Recap of yesterday's meeting! 6/6/10 edition!

News

• A new anime night hosted by yours truly will be showing up at Tatame Lounge in Winter Park! It's called Kanpai, Anime! and it will take place on the last Tuesday of every month. The goal is to show an noteworthy anime film to an adult crowd while sake and tea is consumed. The first one will be on June 29th and the showing will be Evangelion 1.11: You Are (Not) Alone!
• Our friend David M. had to leave Florida to return to his home state. The circumstances are unfortunate and we wish him the best! Stay in touch, dude!
• A new member came into club who is not a film student! Nothing against film students, but diversity in the club is a good thing!
• Nothing new on the future hangout with Anime Spot. They did have a meeting after ours so hopefully, they figured out what the want to do with us. I did mention that I suggest Boardwalk Bowl as an idea to them.
• Once Gungrave ends, members of the club want Black Lagoon to take it's place.

Mystery Feature

As you can tell from the top image, our mystery feature was indeed Studio Ghibli and Isao Takahata's Grave of the Fireflies, a World War II movie that shows the tragic and desperate struggle of two orphaned children as Japan fell to America. While sometimes light hearted, it is an overall depressing film that shows the harsh tragedies of war from the perspective of the losing side.

For that reason, Grave of the Fireflies is considered a taboo movie to show at anime clubs across the nation. Obviously I had to show it. The chances that some club members have never seen the movie and otherwise may not have been exposed to it made me feel obligated to do so. I also find this to be one of the most mature things that we could possibly show and I strongly feel that it would have been a good experience for some of the younger club members to watch this. 

I wanted this showing to be a mystery because I didn't want to scare anyone off from attending the meeting. Nobody in club would intentionally go to feel sadness so it had to be a secret. This is a strong film and I am proud of everyone who watched it yesterday. For club regulars who were not there: imagine two hours where everyone was silent, not playing games, and focused intently on watching the film. It's a feat that sounds impossible, but that is the power this movie possesses.

This club doesn't have to be like other clubs that have plagued themselves with yaoi and moe fandom, or have regulated their showings to cheap thrill anime that offer instant gratification but are ultimately shallow. While we have shown those kind of works in the past(well, not the yaoi), it is definitely a positive that this club is sometimes able to watch anime that can be serious, thoughtful, and artistic.

With that being said, how did you all feel about watching this movie yesterday? Have you seen it before or was this your first time? I would like to know those things.