Clubs for Teens

Anime Review Club

Special news for Anime Club members: Jason Thompson, who wrote the great book Manga: The Complete Guide, is giving away 5 manga a day for a whole year. To try to win some, go to suvudu.com, where he is also reviewing a manga a day for the next year, to add to what's already in the book. You will have to enter your name, address and email, and state whether you are over or under 18.

Every month we have meetings at the Central Library andsometimes at one or more of our branches. All teens are welcome, from beginner to expert in the world of anime. Most of what we show are episodes from new anime, soon after they are released in the U.S. Once in a while we also show feature-length films or classics of anime.

Recent showings have included episodes of Full Metal Panic, Sakura Wars, Lost Universe, Best Student Council and more.

The rules are simple:

1. Come to the library and have fun watching anime episodes and films.
2. Help us review the anime, to give feedback to the companies and to post reviews on the library website.

If you turn in reviews, you are eligible for fun prizes.

We socialize and eat Japanese snacks, both modern and traditional. This year the club also attended Anime L.A.

We publish short reviews on our library website, and also send survey results and review summaries to the anime companies. So, if you're a teen, and if you like anime, and if you want to make yourself heard, then this is the place for you!

Go Club

For the second year in a row, our Go Club played in the big online tournament for school and library clubs. This time, we were fourth overall among teams throughout the U.S. and Canada, which is great news, and many of our players were included in a special invitational tournament.

We can never get everyone in one place, but here is a photo of most of our online team, with their plaque. The ones with the little stuffed animals had been given a special sportsmanship award by the American Go Honor Society, and in Japanese tradition these are little stuffed animals that you attach to your backpack or book bag.

In addition to our weekly regular meetings, we will have our annual Summer Go Festival on Saturday, August 7th.

Every Saturday from 2 to 4 pm in Teen Central at our Central Library, the Go Club meets to learn and play the game of Go. People have been playing it for 4,000 years in Asia, so it's got a few things going for it...Also, if you have seen the anime or read the manga of Hikaru No Go, you've seen the game itself in its Japanese form.

Go is easy to learn and a fun challenge to play. You can play in person, but some people even play over the internet. Learn the game, play for fun, and compete against others.

Teens who come regularly can get their own practice board with magnetic pieces, good for carrying in your backpack and working out tricky problems, so that you can beat your friends next game.

Results of our May 29th Ranking Tournament

We divided the players into two groups, Advanced and Intermediate, for the competition. Winners were:

Advanced:

1. Crystal Yep
2. Johnathan Luc
3. Kyle Young [tied]

Intermediate:

1. Andrew Liao
2. William Bremer
3. Brandy Kerr

Electronic Resources

• The American Go Association site, with lots of info about the game and the players around the country
• Go Problems to solve, a good way to learn more about the game
• Sensei's Library, a good site for learning more about how to play
• Tiger's Mouth, a site for kids and teens all about the game of Go
• Internet resource list from the American Go Association
• PlayGo, with interactive lessons
• KGS, where you can play opponents around the world via the Net