For anyone who is unprepared, walking into room 606 on a Tuesday afternoon can lead to confusion. People are shouting across the room while girls chatter in Japanese in the background, while a whirlwind of markers are being thrown back and forth. However, to Otaku club members, this is just a typical Tuesday.
Each week, one or two Japanese animations, known as animes, are played on a projector while club members either watch or find something else to do. There are “gamers” surfing the web for Japanese drawings, artists doodling on sketch pads, students doing homework and writers re-blogging on Tumblr. The group was just formed last October by club preside
nt and senior Danielle Stoops, so there are a few common misconceptions about both the club (no, it isn’t the “taco” club) and anime itself.
“When people think of anime, they think of giant eyed people with crazy-looking hair that sticks up and defies gravity, who dance around with little cat-tails and high-pitched voices,” junior Kaitlin Looney said. “That’s not what anime is like at all.”
In fact, anime can range from any book or movie genre used in America: yes, there is comedy and romance, but also sci-fi, historical fiction and even horror.
“People don’t realize that they [graphic novels and animes] cover so much
about life and society,” Stoops said. “As I read and watched, I fell more and more in love with the whole culture of Japan. I find it all so fascinating. It just captured me.”
The Otaku Club culture extends outside of the walls of Room 606. Looney uses her sewing abilities to create cosplays, or costumes based on anime characters, sometimes within a few hours and using nothing but materials she finds lying around her house. Stoops is learning Japanese with Rosetta Stone, which she received for Christmas two years ago, in order to understand more of what she reads and watches. It also isn’t uncommon for an otaku to know how to draw or write.
Junior Chris Bishop, a veteran member of the club, is currently in the middle of two projects. His more prominent one is a video series he calls “Fall of the Turnabout.” It’s essentially a fan-fiction crossover between the “Ace Attorney” television show, a murder mystery series, and the Cartoon Network show “Adventure Time.” The series follows Jake from “Adventure Time” as he tries to find someone who can prove him innocent after he was accused of killing his own father.
“When you’re trying to write for characters that already exist, it’s actually more difficult than writing about your own character,” Bishop said. “You need to know that character from the bot
tom up, especially the more complex ones such as Marceline in ‘Adventure Time.’ When a character is unpredictable, they’re pretty hard
to write.”
Bishop plans on posting his completed series on YouT
ube. This project is similar to another video series, known as Turnabout Storm, which is a crossover between “Ace Attorney” and “My Little Pony.” Bishop’s side project is a fan-fiction visual novel, titled “Blank World,” that is based off of a Japanese television anime called the “Puella Magi Madoka Magica” series.
“I think that Blank World is probably the best character craft I’ve done so far,” Bishop said. “I’m trying to focus on themes such as life and death–not necessarily being scared of death, but not recklessly giving your life up. It’s kind of complicated what I’ve got going on.”
Bishop isn’t the only writer in the Otaku club. Junior Lauren Atkeisson is working on a “light novel,” or a book written in multiple perspectives with manga style drawings. And junior Janaye Geraci, a member of the club’s leadership team called the Sugoi (“awesome”) Council, is on chapter two of her manga. But whether it be drawing, writing or simply watching anime episodes, the Otaku Club is an open environment where anyone can feel comfortable.
“Sometimes there are people who are re
ally into some things but who worry that it’s weird or that no one would like them if they found out,” Stoops said. “I want the club to be casual and to be friendly, where everyone can geek out and love whatever they want to love.”
The club brings together completely
different people with a common interest, somethin
g the members take pride in.
“It’s really just a club for a bunch of nerds to get together and geek out,” Looney said. “There’s not many other clubs like that.”
