Fanshawe’s anime club recently hosted an event where they watched the anime film Ghost in the Shell (1995).
“I got into loving anime by just finding it on vacation in Jamaica,” said Dejean Douglass, the vice president of the anime club at Fanshawe. “I’ve been watching it ever since.”
Douglass had been in the anime club for two years and has been the vice president starting only this year. He says that compared to last year, the anime club has been much popular.
“There’s more people showing up for events and it seems like everyone want’s to show up for more,” Douglass said. “I’m honestly so happy to see that.”
The growth of the anime club at Fanshawe reflects overall trends in London. According to Rob Chamberlain, owner of the Neo-Tokyo anime store in London, anime is becoming more mainstream.
“Traditionally, we would see someone and they’re like ‘oh I have a niece into that or something like that,” Chamberlain said. “But now it’s more of a ‘oh I saw this, that was really interesting.’ People are much more aware of it than they used to be.
Chamberlain attributes the rising popularity of anime in London due to adaptations of anime shows on live stream services introducing these shows to mainstream audiences.
“The One Piece live action, and other things … have really started to drive people who are not your traditional fans,”said Chamberlain. “It was traditionally more of an underground thing, but it’s become much more mainstream now.”
