By: Megan Cichon, Entertainment Editor
Posted April 15th, 2016
Anime is a style of Japanese film animation, typically aimed at adult audiences, although there are some anime shows aimed at younger audiences. This film style is often characterized by colorful images, strong characters, and action-packed stories. It’s popularity in the United States prompted the formation of an Anime Club here at Slinger High School. Slinger’s Anime Club started six years ago, and has remained a small, but happy place for anime fans to get together. Anime Club here at Slinger meets every Monday immediately after school in Mr. Schneider’s room (225) and goes until 3:30. These club meetings consist of interesting activities, such as anime themed Jeopardy and drawing contests. Participants are given the chance to learn several Japanese words and listen for them while watching different types of anime. When asked of what her thoughts on the club and anime as a whole are, Rachel Muhl replied, “Many people are unwilling to watch anime due to the fact they find it childish or they don't know what it is. This ignorance gives anime a bad reputation when in reality, it is very interesting and just cool. Not only does it give a glimpse into the Japanese culture, but contrary to popular belief, it goes over mature topics and really makes you think”. There are many things one can think about while watching anime: one can think about the plot, Japanese culture, or the camera effects, such as panning, zooming, and other such shots. While anime may appear quite simple or childish on the surface, it really is quite complex.
Recently, a handful of Anime Club members attended Anime Milwaukee, an annual event that just finished up it’s ninth year. The ECPS (Entertainment and Culture Promotional Society), which is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to educating the Milwaukee area about various cultures, puts on this event with the hopes of “bringing attention not only to Japanese pop culture, such as anime and manga, but also to the finer points of Japan’s traditional culture, including artwork, cuisine, language, music and more. The Slinger students in attendance at Anime Milwaukee this year included Natalie Kue, Alexis Warshall, Becky Ash, Calista Whitewolf, Andrew Hinz, Sam Murranus, and Sydney Wachtel. Sydney, a member of Slinger’s Anime Club, said of the event that “there’s so much to do at Anime Milwaukee, it’s easy to forget what you did there”. This is true; at Anime Milwaukee, there’s many activities that one can participate in. There are costume contests, educational panels, video/board game contests, anime viewing rooms, panels specifically for voice actors, a vendor's room (where merchandise is sold), an art gallery, and many other such activities. In addition to there being lots to do, there’s also lots to see. At an event such as Anime Milwaukee, event attendees can cosplay, and many of them do. Cosplaying is the practice of dressing up as a character from a book, movie, T.V. show, etc. While this may seem silly to an outsider, to someone who has gone through the process of designing their costume, it’s quite the difficult task. Replicating the look of a fictional character can be not only extremely difficult, but rather expensive as well. However, the zealous looks received from other event attendees can be quite exhilarating. If you’re interested in knowing more about Anime Milwaukee, click here: http://animemilwaukee.org/.
Photos courtesy of Natalie Kue and Andrew Hinz.
