Anime Club

A loud wave of “Oh!”s erupts from the darkened Room 232 in the Cathedral of Learning as one… A loud wave of “Oh!”s erupts from the darkened Room 232 in the Cathedral of Learning as one cartoon character, dressed in a red karate uniform, jams an extended finger into the neck of another cartoon character and rips out his optic nerve. From the back of the room, someone yells, “That’ll leave a mark!” and the rest of the unseen audience laughs in approval.

Welcome to Halloween, Japanese Anime Club-style.

“On Halloween, we have ‘Anime So Bad, It’s Scary,'” said Rebecca Roach, the club’s president.

This particular selection is called “Grappler Baki: The Ultimate Fighter.” It chronicles – in brutal detail – the rise of the teenage hero the show is named for in the world of Japanese karate tournaments. Earlier in the show, Baki kicked an opponent’s shoulder and the animation switched to an x-ray view of the arm popping out of the joint.

“In the U.S., there’s a mindset that animation is for kids,” Roach said. “People need to learn that animation is not just for children.”

Anime is a style of animation unique to Asia, especially Japan, where, according to Roach, the anime industry makes more money than live-action films. Animes are different from Western cartoons in several regards. American cartoons, like Looney Toons, are marketed mostly towards children. Animes, on the other hand, appeal to a wider variety of people and age groups. There are anime dramas, murder mysteries, romantic comedies and, yes, even pornos.

“In Japan, they have realized that animation is an art form,” Roach said. “Animation is more flexible than live action.”

That explains the outrageous characteristics of most animes. Giant robots and schoolgirls battling extra-terrestrial demons can be articulated much more easily in animated form. Most animes, unlike American cartoons, feature complex storylines and in-depth character development.

Roach said that the majority of animes tell a single, linear story; every episode in an anime show is related.

The roots of Pitt’s Anime Club can be traced to the old Pitt Comic Book Club of the early 1990s, Roach explained. Over the years, club members slowly brought Japanese anime into the equation.

By 1996, what began as a forum where comic book fanatics could argue over whether Batman could take Superman in a fight evolved into a dedicated group of about 40 to 50 anime followers who thrive off of each other’s knowledge.

“Watching it with other people definitely enhances the experience,” Roach said.

Anime contains a lot of visual humor, a characteristic it shares with Japanese mangas, or comic books, which are also immensely popular in Japan, Roach explained. More experienced watchers, she said, clue others in to the occasionally bizarre Japanese pop culture references prevalent in most animes.

“Once you learn the conventions, they’re pretty easy to understand,” she said.

Roach recalled the anime that converted her from casual fan to hardcore devotee. It was in 1996, her freshman year at Pitt. The show was “Ranma 1/2.” The premise involved a boy who happened to be a martial arts expert, who suffered from a curse that made him change into a girl when he was soaked with cold water.

“It’s a very outrageous and funny show,” Roach said. “There’s a lot of comedy and action.”

Roach, who graduated from Pitt in 2000, is still involved with the club because, she said, she loves watching anime and discussing it with others.

Back at the Halloween party, “Grappler Baki” comes to an end, and the party moves to the costume contest phase. The costumes run the gamut from Final Fantasy characters to gun-toting vampire hunters. Sword and gun combinations are big in anime, and a lot of people reflect that in their costumes.

Recent Pitt grad Ricky Chaing, however, went the drag route. Sporting a black skirt, red tube top and high, black boots, he represented a character from the anime “NOIR.”

“It’s about female assassins and the killer suits that try to kill them,” he explained, producing a picture of the character he’s dressed as.

All of the 16 contestants wear homemade costumes, and some are definitely better-looking than others. Pitt senor Amy Hirschman spent more than $100 on her costume to be Dilandau Albatou from “Escaflowne.” Her costume is one of the more elaborate ones at the party. It resembles a red pants suit with pointy, inflatable shoulder pads.

“I made it about a year ago for Otakon, an anime convention,” she said.

After a hushed voting process, Hirschman and recent Pitt grad Anne Moffa were declared the proud winners of an anime-themed lunchbox, sketchpad and baseball cap.

Moffa, dressed as Merle, a cat-like creature also from “Escaflowne,” experienced a little deja-vu after winning the contest.

“It feels like I’ve gone full circle,” she said. “When I was a kid, I was a black cat for Halloween, and now I’m a Japanese anime cat!”