Shinji Aoba

Shinji Aoba was born on 16 May 1978 in Japan. Publicly available records indicate that he lived a largely isolated life marked by instability, limited social relationships, and repeated difficulties with employment and housing. Aoba did not maintain long-term professional or personal ties and was known to move frequently.

Prior to the Kyoto Animation attack, Aoba had previous encounters with law enforcement unrelated to homicide. In 2012, he was convicted of robbery after attacking a convenience store and was sentenced to prison. After serving his sentence, he struggled to reintegrate into society. He reportedly lived on public assistance at times and resided in temporary or unstable housing conditions.

Aoba expressed long-standing grievances related to perceived personal failures and alleged mistreatment by society. In the years leading up to the attack, he developed an obsession with the belief that his creative ideas had been stolen by others. These beliefs became increasingly fixated on Kyoto Animation, despite no evidence supporting his claims.

Investigators later determined that Aoba had no employment history or professional affiliation with the animation industry and had never worked for Kyoto Animation. Nevertheless, he became convinced that the studio had plagiarized a novel he believed he had submitted through a public writing contest. No record of such plagiarism was ever substantiated.

By 2019, Aoba was unemployed, socially isolated, and living alone. Authorities later concluded that he had spent months planning the attack, including acquiring fuel and traveling to Kyoto with the specific intent to target the studio.

On the morning of 18 July 2019, Shinji Aoba carried out one of the deadliest mass killings in modern Japanese history at Kyoto Animation’s Studio 1, located in Fushimi Ward, Kyoto. At approximately 10:31 a.m. local time, Aoba entered the studio’s ground-floor entrance carrying approximately 40 liters of gasoline, which he had purchased earlier that day at a fuel station located roughly 10 kilometers away.

Upon entering the building, Aoba poured gasoline across the entrance area and onto multiple employees. He then ignited the fuel, triggering a rapid flash fire and explosion. Witnesses reported hearing him shout accusations toward the studio as the fire erupted. The gasoline ignited almost instantly, filling the lower floors with thick smoke and flames within seconds.

The building housed around 70 employees at the time. The fire spread vertically with extreme speed, trapping many individuals on the upper floors and stairwells. Twenty victims were later found on the staircase leading to the roof, indicating they had attempted to escape upward as the fire blocked the main exit.

Aoba himself was severely burned during the ignition and fled the scene on foot. He collapsed approximately 100 meters from the building and was restrained by police officers. He was transported to hospital with life-threatening burns covering much of his body.

Emergency services extinguished the fire later that day, but the building was almost entirely destroyed, including original artwork, production materials, and computer systems. Ultimately, 36 people died, with the final victim succumbing to complications from burns on 4 October 2019. An additional 34 individuals were injured, many suffering permanent physical trauma.

Due to the severity of his injuries, Aoba was not immediately arrested. He remained hospitalized for more than ten months under police guard while undergoing multiple surgeries. On 27 May 2020, he was formally arrested on suspicion of murder and arson. He was indicted on 16 December 2020.

During his trial, prosecutors presented evidence showing that Aoba had acted alone, deliberately targeted the studio, and intended the attack to be fatal. Psychological evaluations determined that he was mentally competent to stand trial and criminally responsible for his actions.

On 5 September 2023, Aoba pleaded guilty to all charges, including multiple counts of murder and arson. On 25 January 2024, the Kyoto District Court sentenced him to death, citing the scale of the crime, the number of victims, and the deliberate nature of the attack.

As of the most recent confirmed records, Shinji Aoba remains incarcerated on death row in Japan, awaiting execution.