Pupils and staff of South Peninsula High School, in Diep River, are hyped up about anime and they are busy raising money for their trip to an anime conference in Tokyo, Japan, in March 2019.
Marc Lottering will be performing at their school to kick off their first fund-raiser, on Saturday September 23, at 8pm.
AnimeJapan (formerly known as Tokyo International Anime Fair) is an annual trade show held at the Tokyo Big Sight convention centre. It is the premier convention of the Japanese animation industry and one of the largest animation-related events in the world. AnimeJapan is attended by several hundred Japanese and foreign television and film production companies, as well as toy, game and software developers.
The school said that when more children showed an interest in anime, they decided to do the trip again. After their return each pupil will have to give a presentation about their experience.
Ten Grade 9 pupils and four teachers will be going, and the first group of Grade 11s came back in March this year.
Organiser of the group, Ridaa MacGirlley, said it would be the school’s second trip to the anime conference. “When the first group came back, we noticed that they have gained so much confidence.” He said some of the children who were shy had come out of their shell.
According to Wikipedia, anime is a Japanese term for hand-drawn or computer animation. The word is the abbreviated pronunciation of “animation” in Japanese, where this term references all animation. Outside Japan, anime is used to refer specifically to animation from Japan or a Japanese-disseminated animation style, often characterised by colourful graphics, vibrant characters and fantastical themes.
The Southern Mail chatted to the Grade 9s about their love and interest in anime. Yusra Mallum said she couldn’t wait to meet the Japanese people and taste their food, while Ammaarah Willoughby said she had a few manga (a style of Japanese comic books and graphic novels) magazines but was looking forward to experiencing the real atmosphere in Japan.
Courtney Hendricks wants to experience the different genres of anime. “I love comedy and would like to get to know more about the other genres (action, drama, romance).”
Aneeqah Masoet loves the romance in the anime movies. “But I would like to get to know the Japanese culture, and I want to know how anime originated.”
Christian Smith said he loved the romance genre. “I find it very entertaining. I also want to learn how to speak Japanese.”
Cee-Jay January is hoping to see new technology and the different types of art.
Caleb de Wet said he had been introduced to anime by his father when he was only 3 years old. “I love the stories especially the ones with blood and
gore.”
One of the main characters, Kanekiken, is everyone’s favourite, and Caleb would like to see people dressed
up as the different anime characters in Japan.
Justin Sanger said he watched anime on the internet. “I also play manga games.”
Mogammad Raees Jaffer said he watched anime on SABC 2 and he was looking forward to “seeing the culture and technology on display at the confer-
ence.”
Mr Mac Girlley said they would attend the one-day conference and then visit the shops in the area because “the stuff is too expensive at the expo“.
Mr MacGirlley invited the community to support the Marc Lottering fund-raiser. For more details, call 021 712 9318 or 076 087 9249.
