Nevada-tan. The murder occurred on June 1, 2004 at an elementary school in Sasebo, Nagasaki, and involved the slitting of Mitarai's throat and arms with a box cutter. It has come to be known as the "Sasebo Slashing". The unnamed killer has since become an Internet meme cartoon character.
The cartoon began to appear on the Internet shortly after images of the suspected murderer were published showing her wearing a pullover hooded sweatshirt with the word "NEVADA" emblazoned across the chest (the "-tan" suffix is a variation on "-chan", a children's honorific, while the sweatshirt is commonly worn by fans of the University of Nevada and its sports teams). Her real name has not been released to the press, as per Japanese legal procedures prohibiting the identification of juvenile offenders, and she is officially referred to as "Girl A" in Japanese legal documentation. Yet, her real name has been rumored since the murder day in Japanese internet community 2channel. The rumor was partly supported on analysis of a picture broadcast on Japanese television; the broadcaster, Fuji Television, may have inadvertently done this as well.
Panik is a German rock band consisting of six members from Neumünster that was established in Hamburg in 2007 under the name Nevada Tan. Almost all of today's members have made music since 2002 in another band called Panik. On 20 January 2008, Nevada Tan announced that they have officially changed their name from Nevada Tan to Panik because of differences with their management, resulting in their switch from Vertigo Records to Universal Records.
