The NECC anime club offeres a place to relax, have fun and explore different genres and styles of anime

Northern Essex’s Anime Club gathers for their seventh straight semester of games, fellowship, music, and of course, anime. Running from 2:30 to 3:30 every Tuesday in room E350, students join to take part in a half hour game session, followed by the viewing of a weekly anime episode. Games can vary from trivia, guess the song, Pictionary, or charades. Each week the first episode of a different show is shown with the goal in mind of introducing club members to as many different genres or styles of anime. The range of anime showcased is palatable, including new and old anime, comedies, thriller, mystery, parodies, action, dramatic, or a mix of all the above.

This melting pot of style is something that club president Jason Almanzar, a senior majoring in criminal justice, looks to capture with the club’s activities. Almanzar calls anime “a growing culture of its own people” where fans can explore new things through one another and wants to reflect this in games and shows that can appeal to the die hard or casual fan.

This atmosphere has attracted students like Liberal Arts major Maire Hughes, who has become a regular at the club since starting at Northern Essex in September of 2018. Hughes says she keeps coming back both to learn about other anime and to hang out with members of the club.

Club coordinator Jiay Shida, a computer science major, aims to maintain the friendly atmosphere students stay for. Shida thinks it’s important to have a relaxing and casual environment for people with similar hobbies to spend time and get to know one another. Overseeing creation and running the games each week, Shida says he loves to see students laugh or joke with one another over friendly competition, and that the anime club is the perfect place for that, in his eyes.