Animeikyou has gone through several incarnations over the years, and has even changed location once, but we have always been dedicated to the same thing: making a place for anime fans to gather and watch anime that is inaccessible to some. We try to always watch the newest fansubs. Back in the day, we were providing a service to those who could not afford to purchase the subs in VHS. These days, it’s for the people who can’t afford broadband in order to download the latest digisubs. It all boils down to the same thing: We have always been all about serving the fans!

Animeikyou got its start in 1999 when I, the current president, graduated from high school and moved to Modesto. At the time, anime still wasn’t very mainstream, and I had been criticized by a lot of people for watching cartoons. I figured, if I made a club, like-minded people would show up, and we could all have a great time watching anime together.

MJC was having a club fair, so I visited the student services office to find out if I could participate. I was informed that I was too late for the deadline to apply to participate, but that there would be another club fair in the fall.

I didn’t feel like waiting that long, so the night before the club fair I stayed up until 5 am printing anime pictures and making a poster that would hopefully attract new members. On the day of the club fair, I found a person who was willing to share her table with me, and I got over 50 sign-ups that day.

If anyone out there is thinking about starting a club, I hope this inspires you! Don’t let anyone or anything (especially University rules and regulations) discourage you; get out there and do it!!!

Our first meeting time was determined when I contacted everyone and we voted on the best day to meet. It was between Tuesdays and Fridays, so we began by meeting the 1st and 3rd Friday of every month, and the 2nd and 4th Tuesday. This system didn’t work too well, so we switched to every Tuesday. Our officers were all volunteers, and to this day, they still are.

The members have always had a say in everything in Animeikyou, from the anime we watch to the club name. The members dubbed the club Anime Anonymous, and so we remained until fall 2003, when we moved to Turlock and the CSUS campus. The name was then changed to Anime Etc to reflect that fact that we focus on more than anime. Our club grew to encompass not only anime, but manga, gaming (console, PC and tabletop), and Japanese culture appreciation.

Over the course of the six years we have been in operation, we have always had at least one film festival every semester. Our very first film festival was a celebration of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli films, as a big chunk of them had just been licensed by Disney. How ironic that almost six years later, as I am writing this, Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind was just released to DVD.

We have always tried to center our film festivals around a theme. Some of the other themes we have centered film festivals around include Isao Takahata, Rumiko Takahashi, Women of Anime (all female writers), Horror, Classic, Old School, Mecha, Anime-Goes-Live Action, Hyperactive, and Shoujo.

In the VHS days of MJC, we took lots of field trips to numerous locations, including the Japan Center in San Francisco, theatrical showings of anime (including the limited US theatrical release of X), Cherry Blossom Festivals, and neighboring clubs. Our largest field trip had around 17 members. More current field trips have included a viewing to Ghost in the Shell: Innocence and JTAF, a small con in San Francisco.

One of our best field trips was the one that forged the alliance we still have with our sister club in Stockton, the JCFA (Japanese Culture Fans Association). In spring of 2000, the JCFA put on a week-long anime and gaming event known as Golden Week, and I was contacted by the president (and current Programming Director of Anime Iowa) Evan of the JCFA with an invite. That first trip sparked many more, and though we never managed to put on a joint club event, five years later, JCFA members are still attending Animeikyou meetings.

In fall of 2001, when I left for Sophia University in Japan, presidency of Anime Anonymous was passed to Bonnie, who ran it with an iron fist for two years. At that time, JCFA and AA meetings were on different days, and weekly trips to Stockton were the norm.

On February 23rd, 2002, Anime Anonymous held its greatest film festival. We took all of our funds and rented the State Theater to show Cowboy Bebop “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.” This film had not yet been released in the US, and the version we showed was a raw copy of the Japanese DVD I had hand-carried with me back from Japan. Our best sponsor, Krier’s, donated some wonderful items for a raffle we held in the lobby, and we charged no admission for the event, showing the film five times in succession.

Fall 2003 brought with it the founding of the CSUS branch of Anime Etc. For a year we had two branches of AE functioning simultaneously in both Turlock and Modesto, until Bonnie was unable to continue as president of AE and no one stepped up to take the Gauntlet. It was sad to see the MJC branch shut down, but in 2004 I was approached by someone who wished to revive the club, and to my knowledge it is still functioning independently.

Some other services we have always provided to members include our membership cards and Anime Library.

The membership cards came about when the club was first founded, and I simply went from business to business asking if they were willing to offer our club a discount. Many businesses were happy to help out, and the discounts AA members enjoyed came from Suncoast, Sam Goody, Sanrio, and three comic stores in three different towns. Our affiliation with the JCFA won us a discount at Grapevine comics in Stockton, which, at the time, was a distributor for Sachi’s fansubs. One of the founders of the JCFA was also a translator for Sachi’s, and though the subbers and the comic store are no longer with us, Takahito is still a friend of Animeikyou and member of the JCFA who organizes club trips to his family’s Japanese restaurant, Shun’s.

We have had several membership card design contests, and as of spring 2005, five different designs.

Our VHS library began with the generosity of the fansubbing community, and continued to grow with the generosity of our members and sponsors. The library started out with a donation of 14 tapes from SuperSam’s Fansub distribution, which included almost all of Kodomo no Omocha. Our longest and still current sponsor, Krier’s Comics & Cards, donated many tapes and offered us excellent discounts. As time passed, our VHS library swelled to include over 300 tapes.

With the advent of DVDs, interest in the VHS library waned in 2003, until only one or two members were using it. The decision was made in fall of 2004 to sell what we had to try to make way for a more current DVD library, and so the first Animeikyou Swap Meet was born. Held on the last meeting of the semester, it was a great success, both for the VHS library and for the members.

Our DVD library has grown in much the same way as the VHS library did; through the generosity of club members and sponsors. Our sponsors now include several Industry-based Anime Clubs, including ADV’s Anime ADVocates and Bandai’s Anime Addict programs, so we see at least one new DVD each month.

Animeikyou has held many art contests over the years, including membership, mascot, and T-shirt design contests. Though we have not managed to have one every semester, we have had many successful T-shirt contests, and in total we have produced five different T-shirts for club members.

We have seen a lot of changes as the face of anime fandom has changed. AA experienced its peak membership at MJC in early 2000, when we had over 50 members, and could expect around 40 at each meeting. Field trips were extremely popular in those days, as some of our members had never even been to San Francisco, and the Anime Library was a wonderful resource that many members enjoyed. As digisubs became more popular and anime fandom more accessible, our membership has dropped off. Interest in the DVD library simply isn’t as great, and taking trips to Japanese cultural events don’t hold as much interest for club members anymore. Our film festivals often feature many episodes of several series rather than films, as most anime films these days have been licensed, and we have shown a great number of them already. With the budget cuts our university has been suffering, room fees have skyrocketed, taking with them our ability to hold marathons or live-action film festivals. New University regulations regarding gambling have prohibited our most popular and profitable fundraiser, the raffle.

However, as the face of fandom changes, we change with it. The first hour of our club meeting is now the gaming hour. We introduced the gaming hour in 2003, and members are allowed to bring any console they want and hook it up to the big screen. We also coordinate with the Student Union to organize a Gaming Tournament every semester. Past tournaments have featured Halo 2 and Halo, Soul Calibur, and Super Smash Bros. Melee, and prizes have included PS2s, Gamecubes, and PS1s. All of our past tournaments have featured DDR. While the first couple were wonderful, as we were allowed the use of an actual arcade machine in the University’s Game room, interest in DDR has slacked off, and the tournament in spring 2005 will be the first to not feature a DDR Tournament.

We still have Halloween parties with a cosplay contest. By far, our best Halloween party was held at Krier’s Cards and Comics in 2000, when they donated an incredible Final Fantasy figure as the grand prize, but we have had many parties since then, and lots of wonderful cosplay.

There are many other events I can remember that make up the history of Animeikyou: the birth of our first website; the many officers who have come and gone; the many club fairs and multicultural festivals we have participated in; charity fundraising events held at MJC; the award we won for Best New Club in 1999; participating in Club Olympics and Warrior Day; the creation of the club computer; late-night poster-painting sessions; the lecture I held when the club was first founded on the differences and similarities between Japanese and American comics; the article about us that ran in the Modesto Bee in early 2000. Our club has a rich history, and though we have only been functioning for six years, I hope we remain able to grow and change to suit the needs of the fans.

The most recent change we have seen is, once again, the club’s name. Many clubs have unique and interesting names, and we decided it was time to follow suit. “Eikyou” is a Japanese word meaning “effect” or “under the influence of.” Therefore, we invite you to join our ranks, those who are under the influence of anime. We are always looking for new members. All you have to do to join is attend. Membership is, and always will be, free!

Rachel
Animeikyou President

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