Anime Club showcases broad spectrum of anime

Halloween is descending once again here at VCU, which means it’s time for all you freaks and peaks to come out and put on your faces…and we’re not just talking about all you regulars from the corner of Grace and Robinson.

It’s that time of year to get all costumed up as your favorite escape from reality; be it your played-out pirate garb, infinitely boring ’60s greaser/waitress couple, or even your ultra-lame, homemade, out-of-focus Nightwing costume.

Whatever you decide to hide your shoddy mug behind, you need to make sure to strut your creative genius at the VCU Anime Club’s annual costume competition for a chance to win a $20 gift certificate from Suncoast!

This year’s event will take place on Oct. 30 in room 1165 of the Temple building at 7 p.m. This is the first competition of it’s kind for VCU’s fledgling Anime Club.

Since Nov. 8, 2003, the club has met every Saturday night viewing and discussing various anime titles.

“Since the day I started the club, I dreamt of having a full house,” said club founder Wilson Young.

“A main focus of the club is to help promote anime and provide a place for fans to meet,” said club treasurer Christine Rawls.

It doesn’t just promote anime in general though, it focuses more toward animes that are less mainstreamed and things you wouldn’t typically see on Cartoon Network. With all this talk of anime this and anime that, what exactly is “anime?”

Anime is, on the surface, Japanese cartoons, but as the anime club teaches, the core is more much complex than that. Most American cartoons are aimed at a younger audience, whereas in Japan, the art form is respected as an adult form of entertainment.

The mature themes and complex subject prevalent in some anime will shock some viewers, but it is a free art form where nothing is off-limits.

That isn’t to say that it is easy to make wide-sweeping generalizations about anime as there are so many different forms: sci-fi/fantasy, horror, drama, comedy, etc. it’s your morning variety pack. So disregard any of your preconceived notions about “Yu-Gi-Oh!,” “Sailor Moon,” “Pokemon” or “Dragon Ball Z” that you have seen on your local cable provider.

“If you want to see something different from standard American cartoons, there’s something here for everybody,” Rawls said.

The founder and officers of the club though have something more personal in mind for the club than merely educating curious students about the art form.

Kunitaro Ohi, the club’s Vice President, said “By the time we’re done (with VCU) there will be enough fan base to support the club and achieve respect in the VCU community.”

Join the Anime Club of VCU on Saturday, Oct. 30 at 7 p.m. for its costume competition in 1165 Temple.

Additional information about the VCU Anime Club can be found at www.vcuanime.com.