A History of the Brown Anime Society, 1995-2002

by Lawrence Wan ‘98, revised by Daniel Lee ‘00, and Lou Arruda ‘99.5

During the 1995-96 school year, Lawrence Wan ‘98 came up with the idea of holding anime screenings for the Japanese Cultural Association (JCA) at the Third World Center (TWC). He used to carry his TV/VCR all the way from the Grad Center. That year we showed Ranma 1/2, Video Girl Ai, and Dragonball Z movies. Video Girl Ai was the most popular among the audience. At the end of the year marathon, we showed popular movies like Akira, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Nausicaa, and others. Nausicaa had the biggest crowd.

Over 1996-97, the club solidified and helped JCA become famous with our regular Friday and Saturday screenings at the Bear’s Lair. With the help of Bear’s Lair supervisor Trung, Anime thus became a regular thing. We had a commitee of around 10 people (including Eugene Yi, Anna Chan, Josh Conterio, David Fischer, Matthew Grimes, and Chris Browne) and established ourselves as Category I. The most popular title with the crowd was Vision of Escaflowne. Both semesters we had marathons. Titles shown in the first marathon included Ninja Scroll, Tale of Genji, Laputa, Whispers of the Heart, etc. All except for Genji had very satisfied audiences. The second marathon had Macross Plus Movie, Slayers Movie, Intro of Kenshin, New Kimagure Orange Road Movie, X Movie, Memories, etc. All were pretty much loved by the audience. X had the biggest crowd ever in the history of the club, mostly also because of RISD support.

In 1997-98, we did more of the same. In February of that year, we became a Category II club and started receiving limited university funding. Our main series, Rurouni Kenshin, was a resounding success. Marathons included showings of Lupin, Saber Marionnette J, and Grave of the Fireflies. Grave of the Fireflies had the best reception. The last marathon of the year showed Pon Poko, Kiki, Whispers of the Heart, Tenchi Muyo Movie 2, Be Forever Yamato, and more. Lawrence graduated at the end of this year, and a new era began…

In the ‘98-’99 school year, Anime Brunonia made great strides. Our president that semester was Jim Harvey Sy ‘01. We had slow start first semester, with difficulties reserving rooms and other things. We showed Fushigi Yuugi and Vision of Escaflowne. Our marathon included Laputa, Lupin, and the Kenshin movie. At the end of the semester, we suffered a great loss when our librarian, Markus Meister ‘GS, was killed in a car accident.

Things started to pick up second semester when a new executive board led by Daniel Lee ‘00 took over. Since the beginning of the semester, we’ve secured our own room for showings (Barus & Holley 166 - with video projection!) and got office space in the Faunce House student center. More importantly, we were promoted to Category III club status, meaning that we could start submitting budgets for funding approval. During this semester, we got a little over $200 from Brown and ordered our first tapes. Now we have a lending library. That semester, we finished watching Fushigi Yuugi (halfway) and Escaflowne and moved on to Yawara! and Slayers Try. For the first time, we had a mid-semester marathon, showing the whole Neon Genesis Evangelion series along with the movie.

Here in the 2001-2002 school year, we are now underway with our current showings. Our lending library is open and bustling, and we have an aggressive schedule of viewings and marathons.