Now, do go on, don’t mind me. I’m just a weird person who’s smiling wickedly by itself while watching attempts of camaraderie.
It’s been a while since I last found myself reading Saturnity’s grand enlightenment again. Now, it’s safe to say I can gladly blame him for concocting another pastime for myself: Observing fanclubs. And judging by the streak it’s making, it’s as interesting as your usual dose of Internet dorama. I’m not going to force you guys to take this ride, but I do appreciate if you hear me out on how the ride’s going so far.
Even though I’m trying to refrain from rousing my inner troll, this is just something that leaves a bad aftertaste no matter how you cook it. I’ve had my experiences on clubbing, and never, NEVER, NEVER, was I satisfied or aggravated so much that it would make me stay for the hell of it. It comes in many forms: Foruming, Listing, Genre Appreciation, Real-Life Get-Togethers, or whatever you want to call all of them. They’re never the same no matter how you drown your denial with the most notable similarities you can think on any of them.
In order to understand, let’s backtrack a bit on my first years of otakudom, or in those cases, “otakudom”. It first came to me on the Anime Turnpike, specifically their forum. You’ll see dedicated parts for clubs that support a certain genre. Look inside, and you’ll see a lot of people talking in your generic “Your favorite *insert anime/manga/genre here* *insert interesting thing about said anime/manga/genre here*” topics. You don’t see very much in-depth interaction unless you’re with a decultard, an elitist, or a troll, and these type of guys are very rare in the olden times. Actually, talking to them is the only instance where things get interesting. So you can like, go say “Okay, it’s fine, I get it, so stop stating the obvious and talk about something that makes sense”, and the general fanbase would just be mighty mad at you for it since you “don’t see the beauty of merely appreciating it”. This then results to flaming (the word troll isn’t that popular back then), and if someone gets butthurt REALLY BAD about it, godmodding and permabanning.
That’s where we move on with the idea of running a website. During the Anipike age, most of the anime and manga sites were in the form of shrines, or websites that exist for the sole purpose of revering the things people like in their anime and manga. But since appreciation for media is limited to what is copyrighted or supplied back then, the sites’ scope of fandom were limited as well. Now that torrenting is widespread, and we’re in the eras of blogging, listing, scanlation and fansubbing, this view has changed. People have evolved their fandom into something far greater, and with it, they have spawned a deeper and wider view of how they see the fandom. Of course, this doesn’t change the fact that people can still get shallow or narrow-minded. Versatility is as elusive as the impossible, and we know that being a member of the Fourth Estate means being versatile to your readers’ opinions and points of view.
So let’s get off the Internet for a change. To be honest, I’m not a very outgoing person (even though that changed a bit recently, but let’s not get into that), so why ask me to join a club? If I had a policy for joining one, that would have be observing how it goes. Yeah, I know, same deal as the above mentioned. I play safe, and I can even count as evil for doing it, but take a look: Gaming fanclubs require attendance, and a bad case of insomnia. Anime fanclubs require you to watch stuff, and try to find something appealing to it, even if you can’t find one, which leaves you to agree to what any of them said, or avoid to watch the stuff while making an excuse as to why. Figure clubs require you a lot of money and rabid rage in order to showcase a formidable collection, which practically doesn’t sit well with me (unless you’re talking about Gunpla, then that’s a different story). Manga fanclubs are rare and sometimes limited to manga-only titles, some of which are hard to obtain or are not that famous (though majority of the non-famous titles are good). While observing, you’ll see people trying to moonspeak, play games like there’s no tomorrow, dance like electrified yuri teleporters, sing anime and JPOP songs out of sync or tone, watch hentai thinking it’ll make them cool and more adult-like, ogle and unintentionally break their figures and nendoroids, or talk about very deep stuff. This, while convincing me to join the club? No way.
By now, you may be thinking that I’m just some Jack of All Trades, hopping from one hobby to another, not being able to find what I’m looking for, or not having the balls to see things through. Yeah, I may be something like that, but people should also consider that being what I am right now also means being versatile in a way. What’s the best solution, then?
Ask me, and I’ll tell you my solution: Don’t join a club, or if you want to walk the tightrope between solitude and camaraderie, join a group of people who have the same drive or general interest as you have who aren’t in any clubs, or refuse to join any. There’s a big difference between people who get together to form a club, and people get together but refuse to form a club. And I ask you this: Which of the two has more versatility, more potential, and more exposure and eventual appreciation for the culture?
My friends and I first banded together because we shared common interest in anime, but we soon found out that we can function as friends without that. I guess one of the guys saw our gatherings as an opportunity to start a real anime club. He also runs an anime portal, so my guess is that he likes things to function as enterprises, but we didn’t see eye to eye on this issue, so he eventually left our circle. Funny how one appreciates the enterprise more than an honest chance of genuine friendship, but whatever.
Maybe he just doesn’t want to settle with how things go in a no-holds-barred type of grouping. I even think he’s narrow-minded to abandon the opportunity of having good friends for the sake of his personal conquest. Maybe he thinks he can break ground with that enterprise of his, even though he just dumped the probability that other enterprises or endeavors can outrun, outstage, or ultimately beat him on what he has in mind.
And after the conquest, what then? He’s going to come back and tell you guys how he won/failed it? I don’t think that’s going to go well with you guys, but that’s just me.
Yeah, we simply won’t care.
I was listening to that AWO episode with the Old Farts of Anime, guys who still visit one of the oldest anime clubs in the U.S. It still functions as a classic anime club, which is a feat beyond amazement, but the lesson to be learned was that friendship kept the foundation together. It wasn’t the common interest, it wasn’t the culture, it wasn’t the club president. If you want a functional anime club, you have to build on friendship, and by that you know the importance of The Club can’t take precedence then.
I think you have a far too negative view of anime clubs, personally.
It is true that members of an anime club have interests far and wide, and it’s impossible to pull together a serious discussion about anything without having it fall apart due to flaming, trolling, and elitism. However, just as a group of friends can band together about anime and not having a form a club, there’s nothing to say that a club CAN be formed without retaining versatility and understanding.
Take the anime Genshiken, those guys have a wide variety of interests, many of their hobbies never quite intersect with each other. But they respect each others’ interests and boundaries, forming groups only when there’s a common ambition and staying apart otherwise – and hence they maintain the status quo of being both friends and clubbies.
My friends compare out club to Genshiken for similar reasons. I know you read Honya’s blog so you probably catch some things (yuri on the chalkboard included). We have all the types you’ve stated up there, we know some of out interests are never going to quite intersect, but because we understand and tolerate this our club has managed its success. Activities at meetings and episodes at showing are provided, but you’re never required to attend or watch. For example I tend to sit out at most game activities since I find them stupid, and people bring their DS/PSP to showings for the series they don’t care about, or simply leave early/come late. In fact we have people in the club who don’t watch anime at all (shock!). But no-one else in the club cares about that stuff, as long as you come to SOME of the stuff that you actually do like, be it the card games or the karaoke, and made an attempt to hang out with others. As a result: we have a lot of subgroups without our club based on similar interests, but because we’re one large club as a whole people can walk between those subgroups easily. It makes bonding between different kinds of people easier, and it’s also a medium to find those with close interests or those you simply get alone well with. The fact you may not get alone with said person’s other friends doesn’t matter because once again, you’re not limited to that one circle. The result of all that is: we have a club where no everyone hangs out with each other, but we do have bonds there and CAN pull out support together to help someone when they really need it, just like a group of friends do. (we also have a house and a manga library, but that’s besides the point).
From what I know of my friends that go to other universities, all the successful anime clubs today also share a similar live-and-let-live (or like-and-let-like?) policy and respect both the interest and disinterest of its members. Those who holds their views too aggressively actually has more trouble fitting in and those who doesn’t know anything about anime at all.
Just my two cents.
Miha: That being said, the idea of the group having the title of being a club is optional. I can say that it would still continue to exist regardless of the fact that they call it a club, and that’s good. You meet people who are like you, and you don’t really need to be bound by any club rule or any policy upon joining. You simply have to like something, and that’s a-ok. Furthermore, friendship kind of sports an air of versatility in a way of accepting personal and general opinion. It’s not a one-sided type of group, and that’s important.
Aorii: Well, like I said in the post, I have a bad history when it comes to clubs. It’s actually good to know that it doesn’t always turn out the way it turned out on my end, and you guys are living testaments to that. It’s just that back then, everyone was limited to a certain kind of appreciation that they don’t explore the potential possibilities their appreciation can spawn. And just like your group of friends, who know the pros and cons of having a club and went on with it anyway, it may have proven itself to me that there’s more than a few perspectives than what is already experienced. It’s just, in my case, it was something off my point of view, and I’m not that loose enough as to adjust myself to it, hence the observation. Like I said in Miha’s reply, the title of “club” is optional. Anyone who tries to bring weird ideas along with said title is absurd.