Anime Asylum: An Inconspicuous Experience That Might Change Your Life

            Every Thursday, Baruch College students spending their time on the twelfth floor of the Newman Vertical Campus building would notice a strange cluster of their schoolmates gathering in a hallway. Shortly after the hour hand reached twelve, a group of students would stand outside room 12-135, as if waiting for the professor of their next class to open the door to the room and show them in. Strangely, no professor ever arrived, and instead a student opened the door by swiping an ID card through the card swiper mounted on the wall outside the room. Had there been anyone that stood outside out of curiosity, he would had noticed that the voices of those students that entered the room quickly subsided after an initial racket, but soon the sound of conversations came back to life, in Japanese! Some would have concluded that this was a gathering of Japanese students, but they would have been mistaken. Instead, this was one of the weekly meetings of Baruch’s very own Japanese Anime Asylum!

Though not the most spacious of all clubs, sharing an office with Baruch’s Japan Club and FUSION Club in the room 3-248, the Japanese Anime Asylum performed its functions well. The Asylum held weekly meetings on Thursdays from 12:30 to 2:30 in the effort to achieve its goal of “introducing and promoting Japanese Animation to members who share a common interest in this style of animation and graphic design.” Judging solely from the introduction of its goal, people were quick to decide that the Japanese Anime Asylum was a laidback club whose sole function was for its members, currently with a estimated number of seventy, to watch anime together once a week. These people couldn’t be more wrong, as they underestimated the power of the Anime Asylum to affect its fellow members. The Anime Asylum has had tremendous influences on the lifestyle, studies, and fates of its humble members.

To those members that joined the Japanese Anime Asylum due to their already developed love for Japanese anime, the club’s effects on them were most visible in the changes of their lifestyles. Despite the fact that Japanese anime is a praise worthy form of art, its fans often ended up isolating themselves in their own world. As some Anime Asylum recall, in the early days of their involvement with the club they have wished to “watch anime and shut ourselves in.” One can only imagine what kind of bleak lifestyle these members used to have, trapping themselves indoors and accompanied only by their favorite works of anime. Yet, as it was mentioned before, these members soon changed as they started to be engaged in Anime Asylum activities.

The activities that changed these members greatly were results of the efforts put forth by the Asylum’s new president, Peter Yip. Peter is a member of the Golden Key International Honors Society, and being so he had utilized knowledge learned from the Golden Key in operating his new position. By putting himself in the frontline of all events, Peter demonstrated what he called “put yourself out there and network with others.” Peter hopes that the Anime Asylum experience could help the members better themselves in fields such as connections and leadership. As Peter says “the Asylum is a stress relief club, but that’s what it is, it shouldn’t be your way of life.” The Asylum welcomes all those interested in anime to join, but it does not tolerate members isolating themselves from the rest of the world as they indulge in anime. The Anime Asylum goes beyond the traditional anime screenings and hosts social events such as Karaoke, attending Japanese Festivals, Zombie fest, and more. Through these events a large proportion of the members are able to improve in their skills to connect with others and better manage their social network. In a sense, the Anime Asylum pulled them out of their boxes.

It is interesting to mention, though, some members of the Anime Asylum did not join due to interests in Japanese anime. According to the management members of the club quite a few of their current members joined the club due to the animated nature of club members preceding them. In a stressful environment such as Baruch College, where everyone strives to achieve high ends and is always weighted down by new assignments, the cheerfulness of the Anime Asylum members holds a certain kind of attraction to others. Some members confessed to have joined the club “not because of liking anime, but due to the [stresses-reliving atmosphere] that existed for Anime Asylum members.” Although these members joined the Anime Asylum merely to find a harbor of peace in the competitive college environment, some of they ended up finding more than just that.

While enjoying the comfortable atmosphere within the Asylum, some members that lacked interest in Japanese Animation began to appreciate it as an art. Not only did they appreciate the art, these members became actively engaged in creating such arts. Former president Will Driscoll described to us how many members became “fans of aspects of anime art such as, fan-art, fan-fiction, and graphic designs.” Their newly-developed hobbies even led these Asylum members to adjust their area of study toward the direction of animation, a true surprise indeed, even for these members themselves. One can only be amazed at the power of animation to turn business students into art lovers. Even the current president, Peter, admits to have began his interest in graphic designs after falling in love with Japanese Anime.

For a small art club with the common perception of having only stress relief as its goal, the Japanese Anime Asylum had great effects in the development of its members’ lives. For the anime-loving members, the Asylum had salvaged them from the prison created by themselves in an unconscious attempt to isolate themselves from the world. For the member who joined anime club out of their search for a harbor of peace, the Anime Asylum provided them with new hobbies and even new possible studies and careers. It is true that experience in the Anime Asylum may seem trivial, but no matter how insignificant an experience seems, there is always a chance it could have affected the path of one’s life.