Police Name 25 More Victims of the Kyoto Animation Arson Tragedy

Over a month has passed since news broke of the terrible tragedy which befell Kyoto Animation last month. On July 18, Kyoto Animation was targeted by an arsonist whose attack killed 35 employees and injuring nearly a many. Now, police has released new details about those victims who passed away despite a public feud between authorities.

As reported by Yahoo Japan, the Kyoto Prefectural Police released the names and ages of 25 more victims of the attack to the public. However, more than half of the families asked for the names of their deceased loved ones to be kept private. This has led media to share only the ages of the victims thus far which paint a tragic picture.

Of all the newly announced victims, their ages ranged between 21 and 49 years old. 17 of the victims were female while the other 8 were male.

Right now, five full names have been made public after each victim's family gave permission to share them. You can find the full list below (via Crunchyroll):

• Shouko Terawaki (pen name: Shouko Ikeda), 44 (Character Designer on the Haruhi Suzumiya franchise, Chief Animation Director and Character Designer on Sound! Euphonium, Animation Director on a lot of Kyoto Animation Works)
  Atsushi Ishida, 31 (In-between Animator on most of Kyoto Animation's projects after K-ON! The Movie)
  Megumi Ohno, 21 (New hire at the studio last year, was trained at Kyoto Animation's Vocational School)
  Maruko Tatsunari, 31 (Animation Director on Violet Evergarden, Tsrune, Love, Chunibyo and Other Delusions! Take On Me)
  Shiho Morisaki, 27 (Graduate of Kyoto Animation's Vocational School, Key Animator on Sound! Euphonium season 2, Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, Tsurune)

This information release comes days after Anime News Network reported the Kyoto Prefectural Police was at odds with Japan's National Police Agency over the news. Insiders said the local authorities wished to release the names of more victims, but the national agency said such details should only be shared with consent. Now, it appears the information has been made public with some families providing consent.

As far as the overall investigation, police detained the suspect accused of setting fire to Kyoto Animation's Studio 1 last month just outside of the crime scene. Shinji Aoba, a 41-year-old man, admitted to setting fire to the building after the production company allegedly stole his novel. The suspect sent in a book of his to Kyoto Animation previously during a public contest seeking stories, but staff at Kyoto Animation confirmed Aoba's story did not make it past the first round. A warrant has been put out for his arrest while Aoba is treated for severe burns at a hospital in Osaka.