Animated about anime

Anime and Manga Club gives students opportunity to celebrate and share love of Japanese media

By California State University, Bakersfield

October 23^rd, 2023

Editor's note: This is the first article in an ongoing series focusing on active student clubs and organizations on campus.

Mary Abigail Marcelo moved around frequently as a child, living in and around the Philippines before finally moving to the United States with her family in 2012.

That caused a lot of disruption, including having to attend six different elementary schools and struggling to make lasting connections with her fellow students. However, there was one thing that was a consistent pleasure for Marcelo that helped her weather that challenging period in her life.

“In the Philippines, they would show a lot of dubbed anime like Sailor Moon and Pokémon,” she said. “Moving through those schools and countries as a kid, I found myself always going back to anime, finding it to be a constant in the ever-changing environment I was in. It just became something I identified with and have carried on until now.”

The California State University, Bakersfield student decided to share that passion for anime by creating an Anime and Manga Club on campus in fall 2022 and serving as its president. The club holds biweekly meetings where it hosts games, trivia sessions and discussions. They also host activities on campus including movie nights, cosplay events and karaoke.

“We’re creating a community for anime and manga fans alike on campus to have a space where they can enjoy and share their hobbies with other people,” Marcelo said.

Marcelo said she was looking to get more involved on campus once in-person classes resumed after COVID-19, but noticed that student activity hadn’t really returned.

“The campus was very dead. People would just go to school and go home right away,” she said. “I was looking for a way to get involved and see some form of community on campus.”

That desire eventually led to the formation of the Anime and Manga Club. Marcelo asked a few of her friends to become officers for the club, one of whom was fellow Filipino Vinz Anonuevo. He took some convincing, however.

“At first, I was a little skeptical on whether it was something I could really do, but eventually I decided I was willing to give it a try,” he said. “I had hopes for a club where people could enjoy anime and manga together and where I could bring some of my skills and ideas to use.”

Like Marcelo, Anonuevo has been watching anime since he was a child, which fueled his active imagination.

“It’s been the one thing I can always go back to. It’s something that’s been a major part of my life,” he said.

Kariya Chiang’s relationship with anime has been more complicated. The Bakersfield native grew up struggling with her identity of being half-Asian and, by extension, her love of anime.

“Growing up, I kind of really resented being Asian because I was bullied for that,” she said. “In middle school, I would tease people for watching anime, because I was still in that period of my life when I didn’t appreciate my culture and myself. I could never identify with that because I was always treated as thought I should be ashamed of it.”

That began to change once Chiang entered high school. She started seeking out more Asian media and came to appreciate it. She also saw that more and more people were expressing an interest in, and appreciation for, anime and manga.

“Now I’m able to identify more with the wonderful things that can come out of Asian media, the way it can bring communities like this together,” she said.

A welcoming space

While the Anime and Manga Club started out small, it has grown to have over 120 active members. About half of them attend the in-person meetings while the rest stay connected to the club through Discord. The officers also believe it’s important that the club is open to any anime or manga enthusiast, whether they are new or longtime fans.

“We’ve been trying to figure out ways to make sure everyone has a way to participate,” Chiang said. “We don’t want to be something exclusive — we want people who are just starting to get into it to feel welcome into this space and feel comfortable.”

Chiang said it’s rewarding to see someone who joins the club without knowing anyone begin to open up and make friends with their fellow club members.

“I think it’s important that all these people feel they have a space where they can be open about their interests and not feel like they’re being judged about it,” she said. “We want them to be happy to express how passionate they are.”

Anonuevo has also enjoyed seeing the members interacting with each other and having a good time and that it’s “big indicator to us that we’re doing our job well, that we’re fostering a community amongst our members.”

The club officers have not only gotten to see the organization grow but they themselves have also grown through their involvement in the club, Marcelo said.

“It’s taught me a lot of skills I otherwise wouldn’t have learned in a classroom setting,” she said. “It’s taught me a lot about how an organization functions and how to manage people and events. I have developed a lot of management skills I otherwise wouldn’t have had.”

Marcelo believes student clubs are important not only in helping to keep the campus feeling alive but in giving students a reason to stay at the university and ultimately graduate.

“If students go to school and don’t feel represented in the space that they’re in, they’re going to feel less likely to want to attend school and won’t be as motivated to go to class,” she said. “Whereas if they have a community they identify with, they will more likely to do well in school and be present.”

The Anime and Manga Club meets biweekly from 5:30-7 p.m. in Education Building Room 252, with the next meeting scheduled for Nov. 3. Click here for more information about the club or visit their Instagram page.