Kyoto Animation Officially Begins Donation Campaign Following Arson, Raises Over 5 Million

Kyoto Animation’s 1st Studio was recently the victim of a tragic fire after an arson resulted in the loss of life and works. Anime industry officials and fans alike rushed to the aid of the prolific studio, and recently Kyoto Animation officially began a donation campaign for those fans hoping to support the company through this trying period. Along with the massive influx of fan art and love, third party companies such as Sentai Filmworks began donation campaigns of their own.

After officially kicking off the donation campaign in which they linked fans to a direct bank account, NHK has reported that as of 3:00 PM JST on Friday, July 26th, that the Kyoto Animation account has raised 620 million yen — about $5.7 million USD in just two days.

The support for Kyoto Animation has been overflowing as the account reportedly already had received about $2.53 million USD from about 14,000 sources on Thursday, July 25th. Sentai Filmworks’ GoFundMe for the studio has raised over $2.2 million USD as well, and you can find more information here. For those looking to donate to Kyoto Animation’s direct account, the studio revealed details along with a SWIFT number for international donors:

BANK NAME : THE KYOTO SHINKIN BANK
SWIFT : KYSBJPJZ
BRANCH NAME : MINAMI MOMOYAMA BRANCH
BRANCH NUMBER : 048
ADDRESS : 16-50, YOSAI, MOMOYAMA-CHO, HUSHIMI-KU, KYOTO-SHI, KYOTO-HU, 612-8016 , JAPAN
ACCOUNT NUMBER : 0002890
ACCOUNT HOLDER : KYOTO ANIMATION CO.,LTD., REPRESENTATIVE DIRECTOR, HATTA HIDEAKI

The official statement from the studio also detailed some of the ways Kyoto Animation will be allocating the donations:

1. The money raised will be going to the victims and their families to help them with any costs, and will be used for the reconstuction of the company.
2. Will be transparent with what the donations will be used for. They will report on how as soon as it’s been fully decided.
3. All third-party fundraising activites in the support of Kyoto Animation will be posted to the website as they can confirm.

On July 18th at around 10:30 AM JST, Kyoto Animation’s 1st Studio was struck by a tragic fire. Reports have indicated that the fire has resulted in over 30 casualties, and over 30 injured as of this writing. With 30 fire engines responding to the fire, firefighters were able to completely extinguish the fire five hours after in began. The fire is reportedly being investigated as an arson, and the suspect responsible has reportedly been identified. Kyoto Animation president Hideaki Hatta is also considering erecting a memorial park in the place of the tragedy.

ComicBook.com will continue to share updates as the story develops, and our thoughts are with everyone affected by this tragedy.

via NHK