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Man Sentenced to Year in Prison for Threatening Voice Actress Yui Ishikawa

The Tokyo District Court sentenced 25-year-old Fukuta Kishimoto to one year in prison for threatening to kill voice actress Yui Ishikawa (Mikasa in Attack on Titan, Kyururu in Kemono Friends 2). In its decision, the court noted that Kishimoto had already served time for a similar offense, but still made death threats again.

Kishimoto was arrested in December, and he admitted in court to posting on a message board that he would stab Ishikawa with a knife and kill her earlier in the year. The prosecution had requested a 18-month prison sentence, adding that Ishikawa trembles in fear at night. The defense had asked for a more lenient sentence.

Police previously arrested Kishimoto in June 2020 on suspicion of intimidation and forcible obstruction of business. According to the police's statement, the suspect had been threatening anime staff and cast members over the Internet.

According to the Sankei Shimbun newspaper and the public television network NHK, the suspect had been posting on message boards before his first arrest. He reportedly threatened to murder anime director TATSUKI (first Kemono Friends anime, Kemurikusa), as well as a Kemono Friends voice actress (later identified to be Ishikawa), her family, and staff members, by stabbing and setting them on fire. The threats referenced the July 2019 Kyoto Animation fire that killed 36 people and injured 33. According to Sankei Shimbun and NHK, once the voice actress reported the threat to the police, the anime staff had temporarily halted work. NHK identified the voice actress as Ishikawa, According to the investigation, the suspect admitted to the charges and said in a deposition that he had a personal grudge against the director, but did not intend to actually hurt him.

TATSUKI posted in May 2020 that he had filed a police report after receiving threats that began that April on himself and others. Ishikawa also filed a police report due to threats that began that April.

Ishikawa's anime roles include Attack on Titan's Mikasa Ackerman, Violet Evergarden's Violet Everegarden, Smile Down the Runway's Honoka Tsumura, and Kemono Friends 2's Kyururu. She has also performed theme songs for anime such as Attack on Titan: Junior High, Heroic Age, and Girlish Number.

Source: FNN (video report) via Hachima Kikō