The Northwestern Anime Club isn’t just about watching anime – they attend conferences and host club trips and even their own art shows.

I spoke with the club about niches in the Northwestern community, the mainstream perception of anime-watchers and the negative connotations of the word “weeb.” I got to hear controversial anime opinions and even compiled a few recommendations.

“Something that I’ve noticed is that there’s actually a lot of anime lovers on campus,” said Jasmine Meyer, a first-year dual degree student and the Anime Club’s secretary. “But I think the majority of them don’t know we exist.”

Meyer visited Northwestern’s virtual activities fair last year after being admitted but misunderstood the purpose of the event. She ended up actually joining clubs and showed up to meetings before even enrolling at Northwestern.

“Now that I’m here, it’s such a nice community,” Meyer said.

So how exactly does a club dedicated to watching television build community?

“If you love something, you don’t want it to stop, but you also know that participating in it will take over your entire life,” said McCormick third-year Antony Traino. “Anime Club is the perfect chance to make friends while enjoying what you love.”

David Marentic, a Weinberg fourth-year who juggles both the vice president and treasurer role in the club, noted that every club on campus fills a niche. But he observed a stigma against anime-watchers.

“I remember that it was a really popular trend to say, ‘If your profile picture is of an anime character, your opinion doesn’t count,’” he said.

But Traino and others in the club think that this reaction is becoming less popular. He cites recent shows that have made their way into the mainstream, such as Demon Slayer, Attack on Titan and Jujutsu Kaisen.

“We’re unique in that anime was something that was a part of nerdy culture that became cool,” Traino said.

Marentic called NU Anime “Northwestern’s place for weebs.”

According to Dictionary.com, “A weeb is a derisive term for a non-Japanese person who is so obsessed with Japanese culture that they wish they were actually Japanese.” Originating from the early 2000s on 4Chan, “weeb” was used to insult fans of Japanese culture. In recent years, the term has been reclaimed by some – like Marentic – to be a badge of honor. However, weeb culture has drawn criticism, with opponents saying that it fetishizes East Asian people and culture.

Communication third-year and club member Eric Rosin disagreed with this characterization.

“Full disclosure, I am white, so don’t take this as a shield or defense against these claims,” he said. “I understand there is a lot of worry about voyeurism, but the majority of the club is Asian. These are criticisms that I think, for our particular cluster of people, ring kind of hollow.” For Rosin, there is no cultural appropriation performed so long as an anime watcher doesn’t fetishize Japan and Japanese people.

Traino added that there is a chance of peoples’ worldview being warped when obsessively consuming anime.

“It does take a little bit of effort on your part to ground your eyes in the real world,” he said.

In fact, the NU Anime Executive Board prides itself on the club’s ability to think critically about the media they consume.

“We do it on a weekly basis, after we finish watching shows, we’ll chat for up to three hours about what we saw,” Traino said. “We’ll discuss the cultural implications of one thing, or the headspace that an author was in, commentaries on Japanese society in a certain period of time. It’s a method for serious discussion about real geopolitical events but also just human events.”

NU Anime goes beyond just watching anime.

“We put together an annual art scene of people’s creations, such as fan art and fan fiction,” Rosin said. “We try to go to ACEN in May and UChi-Con in January, which are both big Chicago area anime conventions.”

Marentic added that club members often take their own initiative. “A thing I see, which I think is really beautiful, is you’ll see club members who are independently organizing their own events to go out with, with friends that they’ve made in the Anime Club.”

However, this also reflects a lack of support from administration, according to Anime Club Tech Chair and McCormick third-year Kevin Zhu.

“With every social event we plan, we have to ask our members to pay for themselves,” Zhu said. “We get enough money every year to fund our Crunchyroll subscription, and that’s it.”

Marentic said that the resource deficiency prevents the executive board from making the club as accessible as its members would hope. However, that does not put a damper on their meetings.

“Anime Club is a place that is totally inclusive to all types of people who consider themselves to be anime fans,” Marentic said. “Whether you’re a hardcore fan or someone who only dabbles in a few [shows].”

“Even Dragonball Z-only watchers are fully accepted in the Northwestern Anime club,” he added. “It is for everyone.”

Thumbnail and graphics by Shane Chung.