This past week, a 41-year-old man doused the primary office building of the anime studio Kyoto Animation with gasoline, along with people as they left the building, and set it on fire. The blaze (reportedly due to the positioning of ignition sites) raced through the building, killing 34 people (20 women, 13 men, one unknown), and badly injured another 34. The building itself has been badly damaged, with computer servers and art on the site being a total loss. The arsonist was taken into custody at the scene and confessed to the crime to law enforcement.

Kyoto Animation’s work has included several anime series that have been reviewed on the site, including Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu and Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid, and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Other genre series they have produced include Violet Evergarden (which is currently available on Netflix), and Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid (available on Netflix). They also received tremendous critical acclaim for the films A Silent Voice and Liz and the Blue Bird.

The staff of Bureau42 offers our condolences to the victims and families of the victims of this attack.

The names of the victims have not been officially released at this time. We ask that you refrain from speculating on the identity of the victims, and refrain from stating the name of the arsonist.