Anime Club was officially deactivated in June 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Like many clubs, declining enrollment and retention rates (as well as a trend in less student involvement) led to a decline in membership. The pandemic was the final nail in the coffin, and the soon graduating officers decided to deactive and donate all club funds to the Adair Humane Society.
Contrastly, JLEG (Japanese Language Exchange Group) has seen a resurgence of membership, and in anime club's absence, has been a place for fans of Japanese media to host events. If you're taking Japanese classes, you probably already have heard about this club from Uchida-sensee and Hara-sensee. I highly reccomend finding them at the next activities fair, or trying to contact them using the contacts listed on the involvement site:
If you are trying to reconnect with anime club members, there is ocassionally activity on the club Discord:
http://discord.gg/0tohTVfu8kXV2DxL
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People will remember Anime Club being a chill organization. Friday nights were always quiet on campus—at least in the academic buildings, and the large Magruder classroom we got to ourselves was no exception. The first hour before the shows started was always the right amount of chaos as the "sound check" of the equipment quickly turned into a flurry of requests for memes and songs. Somehow, the officers always got us on track enough to take care of club business then lead the vote on what shows we wanted to watch. Then we just… watched anime. Maybe some people would come and go based on which shows they wanted to watch, but I remember there were a lot of shows I'd never have given a chance otherwise. The last hour—"Oh No Hour" I think it was called—was always my favorite, though. Each week, someone would get the privledge of playing whatever they wanted (anime or otherwise). Even if I missed the rest of the meeting, I would always come for it.
If you are interested in reviving the club, I have all the clubs resources on Google Drive and would be more than happy to pass them on to you! Find me on the club discord or use the email listed in the "Contact Us" page.
Thank you for looking at this website. I originally logged on just to remove the contact form that only spam bots used, but I was filled with a lot of nostalgia and wanted to write this post. The nerd clubs at Truman were really important to me, and I hope their history isn't completely lost. If Uchida-sensee is still around, please thank him for being our advisor all those years. And please let the JLEG officers know I'm happy they came out of things so well!
~Webmaster Zen
