Haruhi Suzumiya and Fumoffu Director Yasuhiro Takemoto Reportedly Died in the KyoAni Fire

It's been 2 weeks since the arson attack at Kyoto Animation Studios, and only now have we been getting new revelations from the aftermath. It was said that 35 people have been confirmed dead, and one of the casualties was director Yasuhiro Takemoto.

This was confirmed by Nikkei (via @roninworks):

Takemoto has been working for KyoAni for all of his professional animation careers, and he's the director behind anime classics The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu. He had also directed episodes for Nichijou, Lucky Star, and Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid.

Another casualty was said to be Futoshi Nishiya who had done some character design work for shows like Nichijou, Free!, and A Silent Voice.

A lot of fans are wondering why this news is only coming out now, and it's because Japanese officials who have been inspecting the fire are still recovering bodies and some have yet to be identified. No doubt, all of this is going to be cleared out in the future, but for now, we just need to wait.

If anything, there has been a lot of support going out to KyoAni and the relief fund has already raised up to 620 million yen ($5.7 million). There's also a GoFundMe account to #HelpKyoAniHeal. You can check that out here.

The arson attack at Kyoto Animation was definitely a tragedy, and the fanbase and animation communities have been mourning the great loss of the studio. Hopefully, we'll have all the details come to light soon.

See Also: Kyoto Animation Arson Attack: All Server Data was Recovered Without Loss