With so much anime coming out and so much to catch up on, I have a hard time deciding what anime to buy, what to rent and what to avoid at all costs. I find it helpful at these times to turn to local anime clubs for help by getting the latest on what’s coming out from people in the know, by having the chance to watch anime with fellow fans and to have all around good discussions about anime in general.
There are currently two anime clubs in the St. Louis Metro area that actively schedule meetings and viewings throughout the year and two clubs that are college affiliated and therefore mainly meet during the spring and fall semesters respectively.
The two year-round anime clubs are Fant-Asia and The St. Louis Anime Meetup.
One of the largest anime viewing clubs in the area, Fant-Asia boasts three branches in the Metro area and draws a very diverse crowd.
Fant-Asia
Fant-Asia St. Louis holds weekly meetings at AnImagination in the St. Louis Mills and attracts a predominantly high school aged crowd with some college aged fans. There is no set programming schedule for the AnImagination branch; whatever the attendees bring to watch is usually what’s shown, and the anime according to Fant-Asia founder Brian Lan is considerably lighter than most anime.
The branch that meets at I-Frag has a slightly older demographic with more college-aged anime fans and draws about 15-20 fans per meeting. The I-Frag branch is the only branch of Fant-Asia to have a separate viewing area and has the longest event time with viewings starting at 5:00pm and ending at midnight.
Programming at the third and last branch of Fant-Asia St. Louis is edgier and more mature than the other two due to the large amount of fans aged 25 and up, but this group is still considered diverse age-wise with some of the attendees being in their teens. The branch meets in St. Charles and draws members from the largest radius in the area. Says Brian Lan aka Count Lohengramm, “One of the biggest reasons for the success of Fant-Asia St. Louis is that our group is as much about an environment as it is about anime.â€
St. Louis Anime Meetup
The St. Louis Anime Meetup has its meetings twice a month at Star Clipper Comics in the U-City Loop. Members can vote on series online at the Meetup website and the organizer, Jonny, also picks out some really good series for the club to watch.
Meetings are held every other Friday in the back room at SC and the demography is mostly 21 on up with the occasional high schooler, at least when I attended meetings two months ago it was. The viewing schedule alternates between a movie and episodes from series, so once a month there’s a larger crowd than normal due to the draw of an anime movie.
There are supposed to be meetings on Saturdays so that people that can’t attend on Friday’s can go to the Saturday meetings, but there has yet to be a posted schedule to that effect.
The other two anime clubs in the area are Anime Stack and the Maryville Anime Club, aka MAC.
Maryville Anime Club (MAC)
MAC is a university (Maryville University) affiliated club otherwise known as an RSO or registered student organization. Although it’s a student group, MAC is open to everybody of all ages, students and non-students alike. The Maryville Anime Club only meets while school is in session since they’re an RSO. MAC earned “Student Organization of the Year†according to Alisha B., one of the club’s members.
Anime Stack
Anime Stack is another club that holds its meetings on campus grounds (University of Missouri St. Louis). They have meetings twice a month and are also only active during school terms.
When you’re not sure what anime to watch or if you want to meet fellow fans face to face, make sure to check out these clubs. Going out and getting some interaction with people who are as thrilled about anime as you are is always a good thing.
