The Old School Otaku Lounge

There are a bunch of anime clubs now that are over 20 years old now (in old-school terms, I guess this would be the same as the C/FO chapter clubs that still existed in the early 2000s, like Denver Anime International). What allowed these clubs to survive when others have died out?

A lot of the younger ones are college clubs -- my guess for them is that since there is a natural mechanism for getting new members in as incoming freshmen arrive each year and there's no need to worry about a meeting space, there's greater stability. However, you also have members leaving every year as they graduate, so it can't just be that. Are there certain policies or practices that have made some college clubs more durable than others?

The community clubs like the Philadelphia Animation Society or C/FO LA are especially fascinating to me. With the C/FO LA, I think their long-term relationship with the LA Science Fiction Society helps here, because LASFS has a clubhouse that they own outright, which means there's less chance of the C/FO disbanding because they don't have anywhere to meet, provided they maintain their relationship with LASFS. (Are there any anime clubs out there that have taken a page out of the LASFS handbook and own their own clubhouse?)

The other thing I've noticed with especially long-lived community clubs is that they often seem to have an anchor-fan who serves as the club's institutional memory, and who is willing to play a more active role in case of an emergency or who has always played an active role. (Fred Patten of C/FO LA and Bill Thomas of the Philadelphia Animation Society both spring to mind.) On the other hand, though, there are clubs that seem to have struggled due to long-term superfans alienating new members and making it harder for clubs to adapt to change; what is it that ends up making certain long-term club attendees helpful and others hurtful towards the club's long-term stability?

Is there some other type of club or club practice that seems especially helpful?

Good point, Mbanu - unsure. The UK has only really had clubs in the sense of anime clubs at universities, which suffer the churn you describe above due to graduation and age (oldies can't be dealing with the young'uns).

The oldest anime con in the UK is Minamicon, the first one I went to was #4 and in a few weeks #23 will begin. In it's early days there was a penpal-like club where tapes were traded (also audio cassettes) but that ceased after a few years. It's been held in the same hotel since #2 (I think).

The great con staff are mainly the same familiar faces we have all known since those early days. There is less emphasis on anime (firstly due to torrents, now due to streaming) and more emphasis on events, fan/academic J-culture talks, food tasting and sake drinking.

As it has remained consistent in size (about 300 people) for such a long time, I think the familiarity (for me) gives a reassuring event to look forward to pretty much every year. It is nostalgic but also fun, there's always new series to talk about and discover through chatting to trusted familiar friends. These days it's so hard to get everyone together, having an unmovable date is great to get everyone together specifically, I love seeing people once a year/every few years that I only get to speak to online.

The older element is useful for pacing, maybe even other boring stuff that happens to us older generations like health problems and real life issues isn't maybe understood by folks who are a lot younger or who haven't experienced anything like it, so maybe that life-experience and thus having a bit more compassion is welcomed, when in society, "grumbling" (i.e. talking) about how things are going for you is shamed (the UK has a terrible shaming culture, island mentality?).

Bigger, higher-velocity events like MCM London Comic Con is a completely different beast of an event. Whereas taking over a hotel absolutely is a comfort zone that has an appeal that makes people stick with it and visit together. Anime family!

I got to hang out with Dave Cotterill (sp?) when he was in the Toronto area a few years ago, and we had a good conversation talking about the differences between the UK anime con experience and the North American model. Minamicon sounds fascinating; is it an event open to the general public, or is attendance limited to the original members? I think the only time conventions here talk about limiting membership is when they start to outgrow the last physical space available.

davemerrill wrote:Minamicon sounds fascinating; is it an event open to the general public, or is attendance limited to the original members? I think the only time conventions here talk about limiting membership is when they start to outgrow the last physical space available.

Ah membership to the event is open to the public - you can buy the weekend membership ticket at each Minamicon prior or buy when the tickets are launched online when the site gets upgraded ready for the next upcoming event - but only people who buy tickets are able to attend the conventions' events and halls with membership. If you don't have membership you can meet up in the hotel bar, open to the public, to meet up with your con-going friends - this activity has been called "Losercon" for about ten years, haha I have only known a few years out of it's 23 where membership does not sell out entirely.

I found this bit in SMC about Steve Cotterill's LAC =
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=inW ... me&f=false

I was living in the Midlands and studying in the North of England at the time of LAC's heyday, far too far away for me to be able to afford to visit (student tuition fees had launched and we were skint students anyway. This mainly affected my ability to tape-trade! There were no anime clubs in Birmingham or Liverpool - they happened after my time, so LAC was indeed a need). I attended the last few 2005-2008, when torrenting seemed to be at an all time high, and it was nice to catch up with people there I had met before I went to Uni. The whole "meet up with your friends culture and watch the anime on your computer later if you like the look for the first 10 minutes" thing was well underway.

Unsure if LAC required specific membership though, as I was attending with others who had been going for years so somehow they got me in!

my local club monac aka middle of nowhere anime club started in the early 2000s I didn't know about it back then being in jr high but have been a member since 2010 or so we only have a few dedicated members but they are very much so and we get new people all the time we are active in the scene in our state and online