Every Friday at 7 p.m. the members of Anime in Northwest Ohio gather in the Union to watch anime and discuss different episodes of the Japanese animation.

“It’s mostly sharing kinds of anime that they enjoy, talking about it with like-minded individuals and that kinds of community that develops around shared interests,” said Heath Diehl, the adviser of Anime in Northwest Ohio.

Some of the club members said they like that feeling of shared interests.

“It’s nice to be around people who understand and know the kind of things you like,” said president Brianna Tomlinson.

Rachel Gast, market director for Anime in Northwest Ohio, said she feels the same.

“In high school when you like anime you’re kind of labeled as a dork but when you’re in a club like this it doesn’t matter because we’re all dorks,” Gast said.

Throughout the year the organization focuses heavily on fundraising to hold their annual Animarithon in March. Animarithon is a free convention at the Union with artists, merchandise, information panels, guest speakers and more.

A lot of convention attendees dress up as different anime or video game characters in store bought or homemade costumes.

“It’s called cosplay. It means costume play in Japanese,” Gast said. “It’s not required but when you come in dressed in costume you earn some swag points. And people like to take your picture if you’ve done it correctly.”

The convention is open to the public and attracts people from all around the area.

“I think last year we had over 2,000 people,” Tomlinson said.

But Animarithon isn’t limited strictly to anime. A lot of people with interests in just about any kind of “fandom” come to experience the convention, Tomlinson said.

“People come who like Dr. Who or My Little Pony, things like Star Wars or video games. So it’s just a wide range of that,” Tomlinson said.

The diversity within the club members and their interests is one thing that Diehl said he enjoys about Anime in Northwest Ohio.

“People who come to [the club] have all different prior knowledge of what anime is, all different levels of interests,” Diehl said. “That’s one of the things that’s really amazing about the group and what they do. They’re very welcoming to anybody.”

Diehl said he didn’t know much about anime himself when he became the adviser.

“I don’t know a lot about anime. I was sort of roped and wrangled into being the faculty adviser by the former president.”

But he said in the past four years that he has advised the club here, he has learned more about anime and finds the club fascinating.

In addition to their usual fundraising, Anime in Northwest Ohio has partnered with the Gaming Society to host the Halloween Masquerade to try and raise more money for Animarithon.

The masquerade is on October 18 at 7:00 p.m. in the Union Multipurpose Room.

Gast said there will be raffles, a cake walk, a costume contest, carnival games and lots of prizes. There will be a fee to enter the costume contest but admission is free and guests will receive a handful of free game tickets to start.

For more information about Anime in Northwest Ohio, visit the club’s website, Animarithon.com or look them up on Facebook.