In the little town of Cullowhee, North Carolina a small, fanatical anime organization makes its home. "We, the members of Western Carolina University Japanese Animation Society (WCU JAS) [http://paws.wcu.edu/anime/], intend to promote the beauty of Japanese Animation, also known as Anime, in Cullowhee and the surrounding area," JAS greets e-visitors on the main page of their extensive website. JAS, formerly and affectionately known as the Student Powered Anime Militia (SPAM), is comprised of approximately 25 members and boasts of having over 90 members on their mailing list.

Established in 1998, JAS soon faced becoming defunct because they did not have a permanent place to house their meetings. However, when JAS leadership made the University Center the fixed location for meetings and screenings, attendance became a little more reliable. But it wasn't until Christina Bruinsma (current JAS Librarian) recruited students from her dorm, and the local cable company added the Cartoon Network, that interest in JAS blossomed. Now JAS proudly conducts weekly meetings and screenings every Wednesday at 8:00pm. Membership is free and attendees vary from elementary school children to college students.

A careful selection of screening materials helps to keep JAS popular throughout the community. JAS president Jim Howard notes, "We can't show hentai or anything of that nature because we do have members from the local high school in attendance. We've even had little elementary school kids come in and say, 'I hear you show DBZ, can I watch?' We usually have to take a second to think if there is anything objectionable to someone their age and if so, we watch that later."

Aside from screenings, JAS participates in other club activities such as regularly attending conventions (usually AWA and Animazment) and sporadic visits to the House of Anime in Duluth, Georgia and Neo Tokyo in Asheville, North Carolina.

How big is anime on the campus? Apparently, very big. Treasurer Brett Donadeo notes most of the male dorms and fraternities at WCU shut down around 5 p.m. to watch "Dragonball Z." Howard adds that anime is alive and well in North Carolina due to the numerous clubs evident in most of the local colleges and high schools.

Sponsored by Manga Entertainment and Dark Horse Comics, JAS receives promotional items such as posters, cards, comics, etc. "At first, we were ridiculed for 'selling out' by other clubs," says Howard, "but things have cooled off and we have clubs asking us how they can get sponsors, too."

Aside from sponsorship by American anime distributors, JAS is also affiliated with other anime clubs: Triangle Area Anime Society (TAAS) from North Carolina State University, and the Japanese Animation Manga Society from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. In order to keep their ties close, Donadeo and member Michael McGlone created the Tounan District Web ring for all southeast US Anime clubs. JAS has also worked with TAAS, to create the Anime Online Trading Post. Close club affiliations not only allow anime fans to correspond, they come in handy when JAS needs to acquire a new fan sub to screen.

"JAS gets their fan subs from other clubs like the ones at NC State and UNC Charlotte, as well as some stuff sent to us from our previous president Marcus Clifton," Howard says. "The commercial stuff is usually brought in from the private collections of our members."

As for the club members' future involvement in the anime industry, only past president Marcus Cliffton has any connection to the anime industry. As tenuous a connection as it may be, Marcus maintains the highly popular site, www.washu.org. But, as current president Howard adds, "Who wouldn't want a job in anime?"

JAS mainly gets its anime news through the hard work and dedication of its officers, and specifically from the president. Jim Howard relates, "some of the officers and myself check fan-zines and distributor sites for release dates and then share the info at the meetings." Our own Akadot.com came to the attention of JAS through a posting on ADV's site, and apparently the top ten lists and drinking games have become a regular staple at JAS club meetings. Akadot proudly commends JAS for reading the top ten lists in concert with the drinking games (they're a lot funnier when inebriated)...

One particularly interesting section of the JAS website is its art gallery. The art gallery currently hosts pictures drawn by members. However, McGlone says that anyone can post pictures. "As long as it's [the art] not objectionable (ie: hentai)," he notes. "But if you do post on our site, we may dump your e-mail into our mailing list, but don't worry, we won't spam."

As for the future of JAS, Howard conspiratorially hints at the club's plans. "We have a lot of really cool projects that are top secret right now but will be unveiled soon, so keep an eye on us via our website or visit us during our meetings." When asked to describe most JAS members, Howard's answer was at best dubious. "Harmless . . . mostly . . . okay, everyone is but Christina Bruinsma, she just likes to try and 'fix' pretty boys. Don't ask." OK, we won't.