Episode 48 | JAPAN'S DEADLY ARSON ATTACK on Beloved Anime House

On July 18th, 2019 at Kyoto Animation's headquarters, a horrific arson attack was carried out by a disturbed psychopath hell-bent on getting revenge. Within the 32, 000 -square-foot building, 70 bright minds were hard at work when the smell of gasoline quickly filled the air. Seconds later, the building shuddered with the whoosh of an explosion. A black mushroom cloud of asphyxiating smoke rose rapidly through the building killing dozens. Japan is one of the safest countries in the world to live in. It boasts low rates of violent crime. But occasionally true evil slips through the cracks. This mass murder would be one of the largest  in modern Japan history. ★Enjoy!

★NEED MORE HOMICIDE INC.? Check out our PATREON campaign for exclusive Homicide Inc. podcasts available only to Patrons!
https://www.patreon.com/petervongomm

★THE HOMICIDE INC. WEBSITE is here!
https://www.homicide-inc.com

★DISCORD CHAT! Want to chat about the Homicide Inc. podcasts and crime in general? Join us on our Discord server here.  https://discord.gg/peBqDfT6

★ WHO AM I ?
My name is Peter von Gomm and I'm a professional Voice actor and Narrator and in this podcast I'll be bringing you high quality True Crime that passes the test of time. You've come to the right place for a great story!

★PLEASE SHARE Homicide Inc. with your friends! https://podcasts.apple.com/jp/podcast/homicide-inc/id1548239093

★PODCAST SUPPORT
If you like these Podcasts and would like to help support their production, please consider buying me a cup of coffee! This will help keep me wired for writing and recording these weekly podcasts, and contribute towards web and podcast hosting. Thanks very much indeed! :0)  buymeacoffee.com/petervongomm

★STORY SUBMISSION
If you have an INTRIGUING TRUE STORY to share and would like me to consider reading it in a podcast, please submit it to petervongomm.reads@gmail.com
*It must be well-written please. ;0)

★Homicide Inc. theme song by Christopher J. Orton
https://www.fiverr.com/meandamic
*Guitars played by Joao Corceiro
https://www.fiverr.com/joaocorceiro

★REFERENCES
Sources

#truecrime #murder #truestory #homicide #homicideinc #crime #investigative #killer  #horror #truecrimepodcast #truecrimecommunity

Transcript

Japan is one of the safest countries in the world to live in. It boasts low rates of violent crime. But low isn’t zero and once in a while, true evil slips through the cracks. This day, it came in the form of a disturbed 41-year old man whose delusions of plagarism was worth the lives of 36 people… one of the largest ever mass-murders in modern Japan history.

Chapter 1: The day of the murder

Kyoto, Japan is located in a basin surrounded by mountains making it especially hot and humid in summer and dead cold in winter months. July 18th, 2019 was smokin’ hot. The day began as any other uneventful morning in the Fushimi ward of Kyoto. Located in the historical city of Uji is Studio one. The yellow, three-floor complex is the creative headquarters of KyoAni aka Kyoto Animations production. Within the 32, 000 -square-foot building, 70 bright minds were hard at work. Akira (not his real name) was one of them. At 10. 31am, he heard the sounds of a commotion on the ground floor. And then, the smell of gasoline quickly filled the air. Seconds later, the building shuddered with the whoosh of an explosion. A black mushroom cloud of asphyxiating acrid smoke rose rapidly from the ground floor up through the spiral staircase that connected the three floors of the building.  

Gasping for air amid the scorching heat, Akira quickly ran through the thick smoke to the balcony. He had two choices, risk certain injury by jumping, or suffocating to death. Below him, a fall that surely promised injuries. He watched his colleagues, stagger through the broken windows and leap out, falling to the ground below. He made his choice and jumped.

From the first explosion, residents from the neighborhood poured into the street hurrying to the aid of the blackened figures staggering from the building. Bloody footprints patterned the streets where employees ran to safety after fleeing the building barefoot through glass and debris.

One woman, who lived directly across the studio, saw a large man emerge from the entrance and fall on the floor, the remains of his red shirt were burned to his body. She rushed to his aid, using a garden hose to spray his wounds. He was visibly burned and suffering from his injuries. Yet, he struggled to his feet and tried to run away. Then two more employees who made it out of the building, still blackened with smoke broke into a run and tackled man the to the ground! He began to shout in pain, the woman was horrified.

But, his cries were not merely from the severe burns. “They plagiarized my work!” He screamed. “I must speak to the company president!”

Kyoto Animations was founded in 1981 by a husband and wife duo, Yoko and Hideaki Hatta It had started as a small productions-service company but, their expressive style and nuanced story-telling bolstered their growth into one of Japan’s most successful studios; specializing in designing, animating for television series, films, and original video animations. They also published novels and comics and picture books,  in addition to managing a school and a store- KyoAni Shop!

KyoAni, as they are known, went on to gather critical acclaim by producing hit series. One of them, ‘Violet Evergarden’ was purchased by Netflix. Another ‘A silent voice’ went on to rack in 30 million dollars at Japan’s box office, with fans from around the world.

Not only were the Hatta’s loved on the outside by their adoring fans, but they were loved just as much by their employees - something very, very rare in the cutthroat industry of Anime.

Behind the bubbly smiles, cute animals and bright colors is the dark world of anime where studios are known for violating Japan’s labor laws where employees work for punishingly long hours, exploitative conditions with few or no benefits, and a workforce that many employers view as disposable. Such companies are called burakku kigyo, or “black corporations,” and Tokyo’s anime world is full of them. In 2014, the Tokyo Standards Office formally recognized the suicide of one animation worker as the result of overwork. The employee had one month where he worked 600 hours. But, Kyoani was different from the onset, earning a reputation for corporate decency.  Man, 600 hours in a month! That’s a 20hr workday 30 days straight! Surprised the guy was even alive to kill himself! 

Kyoani was the studio to work for. Employees aren’t worked to death, they are paid well and on a salary basis – virtually unheard of! The company also employs a lot of female artists. Here’s a little-known fact, at the very beginning, the company’s co-founder who was a former artist had produced their first animes, enlisted neighborhood housewives. Ever since they have hired and promoted far more women than any other anime studio. Kyoto Animations even had a work-from-home arrangement for staff long before the rest of the world due to the coronavirus. Workers even got maternity leave! Make it stop!

Their good vibes didn’t stop there. KyoAni also gave opportunities for hopefuls in the industry to showcase their talents.  In 2009, Kyoto Animation began hosting the annual Kyoto Animation Awards. An international competition for creators and manga artists looking to make their professional debut with an anime powerhouse. Winners generously rewarded with $10, 000 and work produced.

Even if you didn’t win, with so many experts in the business reviewing submissions, if you were good you stood the chance of getting work. It was a huge opportunity and thousands and thousands of hopefuls submitted their entries from all across the country and beyond. 

KyoAni sounds like the perfect workplace. The envy of not only competing anime houses and industry hopefuls but for those lucky enough to work for the company a dream job. So then what went wrong? Who had a beef with the company and would want to exact murderous revenge? 

41yr old Shinji Aoba, would. You see Aoba was one of the hopefuls that submitted his work for the competition. And as you can guess, he wasn’t a winner.

Chapter 2: About Shinji Aoba

Shinji Aoba’s father was a school bus driver who had deserted his first wife and six children before taking up with Aoba’s mother and fathering another three kids with her.  Guy was virile. Shinji Aoba was the second of the three children.

In elementary school, he joined the judo club - but the short-tempered Aoba had few friends. He was bullied in middle school and started to spend an increasing amount of time alone at home – a so-called hikikomori. Social outcasts and shut-ins that are viewed by some in Japan as having the propensity to turn criminal. 

He attended high school at night, did odd jobs, worked for the prefectural government, and delivered newspapers. When he graduated, he worked part-time at a convenience store. During this time, his mother had an affair and left his father. Not long after, his father, who had begun working as a taxi driver, was involved in a car accident. He was injured and lost his job. He couldn’t work and couldn’t pay the rent. Sadly he took his own life, like his father before him did after being diagnosed with cancer. Many felt there was a death curse in the family, a musing solidified further when Aoba’s sister would commit suicide. Three generations of suicide. After the death of his father, Aoba cut all communication with his family. It was after this that a spate of petty crime began. 

Aoba was brought in for questioning by police for stealing ladies’ underwear. He was caught in the act of snatching some garments off a neighbor’s clothesline. What a perv. An apology to the victim and a slap on the wrist was all the punishment. However he stepped up to the plate in 2012, when he robbed a convenience store at knifepoint, stealing 20,000 yen ($185). For that, he received a sentence of three and a half years. On his release, he was placed in a government welfare program for ex-convicts needing special assistance and lived in a partially government-managed facility. Eventually, he moved into an apartment in Saitama.

His neighbors would grow to rue that day Aoba set foot in their building. But, one neighbor, in particular, was at the receiving end of the whole range of anti-social behaviors Aoba had to offer. And, he lived right next door.

Their first meeting, Aoba ignored a warm welcome from his neighbor. Not one to try his luck twice, the neighbor decided to keep an arm’s distance with Aoba.

He found Aoba to be unkempt, reeking of body odor and often wearing the same clothes for days on end. Yet, as they shared a wall, he was on the receiving end Aoba’s audio clips – six-second tunes on a loop blasting for hours on end played all hours of the day. One clip could best be described as the sound of a train running over tracks. When the noise became too much, the police were called. Aoba would behave himself for a couple of days, and then revert back to being the ugly neighbor. Rinse, repeat. On one occasion, the police had to enter his apartment through his balcony because he refused to open his door. This went on for two years.

Four days before the fire, there was a disturbance from the floor above Aoba’s. Mistaking it for the neighbor next door he began pounding on the adjoining wall and eventually carrying out an assault on the wall with what sounded like furniture and heavy objects being heaved against it. This was the final straw.

The neighbor stepped out of his apartment to confront Aoba, only to find him there waiting. 

A tussle ensued. Aoba grabbed the man by the collar threatening to kill him. The neighbor immediately went to the police, but when they arrrived to question him, he was gone. Aoba abruptly left Saitama for Kyoto. Was it fear from the police or did something more sinister drive him there? 

Multiple sightings of Aoba in Kyoto allow us to trace his movements in the city before the murders.

He arrived in Kyoto by train and checked into a downtown hotel. The next morning, Aoba headed toward Kyoto’s hilly suburbs of Uji, where KyoAni’s studios were located. CCTV footage shows him at an internet cafe south of Kyoto Station. He was also spotted loitering at a convenience store, carrying 2 large red plastic containers. This was about 200 meters from the KyoAni studio. 

The following day, Aoba was seen in a hardware store purchasing supplies for the impending attack. This included a push dolly. You know the type delivery guys use to transport heavy goods, or in this case, mass murderers to move their deadly cargo. He was next spotted at a gas station where he filled those 20-liter containers with gasoline. He loaded his new purchases on his dolly and disappeared.  At around 9 pm, a teenager spotted him sleeping on a park bench. He was still wearing the jeans and red T-shirt he’d worn when assaulting his neighbor. His cart, laden with its flammable content, was parked close by. This was about 500 meters from the studio.  

The next morning Thursday, July 18th, 2019, Aoba appeared at the doors to Kyoto Animation Studio, pushing his cart through its metal doors. 

Chapter 3: The attack

Seventy creative minds were inside, working away on various projects, some putting the finishing touches on a new anime about to be released, others working on various other publications and productions, completely unaware of what was about to happen.

Aoba dumped the contents of the two containers he had wheeled into the studio. The fuel spread quickly on the floor of the studio lobby. Some employees that had the misfortune of being near him found themselves also doused in gasoline. As he was dumping the containers he screamed one word over and over: Shine! Shine! “Die! Die!”

Then he set the fuel alight. 

What Aoba didn’t realize was that in the process of pouring the gasoline on people, he had also inadvertently doused himself too. As the 40 liters of gasoline ignited in a ferocious blast, the fire ripped through the lobby, igniting those in the vicinity as well as Aoba himself. He rushed out of the building on fire trying to distance himself from the crime scene but two quick-thinking employees, who were able to make it out of the blaze in time, chased him down and held unto him till the police arrived.

Behind them, the rapidly spreading fire had blocked off the entrance to the building, trapping those who hadn’t made it out. A number of them who made it to the balconies and windows before the building was completely overtaken with smoke took fate in their own hands and leaped from the first and second floors of the buildings. In less than a minute the fate of those who couldn’t get out was decided. 

Even with 30 fire trucks and dozens of firefighters on the scene, the intensity of the fire lasted for well over 18 hours. It was only fully put out by 6:30 the following morning, 22 hours later. 

In its wake, twenty bodies were found on the stairs between the third floor and the roof; they appeared to have been trying desperately to make it to the roof. But due to the rapidly spreading fire and carbon monoxide poisoning, they had been too disoriented to open the door and make their escape. A truly humbling discovery as the roof of the building remained undamaged - if they had just made it there…. If.

In all, 33 people were confirmed dead, and dozens of others were injured. In a few weeks, the number would rise to 36, as more victims succumbed to their injuries. 36 employees of KyoAni were killed in the most horrific way by the crazed actions of one psychopath. Dozens were injured in the blaze, some severely but those were the lucky ones that made it to safety and survived.

Though fire extinguishers and emergency alarms were operating as required, there were no sprinklers or indoor hydrants installed since the building was classified as an “office”and wasn’t required.

Japanese television footage that captured Aoba entering the detention center under heavy security, showed his face blistered, eyebrows singed off and fingers disfigured, from the fire. Before taking him to the hospital the authorities needed some questions answered. Namely why!? Why had he killed 36 innocent people? PAKURI! He screamed angrily. Pakuri is the Japanese word for ripping off, plagiarizing, stealing an idea. 

Some months before, Aoba had stumbled on an anime that to him was oddly familiar. As he watched it, the plot rang a bell but he couldn’t quite place his finger on what was so familiar about it.

Finally, the bulb went off: he made the connection! It was from one of the novels he had submitted to a Kyoto Animations competition a year earlier! He knew he was a great writer! They claimed someone else had won the competition. Yet, here was his script playing before his very eyes.

Aoba was livid! About the fame he had lost…. About the $10, 000 that was not in his hands. In his mind, KyoAni needed to be taught a lesson, they needed to pay. They would not get away with this!

So, did Kyoto Animation in fact rip off Aoba?

Initially, the company denied ever getting a script from Aoba but then, they decided to do a thorough search to investigate his claims. And in fact, in the past two years, in the hopes of becoming the next big thing, Aoba had sent in two stories of his to the offices of Kyoto Animations in the most recent KyoAni competition. However, neither of his manuscripts had made it past the first stage. Which was why the company hadn’t even remembered receiving anything from him… they were that forgettable. Regardless of this revelation, they still insisted that none of their productions matched with any of the stories he had sent.

Aoba was livid at this bald-faced lie. They had stolen his novel. But, when approached with the facts: not one of their productions remotely resembled anything he had sent.  Aoba backpedaled: okay, maybe they hadn’t stolen the whole novel, but they had lifted a scene from it.

“What scene?” Investigators asked. 

 “The thing Kyoto Animation copied from me was the scene in Tsurune where the main characters buy discounted meat,” he said.

After sifting through the episode, they found it! 

They found the scene. 

In the scene, two lead characters were going to buy meat in a grocery store. One character suggests buying meat that’s near its expiration date to save money, the other character is impressed by this savings hack and agrees

The end. 

That’s all folks!

The scene lasts under two and a half minutes. It could not be more ordinary and commonplace.  It has been used in other anime series, comedies, movies and happens in real-life about a hundred thousand times a day around the world... This imagined plagiarism is why Aoba decided he needed to exact revenge on KyoAni and attempt to burn 70 people to death.

The alleged scene had aired eight months before the attack. So, Aoba had stewed and planned for 8 months to attack the main KyoAni Studio. When asked about why he had chosen that particular location? His reply? “It’s the biggest one, I thought if I pour gasoline on the walls, I’ll kill the most people here.”

What’s more, just a few months earlier, employees at Kyoto Animations had received bizarre death threats. One email, was sent repeatedly... two hundred times to be exact.  In the mails, the names of certain employees that worked with the company were listed. The company had filed a formal complaint to the police, though they were not able to identify the sender. Officers were deployed to patrol the office for a time but were no longer on the beat when the attack happened. Could that have been Aoba? 

We may never know.

Chapter 4: the aftermath

With 36 dead, a confession from the culprit, and an arrest at the scene, this case should be pretty much a closed case, right? 

Wrong!

Under Japanese law, as soon as an arrest is made, the suspect must be moved into police custody. As Aoba had sustained severe burns on almost 90% of his body; face, torso, limbs, ass… you name it, there was no way he would be going into police custody in such a state. 

Aoba spent the next few months in a university hospital in Osaka. There he was on a ventilator. Over time, he would receive skin graft surgeries. All on the state's dime. He is the first major burn victim to have received only synthetic skins. The hospital system decided their limited supply of donor skin was put to better use for actual victims. 

Once he regained his speech and could hold short conversations, police obtained a warrant for his arrest but, they still had to wait for doctors’ orders. But months of rehabilitation still lay ahead. Finally, ten long months after he set fire to Studio One and took the lives of 36 people, Aoba’s injuries were considered to be no longer life-threatening and he was judged fit for arrest. Still unable to walk, Police moved him from the hospital’s burns unit to a detention center on a stretcher.  There, Aoba was charged with five crimes including murder, attempted murder, and arson. It was Dec. 2020 , nearly a year and a half since the deadly attack on KyoAni and one of Japan’s largest mass murders in history.When police told him how many people he had killed, he looked at them emotionless and replied ‘sou nan da?, “oh, is that so.”

Psychologists began 6 months of evaluation and declared Aoba mentally fit to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law — which in Japan includes the high possibility of the death sentence… by hanging.

However, at the request of his defense attorney, the court ordered further psychiatric tests for Aoba to determine if he was in fact mentally fit to stand trial. As this case is still ongoing, there is concern that they are trying desperately to get him declared mentally unfit. 

But the events leading up to the attack indicate someone who knew what they were doing; He cased the building, purchased fuel and even a cart to ease transporting the fuel. He also brought knives and hammers as an alternative in case the fuel failed. It would be interesting to see how the defense attempts to explain such deliberate planning away.

The Police have since issued a notice that required that gas stations to keep records of customers who purchase gasoline in refillable containers. This measure was put in place in h any fopes of preventing future catastrophes. Death threats are also more thoroughly investigated and culprits, if found are arrested. In addition, Fire departments have encouraged the installation of evacuation ladders on all buildings.

After the attack, with 40% of staff lost in the fire, Kyoto Animation temporarily suspended all activities. Within a month, employees that had escaped death began to return to work at the other branches of Kyoto Animation, finding it therapeutic to continue doing what they do best and bringing them closer to their late colleagues. Only a handful of the surviving employees resigned after the fire; in all, just six.

The next year was spent raising funds that would go to support the families of the deceased. To date, they have received over $30 million in donations in Japan alone from fans of KyoAni. Though some people want KyoAni to use the donation to rebuild, the company insists that all donations be dispensed to the victims of the fires and affected families.

The burned-out shell of Studio One has long since been demolished. Initially, Kyoto Animation’s president Hideaki Hatta considered rebuilding on the site, but met resistance from employees that didn't want to work again where their colleagues had lost their lives. He had then considered replacing the building with a public park, a green space with a memorial monument. But neighbors, still traumatized by the events of that fateful morning, and still dealing with an increase in anime fans flocking to the once peaceful community, are completely against the idea. 

Kyoto Animations itself only resumed activities in autumn 2021 with the continuation of producing new films. 

In his only one-on-one interview since the arson, when asked about his thoughts about Aoba, Kyoto Animations CEO Hatta had this to say: “He doesn’t exist in my mind. That is not a human act. This isn’t something a human is capable of.”

Sadly, humans are indeed capable of these atrocities, as we’ve seen time and time again.

On a macbre side note, less than 2 weeks before the production of this podcast, another nutcase in Japan’s Osaka, perhaps in an attack inspired by the Kyoto Animation arson and murder, walked into a psychiatric clinic and set the building ablaze with gasoline. 25 people were killed in the ensuing fire.