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The awesome attraction of anime
Fans of Japanese art form organizing clubs on Valley's campuses.
By Jennifer Sheehan
Special to The Morning Call
The lights come on in a small classroom at Northampton Community College, as Scott VonSchilling heads to the podium.
A group of about 10 students in front of him has just finished watching the final scene of ''Cowboy Bebop: Session #5 — Ballad of the Fallen Angels.''
The lead character, Spike Siegel, is under a hail of gunfire. He holds his own, blasting away, until he's hit. Spike is then thrown through the window of a building, falling — seemingly — to his death. Childlike voices softly sing as Spike's life flashes before him.
''That's powerful stuff,'' VonSchilling says. ''It still gives me goosebumps.''
VonSchilling is president of the Northampton Community College Anime Club. At NCC and campuses in the Lehigh Valley and across the country, students are gathering regularly to talk about their fascination with Japanese animation, or anime, pronounced ah-NI-may. The cadre of anime devotees is growing so much so that new students are asking about clubs before they get to campus.
Part of the attraction is these vivid, stylish films are not at all like the Nickelodeon and Disney fare college students grew up watching.
They are animation as an art form. Vivid colors and characters with exceptionally large doe-like eyes are two immediate characteristics. But more than that, anime is considered by its following to be art, blended with a comic-book personality and wrapped around engaging plotlines.
More and more, anime is finding fans through mainstream outlets. On the big screen in America, Quentin Tarantino's ''Kill Bill: Vol. 1'' featured a segment of anime. On TV, various anime series have become staples on cable's Cartoon Network and The Action Channel. Anime also has influenced the world of music. Linkin Park is one of a few bands that have used the anime style in videos.
For parents, the recent Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon crazes are two familiar examples.
Much of the content of anime is designed for adult audiences and is not suitable for children. It has a variety of genres — from science fiction to children's stories, romance and medieval fantasy to erotica.
Anime clubs
NCC's club meets twice a week to view films, with guidance from VonSchilling. The meeting is like a college film class: A series is viewed, then critiqued and discussed.
''You know what I noticed this time,'' says VonSchilling, a 20-year-old computer science major from Somerville, N.J. ''Spike's fighting style is like Bruce Lee.''
The club has members studying all kinds of majors, from computer science to engineering.
''We're all nerdish,'' VonSchilling laughs. ''We have similar interests.''
Lehigh University's anime club totals about 50 students, with an active core of about 10 students. Officers send out an e-mail of film choices, asking club members to respond with their picks.
The club, led by Joseph Pinto, also meets twice a week. On Mondays, the club views anime comedies and on Wednesdays they watch action or drama.
Cedar Crest College's club began more than two years ago when Annalisa Sutera, now club president, and a group of her friends decided to meet and enjoy anime together. The club has grown to 30 members.
Sutera's group also meets twice weekly. Members submit a list of what anime they have and the club officers choose what to watch from those selections.
VonSchilling says he became interested in anime in 1992 when the Sci-Fi Channel ran a marathon of the genre.
''I like the style,'' VonSchilling says, ''and the fact that a lot of it is left up for interpretation.''
Becky Sevem, an 18-year-old general studies major at NCC from Northampton, says the plots of the films draw her in. ''I like the emotion connection to the characters,'' she explains.
For Sutera, anime is a chance to appreciate Japanese culture and the artistry of the films. ''I am a big fan of the animation,'' she says.
Manga connection
Sutera also is a fan of manga, pronounced mahn-ga, or Japanese comics. Books of manga are organized differently than Americans are used to. In Japan, text is read from top to bottom, then right to left. Manga books are held with the binding on the right side and pages are turned to the right.
Chain bookstores such as Borders or Barnes & Noble now have growing sections devoted to manga.
VonSchilling says he has more than 230 manga. Sometimes club members bring their collections to a meeting for discussion. Sevem says she has amassed more than 200.
Sutera says her club encourages members to share and trade both manga and anime.
At a recent NCC Anime Club meeting, members got into a spirited discussion about whether the films should be dubbed or subtitled to preserve the original Japanese.
Oreste Jimenez, a 25-year-old engineering major at NCC from Northampton, says dubbing takes away the chance to learn another language. Most of the NCC Anime Club members knew some words of Japanese as a result of their interest in anime.
''I don't like American voice actors,'' says Sevem. ''The voices do not go with the characters.''
Jennifer Sheehan is a freelance writer.
