In the opening sequence of “Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid,” a hungover computer programmer sets off to her dreaded office job, only to encounter a five-story-tall dragon waiting outside her door. Before Miss Kobayashi can decide whether she’s in a dream, the dragon has transformed into a young woman in a maid’s costume.

Fans of the anime director Yasuhiro Takemoto say the television series was typical Takemoto: fantastical yet relatable; visually beautiful and narratively strange. Last year a major anime website awarded it best TV comedy and best TV ending. News in February that the show would have a second season was widely celebrated.

But before a release date emerged, Mr. Takemoto was killed, alongside more than 30 of his friends and colleagues, in one of the deadliest massacres in Japanese history. On July 18, an arsonist set fire to Kyoto Animation, the studio that helped turn Mr. Takemoto into a household name in the world of anime .

After weeks of confusion about whether Mr. Takemoto was among the victims, the Kyoto police confirmed his death on Friday.