Police Arrest Man Who Blackmailed “Kemono Friends” Director & Voice Actress

Jun 04, 20 at 6:55am

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A report from Sankei Shimbun has announced that police have arrested a 21-year-old male resident of Kyoto who is suspected of sending death threats to Kemono Friends season 1 director TATSUKI. The suspect, named Fukuta Kishimoto, was charged with intimidation and forcible obstruction of business.

According to Sankei Shimbun, the suspect posted various statements on message boards expressing threats to kill director TATSUKI, Kemono Friends anime staff, as well as a Kemono Friends voice actress. The suspect was said to have threatened that he will stab the voice actress’ family and set them on fire, referencing the deadly Kyoto Animation arson which killed 36.

The voice actress was eventually identified by NHK TV reports as Yui Ishikawa, who voiced Kemono Friends 2’s Kyururu as well as Attack on Titan’s Mikasa Ackerman. According to NHK, the anime staff temporarily halted work on the anime when Ishikawa reported the threats to police.

Once taken in by the police, the suspect admitted to the charges against him and said in a deposition that a personal grudge against the director was what drove him to send death threats. However, the suspect claimed that he did not intend to actually hurt TATSUKI.

The death threats against TATSUKI were first reported last May when he posted about it on his socials. He said that the threats began last April. Ishikawa also posted about the incident around the same time as TATSUKI, saying that she started receiving death threats last April as well.

TATSUKI directed the first season of Kemono Friends for studio Yaoyorozu; he, however, did not direct the series’ second season (it was directed by Ryuichi Kimura). Yui Ishikawa, on the other hand, did not join the series’ cast until the second season—which makes it even more puzzling as to why she, along with TATSUKI, was targeted by the harasser.

Kemono Friends season 1 aired from January to March 2017, while the second season aired from January to April 2019.

Source: Anime News Network

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