Token Asian’s Anime Blog

Before I go into my thoughts on this episode tonight, I’d like to say my thanks for all that have served in the defense of our nation. You are the true heroes. Without you, there would be no America. The fate of the free world rested on your shoulders. You and your brethren fell in battle so that a simple Chinese-American and many like him could enjoy peace and prosperity. And today your descendants continue to fight for what is right. There would be no Token Asian blogging about anime if it was not for your sacrifice. Not all people have forgotten the true meaning of Memorial Day.

On a dark night, there are cattle grazing in a pasture. Then a mysterious creature attacks our bovine friends. The next day, we see our three heroes traveling on the road. They discuss how they plan to go to the port town of Herlie in order to reach the continent of Lacour. Celine says that there’s a university there that might have the ability to do a translation of the texts. Some peasants up ahead ask Claude is he’s a swordsman. They drag our three heroes into a cave, saying a swordsman had gone in to defeat an evil monster that had been eating their cows but he hasn’t come out yet. Their intention is to have our heroes aid their warrior. Claude says they can’t ignore people in trouble, to which Celine responds by saying to herself that he’s such a nice person… one wonders what’s on her mind. Rena and Celine theorize that this monster must be large if it can eat cows. They see a two-headed dragon engaged in combat with a swordsman, who introduces himself as Ashton Anchors, who rejects their help.

Unfortunately, he trips and falls… there is suddenly a bright light and the dragons are gone. Ashton believes they ran off in fear, but sees everyone staring at his back. To his surprise, the monstrous two-headed dragon is now stuck on his back (shrunken to a smaller size, of course). He claims it was their fault since they distracted him from the fight. To Rena’s surprise, the dragons seems to be completely merged to his back and her magic is of no use, and neither is Celine’s. Ashton laments his luck as it always seems to be bad and how he has no friends. Rena says he now has two dragons as friends, but Ashton rejects that idea and says that the three heroes must take responsibility for it.

Celine then remembers that there could be a solution in a book she once read, for it said that the “Tears of the Mountain King” could remove a curse of dragons. She also theorizes that it might be located at the Mountain Palace on this continent. Ashton says they must go to this place. Meanwhile, Rena is cuddling the dragons and feeding them cake. She names one of them “Gyoro” because it has wide open and defiant eyes and the other “Ururun” because of its teary eyes (don’t ask me why, I never studied Japanese formally since it is generally forbidden among Chinese-Americans). Rena thinks these dragons are cute though Ashton says they’re evil creatures that attack cows, even though Rena “translates” that they are innocent.

When they stop for a break on their journey (cookies included), the two dragons pull Ashton off to a cliff. The dragons then proceed to do battle with a giant bug. Unfortunately, the cliff then breaks under their weight. Ashton is then all alone and thinks that everyone has left him. He moans about being trapped with evil creatures and the two dragons telepathically respond by saying they’re not evil, though Ashton doesn’t realize it. Meanwhile, the other three party members are tracking them down. Rena runs ahead and sees a tree with giant bugs and cattle carcasses. So apparently, it was these giant bugs (really lame giant bees) that ate the cows, not the dragons. Claude leaps into combat while Celine cowers… but they are hopelessly outnumbered. Elsewhere, the dragons hear the fight and demand to get a piece of the action. Ashton declines, so they bite him on the posterior and force him to help. The dragons flame the bugs and Ashton also uses his swords to fight with some amazing moves. Claude also helps finish off the final “boss” bug. In the aftermath, they also notice an evil stone among the bugs, like the one Alen had. Oddly, Ashton has no recollection of what happened. In any case, they have solved the problems of the peasants and their cattle. They then bid farewell to Ashton. He takes out a leftover cookie and thinks about his new friends. However, he realizes that it is wrong for them to leave him alone, so he tags along with our other heroes. In the reverse of “Survivor,” we’ve added a new party member in this episode. Hey, it is Ashton we’re talking about…

On a side note, any yaoi fantasy with Ashton makes absolutely no sense. There’s no such thing as intimacy with two dragons butting in all the time. It does seem to be all “ClaudexDias” these days anyway.

Wow, no updates for a long time… I apologize for the lack of time that I’ve spent on my blog this week. It’s just that I’ve had so much to do. As follows…

1. Pack for a short trip. I’m going to a convention of sorts in East Stroudsburg this weekend. If you’re not Chinese… uh, I guess you wouldn’t want to go. I’m not even sure I have the language skills for this.
2. Starcraft. Too much Starcraft. We finally got a fourth person for our LAN games and I suppose that we’re just trying to get as much time in for multiplayer. We’re obsessed with trying to win the custom mission “Marine Defense” with only three people. So far… no luck.
3. Netflix. I finally got around to using that gift subscription that I received last year. My cousin told me to finish “Nadia,” that anime series based on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. It’s… long, to say the least. I also had the opportunity to see the “Oh My Goddess” OAV and movie. Quite good stuff. The concept of a Norse goddess involved in motor sports invokes much laughter.
4. Graphic novel reviews. Someone wanted me to do some review work on some book for church. Why? For kids? I wish they’d tell me more about it before they gave me the task.
5. Ace Combat 5 came in the mail. Nuff’ said. *shoots down another Su-35*
6. Work… The library has been rather busy as of late, so getting free time is a bit rough. At least working at the library is relatively rewarding. After all, so many people depend on you for their research.

More Star Ocean EX, rantings, updates, etc. on Monday. I promise.

Okay, I’m back to at least two episode review/synopsis/rantings per week now. I promise!

Our intrepid adventurers find themselves at the town of Mars, Celine’s home, a town full of Crest magicians. Celine tells the group that their village elder may be able to translate the book. For apparently little reason, a small bug latches onto Celine and she runs off into the forest… oooookay. The bug thing wasn’t in the game, from what I remember. Rena and Claude then hear bandits atacking someone. Rena and Claude clobber them but one bandit bandit makes off with carriage of children. Thankfully, a blue-haired swordsman comes and saves the children with a single blow of his sword. Claude tells him to get away from the children. Rena comes and ends their conflict, for she knows the man since Dias was her childhood friend.

In Mars, the elder says they owe them a debt of gratitude. The reason the bandits wanted the children was to get the “Book of Secret Seals.” Celine comes in and says that their intent was most likely ransom. She notices Dias and is introduced to the handsome warrior, who is apparently a famous swordsman. And yeah, he’s actually good-looking in the anime, for in the game he looked like a furry plushie… The elder asks Claude and Dias to stay and protect the village because there is a powerful Crest wizard among the bandits (and swords help… because…?). Dias says he’s more than enough and that Claude will only slow him down. Rena runs after Dias and tells him that she’s after the Sorcery Globe and that Claude is the alien warrior sent to help them, so Dias should join their party.

In his room, Celine tells Claude that the elder can’t translate the book but that they figured out that it’s an ancient prophecy (how they did that without a translation escapes me). She notes that Claude must be worried about the two childhood friends being close, though he says he’s not, but he clearly is worried about his relationship with Rena. There is a scene with the bandits, where the evil monster leader (complete with glowing red eyes) introduces Azamukiru, their elite warrior to counter Dias.

Claude goes to talk with Dias and apologizes for misunderstanding who he was, but Dias says he’s stupid to talk about something that trivial and tells Claude to draw his sword. Claude demands the reason for fighting and Dias responds by attacking him, saying that Claude could not hope to protect with village with that kind of skill. Dias continues on by saying that Claude can’t be the Legendary Warrior because of his poor skills and he must have lied to Rena (heck, it was her idea in the first place…). Upon being insulted, Claude goes into overdrive and forces Dias to use both hands. Rena comes along and sees Claude knocked to the ground.

Claude demands that Dias take back the comment that he lied to Rena. He rushes Dias but Dias unleashes a Killer Move (a special attack) called the “Kuuhazan” (I assume it’s the “Air Slash”). Dias says Claude is not capable of protecting Rena and leaves. Later, when Claude is recovering from his wounds, he tells Rena that she should go home because he doesn’t have the strength to protect her. Rena runs off (again) and Celine tells him to not give up regarding those that he cares for.

An alarm is raised in the village and we see Dias fighting off the bandits. Amazukiru comes and is ready for combat. The elder says that they must give up the book. Celine says that’s not the real elder and Rena brings out the real one, who she healed from some grievous wounds. The fake elder transforms into a monster. Elsewhere, Dias kills Ama-what’s-his-face (quite fast, considering all the effort spent to introduce this villain). Back with our heroes, Celine attacks the monster but is afflicted with Silence (prevents victim from using magic), but Claude comes and saves them.

He is struck by a firebolt. Seeing that the monster can’t be defeated by blades alone, he uses his own “Kuuhazan” and slays the monster, although they never do explain how he learned it (by watching Dias do it once?). Claude, being overconfident, turns his back on the stunned monster… only to have Dias come and use his stronger Kuuhazan to slay the monster. Dias tells Claude that he protected the village and that Claude’s duty is to protect Rena. With his confidence restored, Claude leaves the village with Rena, only to have Celine tag along. Celine states her reason for coming with them… because she hasn’t translated the book yet. What a lame reason… oh well, at least Ashton shows up in the next episode.

Yeah… I’ve fallen behind on blogging… Heh, I had some stuff I needed to take care of in the past few days. Those things included beating Ace Combat 5, going to Six Flags with friends (and losing a cell phone in the process), rushing to get new stuff from Netflix, and sleep a lot.

Alright, so our intrepid heroes have gone to the city of Cross. Rena and Claude then go to meet the king of Cross. While there, Claude says that he wants to investigate the Sorcery Globe. The king warns Claude that none of the messengers from the front lines have returned and that it is very dangerous. However, Claude still inststs on going, so the king gives him a passport so he can travel to the continent of El, where the Sorcery Globe landed.

When our two protagonists leave the castle, they see a woman arguing with some men. Apparently, she was to have hired them as bodyguards but she decided they were incompetent. Rena jumps in and defends her fellow female but Claude is forced to protect her from the thugs. Celine, seeing Claude’s “manliness,” decides she wants him as her bodyguard instead. Anyway, the battle with the thugs ends when Celine calls upon her Heraldic magic to use a bolt of fire to incapacitate the wannabe bodyguards.

Later, outside the city, Rena’s pissed that there’s another girl competing for Claude’s affections. She asks Celine why a person with powerful magic needs a bodyguard and it’s clear that Celine has… ulterior motives. *cough* And Claude is at the center of those ulterior motives. While Rena drags Claude away from Celine, she lets out that their mission was to investigate the Sorcery Globe. Celine says that the cave that she’s trying to explore might have something inside (although it’s obvious to the audience that she just made that up).

And so they enter Cross Cave to uncover its secrets. There’s a bit of comedy as a bat attacks Rena, eliciting some laughter from Token Asian. It’s more silly than scary. Celine also seemed to agree with me! And of course, Celine gets what she deserves for laughing at Rena. A bug attacks her, causing her to leap onto Claude. And to her chagrin, it is Rena that “saves” her from the bug. More comedy follows when an even bigger bug (like… house-sized bug) attacks them. After fleeing the giant bug, they find themselves rather famished, so Rena breaks out the cookies. Celine, being the pain in the neck as always, eats the majority of the snacks, leaving Claude to break apart the last one to share with Rena. Looking at the “couple,” Celine remarks that she’s envious that they have time to date. Soon after saying that, she falls down a hole and lands in an ancient shrine.

They discover a treasure chest but are attacked by stone gargoyle monsters, apparently animated through Heraldry. Swords and fire magic have no effect, so Celine asks Claude to give her time to do an incantation. While Claude distracts the gargoyles, she unleashes the Ray spell, annihilating their enemies. Inside the chest, they find a book, but they can’t read it. In any case, our team of heroes is now a trio…

Ah yes, Ramune soda. I had quite a few of those when I was younger. Someone told me that they had suddenly acquired a small but substantial following in the American anime community. I think these people were introduced to it through the characters of an anime… although I do not know where. I have yet to see a bottle of Ramune in an anime series. Merri has a theory that is it because these drinks are sold at anime conventions and people go nuts because they’re “Asian.” Oh yes, Asia is a happy continent full of countries like Japan where nothing bad happens… (sarcasm)

Heh, the infamous marble stopper. One has to “pop” it down (soda “pop,” eh?) into the bottle to open the beverage. The marble is then trapped inside the bottle and rattles around. My mother, who is from Taiwan (the Republic of China, not the Communist one), remembers the days when most of the soda bottles in her hometown were all of the marble stopper variety. Apparently, trying to get the marble out of the bottle has been a pastime of kids for generations. She never got the marble out. Breaking the bottle wasn’t an option because you had to save all those resources since Communists were threatening to invade your country just about every single day.

From what I know, an Englishman with a penchant for bottled beverages invented the marble stopper to replace the venerable cork, which was eventually adapted for use in the Japanese market. Of course, when it was that carbonated drinks first came to Japan is lost in history… bah. That disturbs me (I’m a history major). What “Ramune” actually means in Japanese… uh, I have no clue. Anyway, it eventually made it over to surrounding Asian countries too. Most Chinese-Americans remember the bottle design (it’s not hard to forget something unique like that) but can’t remember what was inside. Probably generic Chinese soda.

With classes at college over, I bought a bottle the other day. It’s really not as sweet as some people think. The lemon flavor is lighter than American sodas and is not very sweet at all. It think the lemon is the original flavor, though I know of at least a few other flavors. Orange is okay, while lychee might be an acquired taste. Asians don’t have the same “tongue” for sweets like Americans. I was going to smash the bottle open to get the marble out for mom to show her what it was like, but of course, someone accidentally recycled it… (yay for the environment, much sadness for Token Asian)

EDIT: I did a quick Google search, and apparently someone has a technique for getting the marble out:
The Ramune Conundrum

This being Ichigo 100%, our story opens up with a pervy dream sequence. Of course, none of this is really happening. This is just Manaka Junpei being a typical red-blooded male. Apparently, he’s really out in the middle of the woods, filming a movie with his film club friends. I think a brief introduction is needed for the primary players here. Aside from the weirdo film club guys (and one girl), there are four primary females here. We have Nishino, the blond gal, Satsuki, the loud-mouthed seductress, and Yui, Manaka’s childhood friend.

Anyway, Manaka is assigned to pick up Toujou, the fourth girl, from the bus stop. He goes to pick her up but the buses aren’t scheduled to come for hours and they can’t be late or the filming schedule would be shot to pieces. And being one of “those” anime, the two of them get lost in the woods and are caught in a rainstorm. By now, they’re soaked and they have to dry off, so they find an abandoned house and seek shelter. Toujou grabs hold of Manaka because she’s afraid of thunder. And I’m not sure why she does this, but she jokes that in the movies the actors would use body heat to warm each other in this sort of situation. She sneezes and Manaka tells her to dry off.

Being a guy, his mind is in the gutter and he tries thinking about math instead (of course, this fails miserably). Amid all this awkwardness, he runs out into the rain to “cool off.” When he comes back inside, she dries him off with her towel. Meanwhile, the rest of the group decides to go and look for them. They’d better hurry, because Manaka can’t restrain his instincts for much longer. Okay, the story finally gets serious. Toujou then confesses to Manaka that he makes her feel comfortable and that he stopped her life from being boring. She says that she enjoys so many new things because of him. Later, Toujou falls asleep and Manaka maintains his gentlemanly attitude. Unfortunately, Nishino enters the room and sees the two of them in their… odd position. He thinks that she is taking it the wrong way.

Thankfully, the girls clear it up to a degree amongst themselves in a fan-servicey hot springs scene. Later, one of the guys (for the life of me, I can never remember his name and I’m past 100 chapters in the manga) tells the group about a lovers’ lake that drags into the water any couple that isn’t a close lover. So they form pairs to “test their courage.” Man, how immature and superstitious. I’d rather have Nurikabe-Chiyo-chan. Anyway, Manaka ends up with Nishino and they go off into the woods together.

She wants to hold hands so the “grudge” won’t drag them away. He feels awkward about it and she suddenly turns cold and says she doesn’t believe in such things anyway. There are some bizarre animal sounds and the fright drives Nishino into his arms. They eventually make it to the lake, where they notice a beautiful scene with fireflies. Nishino theorizes that the legend may have been made up to keep outsiders away from this beautiful place so that only lovers could enjoy it. She makes a wish… who knows why.

Suddenly, the film club bursts out of the trees, saying that they tricked the two into doing this so they could film their true expressions for the movie. After this rather uneventful climax, we see the club finish filming their movie. Manaka then asks Nishino what she wished for. She replies that she had wished for the movie to go well. But when he’s out of earshot, she says to herself that it was a matchmaking lake. Hehe. Manaka, you moron.

If you’ve followed the manga, you’d know that the entire story between him and Nishino is Manaka totally not following every chance that she gives him to begin a deeper relationship with her. The manga better than the OAV in many ways, most significantly is the ability to just skip pages and pass over all the fan service so you can get to the meat of the story.

Looks like another year of running the anime club at Lehigh University is over. I can’t say that it was a very difficult job. Aside from paperwork and whatnot, working with fun people and spreading the joy that is anime ends up becoming a very rewarding job. I sit here in a cafe at Lehigh while I type this, and the air conditioning coupled with a strawberry smoothie is putting me in a very good mood. Perhaps I am emphasizing the positive but is that not a good way to make memories?

What thoughts do I have as I go off for the summer? Maybe to answer a few questions about me, the blog, and the Anime Eki club. These questions were asked via email over the past few months (edited for grammar and clarity).

Q: Token Asian, what does “Eki” mean?

A: “Eki” means “station” as in a train station… “anime station.” Yeah, I wouldn’t have called the club a “station.” I did not make the name. Whoever came up with the name is lost in history. I’m a history major, so that disturbs me.

Q: Can I join? How much does it cost?

A: Uh, do you go to Lehigh? That’s the only requirement. Phhhbt, and why would I charge you money to join? Joining a group of anime fans should not involve money. Though we do take donations since the university gives us so little funding…

Q: Are you a guy?

A: Yes. Single Chinese-American male, 5′10”, looks vaguely like that one guy from Genshiken. One wonders how I was mistaken for a female. Do I write like a girl? Hmmmm… I wonder. I don’t write about shoujo or anything like that… not that I’m stereotyping or anything.

Q: Please help! I want to go to Lehigh!

A: Ah… um…. *has no clue how to help*

Q: You link to a lot of military blogs, are you in the military?

A: Nope, but I have high respect for our guys and gals in uniform. And I have a distaste for all politicians and politics. The real American heroes are those that put their lives on the line, not those hiding behind some desk.

Q: Do you like squirrels?

A: Yes…?

Q: Is your town really like the one in King of the Hill?

A: No, but this really is the middle of nowhere relative to most places. Anime fan clubs are unheard of outside college campuses and most people think anime is either Pokemon or hentai. While there are lots of Amish, Mennonites, and farmers here, it’s far from a “hick” town.

Q: Are you able to translate *insert URL* from Chinese/Japanese for me?

A: ….. I’m an American guy who doesn’t really keep up with his Mandarin Chinese. *sweatdrop* I’m very fluent in spoken Mandarin but my reading skills have gone to pieces since last year from lack of use. And I don’t know any Japanese, unfortunately. I really should take that course in Japanese…

Q: REQUEST FOR URGENT BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP. WE ARE TOP OFFICIAL OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CONTRACT REVIEW PANEL WHO ARE INTERESTED IN IMPORATION OF GOODS INTO OUR COUNTRY WITH FUNDS WHICH ARE PRESENTLY TRAPPED IN NIGERIA.

A: *delete*

Q: Can you link to my site/blog/homepage/etc.?

A: Email me, we’ll discuss it. I look carefully at sites before I link to or endorse them.

And so Alen has Rena tied to a chair in his dungeon. He tells her that this is their wedding ceremony, although the romantic mood is spoiled by the bizarre spirit-creatures floating about. She cries for Claude to come and save her.

Claude runs to Alen’s mansion to try to save Rena. He sees the locked door and despairs about getting inside. Luckily, Yuki comes along and tells him that there’s a back door through which he can enter. Heh, looks like Yuki gets more screen time in the anime than in the game.

They get inside and see Rena’s predicament, which causes Yuki to freak out (hey, it really does look like a bad hentai scene). Claude yells for Alen to let Rena go because a wedding isn’t possible if Rena doesn’t love him. Unfortunately, Alen summons the spirit creatures to block off Claude.

Alen takes Rena’s chin in his hand and stares at her. Rena looks back at him with pity. Suddenly, the stone causes Alen to go nuts and he transforms into a monster. Taking advantage of the confusion, Claude runs in and cuts Rena free from her bonds.

He draws his phase pistol but Alen knocks it aside, wounding Claude in the process. Rena runs to his aid and uses her healing powers to deal with the injury. She then tells Claude to destroy the stone because it’s controlling Alen. Claude notices that his phase pistol is damaged and that it will be hard to destroy the stone now. He draws his sword and charges into the fray. Eventually, he manages to break the stone and causes Alen to revert. The stone vanishes and there is nothing left of it.

Later, Alen tells the group how he found the stone in the Salva Mines and that it had an irresistable attraction. Apparently, it controlled him and made him do all sorts of evil things. Claude uses his scanner to examine the object and notices that it has the same properties as the energy in the ruins on Milocinia. In any case, Alen’s sins are forgiven and he’s back to being a fangirl favorite.

Yuki theorizes that the stone might be connected with the Sorcery Globe due to its similar effects of turning harmless lifeforms into evil killing machines. Claude theorizes to himself that the teleportation device in the dome must also have a connection with the Sorcery Globe. He asks to know more about the Sorcery Globe and decides that he must go and discover more about it.

While alone, Regis asks Claude if Rena healed him. He tells Claude that the power to heal is Rena’s alone. Shockingly, he reveals that Rena is not the child of her mother. She was found in the forest with only a pendant around her neck to identify her. He tells Claude that he must protect Rena and that he should take Rena along on this quest.

During the night, Rena comes to see Claude, who is sitting on the bridge in the town. She asks to come with him on the quest but he says that he can’t take her with him. He gives her back her hairpin and the touching moment between them ends.

The next morning, Rena comes to see him off. Despite what happened last night, Claude changes his mind and decides to take her with him. Alen appears in his carriage and tells them that he’ll take them as far as Cross. And so their quest begins.

I started blogging this series mainly because I wanted to explore anime that hasn’t been reviewed/blogged to death already. Unfortunately, despite being a fan of the Star Ocean games, this series has been atrocious so far. The voice acting sucks, the music is unremarkable, and the animation is just plain awful. I am debating dropping this series.

Opinions? Drop me an email or Shoutbox it…

Laptop is a bit wonky today. No updates until I get things back up and runing. You can expect updates on Genshiken and Star Ocean EX by tomorrow, most likely. I hope. Keep your fingers crossed.

In other news, the recent traffic to my site (aside from the US) has mostly been from Japan and Sweden… is anime in Sweden suddenly becoming… a trend? DUN, DUN, DUN…

And a brief word on anime DVDs… do distributors really expect Americans to blindly pay $20.00 for a poorly-subbed DVD? For example, the US release of Neko no Onegaeshi (”The Cat Returns”). One shouldn’t try to advertise a script of the dub as “subtitles.” Blah. The evilness of Disney. On the other hand, Cary Elwes did a good job as the Baron. Frankly, the Chinese bootleg had far better subtitles (colors matched more pleasingly) and I am assured by a foreign language student that it was more accurate.

The moral of the story? Disney, shape up! You deserve to lose anime sales from fansubs! American anime fans aren’t stupid! Treat us well and we’ll reward you with good sales! Treat us like c***, and we’ll… well, you know.

And for all you veterans commemorating VE Day… I salute you all. You truly were the greatest generation.

(note: I was meaning to write this post a lot earlier. A month or so later, I realized that the primary focus of this article was the owner of one of the anime blogs that I read regularly. My buddy SharpICE gave me this “holy s***” look when he found out that Scott was also a resident of our fair town of Bethlehem. Apparently, Scott runs the club at Northampton Community College while I help maintain another anime club at Lehigh University. After this display of disbelief from SharpICE, I then proceeded to deal him some nasty headshots in Halo.

A month or two ago, “The Morning Call,” one of the local-oriented newspapers in our area put out an article about “The awesome attraction of anime.” It seems harder and harder to deny the attraction that many Americans find to this genre of entertainment.

But of course, I live in the Pennsylvania Dutch equivalent of Arlen, Texas. It seems that the anime presence on college campuses is a lot more profound than in other public forums, though still limited. On the other hand, the Waldenbooks at the super-lame mall in the neighboring town has some Ichigo 100% manga… the real stuff you can get in Chinatown, not translated! In any case, nobody was buying it… a complete lack of interest. What was I saying again? Oh yes, the newspaper… The part of the article regarding our club reads:

“Lehigh University’s anime club totals about 50 students, with an active core 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.”

Well, that’s not entirely true. The numbers are… optimistic. Lehigh tends to be a “study hard, then drink hard” type of school. The nerdy crowd tends to be rather… “cultish” as the Asian Studies department chairperson put it. Anyway, the article then recommends anime for new viewers:

“Lehigh University Anime Club President Joseph Pinto recommends ‘Fruits Basket,’ ‘Sailor Moon,’ ‘Fushigi Yuugi,’ and ‘Full Metal Panic.’ NCC Anime Club President Scott VonSchilling recommends ‘Fruits Basket’ for women and ‘Cowboy Bebop’ and ‘Full Metal Alchemist for men.”

I think those are good choices for people to get a start on their anime obsession. MWAHAHAHAHA! But Joe… Sailor Moon? Heh, good luck to our former president. He is now off to law school. Our new president (who oddly shares the same initials that I have, despite being… not Asian) will do his best to do justice to your legacy.

If you live in the area and attend a local university, you can find out more information about anime clubs in your area by visiting our respective websites:

Lehigh University Anime Eki

NCC Anime Club

Scott also placed the full article online at this link:

Complete Article

Just a thought… from what my friends in Europe have told me… anime in places like Sweden, Germany, Denmark, France, and the United Kingdom is pretty limited. I shouldn’t really complain about the lack of anime fandom here in my small hometown.

But my friends from Taiwan… they should not rub it in!