The Anime Club: A gateway into worlds of art

The lights dimmed in room M174 as the Anime Club started to watch a show on Friday Oct. 29. The screen lit up as vibrant scenes danced across the display. Simple lines created fast paced sword fights and panning shots of sun capped villages.

Anime is a style of Japanese film and animation. It stems from manga, which is an art style of Japanese books much like western culture’s comic books and graphic novels. Anime comes in many forms from Shonen, which is mainly about fighting and adventure, to Shoujo, which is more about drama, romance, and journeys. Popular kids shows like Pokémon are considered anime. But Maria McCormack, the anime club president, said that anime is not just geared towards kids. People of all ages watch and enjoy anime. 

McCormack said that each club meeting is unique. Members discuss what they want to watch and talk about during the meeting. McCormack said, “People come and just chill out and watch anime.” She said she likes the social aspects of the club the best. She likes being able to talk to people about anime that not everyone might know.

On Oct. 29, only five people showed up, including the club President. It was a small number of people, but everyone voiced their opinions. The atmosphere was talkative and free. There was a discussion on what horror anime to watch and which people liked best. People spoke up about Avatar the Last Airbender, groaning at how awful the live action movie was. The topics even strayed away from anime and manga as people talked about RTS (Real-Time Strategy) games and songs. Everyone listened to the songs “Soldier, Poet, King,” by The Oh Hellos and “Gas Gas Gas.” Everyone had a lot of passions that they shared and talked about during the meeting.

The Anime Club meets every Friday in room M174 from 2-4 p.m. to discuss and watch anime. Meetings have been going on for over ten years. They are now looking to have another meeting time, but have not figured out when yet. At their meeting on Oct. 29, they started the meeting by watching an anime called Demon Slayer. They finished episode four last meeting, so they watched episodes five and six this time. Demon Slayer had color changing blades, colorful fight scenes, and strange and unusual demons.

The Anime Club does not have any events planned, but McCormack said, “We are hoping to maybe do a Comic-Con.” She wasn’t sure if the club would be able to attend the event any time soon, but it is a hopeful option for the future and a way to have fun and get out in the anime community.

“Even if you just want to come check us out and you have no idea what [the club] is, you are more than welcome,” McCormack said. “It’s just a social space for people to come and bond over shows and things that they read. You don’t really have to know what it is to come.”