Otaku Gaijen
(obsessive foreign fan)
Every last Wednesday of the month is the time for teenagers to flood the library to take care of their latest obsession: anime. I started our club the fall of 2004, and it has officially forty one members, 15 or so who attend regularly. We named it a few months after it started, so we weren't stuck with The Burlington Public Library Anime Club (very cheesy), agreeing upon Otaku Gaijen.
Anime is short for Japanese animation, and is pretty much cartoons, though most are a continuing series, not standing on their own. Manga (Japanese comic books) can either inspire an anime series, or be drawn in honor of an anime. True manga fans prefer the ones that have been translated from the Japanese in the original format, which means you'd be reading the book 'backwards'.
Orignally, the format for club was pretty simple: we shared any new acquisitions of manga or anime (personal or what I had purchased for the library), showed off our drawings, made any announcements that were necessary and then watched and evaluated some anime. It's turned into a much less structured event, where we'll have announcements, some chit-chat time and then watch our feature of the month, which usually lasts about 30 minutes. Most of what we watch originates in Japan, and we watch it in Japanese with English subtitles (who says teens aren't reading?!).
After we watch and evaluate, I generally add the disc or tape to the collection. I just was able to get a shelf of anime in the teen area, as DEMCO finally came out with anime sticker labels! There also is a shelf of graphic novels and manga, so everything aimed at teens is in one area.
Some of my favorites that we've watched are Revolutionary Girl Utena, Spirited Away, Record of Lodoss War, and You're Under Arrest. There have only been a few total flops, and generally my teens don't like robot films, which is hard, as that's a large genre in anime. I also have only had a few that were borderline unacceptable to publically show (I preview everything first), but fortunately, my teens are pretty mature about that stuff. Uh, well, sort of. As much as they can be, I suppose. [grin]
Anime is short for Japanese animation, and is pretty much cartoons, though most are a continuing series, not standing on their own. Manga (Japanese comic books) can either inspire an anime series, or be drawn in honor of an anime. True manga fans prefer the ones that have been translated from the Japanese in the original format, which means you'd be reading the book 'backwards'.
Orignally, the format for club was pretty simple: we shared any new acquisitions of manga or anime (personal or what I had purchased for the library), showed off our drawings, made any announcements that were necessary and then watched and evaluated some anime. It's turned into a much less structured event, where we'll have announcements, some chit-chat time and then watch our feature of the month, which usually lasts about 30 minutes. Most of what we watch originates in Japan, and we watch it in Japanese with English subtitles (who says teens aren't reading?!).
After we watch and evaluate, I generally add the disc or tape to the collection. I just was able to get a shelf of anime in the teen area, as DEMCO finally came out with anime sticker labels! There also is a shelf of graphic novels and manga, so everything aimed at teens is in one area.
Some of my favorites that we've watched are Revolutionary Girl Utena, Spirited Away, Record of Lodoss War, and You're Under Arrest. There have only been a few total flops, and generally my teens don't like robot films, which is hard, as that's a large genre in anime. I also have only had a few that were borderline unacceptable to publically show (I preview everything first), but fortunately, my teens are pretty mature about that stuff. Uh, well, sort of. As much as they can be, I suppose. [grin]
artwork courtesy of me! we have a lot of how-to-draw anime books here...
Book recommendation: Olivia Forms a Band by Ian Falconer
Movie recommendation: The Devil Wears Prada
Recipe recommendation: Ricotta Blueberry Pancakes
5 comments:
So you liked The Devil Wears Prada? A couple people have said it is kinda of boring, but I don't usually have the same taste as they do anyway.
Will you make me Ricotta Blueberry Pancakes? They sound yummy!
I did like the movie--of course, now I want to read the book it was based on! I guess I'd be interested to know why they thought it was boring...
Sure, we can have those Saturday morning, Patti!
Are those the pancakes you gave me?
Regardless, those were really good. I ate them cold in the car the next morning and enjoyed them thoroughly.
Why, yes, they were ricotta pancakes! Glad to hear they're even tasty cold. :)
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