My Re-Introduction Into Anime By Starting a Club

Disclaimer:  I have not watched anime since I was in high school over 5 years ago, back when Death Note was new.

Even WAYYYYY back then, I had my favorites that I watched over and over.

Here is my anime repitoire:
1. Sailor Moon


2. Fruits Basket


3. Death Note


4. Tokyo Mew Mew


5. The beginnings of Bleach


6. Studio Ghibli  Yep, I got to see Spirited Away in theaters.  I feel quite old right now.


Yes, there were others that I would watch here and there, but never consistently.    Except Sailor Moon, seriously my favorite show.  I actually own the first two seasons on DVD.

So when my teens suggested that we start an anime club, I was terrified.  Deer in headlights scared.  I have been in Hot Topic enough to know that the popular anime lately tend to be very violent.  Thankfully, I heard them talking about Death Note several times during our weekly programs to know that I wasn't completely out of touch.  But they hate Sailor Moon...they only told me this like a thousand times...

This is how I look every time they say they hate something I love... Harry Potter, Star Wars, Sailor Moon...

I did the only thing I could think to do: search on every teen librarian site I could find to see what other people were doing.  Everyone said to let the teens lead the way.  Done!  I was hoping to do this anyway.  They also suggested asking for screening permissions from Crunchyroll and Funimation.  Done!

I was ready to go with a list of titles that I was allowed to screen (it was huge!) and an open mind.  I pre-screened several titles based on manga we have available to check out and what's currently popular.  Oh boy, I was not prepared.  Out of 6 shows that I tried pre-screening, only 2 passed my test.

Criteria for Anime to Show:
1. I would be fine watching this show with my director sitting next to me.
2. No more than 2 swear words an episode.
3. Nothing sexually explicit allowed.
4. Violence it kept to a minimum.

Since my target audience is 7-12th grade, I was a little lenient on some factors.  But overall, if my boss walked in at any moment during the show, I wouldn't have been worried.

On Friday, January 8, the first day of Anime Club was here.  We decided on watching 2 episodes of Ouran High School Host Club and then 2 episodes of Free! Iwatobi Swim Club.

Where there is water, the boys just take shirts off...

 I had about 8 teens attend.  Most of those who attended had seen these shows before, so it was mostly commentary.  I did end the meeting by asking them for a list of shows that they want to watch so I have plenty of time to see if it's something we can watch together.

I can't wait for more meetings for all the fun games, crafts, and snacks that I have planned!