Aug 8, 2019

Kyoto Animation arson incident: Police name the first ten victims (updated)

Several weeks on from the arson attack that gutted Kyoto Animation's studio and killed 35, Kyoto Prefectural Police have confirmed some of the victims' identities.

Ten names have been released with the families' consent. They are listed below, alongside credits provided by Crunchyroll:

The victims range from promising young artists to industry veterans, several of which have been profiled elsewhere since the attack. The New York Times ran an article on Yasuhiro Takemoto, while The Hollywood Reporter focused one of its reports on Yoshiji Kigami.

The other 25 deceased have been identified, but the police are holding back from publicizing their names for now, as they await permission from the bereaved. A further 33 people were injured in the fire.

The suspected arsonist, 41-year-old Shinji Aoba, was gravely injured himself, and the police are waiting for him to recover before they formally charge him. Before succumbing to his injuries, Aoba reportedly told witnesses that the studio had “stolen” his novel. The police and a lawyer for Kyoto Animation, Daisuke Okeda, have confirmed that Aoba submitted a novel to the company, as part of its talent-scouting scheme; it was not accepted. Okeda told media that “there are no similarities between the contents of the submitted novel and any work by Kyoto Animation.”

Update (August 30): Kyoto Prefectural Police have released the names of the remaining 25 people who died in the fire. The list is composed of eight men and 17 women aged 21–49, including animation director Shoko Terawaki (Sound! Euphonium, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya), 44, and color designer Naomi Ishida (A Silent Voice, Liz and the Blue Bird), 49. The police confirmed the names despite only receiving permission to do so from five of the victims' families. They determined that the the information was in the public interest. The other victims are:

This report in The Japan Times has more.

More Kyoto Animation coverage:

(Image at top: “Liz and the Blue Bird.”)