This month marks one year since the horrific arson attack on Kyoto Animation. The largest confirmed mass murder in Japan’s postwar history shocked people across the country and around the world, and at the time some even speculated the tragedy might lead to the end of the company. A great news for local fans of the anime prodco’s beautifully crafted movies surfaced with complete retrospective at the newly opened Toho Cinemas Ikebukuro in Tokyo is reviving all 19 KyoAni movies on the big screen.
The event kicked off on 3 July with the studio’s first feature film: Last War of Heavenloids and Akutoloids (2009), as well as its award-winning 2010 release, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya (the second-longest anime feature ever made). These were followed with Saturday screenings of K-On! Movie (2011), all three Sound! Euphonium films and sidestory flick Liz and the Blue Bird (2018). Sunday showcased four Free! installments, and on 6 July Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions films were screened. Kyoto Animation will release its next feature film, Violet Evergarden: The Movie, on 18 September, after production shutdowns due to covid-19 forced a delay from its original spring release.
The company is hiring animators, system engineers and CG artists (for modeling, rigging, effects, an animation), as well as managers and animation assistants, to begin working in the 2021 business year. On its website, Kyoto Animaton says: “We are eagerly looking forward to applications from people overflowing with enthusiasm who have the ability to promote animation production and product development through a career of thinking, learning, and creating together.”