Seattle U’s Anime and Manga Club dives deep into Japanese culture and art.
This story is part of a series spotlighting Seattle University student clubs. In this installment we go inside the Anime and Manga Club, one of more than 100 student-run clubs on campus.
If you’re looking for a passionate group of students interested in Japanese culture and art, look no further than Seattle University’s Anime and Manga Club. To gain more insight into this club, I spoke with its event coordinator Asia Crook, ’25.
"Our club is a social space for people who are into anime and manga. It’s very casual, even if you are not super into this stuff, it’s a safe space where we build meaningful connections with each other,” says Crook.
Started in 2019, the club has grown to roughly 200 members and welcomes new members who are interested in anime and manga and want to participate in fun events like trivia games with Kahoot, pizza parties, outings to the International District and more.
Anime and manga have been staples of Japanese entertainment since the 1900s, and have spread in popularity throughout countries all over the world. Manga are comics or graphic novels—often done in black and white—originating from Japan and anime is short for Japanese animation that comes in different forms. Crook is looking to expand the club’s outreach to bring more students who are fans of anime and other Japanese art forms into the fold.
“We want to be an SU staple. Since we’re such a casual and accessible club, I would hope that it grows to be a bigger social space for both fans and people who are interested in learning about someone else’s culture,” says Crook.
The Anime and Manga club meets every other Thursday at 6 p.m. in Harding Room 143. Check out more on the club on Instagram.
Written by Sofia Marti, '23
Thursday, March 2, 2023