Welcome to the Anime-niacs
By Jayla Lawson
Amanda Clingerman wanted to create a club that was going to bring people who were into the same activity as her together. With one friend graduating Clingerman, wanted to find a new way of making friends.
Clingerman thought of the idea of an Anime Club back in 2013. She founded great pleasure in the Japanese franchise, and it wasn’t until Fall Semester of 2015 that she was able to set the first meeting of the Anime-niacs. With initially 32 members at the introduction meeting, Clingerman saw something that she hopes will be at Lander for a long time.
When envisioning the club, Clingerman wanted something that was going to make people feel welcome and safe. With excitement in her voice, she was proud that there were so many people from different backgrounds that wanted to be a part of something that she enjoyed. Even though the numbers dropped slightly from the initial number, Clingerman is still happy with the members she has today.
The club itself doesn’t partake in the worldwide known activities such as Comic-con, a convention where others dress up as their favorite character from the comic books. Amanda Clingerman, however goes to a certain type of convention on her own, every September for anime. She wishes for the group to be able to participate in the events one day but the finance isn’t up for their liking.
Anime-niacs isn’t financially supported by the university, though it’s a goal for Clingerman, and all the funding for the club comes from the students themselves. The use of funds come into play when they have activity hour (after watching anime for the first hour) during their bi-weekly meetings.
One thing that Clingerman stressed about the club was that when they watch the anime, she’s against anything with too much gore, blood, Yaoi, (also known know as boy love, which is anime with the background of romance between two boys which is heavy on the sexual relations. Different from Shounen-ai, which is a calmer version of boy love that also gives off the action aspect.) and/or Yuri (which is similar to yaoi, but is considered girl love.)
Clingerman wants all the members of Anime-niacs to be free to express themselves and get to know the other members of the group. The club is a judgment free zone, that’s high in spirits and wanting others to be themselves.
For those who want to join Anime-niacs, the meetings are held every two weeks on the second and fourth Thursday of the month, from 6-8pm. Located in LC Room 300.
