manga and the updated article.

[Chisquirrel]

@Flyer

Because this particular mass murderer didn’t use a gun to commit his crime. He callously refused to fit the mainstream media/liberal playbook that guns are inherently evil and are only used for evil purposes. They can’t get any mileage out of a crime like this – their narrative is that everybody would be jolly and wonderful and live happily ever after if only we had more gun control than we already do. Even most of the nuttiest anti-gun nuts realize that the public would mock them if they called for “fire control.” So they simply ignore the crime as much as they can.

At least it took 20 posts for someone to attempt to put a partisan spin on tragedy, happily ignoring the several obvious reasons why it hasn’t received enormous attention in the US. Congratufuckinglations.

[Baron_Greenback]

@Flyer

Because this particular mass murderer didn’t use a gun to commit his crime. He callously refused to fit the mainstream media/liberal playbook that guns are inherently evil and are only used for evil purposes. They can’t get any mileage out of a crime like this – their narrative is that everybody would be jolly and wonderful and live happily ever after if only we had more gun control than we already do. Even most of the nuttiest anti-gun nuts realize that the public would mock them if they called for “fire control.” So they simply ignore the crime as much as they can.

Oh. Oh dear.

[Broomstick]

@D_Odds

We’re Americans. We don’t need no ferrin’ news. CNN sends me notifications whenever Taylor Swift does something (really, how can I turn off celebrity notifications?). BBC sends me real news notifications, like this. Home-grown, non-muslim nutjob in Kyoto kills over 30 at an anime studio…only anime fans will care in the US. No major US news outlet caters to that segment.

Bwuh?

You are incorrect: from my personal experience ABC, NBC, and WGN (OK, not national but still regional) CNN and the New York Times have all covered this. So… factually untrue that “no major US news outlet” is mentioning it.

[Asuka]

@Chisquirrel

At least it took 20 posts for someone to attempt to put a partisan spin on tragedy, happily ignoring the several obvious reasons why it hasn’t received enormous attention in the US. Congratufuckinglations.

I was browsing a forum that’s far more to the left than Straight Dope and for whatever reason it too devolved into gun control laws too with absolutely no prompting.

[Darren_Garrison]

@Broomstick

Bwuh?

You are incorrect: from my personal experience ABC, NBC, and WGN (OK, not national but still regional) CNN and the New York Times have all covered this. So… factually untrue that “no major US news outlet” is mentioning it.

It isn’t that they didn’t cover it, it was way down on the list of minor stories instead of a top headline as most mass-murders are. And in contrast to when the entire news media became wall-to-wall “an old church is on fire” just recently.

[Chronos]

[Moderating]

@Flyer

Because this particular mass murderer didn’t use a gun to commit his crime. He callously refused to fit the mainstream media/liberal playbook that guns are inherently evil and are only used for evil purposes. They can’t get any mileage out of a crime like this – their narrative is that everybody would be jolly and wonderful and live happily ever after if only we had more gun control than we already do. Even most of the nuttiest anti-gun nuts realize that the public would mock them if they called for “fire control.” So they simply ignore the crime as much as they can.

Wow, you were really bound and determined to find some way to squeeze in a dig at he liberals in a non-political thread, weren’t you? You already know that that’s inappropriate, but apparently you need another reminder. Well, here’s a Warning to remind you.

[Asuka]

@Darren_Garrison

It isn’t that they didn’t cover it, it was way down on the list of minor stories instead of a top headline as most mass-murders are. And in contrast to when the entire news media became wall-to-wall “an old church is on fire” just recently.

I think Notre Dam is more justified than whenever some waitress gets a bad tip and for whatever reason CNN thinks it needs to be their top news story on their website.

Similarly that gas station attendant that got told to “go back to their own country” got far more news coverage in the US than this.

[Darren_Garrison]

Another new article.

[Darren_Garrison]

Deth toll rises to 36.

[Darren_Garrison]

@Flyer

Even most of the nuttiest anti-gun nuts realize that the public would mock them if they called for “fire control.”

Well, Japan is going with a “gas control” law.

[Snowboarder_Bo]

There’s been an arrest.

Kyoto police said they arrested Shinji Aoba, 42, on murder and arson allegations, 10 months after obtaining the warrant because they had to wait for Aoba to recover. Police also reportedly waited to arrest him until Japan’s coronavirus emergency was fully lifted this week.

Aoba is accused of storming into Kyoto Animation’s No. 1 studio on July 18 last year, setting it on fire and killing 36 people. The attack shocked Japan and drew an outpouring of grief from anime fans worldwide.

Aoba sustained severe burns on his face, torso and limbs, and was unconscious for weeks. He reportedly still cannot walk or feed himself without assistance.

Japanese television footage Wednesday showed Aoba, his face scarred and eyebrows lost apparently from the fire, strapped to a stretcher as he was carried into a police station.

Police have said Aoba told them he set the fire because he thought ”(Kyoto Animation) stole novels.”

Prosecutors are expected to seek formal criminal charges against him in a few weeks.

[Darren_Garrison]

Aoba admits that he may have overreacted when burned down the animation studio with everyone inside.

Japanese man admits starting deadly anime studio fire: reports

[PastTense]

Japan: Man sentenced to death for Kyoto anime fire which killed 36