In 2019, an arson fire killed thirty-six employees of Kyoto Animation, while also injuring thirty-four others. The anime industry, and countless fans worldwide, showed some serious support when it came to rallying for Kyoto. Now, the trial for the arsonist responsible for the damage is set for September of this year and a potential verdict date has also been revealed. While Kyoto Animation suffered a serious blow as a result of this incident, the animation house has continued working on major franchises since.
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The incident took place on July 18th, 2019, with the arsonist starting the fire, presumably, because he believed that Kyoto had used scenes from his novels in the anime Tsurune. Kyoto has denied this claim, stating that the arsonist had submitted a draft in the past but had never made it past the first stage assessment at the company. The arsonist was caught by police three-hundred feet from the scene, suffering heavy burns. Since the terrible incident, Kyoto, and fans of the legendary studio, have taken the opportunity to memorialize those lives that were lost and will most likely continue to do so for many years to come.
Kyoto Verdict Date
The date of the verdict for the Kyoto arsonist will be January 25th, 2024, with the trial itself set to begin on September 5th of this year. At present, there hasn’t been any clue as to the punishment that the prosecution of the case is seeking. The death penalty is currently legal in Japan, though the nation’s last execution took place in June of last year. The trial itself is set to have around thirty-two hearings in total. The pre-trial hearings have already begun and the presiding judge is Keisuke Masuda.
While the incident caused a number of projects to be delayed, Kyoto Animation has been hard at work in creating new stories for the medium. In the future, Kyoto is working on the third film in the Sound! Euphonium series.
Here’s how Kyoto Animation describes itself, and its goals, on its official website, “Since our inauguration, our principles are “Make a challenge”, “Do the best”, “Produce required works” and “Keep our corporation as a humanitarian one”. We value people. Promoting the growth of people is equal to creating the brightness of works. We sincerely keep moving forward to be an Entertainment Corporation based on Animation.”
