Much like any club in most schools, the creation time is often the most difficult and traumatic. While the idea of the club is no doubt considered a "necessity", most would shy away from the creation of a club that may not last long. For four friends, and two others soon to be added to the daring group, only time stand in the way of creation of UBanime.

The concept of an anime club came first to the mind of Allison Chu and Lisa Tan. Although they are both anime fans, the idea of sharing the joy of watching anime with others was about as sweet as cotton candy. Once it was confirmed that there indeed does not exist a club in UB that deals with anime, the two gathered the necessary brains to help establish the necessary structure for the club. Working tirelessly behind the scenes, Allison gathered the necessary 30 members to satisfy the requirement for the formation of the club. As Greg Chu (creator of the newsletter)and Joanne Hwang entered the frame, the constitution was drafted in Milliard Fillmore College by the Ellicott Complex. While the meeting contained many disagreements, it was soon clear that the teamwork between the four is unrivaled. As the constitution gets signed and came to a close, the positions for the officers were immediately established to ensure order of the chain of command. Allison would be the first ever president of the club, followed by Greg, Lisa chose to become the treasurer, and Joanne became the secretary. As the group readied the submission of the constitution, little did they know that two other students had the same idea and was preparing to secure a piece of the club's history.

Sung and Stella can probably be considered "otaku"s. They were deep in the appreciation of anime and have personal collection of many of the series that were released here and abroad. Granted there weren't many series for collection, but Stella has always had connections to get fansubs. Their passion for anime led them to the formation of their constitution for a club. As they are submitting their version, they were informed that a group of four had already started the process and the club is already considered established. Naturally they decided to join the group and form the 6 person team that would forever be considered the first group of officers for UBanime.

Unfortunately, like a good RPG, there was a twist of fate for one of the founder. Joanne was to transfer to another school and thus had to relinguish her position. Thus it was crucial to determine the new positions and stablize a club that had not yet been ratified. With an increasing need for a artistic talent to create logos and fliers, it was determined that Justin Cobb(original logo creator) will replace Joanne, but not her position. Lisa was moved to secretary, Sung became the treasurer, Justin became Internal Affairs Officer, and Stella was External Affairs Officer. With the chain of command firmly in place, UBanime was soon granted the charter to become the official anime club of University at Buffalo(Fall 1998). As Justin Tedaldi coined in the future, "The Chu dynasty" has officially begun.

UBanime was unlike any other club in the Student Association. UBanime was completely self- sufficient. Aside from a sizeable TV, eveything was supplied by officers and occationally by members. Without a way to transport equipments, much alone obtaining some without a budget, the team sought out support from the local dorms since they have projection TV in public lounges. The first lounge for the general meeting was in Red Jacket, Ellicott Complex. Later the club would move from lounge to lounge, finally moved to the Student Union per requests from the members and some of the officers.

It would seem that the relocation to Student Union, the club should be smooth sailing from then on. Unfortunately, much hurdles arised for the officers to overcome even though the location for club meetings was secured.

At first, the club moved its meeting to Student Union successfully. Placed in 145 Student Union, the club was easier for members to gain access. Moreover, the club steadily gain more exposure as the location was prime for students attention, anime fans or not.

A/V equipment availability was great to start the year. Student Union provided the club with a 27"+ TV, equipped with a VCR. Later in the year, however, the TV mysteriously disappeared. According to SU, the TV was actually stolen. About the only thing they had was a 19"(or possibly smaller) TV. Unable to really do anything, the club accepted its fate and continued showing in SU145 with the small TV. Eventually, the situation got so bad that for some reason, even the smaller TV had a problem and the meeting was all but canceled. In fact, as witnessed by Bob Rodehurst(Goober King), some of the officers actually had the notion to dissolve the club completely. I being the president at the time, was adamently against shutting down the club, since there are more options that the club can explore despite the circumstances.

The options like moving to Governor complex which is equipped with projection TV is one of the more pluasible options. Another was to utilize the classroom AV equipments, yet that apparently will cost alot of money, and the club basically had none. Finally, it was agreed that we will try to secure another room in SU that is equipped with AV. Luckily, the spring semester allowed us to secure a room on the 3rd floor of SU. A hugh sigh of relief was felt by all. Even though the new room, like any SU room, cannot accomidate the tradition of anime marathons(established by the four founding members from day one) since they need to close at night, it was decided that the club will hold its marathon showings in Governor complex. Till this day, the marathons is still being shown there.

Much of this year related to much of the development of the current UBanime structure. Things like website development, classics showings(introduced by Nate Shelley), community services (supervised by Greg Chu), and UBcon showings(planned by Greg Chu) were all established at this time.

Due to the end of my tenure as an officer of UBanime club, much of my knowledge regarding the happenings of the club in the third year is fairly inadequate. Nonetheless, much happened in the 3rd yr(Fall 2000-2001) to the club, marked by the winning of SISH club of the year. It is at this year which the video library was introduced to the members, conceived by Stephanie Lo. The website duty was placed in the hands of Bob Rodehurst, and has flourished into a key component to the distribution of information to all members.

Countless members and officers have contributed to their time and effort to make this club the way it is now. These people expect no true rewards, as the mere fact that more people are becoming anime fans is rewarding enough. Nonetheless, it is the intention of this work to provide a glimpse of the difficulties that faced us all, and the triumph that came after our hard work.

Thanks for all the people who made the club possible and thanks to all who will make this club eternal.