An aerial view shows firefighters battling fires at the site where a man started a fire after spraying a liquid at a three-story studio of Kyoto Animation Co. in Kyoto, western Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo on July 18. (REUTERS Photo)
TOKYO, July 18 (Reuters): A man shouted "die" as he doused an animation studio with fuel and set it ablaze in Japan on Thursday, public broadcaster NHK said, killing at least 33 people in the nation's worst mass murder in nearly two decades.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called the attack in the city of Kyoto - the latest grisly killing in a nation widely known for its low crime rates - "too appalling for words" on Twitter and offered condolences.
Police detained a 41-year-old man who had shouted "die" as he poured what appeared to be petrol around the three-storey Kyoto Animation building shortly after 10 a.m. (0100 GMT), public broadcaster NHK reported.
Thirty-three people were confirmed dead, an official for the Kyoto City Fire Department said.
Fire engulfed the building as white and black smoke billowed from its charred windows. It was Japan's worst mass killing since a suspected arson attack on a Tokyo building in 2001.
Shiro Misaki, a 47-year old owner of a neighbourhood bar five minutes from studio, said he was driving nearby when he saw the thick smoke.
"Policemen were stopping traffic and it was really hazy with smoke," he said. "Even after I got back to my restaurant I could smell the smoke."
The prime minister said the cause was arson.
"Today, many people were killed and wounded in an arson murder case in Kyoto," Abe said in a post on Twitter.
"It is too appalling for words."
POPULAR SERIES
Some of the victims were found in the studio, some on the third floor and others in a staircase leading up to the roof, the fire official said. Another 36 were injured, 10 of them seriously, the official said.
The suspected arsonist was injured and was being treated in hospital, so police could not question him, NHK said.
Kyoto police declined to comment.
The studio produces popular series such as the "Sound! Euphonium". Its "Free! Road to the World - The Dream" movie is due for release this month.
"I am heartbroken," Hideaki Hatta, the studio's chief executive told reporters. "It in unbearable that the people who helped carry Japan's animation industry were hurt and lost their lives in this way."
There was an outpouring of support for the studio on Japanese-language social media, with some users posting pictures of animation. Many posted with the hashtag "#PrayForKyoani" - using an abbreviation for Kyoto Animation.
The studio has an outsized impact on Japan's animation industry that outstrips the list of works it has produced, said Tokyo-based film commentator Yuichi Maeda.
"It has a huge presence in animation here. To have this many people die at once will be a huge blow to the Japanese animation industry," he said.
Violent crime is relatively rare in Japan but occasional high-profile incidents have shocked the country.
Less than two months ago, a knife-wielding man slashed at a group of schoolgirls at a bus stop in Kawasaki, just south of Tokyo, killing one girl and the father of another, while injuring more than a dozen children.
In 2016, a man armed with a knife broke into a facility for the disabled in a small town near Tokyo and killed 19 patients.
'Blow to animation industry'
A suspected arson attack on a Japanese animation studio in which 30 people are believed to have been killed and scores injured will be a major blow to the nation's famed animation industry, a film commentator said.
Kyoto Animation, based in Japan's ancient capital of Kyoto, is known for popular series such as the "Sound! Euphonium". Its "Free! Road to the World - The Dream" movie is due for release this month.
But the studio has an outsized impact on Japan's noted animation industry that outstrips a list of the works it has produced, said Tokyo-based film commentator Yuichi Maeda.
"It's one of the best and largest animation firms in Japan, and with that loss of life, many of the best hands at animation in the nation are likely to be dead," Maeda said, his voice shaking. "It's too painful to contemplate."
"It has a huge presence in animation here. To have this many people die at once will be a huge blow to the Japanese animation industry."
While some companies, such as Hayao Miyazaki's "Studio Ghibli" were well known for the limpidness of their scenery and use of colours, or their detailed drawings, the strengths of Kyoto Animation, founded in 1981, stretched across the board.
"They really never did anything wrong. The animation was great, the story quality was really high. Overall, the balance was just amazing," Miura said.
"...They do a huge variety of work, the stuff that everybody loves. They don't make things that people hate," Miura said. "This incident is just unimaginable."
