In our last update regarding the ongoing investigation of Shinji Aoba, the Saitama man who set fire to Kyoto Animation a year ago in July 2019, we reported that he had finally been transferred to a dedicated detention facility where he had been formally arrested for his crimes. We reported at the time that when the arrest warrant was read to him, Aoba was completely unaware of how many people he had murdered and, as of the most recent report, is still unapologetic for what he did. We also reported that Aoba was to undergo a psychiatric evaluation to determine if he was mentally competent enough to take criminal responsibility for his actions.
According to a new report which hit the Internet on Wednesday, July 22nd, we learned some new details coming out of the evaluation sessions. According to the report, Aoba still firmly believes that Kyoto Animation plagiarized his novel. The series and scene in question which set him off and began his one-sided grudge against the studio was the club barbeque scene in episode 5 of Tsurune that was broadcast in November 2018, which he believes was stolen from his work. Kyoto Animation denies the allegation.
In the time since the initial attack, the Kyoto Animation studio has been gutted and torn down. No one is certain what the city will erect in its place as the residents of the neighborhood have stated that they do not wish for any kind of memorial to be installed. Kyoto Animation did recently hold an online memorial on their official YouTube channel to remember the victims and commemorate the attack. The studio is still quite insistent that fans do not visit the site of the attack as it would bother the residents of the neighborhood.
Please continue to check back with this blog for more updates out of the ongoing investigation as it is released to the public.
Source: Yahoo! Japan
