Pokemon battle on campus

Anime Party at Southeast Missouri State University held a Pokemon Tournament Saturday in Glenn Auditorium.

The tournament was played on Nintendo DS gaming systems, with the overall design and play of the tournament identical to that of the actual Pokemon video games.

"A lot of Anime Party members still play the games," Kayla Pointer, president of Anime Party, said. "In the games you battle eight gym and four elite four and a champion and we have pretty much recreated the game. We have eight gym leaders, four elite four and a champion."

The tournament's winner this year is no noob to the spotlight. Joshua Davitz was the final winner of Anime Party's Pokemon tournament this year, as well as last year.

"This is our second year doing it," Pointer said. "Last year, the previous president came up with the idea. We had a good turnout last year, however, it was three days. Today, we decided to do a daylong tournament. We had a really good turnout, a lot of people came last year. We had a decent turnout this year, we did get a lot of advertisement for it."

When people hear the term "anime" they may think of the computer animated Japanese television shows, which are a big part of the club, but not everything they do surrounds the genre.

"We recently just had our Halloween party," Pointer said. "Usually that is one of our biggest events that we have. We are friends with a hypnotist that we met at a convention last year, and we've been talking to him, seeing if he'll come down and put a show on for campus. So anyone would be allowed to come in and see if they can get hypnotized. We also have probably a field day, maybe a kickball type tournament that we'll be trying to do with other clubs or organizations, in late spring."

When entering Southeast, all incoming freshmen are advised to reach out to clubs and organizations on campus. Freshman Rebecca Hurt said she thinks it is a fantastic idea to find something that you're interested in. She especially likes that she joined Anime Party, even through her busy school schedule.

"I really like it," Hurt said. "I like the people, and being a freshman here I had to find a club, or something to get involved. I came from Jackson, Tennessee, so I came here not knowing anybody, and I came to Anime Party and I instantly made friends. It feels like every new person I also make friends with too."

Hurt said joining clubs on campus is a good way to make friends, especially if you come to Southeast alone like she did. She suggests that students seriously consider the time commitment that comes along with joining clubs and organizations. Hurt said to look for clubs they enjoy because of the great connections and friends that can be made.

Anime Party is also an organization that Southeast alumni can come back to and enjoy reminiscing over their college years.

"I honestly miss it very much," Southeast alumni Danny Drust said. "I got to go to the last meeting and it brought back a lot of great memories. I got to see some of my old friends from the club because a lot of us graduated."