Yet another person has been arrested in Japan after threatening to repeat an attack which devastated Kyoto Animation earlier this summer. According to reports out of Japan, a 35-year-old man was apprehended by police in Okayama after he reportedly posted threats against Studio Khara online.
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As the reports detail, the unnamed suspect is said to have posted threats on Twitter and other social media sites. Police say the man admitted his part in threatening Studio Khara employees and interfering with their work. As Anime News Network puts it, the suspect said he posted the copycat threats “knowing that the other party was scared.”
The arrest comes after an investigation from the police stemming back to July. The posts online were reportedly shared between July 7 and July 18. The latter threats are said to have included death threats as well as references to the Kyoto Animation arson. The reports say Studio Khara finally approached about the harassment after their fellow studio was targeted by a disgruntled fans.
Little information is available on the criminal cast as of yet, but news outlets report the man has sent threats to Studio Khara over the last three years. Police say the suspect believes Studio Khara’s anime copyrights legally belong to his family, and he grew irate with the company after failing to get an email response from its team.
Obviously this situation is a distressing one to the employees at Studio Khara, and the company is not the only one to have been threatened in the wake of the Kyoto Animation arson. A man was arrested in August for supposedly sending threats to Square Enix which referenced the attack. Clearly, Japanese authorities aren’t taking chances with a repeat attack, and time will tell how this case ends up for both parties.
As for the parties of the Kyoto Animation arson, the police are still investigating the event. A total of 36 people died in the tragic fire while many more were injured. Billions of yen were raised for the victims, and Kyoto Animation has since gotten back to work slowly in the attack’s wake. The suspect who admitted to setting fire to Kyoto Animation is still in the hospital recovering from severe injuries. Currently, the man is undergoing rehabilitation and will then be released by doctor’s into police custody.
What do you make of this most recent copycat threat? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime.
