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33 dead after arson attack at Kyoto Animation studio, dozens injured

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Re: 33 dead after arson attack at Kyoto Animation studio, dozens injured

#11

Arson, not an accidental explosion, > A plastic container and a knife were found left at the scene. The 41-year-old suspect told prefectural police that he set fire to the building. Police are treating the case as arson.

Details from other outlets are much more lurid:

A man shouted “Die!” as he sprayed a flammable liquid all over an animation studio in Japan on Thursday and set the building on fire, killing up to 26 people, authorities said.

“We have received protests against our company, not a few of them if not on a daily basis. There were murder emails including those which said ‘die,’” he told broadcaster NHK.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/suspected-...

Re: 33 dead after arson attack at Kyoto Animation studio, dozens injured

#12
post #3

The number of casualties is horrific and hard to understand. I'm not a huge fan of anime but I understand that this is a major studio with a long history. So I'm sure that this will have a major impact on the entire industry.

I'm a bit dumbfounded about the number of casualties. It must have been a very dreadful attack. Very troubling.

Re: 33 dead after arson attack at Kyoto Animation studio, dozens injured

#13
post #3

The number of casualties is horrific and hard to understand. I'm not a huge fan of anime but I understand that this is a major studio with a long history. So I'm sure that this will have a major impact on the entire industry.

I'm a bit dumbfounded about the number of casualties. It must have been a very dreadful attack. Very troubling.

crammed working place plus criminal action generating toxic smoke, maybe toxic dyes and a lot of plastics burning also

Re: 33 dead after arson attack at Kyoto Animation studio, dozens injured

#14
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's still true. Japanese animators are paid by the pennies and work ridiculous hours. Since they're often paid on a per-frame basis rather than hourly pay, sometimes it adds up to less than minimum hourly wage. KyoAni was actually one of the few who were known to pay reasonably well, and they also had sort of dormitories slash training facilities for their animators. As for computers, generally speaking the frames a…

Why though?! It frustrates me that the industry have to rely on fans / foreign distributors / bootleg to get an audience out of Japan. Leaves so much money on the table. I would be more than happy to pay Eiichiro Oda and his team for an english .pdf of the latest One Piece delivered to my inbox the second it comes out.

Animation is still done on paper mostly for artistic reasons, not because they can't afford tablets. Drawing on paper and drawing digitally are different processes and skill sets. Same for manga. There are actually a lot of mangaka who work digitally these days, but it's less common in anime production. That said, I don't understand how that has anything to do with foreign distribution, to be honest.

Re: 33 dead after arson attack at Kyoto Animation studio, dozens injured

#15
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's still true. Japanese animators are paid by the pennies and work ridiculous hours. Since they're often paid on a per-frame basis rather than hourly pay, sometimes it adds up to less than minimum hourly wage. KyoAni was actually one of the few who were known to pay reasonably well, and they also had sort of dormitories slash training facilities for their animators. As for computers, generally speaking the frames a…

Why though?! It frustrates me that the industry have to rely on fans / foreign distributors / bootleg to get an audience out of Japan. Leaves so much money on the table. I would be more than happy to pay Eiichiro Oda and his team for an english .pdf of the latest One Piece delivered to my inbox the second it comes out.

Seems a weird argument to be making. You can't even pay them directly to get the Japanese version, you need a Shonen Jump subscription, but you want them to offer it for English speakers?

Relying on foreign distributors, especially when you need to translate, seems to make perfect sense to me. Should Oda provide translations into English, French, German, Korean, Chinese, and Vietnamese? All of those are part of the "audience outside of Japan".

Re: 33 dead after arson attack at Kyoto Animation studio, dozens injured

#16
At all the places I've worked at, a stranger would not have made it far past the front entrance without being stopped by security, or even been able to enter the building at all (access cards, etc.) Maybe it's a cultural difference, or does the tech industry just have a much higher concern for securing offices?

Re: 33 dead after arson attack at Kyoto Animation studio, dozens injured

#17

At all the places I've worked at, a stranger would not have made it far past the front entrance without being stopped by security, or even been able to enter the building at all (access cards, etc.) Maybe it's a cultural difference, or does the tech industry just have a much higher concern for securing offices?

At all the places I've worked at (Germany), a stranger could basically just walk in, take the stairs / the elevator and enter the office. No locked doors, no security, nothing. Often left my keys, smartphone or wallet on the table when going to lunch. Never had any problems whatsoever.

It's not a cultural difference, but a question of company size.

Re: 33 dead after arson attack at Kyoto Animation studio, dozens injured

#19

At all the places I've worked at, a stranger would not have made it far past the front entrance without being stopped by security, or even been able to enter the building at all (access cards, etc.) Maybe it's a cultural difference, or does the tech industry just have a much higher concern for securing offices?

I imagine that is due to the combination of easily available firearms in the US and the ethically dubious position of a lot of SV companies.

I work in the UK and I have only worked in one office with a security desk. Most are very relaxed.

Re: 33 dead after arson attack at Kyoto Animation studio, dozens injured

#20
post #17

At all the places I've worked at, a stranger would not have made it far past the front entrance without being stopped by security, or even been able to enter the building at all (access cards, etc.) Maybe it's a cultural difference, or does the tech industry just have a much higher concern for securing offices?

At all the places I've worked at (Germany), a stranger could basically just walk in, take the stairs / the elevator and enter the office. No locked doors, no security, nothing. Often left my keys, smartphone or wallet on the table when going to lunch. Never had any problems whatsoever. It's not a cultural difference, but a question of company size.

Jupp.
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