{"id":5044,"date":"2013-03-15T09:18:13","date_gmt":"2013-03-15T14:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/?p=5044"},"modified":"2013-03-19T14:51:48","modified_gmt":"2013-03-19T19:51:48","slug":"morningside-anime-division-looks-to-share-fandom-with-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/archives\/5044","title":{"rendered":"Morningside Anime Division looks to share fandom with campus"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Claire DeRoin–<\/b>Remember last year when a group of students made a chalk circle around the M complete with symbols and what seemed like hieroglyphics? That was a promotional stunt by a student group. The responsible party? The Morningside Anime Division.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>
Photo courtesy Megan McLaury<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cAll of the symbols were from different anime and video games, both new and old,\u201d Megan McLaury, group founder, said. \u201cI think the real treat for everyone was walking across campus and seeing people stop on the M to gawk at it or to take pictures. It was awesome hearing all the chatter.\u201d<\/p>\n

McLaury called the chalk masterpiece \u201ca ploy to get new members\u201d for the Morningside Anime Division.\u00a0 \u201cIt worked,\u201d McLaury said, \u201cbut honestly, we had such a fun time doing it that I don\u2019t think we really cared!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s sort of like a nerd club, in a way,\u201d McLaury said of the Anime Division on campus. McLaury founded the group which now boasts ten regular members. \u201cI wanted to start this group because I knew that I was not the only one on campus who liked anime and other such things,\u201d she explained. \u201cI also wanted to create a place where everybody was accepted and there was no judgment for being \u2018different.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

McLaury embraces the \u201cdifferent\u201d label. \u201cIt means that you have a chance to see so many more opportunities then other people would,\u201d she said. Because of anime, and her self-proclaimed nerdiness, she has \u201clearned so much about the Japanese culture in general along with a slew of things in the philosophical department.\u201d<\/p>\n

But what is<\/i> anime? Anime is Japanese animation that resembles a cartoon, but unlike American cartoons, the target audience ranges from children to adult businessmen.<\/p>\n

Cade Herrig, a senior anime club member, enjoys anime that consists of a \u201cheavy, complex plot with lots of character development; things that make you think.\u201d<\/p>\n

He doesn\u2019t buy in to the idea that some people have no consumed any anime, or that people are ignorant of it. \u201cAlmost everyone in our generation has watched some <\/i>sort of anime, even if it was just Dragon Ball Z, Pokemon, or whatever,\u201d Herrig said. \u201cLiterally every television or movie genre has anime in it,\u201d he added. \u201cYou have the full range of genres and maturity level from kids\u2019 shows (Hello Kitty<\/i>) to teenager-focused action shows (Naruto, Yu Yu Hakusho, Soul Eater<\/i>) to high school dramas\/comedies (Fruits Basket, Sailor Moon, Skip Beat<\/i>) all the way up to giant overarching complex psychological dramas (Neon Genesis Evangelion, Ghost in the Shell<\/i>),\u201d Herrig explained.<\/p>\n

Morningside graduate and club member Jessica Sievers agrees. \u201cPeople dismiss [anime] as kid shows or cartoons. . . and that makes them not want to watch it.\u201d She mentioned that she was known in the group as \u201cnotorious\u201d for being an avid fan of mahau shoujo, or \u201cmagical girl,\u201d series like Sailor Moon<\/i>.<\/p>\n

The group focuses mainly on anime, but discussions often wander to other fandoms. \u201cWe talk about everything from popular TV shows to video games and movies,\u201d McLaury said.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s Herrig\u2019s favorite part about the club. \u201cConversations\u2026 occur because of the anime, both the generic, fun conversations that occur out of people hanging out together and the philosophical and existential questions that arise from certain anime,\u201d Herrig said.<\/p>\n

A large number of Anime Division members are going to Bloomington, Minnesota in April for an anime convention called Anime Detour.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing to a con is always a treat,\u201d McLaury said, noting how excited the group is about the upcoming event. \u201cWe will have a chance to meet some of our favorite voice actors, attend panels about any fandom we could imagine, and participate in other activities.\u201d<\/p>\n

McLaury confirmed that the group does plan to partake in cosplay, short for costume play.<\/p>\n

Sound interesting?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are always <\/i>open to new members!\u201d McLaury added. \u201cDon\u2019t think that just because you don\u2019t know anything about anime, that we won\u2019t explain everything <\/i>to you with a whole lot of enthusiasm. Some club members have come to us knowing nothing about anime, but were just curious.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Anime club meets Sundays from 1-5 in room 111 of the Learning Center. Meetings consist of anime viewings and discussions. Anime club meets every Sunday from 1-5pm in the library, room 111. After a dinner break, the group meets at 6 in the Plex for a movie night. Movies range in genre from week to week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Claire DeRoin–Remember last year when a group of students made a chalk circle around the M complete with symbols and what seemed like hieroglyphics? That was a promotional stunt by a student group. The responsible party? The Morningside Anime Division. \u201cAll of the symbols were from different anime and video games, both new and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":5045,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4287],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5044"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5093,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5044\/revisions\/5093"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}