The Kyoto Prefectural Police have released on Friday the names of 10 of the 35 people who had died in an arson attack at the Kyoto Animation’s first studio building last month.
Police investigators had already identified all of the victims who had died in the attack, but has withheld the information until now. The authorities are saying that they attribute the delay of releasing the infomation to their efforts to the feelings of the families first.
Chief investigator Ryoji Nishiyama said in a news conference that the bereaved families are in “deep shock” and they need time to mourn their deaths. He also says that the animation studio has been reluctant to release the names.
He said that the families of the ten people died in the attack had consented to the release of their names, and they plan to obtain approval from relatives of other victims and the company.
The names of the 10 victims announced by the police on Friday, August 2, are:
Yuka Kasama
Newly-hired employee. She is a graduate of Osaka Seikei University. She was 22 years old.
Yuki Omura
Newly-hired employee. He had just graduated at Tohoka University last March. He was 23 years old.
Ami Kuriki
Kuriki worked as a key animator of KyoAni’s recent works, including Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, Sound! Euphonium, Free! and A Silent Voice. She was 30 years old.
Keisuke Yokota
Yokota worked as a production manager in several episodes of CLANNAD, K-ON!, Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions, Beyond the Boundary, Tamako Market and A Silent Voice. He was 34 years old.
Junichi Uda
Uda handled in-between animation of several shows, including Nichijou, Hyouka, Love, Chunibyou & Other Delusions, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Free! and A Silent Voice. He was 34 years old.
Mikiko Watanabe
Watanabe worked as a background artist and art director for the company.
She worked on K-ON!, Hyouka, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, Amagi Brilliant Park, Beyond the Boundary, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, A Silent Voice and Violet Evergarden. She was 35 years old.
Sachie Tsuda
Tsuda handled several roles in the company, including finishing animation, special effects and digital paint.
She worked on CLANNAD, K-ON!, Lucky Star, Hyouka, Free!, Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions, Nichijou, Tsurune, Liz and the Blue Bird and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. She also assisted in the production of InuYasha, Kiddy Grade, Gatekeepers 21, Atashi’nchi and a couple of Crayon Shin-chan and Doraemon anime films. She was 41 years old.
Futoshi Nishiya
Nishiya is known as character designer of several KyoAni shows, like Nichijou, Liz and the Blue Bird, A Silent Voice and Free! franchise. He was also responsible for the original character designs for Hyouka manga series, and handled the character designs for the anime adaptation.
He also the animation director in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, CLANNAD, K-ON!, Sound! Euphonium and Tamako Market, as well as handling key animation of Air, Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu and Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid. He was 37 years old.
Yasuhiro Takemoto
Takemoto is well-known as director of several Kyoto Animation shows, including Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu, Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid, Hyouka, Amagi Brilliant Park, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid and Lucky Star.
He was also an episode director for Air, CLANNAD, Free!, Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Tamako Market, Sound! Euphonium and Violet Evergarden, as well as assisted on InuYasha, Gate Keepers, Kiddy Grade and Tokyo Underground. He was 47 years old.
Yoshiji Kigami
Kigami was one of the mentors at Kyoto Animation and worked on multiple roles in over a dozen anime titles, like key animation, in-between animation, character designer and episode director.
Kigami’s directorial credits are Munto, Munto 2: Beyond the Walls of Time, Shin Dosei Jidai: Hawaiian Breeze, Last War of Heavenloids and Akutoloids, Sora o Miageru Shoujo no Hitomi ni Utsuru Sekai, and Baja no Studio.
He was also credited for key animations of Cat’s Eye, Grave of the Fireflies, Akira, Chibi Maruko-chan, and several Crayon Shin-chan and Doraemon anime films.
Kigami had taken the identities of “Ichirou Miyoshi” and “Fumio Tada” on most of his works at KyoAni, including key animation for Air, CLANNAD, Hyouka, Amagi Brilliant Park, Tamako Market, Tamako Love Story, Sound! Euphonium, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Free!, Liz and the Blue Bird, A Silent Voice and Violet Evergarden. He was 61 years old.
Additional Information from Anime News Network and Kyodo News.
