京阿尼的社長面對媒體的聯訪，無語問蒼天；講了一句很沉痛的話：「年輕人的未來，很遺憾以這樣的方式被關上。」

社會上發生這樣的事，常是對大眾有某種啟示意義，只是現在不知道確切是甚麼，一方面也在等更多訊息進來。這個地方還能在原址蓋回重新運轉嗎？聽說或許改立紀念碑? 社長說還要再問其他員工(74人走掉34人，30人失蹤)。軟硬體一瞬間幾乎化為烏有。

往生的人集體被送到另一個世界，只怕還在畫漫畫，甚至帶著驚嚇離世，可能需要一些祈禱儀式讓他們安息。活著的人身心也需要安頓，後續還好多事要整理。祝福一切有最好的走向。

京アニ社長「一瞬にして何もかも無くなってしまった」 断腸の思いを語る

京都アニメーションの八田社長は「若者がこんなかたちで将来を閉ざされてしまったことが残念」とするコメントを出した。

京アニ社長、断腸の思い語る「若者が将来閉ざされ残念」

京都市伏見区のアニメ制作会社「京都アニメーション」のスタジオが放火された事件で、八田英明社長は１９日午後、京都府宇治市の本社近くで報道陣の取材に応じ、「紙類もコンピューターも、一瞬にして何もかも無くなってしまった。断腸の思い」と語った。

出火当時、社員ら７４人がいた３階建ての第１スタジオがほぼ全焼。「見るに堪えない。真っ黒。机も真っ黒」と落胆した。再開の見通しを問われると「これから考える。まずは（残ったスタッフの）気持ちを聞いて。みんなの決意で頑張ろうと」。制作中の作品については「作り上げているものはスタッフの気持ちを考え、ぜひ公開したい」と語った。

八田社長は報道陣向けのコメントも公表。「アニメーションを志し、全国から集まった若者がこんなかたちで将来を閉ざされてしまったことが残念で、言葉に出来ない。当社にとって、業界にとっても大きな痛手。一人ひとりが本当に優秀で素晴らしい仲間たちでした」と社員を悼んだ。

（朝日新聞デジタル　2019年07月20日 00時01分）

https://www.huffingtonpost.jp/entry/kyouani-shachou_jp_5d326d8ee4b020cd9943c947?ncid=other_facebook_eucluwzme5k&utm_campaign=share_facebook&fbclid=IwAR3WrfrXT5F-UJdmCdJ8RTH3JicTLokMzsBNgA4Xx81FwLbeVruue4hatBQ

KYOTO, Japan — He can’t get the women out of his mind.

A day after an apparent arson killed at least 34 people at an animation studio in the Japanese city of Kyoto, a neighbor, the 81-year-old Ken Okumura, remembered seeing several women jump from the building’s second floor. They were so badly burned that blood was coming from their noses, and all of their clothes but their underwear were gone.

“Just horrible,” Mr. Okumura said on Friday, as the smell of burning still hung in the humid air.

Much was still unknown about the Thursday fire, which appeared to be Japan’s worst mass killing in decades. The police identified Shinji Aoba, 41, as a suspect in the case, based on statements they said he made when he was apprehended. They said Mr. Aoba was being treated for severe burns and had not been arrested.

Japanese news reports, citing unnamed police sources, said the suspect had told the police that he started the fire because he believed the studio, Kyoto Animation, “stole a novel” from him.

NHK, the public broadcaster, reported that Mr. Aoba had served time in prison for robbery and that he was being treated for an unspecified mental illness. The report, which cited an unidentified source, said he lived in the city of Saitama, near Tokyo.

As of Friday, none of the names of the people killed in the fire had been released. What was known was that almost two-thirds of them — 20 — were women.

Japanese Animation Creators Association.

Male animators still lead the industry, and they outnumber women among animators over 35, Mr. Okeda said. But Kyoto Animation — known as KyoAni to its fans — is known for employing more women, particularly younger women.

More than half of the workers in the burned building were women, based on figures released by the Kyoto fire officials about the dead as well as the dozens of injured.

On Friday, a man distraught about his 21-year-old granddaughter, who worked at Kyoto Animation, told NHK that he could not find her name on lists of people taken to local hospitals.

“She was my pride,” the man, Kazuo Okada, 69, said of his granddaughter, Megumu Ohno. “Her name started appearing on the screens of anime movies. I was so happy to see that. I was proud of her. I want to see her face soon.”

Kyoto Animation was co-founded by Yoko Hatta and her husband, Hideaki Hatta, in 1981, and went on to produce high-quality, meticulously detailed works. They included “The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya,” a science fiction series based at a high school, and “Lucky Star,” whose intelligent female protagonist is distracted from her studies by anime and video games.

Kyoto Animation also played a role in the careers of two star women directors of television anime, said Patrick W. Galbraith, a lecturer at Senshu University who has written extensively about the art form. “That’s significant,” he said.

Naoko Yamada directed the series “K-On!” for Kyoto Animation, and Hiroko Utsumi directed “Free!” a series about a boys’ swimming team. “Free!” stood out in the anime world, often known for being preoccupied with the female form, because it focused on the male body instead.

Ms. Utsumi has since moved to another anime studio, Mappa. According to Nikkan Sports, a daily newspaper, Ms. Yamada was not hurt in the fire.

Kyoto Animation is also unusual among anime studios in that it pays its workers salaries, rather than freelance fees. Japan’s animation industry has been accused of exploiting workers, who work long hours for low wages.

Ironically, KyoAni’s system may have exposed its workers to greater risk by concentrating so many of them in one studio. “It’s a rare system in the industry,” Mr. Okeda said.

The arsonist is believed to have purchased about 10 gallons of petroleum at a gas station near the studio, about half an hour before starting the fire. According to police reports, the man brought it to the studio in two cans, on a hand cart, then poured it out on the building’s first floor and ignited it with a lighter.

“We saw yesterday that anyone can cause mass killings and tremendous damage with cheap and easy tools anyone can obtain in daily life,” said Daiju Wada, a lecturer on security at Seiwa University in Chiba, Japan, and a security consultant. “It’s difficult not to sell gasoline to people.”

Hatsumi Yamashita, 74, who teaches dance at a nearby community center where firefighters treated some of the injured in a garage, remembered seeing one woman sitting on a staircase, wearing what Ms. Yamashita first thought was a jet-black outfit. “But when she laid down on the floor, I saw she was so burned that she was almost naked,” she said.

“I could never forget this young woman,” Ms. Yamashita said.