Japan: Man sentenced to death for Kyoto anime fire which killed 36

A Japanese man has been sentenced to death for an arson attack at a Kyoto animation studio in 2019 which killed 36 people and injured dozens more.

The incident, one of Japan’s deadliest in recent decades, killed mostly young artists and shocked the anime world.

Shinji Aoba, 45, pleaded guilty to the attack but his lawyers had sought a lighter sentence on grounds of “mental incompetence”.

Judges rejected this however, ruling that Aoba knew what he was doing.

“I have determined that the defendant was not mentally insane or weak at the time of the crime,” Chief Judge Masuda said on Thursday at Kyoto District Court.

doctorcrimson,

They apprehended him in May 2020 and he pled guilty in September 2023, maybe it took so long because of the burns?

He supposedly accused the studio for plagiarizing his work for the creation of Sound! Euphonium 響け! ユーフォニアム which is surprising to me because I expected something a lot more personal than that. The poor standards of living and working conditions for anime production leaves a lot to be desired, I expected him to just be a disgruntled employee.

cheeseburger,
@cheeseburger@lemmy.ca avatar

From the article:

Aoba himself suffered burns to over 90% of his body in the fire,

and

Those convicted typically remain on death row for years, or even decades. The death penalty is conducted by hanging.

That’s going to be an agonizing wait for the hangman.

lapommedeterre,

They usually do hangings, right?

GilgameshCatBeard,

I hate anime as much as the next person that hates anime…. But that’s a bit unreasonable.

Evil_Shrubbery,

… there is no person next to you, is there? :P

GilgameshCatBeard,

There is. And they hate anime as much as I do.

Evil_Shrubbery,

Oh, then your og post checks out.

xmunk,

Shortening that to “Anime Fire” in the title was an awful choice by the BBC.

stopthatgirl7,
stopthatgirl7 avatar

I think they just forgot to capitalize the A. Whoops.

xmunk,

In all seriousness, they could’ve just said “studio fire”.

hakunawazo, (edited )

To be fair, BBC is also an awful choice of shortening in time of the adult internet ;)

xmunk,

Though the BBWs are pretty fond of getting their news there.

bappity,
@bappity@lemmy.world avatar

the death sentence is a mercy. shame.

stown,
@stown@sedd.it avatar

Huh, I swear I was always told that America was the only modern Democratic country to still use the death sentence. It’s a “fact” that people bring up whenever there is a high-profile death-row case, like right now.

otp,

The only modern *Western country

Viking_Hippie,

To be fair, it’s quite generous to call a political system based on a 1700s document “modern”…

Feathercrown,

In terms of countries it absolutely is

Viking_Hippie,

Is it really, though?

Most modern countries don’t consider dissent terrorism, most modern countries don’t have mass shootings every week if not every day and in most countries, the color of your skin doesn’t determine whether you’re likely to survive a traffic stop.

Zoboomafoo,

Atlanta isn’t a country, which ones are you talking about?

Viking_Hippie,

Atlanta is far from the only place in the US that fits that description.

Feathercrown,

“Modern” doesn’t mean “something I like”, it means it was created recently. So yes, it really is modern.

Viking_Hippie,

No, it means that it functions in modern ways. The US constitution is the oldest one in the world still in use and US politics and culture are both heavily influenced by bronze age myths aka Abrahamic religion.

“Modern” doesn’t mean “something I like”

That’s probably the most ridiculous strawman I’ve seen in 2024, well done!

Feathercrown,

We have a long way to go in 2024 haha… and sorry, but you didn’t refute it being modern, you simply listed things about it that you didn’t like, and called those not being modern. That wasn’t a strawman, I was literally just responding to what you said. If your beliefs are different then you should have chosen your words more carefully. This response is a great step up because it actually asserts something about the age of the constitution and its beliefs.

And that assertion is actually correct-- the US is over 200 years old when the rest of the existing democracies are mostly around 50. That’s still a short timescale when we’re talking about nations, but when referring to democracies in particular… yeah, it could use some updating.

Scrongle,

That’s a peculiar statement, considering the U.S. is essentially the most recent major nation (and one of very few) to be formed and grown, about as far from the intense pressures of previously established cultural or governmental influences (both from within, or from surrounding territories) as you can get, without leaving the planet.

…If that’s not considered relatively modern when compared to the rest of the world, what is?

yesman,

That’s a particular statement, considering the US has the oldest democratic constitution in the world.

Viking_Hippie,

the U.S. is essentially the most recent major nation

Which isn’t saying much at all since all other major nations are at least a thousand years old.

What IS saying a lot, though, is that the US constitution is the oldest national constitution still in effect bar none.

about as far from the intense pressures of previously established cultural or governmental influences (both from within, or from surrounding territories) as you can get, without leaving the planet.

Bullshit. The US is profoundly influenced by Christian norms and traditions for better and especially for worse. It’s one of the most conservative countries in the West both politically and culturally.

If that’s not considered relatively modern when compared to the rest of the world, what is?

Scandinavia, for example 🤷

xmunk,

South America and Africa are extremely confused right now…

Also, if you don’t want to look that far abroad look at literally either of America’s neighbors. Canada didn’t finish growing in size until 1949 and formed a province as recently as 1999. Mexico has technically been a continuous nation since 1810 but it’s worn a lot of different costumes in that time, including being ruled by a Habsburg.

aleq,
@aleq@lemmy.world avatar

Anything happens anywhere in the world.

The US: “Oh, this is about me!”

TwinTusks,
@TwinTusks@bitforged.space avatar

To be honest, I am genuinely surprised Japan has a death penalty.

stown,
@stown@sedd.it avatar

That was the point of my comment as well.

Marsupial,
@Marsupial@quokk.au avatar

Japanese stans are next level crazy. Like the stories of idols being murdered and shit by crazed stalkers, I don’t get what breeds this level of extreme response to media.

doctorcrimson,

I don’t think he was a fan per se, he accused the studio of plagiarism.

GONADS125,

The incels in western society are just as unhinged and bizarre imo. I’m not sure how prevalent they are in Europe, but they’re very much a problem here in the US and Canada.

xmunk,

In Japan a lot of idols aren’t allowed to be seen as being in relationships… it’s really fucking skeevy.

TwinTusks,
@TwinTusks@bitforged.space avatar

In Japan a lot of idols aren’t allowed to be seen as being in relationships

Not just Japan, is all Asia. One member of a female korean group said something to the effect of the fans want them sexy and unavaliable.

3laws,

Biased local/national sensationalist news and far-right culture… mostly.

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