Final Jeopardy

Prize table

The crisp night air bites your cheeks at 7:45pm as you walk into Bakeless Center room 107. The energy is exciting; members sit in the classroom chairs waiting for everyone else to arrive. Today is one of the many game nights the Bloomsburg University Manga and Anime Club will participate in. President Seth Kamienski walks into the room and great everyone who has shown up so far. He is dressed is casual clothes with a flannel tied around his waist.

Seths has been a member at the club for 3 years. "I just really enjoyed the club," he exclaims. When he became president, there were things he wants to improve for the club. "The past couple years we've had trouble keeping people to stick with the club." His solution to this is to create new and dynamic activates during the first couple meetings and throughout the year for everyone to participate in. 

The club is open to anyone who wants to come from the University or the public. Every couple meetings, a member named Bob will show up; he is someone from the Bloomsburg community who enjoys anime and having a safe environment to express that enjoyment. He is also in charge of running the groups Discord channel; this is used to communicate any change in schedule and connect current members to members of the past. This club has been around since 1999 and has always been a space for people to share their love for anime and Japanese media.

More members than usual show up today, 16 people wait patiently as prizes are set up in the front of the room. The prizes include a ramen bowl, a Funko Pop figure, some stickers, and various manga waiting to be won. A light and fun vibe fills the room; members laugh as Seth messes up the Jeopardy game for the 5th time and he huffs in response.

Once everyone arrives, Seth stands at the podium to explain the rules. This Jeopardy game has five categories and 6 levels, each level being worth 100 more points than the last. The categories include anime openings, top 10 saddest anime deaths, manga covers, (anime) gangs, badly described anime, and weapons: snipers. Each team, composed of 3-4 people, has two guesses within 60 seconds to try and get the right answer. If they aren't able to guess or run out of time, the question is given up and available for anyone to try their hand at.

Jeopardy categories

As the game begins, top 10 saddest anime deaths for 300 is chosen. As the character appears on the screen, groans can be heard from everyone across the room. The character shown is Sasha from a series called Attack on Titan. She was a beloved character in the show and her death shocked everyone watching. It's a sore spot for almost every anime fan who has watched the show to completion.

The team up to bat glance at each other and one member slowly raises his hand, "Sasha from Attack on Titan," he sighs out.

"Correct!" Seth replies, he adds 300 points to their total score.

Most of the answers are quite clear, but for some of them, Seth sends the members through a loop. Manga covers for 600 is chosen and everyone is expecting the worst. Their fears are realized as a cover comes onto the screen that no one has heard of before. They throw their hands up and scoff, glaring inquisitively at the projector.

"It's another Seth-ism," a member next to me laughs. Seth-ism is a term he coined and uses whenever someone puts up an anime or manga they know is very niche. After many fights and laughs, the game comes to a close. First place is given to Team 1 by a landslide and they jump to celebrate. The members go to the table in the middle and chose their prizes. One girl takes the Naruto themed game in the corner, and another takes the ramen bowl everyone else was gunning for. 

The group doesn't always do game nights, most Monday and Thursday nights are general meetings where when you walk in, you'll be asked if you want to "put anything up". This is in reference to the anime that will be voted in and chosen to be viewed for the duration of the meeting. Once 5-10 shows have been recommended, a member from the clubs' board will pull up the trailers and show them one after another. Finally, the voting commences; everyone can vote on however many things they want until the last and definitive round. After all the rounds, one anime remains. This will be what the members watch for the remaining 2 hours of the meeting. The club usually gets through 4-5 episodes depending on the length.

Despite being around for almost 30 years, this club has stayed somewhere where people, no matter their prior knowledge, can come to watch anime and enjoy the company of others.