President Alec Buccino
To me, anime is not only an art
form, but also an escape from reality. When I watch an anime, I can experience a
new world with interesting characters and stories and completely lose myself in
the universe of that anime. Whenever I’m bored or need a pick me up, I sit down
and watch an anime of my choice, and I always feel energetic and happy afterwards.
I remember starting to watch anime
when I was very young. Pokémon, Yugioh, Naruto, and anything else that came on
Cartoon Network’s Toonami were always a treat to watch. I remember in
elementary school always tuning in every Saturday night to watch the latest
episode of Naruto I guess, that was one of the first anime I really got into.
Around 8th grade, I started expanding my horizons to other shonen
jump manga such as Bleach and One Piece than around freshman year in high
school I was exposed to the anime that changed my life forever, “Full Metal
Alchemist”. For the longest time I just saw anime as cool action cartoons that
where always about some young hero battling the forces of evil and getting stronger
with every battle. I never saw it as a thing that could move, inspire, and even
lead a person to tears. Full Metal Alchemist made me laugh, cry, and provoked
me to deep thought and philosophy. After watching Full Metal, I dove into other
anime series and was astounded by all of these amazing stories, characters, and
ideas that I had been missing all of my childhood just watching Shonen Jump
stuff. By this time I was completely hooked on all things anime and manga.
I went to my first anime convention
in freshmen year called “Castle Point Anime Convention”. Upon entering the campus
the convention was held, I was completely aw struck. Never have I seen so many
anime fans in one place at one time. There where people cosplaying, people
playing games and people hanging out with friends and enjoying a wonderful day.
I saw this brand new culture that I was yet to understand right before my eyes,
and I loved everything about it. Soon after the con’s end I realized that I
wanted to surround myself with other anime enthusiasts…but how could I do that?
At first I tried to join a college anime club I heard of on the internet,
however, they never returned my calls and I could never find out when club
meetings where, I suppose it had a lot to do with me still being a high school
student. I searched all over the Internet for clubs and activities where I
could meet new anime fans, but everything was always too far away or never
active. I remember being frustrated for the longest time and than it hit me,
“If I can not go to the anime fans, than I’ll just bring the anime fans too
me!” It was at that moment that I decided to found a club; the first of it’s
kind in the Sussex county area. I was going to found, an Anime Club, an anime
club where anime fans from all over Sussex County and all over New Jersey could
gather together, make everlasting friendships, and have a good time.
In October of 2010, I acted on my
ambition to create an anime club. I went to the Sussex County Main library where
I met Mrs. Diane Sebastian, the youth facilitator of the library. She was
overjoyed that I wanted to start an anime club at their branch for she had
wanted to start one herself for a very long time, but could not get enough
people on board to do it. In Late October, the Onigiri Animanga Club opened up
to the public in our very first meeting. I remember it was a movie night where
we watched Howls Moving Castle and I was very surprised with the amount of kids
that showed up to our first club meeting. The club simply went up-hill from
there, we gained a massive amount of club members over the years, we have went
on countless outings and Anime Text trips, and we have supplied the library
with a entire collection of anime DVDs and manga that the library would have
never thought of spending money on until we came along.
I feel like the club made me a
better person too. I have been president of the Onigiri Animanga Club for over
3 years now and in that time I have gained countless friends that I would never
have met if it had not been for the club, I appointed an absolutely incredible
club vice president who continues to do behind the scenes work and keeps the
club organized to this day, and I even met my first love through this club.
Three years ago I sought out to
create a place where anime and manga fans could hang out and have fun and
create friendships that would last a lifetime. I think with the help of many
people along the way, I have accomplished this task and I plan to remain
president of this club for as long as I can, until the day comes that I find a
worthy successor to take my place.
Sure sometimes it is difficult to
run the club and other times, we barely have anyone in the club room, but the
days when I can see the faces of our club members bright and cheery having a
grand time at a place that they look forward to coming back to every other
Saturday or Friday, that’s when I know that founding the Onigiri Animanga Club
was one of if not, the greatest decision I have ever made in my life.
I
love The Onigiri AniManga Club; the members are incredible I feel so blessed to
get to work with them to work with Al and Diane Sebastian. After every club
meeting I feel exhausted but happy from all the work we do and the activities.
It is one of the most fulfilling things I have ever done.
Vice President Nicole Ruiz
Anime is my portal to another world; growing up I have
always loved books, I was a slow reader so even before I cracked open the first
adventure that would take my heart into another realm I found my adventures in
Anime and Manga. Anime is the visual equivalent of books in my eyes. They wet
my appetite for adventure and make me feel like I can do anything. When I watch
Anime I become friends with the characters and share in their joys and sorrows.
Being a voracious reader and viewer I am always falling short with anime to
watch, books to read, and stories to write.
When
you place a new book in my hands I can feel the adventures tingling underneath
my fingertips, I can hear the voices full of stories waiting to be told. When
you hand me a new anime to watch I feel the same sensation and I never thought
anything could come close to my love of books. I remember at about age Five my
first exposure to Anime was Sailor Moon. It used to play on Cartoon network
every day when I would get home from school and I fell instantly in love with
the idea of being a warrior princess from the moon.
As
I got older I was exposed to Naruto once again on Cartoon Network and a new
love was born, a love of ninja. Naruto re-awakened my love of anime and I found
myself diving back into the worlds in the anime universe at full force with no
hope of ever coming back.
Though
I am shy I have always been a natural born leader, I take charge when need be
but I find myself always looking at the details of life that I get caught up
and overwhelmed, I had ideas but I needed to find a partner in crime to make
them reality. When I met Alec Buccino, president of the Onigiri Animanga Club,
he was a quirky Junior in High school who had big dreams but not much fuel for
his rockets. With my quick thinking mind and his enthusiasm we became a
fantastic team. I worked for the club for about six months before one day Al
turned to me and said “We need a Vice President, Nicole you are perfect for the
job”. I looked at him like he was insane, we had grown to be close friends by
then and I didn’t realize he noticed my love for the club because when I love
something, I throw myself into it and give it my all. From that day on I was
Vice President of the club.
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