Tucson Animation Screening Society (C/FO - Tucson)?

The roughly mid-90's and earlier (generally pre-Toonami, pre-anime boom) era of anime & manga fandom: early cons, clubs, tape trading, Nth Generation VHS fansubs, old magazines & fanzines, fandubs, ancient merchandise, rec.arts.anime, and more!
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mbanu
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Tucson Animation Screening Society (C/FO - Tucson)?

Post by mbanu »

The home club of Zac Bertschy of Anime News Network fame, and one of the few college club C/FO chapters. This was apparently a very stable combination, as they still seem to be active today, 32 years later: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TucsonAnime/ (^_^)

It looks like it was started by Wayne Haarbye and a few others in 1985, but there's really no info out there at all...

Anyone ever have any interactions with TASS?
mbanu: What's between Old School and New School?
runesaint: Hmmm. "Middle School", perhaps?
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Kyrant
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Re: Tucson Animation Screening Society (C/FO - Tucson)?

Post by Kyrant »

Huh. I've been living in Tucson for 11 years now, and this is my first time hearing of this (I didn't even know Bertschy was from here). Especially embarrassing, considering that one of the places they apparently meet is literally three minutes from my house. Will absolutely stop by sometime this week and hopefully I'll be able to learn/share some details and whatnot then.
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mbanu
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Re: Tucson Animation Screening Society (C/FO - Tucson)?

Post by mbanu »

Oooh, keep us posted! (^_^) I'm really curious how they've managed their remarkable staying power -- a club that's made it through the C/FO years, VHS fansub years, the pirate years, and is still alive and kicking in the streaming era with young members is really rare.
mbanu: What's between Old School and New School?
runesaint: Hmmm. "Middle School", perhaps?
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Kyrant
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Re: Tucson Animation Screening Society (C/FO - Tucson)?

Post by Kyrant »

Update: I wasn't able to attend the club screening this week, life came up. But I did stop by their current meeting place, and was able to learn a few things. Right now, they hold their gatherings in a local anime/tcg based store called Otaku Nation, which was opened by (I believe) one of their members, though the club and store are technically separate entities. It's mostly new faces now, but Wayne Haarbye IS still occasionally active, even though he spends most of his time out of Tucson now.

From what I could gather, they seem to have survived by latching onto current trends and staying flexible. They were college-based for a while, but have now dropped that angle, and embrace change at least somewhat frequently. The move to Otaku Nation, for example, occurred within the past few months, showing that they're still evolving after 30+ years. But they are very lively, and open to new faces, both of which must have contributed to their enduring success. Attendance for the screenings is free as well, surely a great incentive for attracting new/casual members.

There's probably a social element as well, though I'll have to check up on that when I can actually attend a screening. More info soon!
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