Arson suspect may believe his novel was stolen

Jul 31, 2019 | News On Japan

Jul 31, 2019 (NHK) - Police are to look into a novel written by a person with the same name as the suspect in the deadly arson attack on a Kyoto Animation studio.

The police suspect the man bore a grudge against the firm, believing that it had stolen the plot of his novel.

The animation company said on Tuesday that a person with the same name as the suspect, Shinji Aoba, had entered a novel competition the firm organized to use as the basis for an anime.

Kyoto Animation says the novel did not pass the first round of screening as it was not written in the proper form. The firm also denies any resemblance between its anime and the novel.

When the suspect was apprehended by police, he reportedly yelled something about the animation studio stealing the plot of his novel.

Police seized what appears to be manuscript papers from Aoba's apartment in Saitama City, near Tokyo.

The arson attack killed 35 people and injured 33 others.

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