I was sick on July 18th. I spent the entire day sleeping and didn’t look at the internet at all. I only found out the news on Friday and it made me sicker. I consider myself lucky that I have no clue what to say or do in these situations. I haven’t seen enough tragedy yet to be hardened to it.
I am a pretty big fan of Kyoto Animation as a studio and have great respect for their works. I’m angry, I’m sad… None of that matters. My own feelings about it are irrelevant at best. But that’s how people are, we internalize things in order to deal with them.
I don’t think I need to tell any of you how horrible the situation is. I know you’re all stunned and devastated. That’s how it should be. Let us never get so jaded as to stop feeling horrible about such things.
I have also been heartened by the outpouring of support and love from all over for the studio. This is the side of the community that makes me glad to be a part of it. I’m grateful we get to see it shine a little in dark times.
…I don’t know what to say…
Kyoto Animation has created moments that have made my world better. They’ve made me smile or think or dream. Sometimes all three at once. It created food to fuel my imagination and filled my days with colour and wonder. I want to say thank you. I should have said it sooner. It’s a bad habit to wait until something has happened to appreciate what you have.
Beyond that, Kyoto was a shining example in the industry. Paying animators reasonable wadges, offering benefits such a maternity leave. It was a vanguard and a bright hope for the future of the animation industry in Japan. We should not let that be undone!
In that spirit I would like to take a moment to also thank Bones, Shuka, P.A. Works, Trigger and Gainax, I.G. Productions, White Fox, Brain Base, Madhouse and all the ones I’m forgetting right now. All those studios that have filled our lives with just a bit of excitement and magic. Thank you!
And please take a page from KyoAni and take care of your employees.
I don’t want to be naive. I understand the impact of this tragedy. What’s important right now is to bring whatever solace we can to the victims and their families. But I still want to believe that KyoAni will regroup. That people capable of such amazing artistry are capable of just about anything. And I will happily wait for however long it takes to see Kyoto Animation back on the silver screen.
I know this has been devastating for a lot of you as well. You are very welcomed to share your thoughts.
Kyoto Animation has opened a donations account, https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2019-07-24/kyoto-animation-opens-account-to-accept-donations-for-fire-victims-rebuilding/.149310
I saw – it’s great
I haven’t said anything about the incident because I’ve scheduled what I wanted to say for my Ode to Anime Studios post later this week (I figured everyone would be putting out messages in the wake of the fire and the subsequent arrest, so I decided to wait for the usual time)…The Odes, as a post series, are a blessing and a curse, because while they seem to have become a signature of my blog and they do produce something of interest from time to time, they can get pretty repetitive and there are a bunch of studios I didn’t want to tackle due to their fanbases or opposite-of-fanbases (KyoAni being one of them), so for once I’m glad I haven’t tackled a particular studio.
I look forward to reading it
There really isn’t much to say about this. All we can do now is support them and pray for the families of those who were killed or heavily injured. It’s really difficult to understand how could someone do something like this. My hearts breaks for all who were wrongfully involved in this incident.
Same here
I appreciate what you said Irina and I love how you shouted out the other studios as well. We all need to remember to appreciate what we have before its gone, but I also understand that its easy to forget in the midst of living this thing called “life.” I hope you feel better. I hope we all heal together.
Thank you, so do I
They’ve brought much beauty into the world. I pray they now find some.
Well said
Nicely said.
Good-hearted gesture to thank the other studios, too.
I should have thanked Kyoto sooner really
Any of us could — and probably _should_ — say the same. But you did thank them, and I think it’s a message they’d appreciate.
I don’t know about good hearted.
As you probably know by now, I’m not the biggest fan of KyoAni. I love some of their show (and “love” is not hyperbole), and like some more, but I tend to consistently dislike their inhouse franchises. Where am I going with this?
It doesn’t matter. I doesn’t matter one lick whether I love their shows or not. This… this… I don’t want to imagine what it’s like to be trapped in a burning house. It’s very hard to understand what’s going on in the head of someone who’s doing this to people.
This year, I’ve been to two funerals in short succession. I thought that was a bit much. Well, those who work for KyoAni are potentially going to a lot more… This is so upsetting.
Be well everyone.
Thank you
That was certainly well said. That was a horrific event and I hope KyoAni recovers. Even though I’m not knee-deep in that studio’s works like most other fans, we can all agree that no one deserved this.
Definetly
Yes, I heard they caught the suspect and apparently it was someone who accused Kyoto Animation of plagiarizing his work, but that was proven to be false. On a side note, I Googled Kimba the White Lion after a friend told me its starting to trend because of that rip-off remake, the KyoAni arson attack popped up in the same search. Check this out, Yoko Hatta (VP of KyoAni) was an animator for Mushi Productions and helped animate Kimba. It was mentioned in one of the articles and I found that to be interesting (I heard she’s okay from what I know). Relax, I’m not going to make any conspiracies about that horrific attack because that would be tasteless. I didn’t realize the founders had roots that went to the first generation of anime itself.
I’ve said what I wanted to over on my blog. Everybody has ways to cope, and talking about how hard this has affected the anime community is a good way to show solidarity.
That’s true
my thoughts exactly
Well, honestly Irina…you said it very well. Sometimes you don’t always need words to fully express something. Sometimes emotions are enough, and with this post that just came across very well. Even though all of this has been very dark, and the loss of life can never be recovered, seeing how everyone has pledged their support in some form or other, has brought some light to this terrible tragedy. So really Irina…you did well, and you said enough😊
Maybe there was nothing to say in the first place but I needed to get some of it out. Thanks for listening
Well said Irina. Here’s hoping KyoAni can pick up the pieces and is able to heal from this, no matter how unlikely that may be. It’s unfortunate that we lost so many innocent and talented individuals.
It’s absolutely heartbreaking
Very well put. I’ll be honest I’ve not known what to say about the tragedy because everything I come up with sounds hollow to me. I only really started paying attention to KyoAni when Sound Euphonium came out and there’s so many shows of there’s that I haven’t seen yet, but all those that I have are special to me in their own way. I hope this isn’t the end, I hope they can heal and come back better than ever. Thank you for the post.
They will be forever in their works and it’s great you still have some to discover
I don’t have anything to add either, but it has been heartening to see so much support from everyone. I sincerely hope KyoAni is able to recover and heal from this, however slim a hope there might seem to be at this point.
The crowdfund is at about 2M now. No one can say there’s no audience for anime
I haven’t been keeping up with the Gofundme, but I’ve heard people say it’s not a good idea. KyoAni is a company and that Gofundme could cause tax problems among others. Those people suggest you buy digital prints on the KyoAni shop page instead. Delivery of the print is automated (they’re digital hi-res images), and all the money goes directly to KyoAni. Not sure what the official position of KyoAni to the Gofundme is; there wasn’t one when I last heard about it.