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ON JAPANESE ANIMATION
A&M students exploring the world of animation from abroad
By Jay Knioum
The Battalion
I
! n the United States, the word ani
mation tends to conjure up images
of two extremes: The Lion King and
“Beavis and Butthead.”
Around these parts, animation
seems geared for children, social satire
or as modern art, as shown on MTV’s
“Liquid Television.”
Japan, however, does not share the
United States’ rather conservative at
titudes about animation. Japanese an
imation, or “anime,” is very much a
part of that country’s culture and
everyday life.
Chuck Blend, a wildlife and fisheries
sciences graduate student, is a longtime
fan of anime, and said that animation
is literally everywhere in Japan.
“Animation is their main form of
media advertisement,” Blend said.
Blend is the founder of Aggime (pro
nounced Aggie-may), an informal
Japanese animation fan club on cam
pus, which has free screenings of ani
me every Monday night in Evans Li
brary’s viewing rooms. Blend has
made the animation into one of his
life’s passions, and has even written
college papers about the subject.
Blend said the purpose of Aggime is
to expose the public to Japanese ani
mation in order to increase anime’s
popularity.
“We give people the opportunity to
see different shows from another coun
try,” Blend said. “There’s so many peo
ple that have never had a chance to
see Japanese animation, and they
watch a few episodes of something, no
matter what it is, and they fall in love
with it.”
Perhaps the most widely recognized
example of Japanese animation in the
United States is “Speed Racer,” or
“Star Blazers,” which used to air on
Saturday mornings years ago. Howev
er, fans of the medium will tell you
that these shows barely scratch the
surface.
Anime has come a long way from
the primitive animation in “Speed
Racer.” The medium has as much va
riety in programming a$ the movie
and television industries do in the
United States.
“Lots of the anime series we show
on Monday were shown on prime-time
television in Japan or as feature
films,” Blend said.
Anime subject matter ranges from
the truly serious to the blatantly silly,
with all things in between. For exam
ple, “Grave of the Fireflies” is a sober
ing look at Japan after the atomic
bomb, while “Ranma 1/2” is a ridicu
lous comedy series about a martial
arts student who is cursed by a magi
cal lake, and he turns into a girl when
ever he is doused with cold water.
The staple show of Aggime is “Mai-
son Ikkoku,” a romantic comedy series
about a destitute, accident-prone col
lege student named Godai who is in
love with Kyoko, his attractive landla
dy-
Julie Fischer, a senior accounting
major and Aggime attendee, said
even though she loves the animation,
racy scenes make it clearly a male-
oriented medium.
Anime is a big part of Japanese cul
ture, occupying the same niche there
that immensely popular shows like
“Star Trek” do here.
And then there are the “otakus.” An
otaku is a serious fan of Japanese ani
mation — someone who has made it
the purpose of their life to watch and
collect anime.
Bill Lovell, a senior accounting
major and regular attendee of
Aggime, said an otaku is very
much like a Trekker, or die
hard “Star Trek” fan.
“The word otaku has a dark
side, a negative connotation in
Japan,” Lovell said. “It’s sort of
like the stigma against heavy
metal fans. In Japan, the police
broke into a serial killer’s apart
ment and found anime pictures
covering the walls.”
Anime is very much in the
mainstream in Japan, and
has become an enormous
business. This busi
ness has begun
its assault on
the United
States.
Many
companies
such as
AnimEigo, AD Vision, Pioneer and Biz
Video are in the business of buying the
rights to anime, translating it with
subtitles or dubbing, and selling it to
fans in the United States.
Broke anime fans have little to
fear, however. It is a tradition among
fans to do their own subtitling on
computers and distributing their
work free of charge to other fans at
conventions. Selling a fan-subtitled
work is frowned upon, but piracy
rears its head quite often.
Blend said the distinct style of
Japanese animation was inspired by
Disney animation, especially the
large eyes. Blend said
the eyes are used by
animators as “win
dows to the soul.”
“Animators
use the eyes to
tell about the
character,”
Blend said.
“They use the
eyes to show the
people watching
what the character
is feeling, without
having to say all
the words.”
By Keryl Cryer
The Battalion
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Support organizations give valuable help to athletic department
F;
ans at Aggie baseball games often struggle
over foul balls. As a Diamond Darling
rushes to get the ball back in exchange for
a Whataburger coupon or some movie passes,
the audience purposely points her in the wrong
jdirection so that the lucky fan can keep the
|prize.
When not trying to confuse the Diamond Dar-
ilings, fans often mistake them for the softball
(team. Captain Kylee Sandifer said.
They always ask us what position we play,”
Sandifer, a senior marketing and management
major, said.
The main function of the Diamond Darlings
certainly isn’t to straighten out Aggie athletic
fans who don’t understand what they do. The
primary function of the group, along with the
Aggie Hostesses and the Aggie Angels, is to as
sist the athletic department at games and in re-
cruiting high school athletes.
During baseball season, the Diamond Dar
lings hand out programs, greet fans and retrieve
foul balls at home games and at least two away
games every season. However, their responsibili
ties begin long before the umpire yells “Play
ball!”
Sandifer said the Darlings use the off-season
to put together their uniforms, help create
asinf schedules and do community work.
“It’s a lot of busy work in the fall,” Sandifer
said. “It’s a lot of hard work that no one ever
sees since it’s usually behind-the-scenes.”
When baseball season starts, the 16 members
of the squad are usually the first people that
fans see at baseball games.
jm. Unlike the Darlings, most students never see
*the Aggie Hostesses. Members of this support
group and recruiting force for the football team
usually sit on the alumni side of Kyle Field dur
ing football games answering questions from po
tential football players and their parents.
Jill Boeding, administrative coordinator for
the 38 hostesses, said the organization works
closely with the football staff to find the best
players for each season. Boeding said the group
provides a service to the school, even though
many people think they do it just to meet the
players and the coaches.
“We brought in the No. 3 recruiting class in
the nation and we hope next football season to
bring in No. 1,” Boeding said. “We simply do it to
help out the University. It’s another way of giv
ing back to the school.”
During the informal recruiting season. Host
esses are responsible for showing prospective
students and their parents around campus, ex
plaining traditions, and answering questions
about academics.
Chantelle Freeman, coordinator in charge of
recruiting, said high school prospects appreciate
the efforts to make them feel important as stu
dents, and not just as athletes from other
schools.
“We don’t even talk about football sometimes
because we don’t recruit football players,” Free
man said. “We recruit Aggies and that’s some
thing very special.”
The Hostesses also participate in the formal
recruiting every January when the players come
up for second visits, talk to coaches and profes
sors and receive scholarship offers.
Cari McLaughlin, coordinator of special
events and promotions for the Hostesses, said
the organization also sponsors activities not di
rectly related to recruits. The girls are responsi
ble for making posters, planning tailgate parties
and attending functions sponsored by groups
like the United Way.
The Aggie Angels is the recruiting organiza
tion for the men’s basketball team.
Niki Bisor, co-captain for the Angels, said
that in addition to supporting the team during
the basketball season and recruiting during the
off-season, they also serve the basketball pro
gram throughout the year.
“Each member is required to work in the (bas-
Tim Moog / The Battalion
On the sidelines, the Aggie Hostesses celebrate the football team’s win over Texas Tech last fall.
ketball) office a minimum of two hours a
month,” Bisor said.
The group’s main focus is on supporting A&M
basketball and its team members. The Angels
plan alumni dinners, breakfasts with players
and sponsor a basketball buddy exchange. This
gives the Angels a chance to get to know the
players and to exchange gifts with them in a
fashion similar to those of Bonfire Buddies.
The Angels also exist to encourage student at
tendance at basketball games. The Angels try to
show the importance, excitement and fun in
volved in less-popular Aggie sporting events. Al
though fan support has grown in recent years,
Bisor said it still needs to improve.
“Our ultimate goal is to promote Aggie bas
ketball and to make it as big as the other
sports,” Bisor said.
Stark Gallery hosts exhibit of drawings by ‘American region alisf Thomas Hart Benton
By Amy Collier
The Battalion
S tudents can experience American
history, culture and politics
through the drawings of Thomas
Hart Benton.
The J. Wayne Stark University
Center Galleries is presenting 66 of
Benton’s drawings in “Lasting Impres
sions: Drawings by Thomas Hart Ben
ton” until May 7.
Catherine Hastedt, registrar and
curator of the Stark gallery, said she
has always admired Benton’s work
and jumped at the opportunity to
bring his work to Texas A&M.
“I think it’s important that the stu
dents here get exposed to as wide of a
variety of artists and art genres as
possible,” Hastedt said. “Thomas Hart
Benton is a fairly well-known artist
and I thought this was a period we
haven’t covered recently. I’m attracted
to the quickness of his drawing.”
Benton was born in Missouri in
1889 and created his artwork from the
1910s until his death in 1975.
Benton drew landscapes, common
people and even political figures.
Since Benton sometimes did not want
to give up his drawings, 1,900 draw
ings were found in his studio when he
died.
Hastedt said Benton is probably
most well-known for his murals and
paintings and said the exhibition fea
tures a video of Benton painting a
mural in The Country Music Hall of
Fame.
“He’s an American regionalist,”
Hastedt said. “He captured a lot of
Americana.”
Because Benton’s drawings were of
ten informal, Hastedt said many art
critics dislike his work.
“Thomas Hart Benton is an artist
who is difficult to characterize,” she
said. “People either love him or they
hate him.”
Henry Adams, guest curator of the
exhibition, said he initially did not ap
preciate Benton’s drawings because
many of them are so informal.
“After disliking Benton’s drawings,
I have changed to admiring them as
my favorites,” Adams said. “No other
American artist of this century has
left so rich and inexhaustible visual
legacy of his experience.”
Hastedt said Benton was also criti
cized because he turned his back on
the modern art movement in the
1930s. Although he was the object of
negative comments, Benton still stood
alone and drew what he wanted.
“He was very much an individual
ist,” she said. “He didn’t care if people
didn’t like his work.”
Benton’s individualism and deter
mination helped him to become a fa
mous artist.
“You’ll find his works in all of the
major museums in the United States,”
Hastedt said.
“This is a slice of American histo
ry,” she said. “I hope that professors
of history and sociology will take ad
vantage of this exhibit because it ties
into so much.”