The College’s anime club, which meets every Friday, considers their meetings more than just a place to share a love of Japanese animation because they are also all friends.
As the club members trickled into Stern 206, they greeted each other by name and caught up on the events of the past week.
“The club is not just about anime,” said club president senior Elizabeth Redpath. “It’s about friends. I like every person in the club, they are all so artistic in some way.”
Redpath said it is important to keep their meetings interesting, which she achieved when an elaborate Nerf gun ambush opened the club’s regular gathering.
“Never have I wanted to stay more in college than this year,” Redpath said. “The club is what keeps me going.”
Besides being able to come together every Friday to watch episodes of different anime series, many club members said they enjoy the different activities officers organize.
One of these activities was a nighttime hide and seek game based on an anime called “Kakurenbo.” Students donned masks, one style for the members and one for the officers. The officers hid in Cougar Mall and the Cistern and the members had to find them. The first three members to find all of the officers got prizes.
“The best part is honestly just doing a lot of crazy stuff with the members,” said senior and vice president Mike Ouyang.
Hide and seek is not the only thing the club does outside of watching anime.
“We have lots of events,” said sophomore Joey Maggioncalda. “We have a ball coming up and the theme is steampunk.”
Steampunk, a science fiction subgenre, unites technology and romance.
The ball, scheduled for March 27, is the main activity for the club this semester. They are raising funds for it as well as creating the decorations. The steampunk motif is keeping with the neo-Victorian theme the club has adopted for the semester. This theme also influences what they watch.
“Steampunk is taken from the neo-Victorian era in England,” said Redpath. “It’s where we use the essence of steam to recreate mundane objects.”
The club has collected scrap metal and Redpath said they will be reworking it into decorations for the event. The steampunk ball will be open to anyone with a College of Charleston student ID.
The club does not decide which anime to watch lightly. There is a separate review board that screens different series and makes recommendations to the officers.
Senior Katy Gorsuch says they avoid nudity and excessive foul language.
The club’s officers maintain a library of videos that members can borrow. They also have their own Web site and online forum.
Though the choices of what to watch are taken seriously, many club members said the main thing that keeps them coming back is the atmosphere.
“All the people here are really awesome and fun to be around,” said Maggioncalda.
They are also one of the biggest clubs on campus, Redpath said. Their Jan. 29 meeting drew more than 40 students. The meetings are every Friday from 7-9 p.m. in Stern 206, and are open to anyone.
“We’re really here to have fun,” said Ouyang, “and also enjoy a little bit of the Japanese culture.”