A group of students sit in a room lit only by a television screen, nibbling at their lunches and talking about the morning so far. Senior Devin Thompson scrolls through the DVD options with the Playstation 2 controller. After choosing the fifth episode of Pilot Candidate, the beginning credits and song come on. Soon, everyone is intently listening to the Japanese dialogue coming from the characters on the television screen.

This is a typical Japanese Animation Studies Club, or Anime Club, meeting where the club purpose is to try to learn about Japanese culture through anime, a style of Japanese cartooning. Anime targets a variety of audiences and the genres range from stories about big-eyed magical girls to giant robots to space-bound bounty hunters.

The club is currently watching the series Samurai Champloo, a series about two samurai with completely different personalities and the girl that brings them together on an unusual quest. Thompson, club president, described the series as a Japanese version of the movie Ghost Dog, the story of an African American mafia hit man who models himself after the samurai.

Some of the previous series that the club has watched include Ghost in the Shell 2, a futuristic movie with 3D effects and a philosophical slant, Excel Saga, a giant anime satire and parody on Japanese and American culture, and Chobits, a series about a guy who comes across a tossed aside female android.
Through series and films such as these, the club fulfills its purpose of gaining a greater appreciation of the Japanese culture as a whole.

“It is an art form,” Thompson said.

Every time a DVD is put on, it is important that none of the original intent of the Japanese media is lost in the process of viewing. To avoid this, the club goes through the ritual of watching everything in Japanese with English subtitles. Members of the club agree that doing other is sacrilege. According to Thompson, Japanese voice actors always seem to have a wider range of emotions and wider vocal range. Not to mention that during the voice over process, there are frequently deleted or altered parts.

"The [voice-over] script tends to be less accurate to make it sound more natural in English," club member Forest Horvath said

All other decisions, such as what to watch every week are based on member input.

Beyond the basic weekly anime sessions, leaders have recently focused on creating a community and garnering more interest in the club.

Recently, the leaders have been trying to focus on creating a community, and garnering more interest in the club.

“We had a good Club Day showing, although only about five and a half out of every twenty showed up,” Thompson said.

To do these things, the club is encouraging people to bring their own anime, since members have often walked out because of a choice in anime showings. Leaders reason that the more choices the club can offer, the more incentive people will have for coming in. In addition to this, there are plans to put up fliers next year and to continue placing announcements in In Focus.

Many of these plans will be carried out into next year, when all of the current leaders will have a graduated, and a new set of leaders will have come to take their place.

The Anime Club meets in room 405 on Wednesdays, changed from the previous meeting day of Thursdays. For more information, contact Devin Thompson at [email protected].