Mylique Sutton
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“Today is game night, it's for people to have fun," said Herrera, "It 's the beginning of the year and I want everybody to be more interactive with clubs. We actually have some people here that are not members."
One of those people being freshman Jowel Ammons who was one of the many curious about the on goings in Butler and after receiving an offer he couldn't refuse; he just had to join in on the fun.
''I'm here because when I came from IST, I was bribed with a cookie," Ammons said smiling. "I kind of found this interesting. .. and wanted to see what it was about. Plus, it gives me something to do right now, get to know the community and get to know everybody else."
Member Travis Maraj, his opponent in the heated Dragon Ball Z battle, was one of the people Ammons got to know and according to Maraj, introducing and reintroducing people to anime such as Dragon Ball Z is what Club Anime is all about.
"The purpose is to basically show off what animes are around the world. The club would show you animes as TV shows, you get to play games like what you see here and then you also have manga, and we would act it out like a play."
Even for those who may have parted ways with anime as they've grown up, there's no denying that anime was a big part of many of their childhoods with the immense popularity of franchises like Dragon Ball Z and Pokemon that have remained relevant even to this day. And these days, animes, are notorious for featuring over the top action, screaming, and odd hair styles with clothes to match.
However, member William Opare believes it's those things that people love about anime and draw them to it.
"It's unique, it's different from what we have in America, it's expressive and colorful," said Opare. Club Anime is also active in learning as much about the Japanese culture that they can through animes, but if anyone is interested in being a part of the club Herrera doesn't require you to have extensive knowledge of either; or at least not as much as she has.
"Anime was a hobby of mine, I've watched 132 complete anime series and read a couple of manga, said Herrera,"and just like cartoons and movies, they have different genres: horror, comedy... I like them all."
Herrera's influence and leadership ability has been documented after she was able to revive a club that failed once before and make it 20 members strong and keep it strong with her willingness to listen to her members and get their opinions on things through the age-old method of the vote.
She even has friend Leslie Clausen interested in joining the club at some point.
"I 've actually seen animes because of her -- Dead Man Wonderland,-- I liked that one," said Clausen.
Dead Man Wonderland is just one of the many programs that will be introduced to through Club Anime, and if anyone is interested in the club, stop by a meeting in the South Hall game room Wednesday nights at 8:30 or send Gabiela an email with any questions at [email protected].
The next time you see Club Anime operating in Butler feel free to stop by and check things out.
It won't be too long before you join in on the fun, and if you give the club a chance you may discover a love for anime that you didn't know you had.