Shinji Aoba

Shinji Aoba is the perpetrator of the infamous arson fire of Kyoto Animation that resulted in the deaths of 33 people and subsequently injuring 30 more. On July 18th, 2019, he spread gasoline across the third story building and ignited the gas leak. By the time of his apprehension by the authorities, Shinji had received severe burns on the face, chest, and other parts of his body and is currently getting treatment until the authorities would be able to question him on his motivations. Allegedly, the reason as to why he gave before getting admitted was that the studio had copied (plagiarized) his work.

Authorities found that Shinji had a criminal record, one instance in particular being when he robbed a convenience store with a knife and was jailed for 3.5 years. He made an attempt to escape from the authorities but was ultimately arrested. According to the locals, a man resembling Aoba was sighted a few days before the tragedy. It was also reported that the studio received death threats from an unknown source which some have implicated Aoba as being the culprit behind. The attack destroyed all of Studio 1's materials and computers, and had gone down in history as being one of the worst massacres in Japanese history since the end of WWII.