At Ashland University, there is a club dedicated especially for artistic people who enjoy the Japanese style of animation called anime.

In the United States, anime has become very popular due to the monstrous successes of the Pokémon, Dragon Ball Z and Yu-Gi-Oh cartoon series in the past 20 years alone.

Zac Kopp, president of the club, believes that the reason why anime has become so popular in the U.S. is because of its cultural appeal.

“A lot of anime is rooted in Japanese culture and draws from a lot of the norms in Japan,” said Kopp. “It’s a way to see a whole different side of the world.”

When Kopp first arrived at Ashland, the Anime Club had only nine members. But the intimacy of the group made it easy to come together.

“We’re a very tight group of friends on campus,” said Kopp. “We constantly meet outside of club. We play video games, help each other with homework, as well as other things.”

Over the past couple of years the membership of the club has grown from nine to 33 members this school year. Kopp attributes that to the expanded presence on campus and personal advertising from the members themselves.

The club does a bake sale, goes to anime conventions and hosts parties every year.

“We have a lot of people who are not afraid to advertise us to their friends,” said Kopp. “We’ve had people brought into club who have never watched anime in their lives but always walk away impressed.”

Kopp believes that another thing that draws people to anime is the storyline and characters themselves as well as the artistic appeal of it.

Anime club meets every Thursday at 8:30 p.m. in the Student Center Auditorium.