113
Anime club in the public library: case study
Anime klub v splošni knjižnici: študija primera
Žozefina Žentil Barić
Oddano: 3. 4. 2024 – Sprejeto: 8. 7. 2024
1.04 Strokovni članek 
1.04 Professional article
UDK 791.228(520):027 
DOI https:/ /doi.org/10.55741/knj.68.4.4
Abstract
Aim: The popularity of Japanese animation (anime) has increased worldwide in recent 
years. The paper aims to represent an anime club as an opportunity for public libraries 
to draw in young fans by offering them a place where they can exchange experiences 
and find like-minded peers. It reflects on the definition of anime and the reasons for its 
popularity, offers an insight into possible ways of using anime in public libraries and 
presents a case study of a successful anime club.
Methodology: This case study investigates the role of an Anime Club for High Schoolers 
in attracting an often hard-to-reach user group of adolescents back to public libraries. 
The observed anime club is specific for adopting a book club structure. To answer the 
questions how and why this worked, data had been collected through archival record 
research and observation with participation during two program years (from October 
2021 to July 2023).
Findings: Despite the difficulties due to epidemiological measures during the COVID-19 
pandemic, 20 teenagers joined the club: 7 individuals per session on average and 8 
adolescents regularly attending meetings held twice a month. During the second year, 
even more participants regularly attended individual meetings. The club managed to 
gather an interested, engaged and positive community, whose members then started 
participating in other library programs.
Applicability: The work showcases anime clubs as effective and valuable means for 
public libraries worldwide to attract young fans by offering them a place to cultivate 
their interests. It can serve librarians as an incentive for the development of a similar 
activity.
Keywords: adolescents, young adults, anime, anime club, case study, public library

114 Knjižnica, 2024, 68(4), 113–138
Žozefina Žentil Barić   
Izvleček
Cilj: Priljubljenost japonske animacije (anime) se je v zadnjih letih povečala po vsem 
svetu. Namen prispevka je predstaviti anime klub kot priložnost za splošne knjižnice, 
da pritegnejo mlade oboževalce, tako da jim ponudijo prostor, kjer si lahko izmenjajo 
izkušnje in najdejo podobno misleče vrstnike. Poda razmišljanje o opredelitvi animeja 
in razlogih za njegovo priljubljenost, ponuja vpogled v možne načine uporabe animeja 
v splošnih knjižnicah in predstavlja študijo primera uspešnega anime kluba.
Metodologija: Ta študija primera raziskuje vlogo kluba anime za srednješolce pri pri-
vabljanju pogosto težko dosegljive skupine uporabnikov mladostnikov nazaj v splošne 
knjižnice. Obravnavani anime klub je specifičen po tem, da je uporabil strukturo knji-
žnega kluba. Da bi odgovorili na vprašanji, kako in zakaj je to delovalo, so bili podatki 
zbrani z raziskovanjem arhivskih zapisov in opazovanjem z udeležbo v dveh program-
skih letih (od oktobra 2021 do julija 2023).
Ugotovitve: Kljub težavam zaradi epidemioloških ukrepov v času pandemije COVID-19 
se je klubu pridružilo 20 mladostnikov: v povprečju 7 posameznikov na sejo in 8 mla-
dostnikov, ki so redno obiskovali srečanja, ki so potekala dvakrat mesečno. V drugem 
letu se je posameznih srečanj redno udeleževalo še več udeležencev. Klubu je uspelo 
zbrati zainteresirano, angažirano in pozitivno naravnano skupnost, katere člani so se 
nato začeli udeleževati tudi drugih programov knjižnice.
Uporabnost: Delo prikazuje anime klube kot učinkovito in dragoceno sredstvo, s kate-
rim lahko splošne knjižnice po vsem svetu pritegnejo mlade oboževalce in jim ponudi-
jo prostor, kjer lahko gojijo svoje interese. Knjižničarjem lahko služi kot spodbuda za 
razvoj podobne dejavnosti.
Ključne besede: mladostniki, mladi odrasli, anime, anime klub, študija primera, splo-
šna knjižnica
1 Introduction
Professional guidelines instruct young adult librarians to constantly follow the 
interests of their user group so that they can, together with young patrons, cre-
ate programs that will meet current needs and reflect various interests of young 
people in order to maintain their connection with the library. This is at the same 
time both very important and challenging. Important because it has been no-
ticed that teens often lose interest in the library and use it primarily as a source 
of obligatory reading material. Challenging because the young are a heteroge-
neous group with diverse and numerous interests. This diversity is reflected in 
the number of their subcultures.
Among the various youth subcultures in Croatia, the community of manga 
and anime fans has found its place and has noticeably grown in number in 
recent years. This is a global phenomenon and the same thing is happening in 

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Knjižnica, 2024, 68(4), 113–138 115
countries across the world (Guo and Zeng, 2020). Therefore, it presents an op-
portunity for public libraries worldwide to draw in young fans by offering them 
a place for their community, a place where they can exchange experiences and 
find like-minded peers – a place like an anime club. With this purpose in mind, 
the intention of this paper is to familiarize the reader with anime, anime fans, 
and anime clubs and to offer a few possible reasons for the appeal of anime to 
young people.
2 What is anime and why is it so popular
Anime is an umbrella term for the Japanese school of animation within which 
there is a vast diversity of animation styles, themes and genres with some com-
mon stylistic features. Some authors note that in Japan the word anime refers to 
animation in general (as it is an abbreviation of the term animation), while in 
the rest of the world it is used to identify Japanese animation specifically (Price 
cited in Meo, 2016, p. 253). Denison (2015) views anime in a much broader sense 
as a cultural phenomenon that defies easy definition and is more than a single 
mode of media production as its styles and content can be found in a variety of 
products from advertisements and video games to theater productions.
After decades, in which American popular culture dominated global media and 
markets, Japanese popular culture, primarily manga and anime, as well as toys, 
cards, and video games, has grown into a worldwide phenomenon consumed 
by the rapidly increasing audience of youths, including both teenagers and new 
adults (Mechademia, 2006). Researchers found that the expansion of anime 
around the globe began in the 60ies of the 20th century with Astro Boy series 
by Tezuka, that it gained numerous fans in Europe and throughout North and 
South America in the 80ies and then became even more popular in the 90ies 
after the release of the feature-length film Akira
1
 (December 1989 in the U.S.A.) 
and the contribution of Studio Ghibli’s feature-length films, for its popularity to 
explode in the 21st century when it even made its way through to mainstream 
audiences, starting with the worldwide success of the children’s anime series 
Pokémon (Meo, 2016; McKevitt, 2010).
 1
 “The film only played to small audiences on college campuses and in independent theaters, yet 
it gained a cult following in the early nineties thanks to a commercial release on vidéocassette.” 
(McKevitt, 2010, p. 904) 

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Žozefina Žentil Barić   
Some authors (Levi, 2001; Meo, 2016) assert that this spread and popularity of 
anime has been motivated by the demand of the worldwide audience and not by 
major export efforts on the part of Japan. This fact raises the question, what is 
it that these Japanese cultural works bring to young audiences, which of their 
interests and needs do they fulfill that Western culture does not. On the other 
hand, Lu (2008) claims to have detected three cultural politics at work behind 
anime’s internationalization, which, according to her, contribute to anime’s 
global popularity: “de-politicized internationalization, which acts as a commer-
cial tactic; occidentalized internationalization, which suggests a nationalistic 
practice; and selforientalized internationalization, which reveals a cultural de-
sire.” This would mean that Japanese studios and artists are deliberately creating 
works to appeal to a global audience.
It is not easy to determine why anime is such a popular medium. Authors who 
have been studying this field for years have considered a number of characteris-
tics that attract people to anime; however, there are no simple universal answers. 
Therefore, in this article, we can only attempt to pinpoint and briefly introduce 
some of the most common arguments.
Scholars have two major competing theories and schools of thought (Guo and 
Zeng, 2020). One supports the position that anime is not strictly Japanese, but 
rather culturally neutral, universal, and cosmopolitan. Another theory states 
that anime contains elements of Japanese culture and fans around the world 
enjoy anime because of their love for this, to them, different and exotic culture.
2.1 Japanese cultural elements in anime
The origin of these animated series and films did not at first matter to the 
viewers and many of them were not aware that these works came from Japan 
(Vukadinović, 2013), especially in the U.S.A. where editors had stripped the ani-
mation of all visual and plot references of Japan (McKevitt, 2010). American pro-
ducers in the 60ies assumed that the original animation’s “Japaneseness” would 
not appeal to U.S. audiences so they continued to neutralise commercial anime 
imports until the late eighties (McKevitt, 2010). The grassroot fans on the other 
hand were attracted to anime precisely because it was exotic and different from 
the western mainstream culture. “Growing fan demands for cultural authenticity 
defined its underground existence. The commercial boom of the 1990s was the 
result of several U.S. companies rectifying this tension by giving the die-hard 
fan community what it wanted” (McKevitt, 2010, p. 898) – an authentic Japanese 
cultural product. Ogihara-Schuck (cited in Meo, 2016, p. 253–254) reflects that 
the origins of Japanese animation began to be recognized with the Japanimation 

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coinage
2
 after the worldwide release in the 90s of Akira (1988), a feature film by 
Ōtomo Katsuhiro.
Levi (2001) claims that anime’s international success is partly attributable to 
the fact that it is easily adaptable through dubbing, cutting and editing. Susan J. 
Napier (2004) noticed as the most fundamental attraction the notion that anime 
was different from Western creations. She reports that people often compared 
anime to Disney and Hollywood works and considered Western cartoons too 
simplistic and child-oriented and films unrealistic and tiringly optimistic and 
upbeat, whereas anime were seen as realistic depictions of everyday events and 
interactions with often downbeat endings or plots where the main character dies.
The attractive exoticism is manifested through the elements of Japanese every-
day life that permeate anime and draw some fans to find out more about the 
references they encounter. The Internet made it possible for fans to immerse 
themselves deeper in this type of entertainment and learn more about anime 
and its connection with the Japanese culture, contemporary society or language 
and all that became very important for some of them. These efforts deepen fan’s 
understanding of media texts while encouraging the exploration of the culture 
and country of their origin (Rončević, 2021).
For contemporary fans the country of origin can be very important. So much so 
that there is a debate among them whether one can even consider something 
that is not made in Japan by a Japanese studio to be anime. They ask themselves 
is anime a matter of style or origin (Álvarez and Melguizo, 2020)? Álvarez and 
Melguizo (2020) propose a more open stance on how to define anime, one that 
allows other industries outside of Japan to produce quality content and freely 
characterize it as anime if it meets its stylistic parameters. At the same time, 
they emphasize that attention must be paid to the fact that anime is an icon of 
the country from which it originates and that it represents the culture and be-
haviors typical of it. They therefore suggest that anime can be made anywhere in 
the world, as long as it includes its essential cultural and visual characteristics.
2.2 The creation of new myths
According to a Film Lexicon (2003), the predominant stylistic features of anime 
are characters with big eyes, quirky hairstyles and overemphasized expression 
 2
 As a North American amalgamation of the words “Japan” and “animation”, the term “Japanima-
tion” was a popular term to refer to anime in the late 1980s.

118 Knjižnica, 2024, 68(4), 113–138
Žozefina Žentil Barić   
of feelings; computer-controlled artistically striking elaboration of environ-
ments, reduced movements, and visual effects; while thematically anime con-
nects mythological tradition and futuristic projection. Such narrow thematic 
framework does not correspond to the diversity of modern anime
3
. It does, how-
ever, point to an important element that, according to some authors, signifi-
cantly contributes to the popularity of anime: the creation of new myths often 
based on old ones.
Antonia Levi (2001, p.33) asserts that in the postmodern global world of the late 
twentieth century ancient mythologies have been revived as “guides to aid con-
temporary myth-makers as they struggle to create new myths, new truths for 
the twenty-first century”. Moreover, she believes that this is especially true for 
manga and anime. Levi (2001) further explains how well equipped Japan is to 
lead the way to a new age of mythology because in their culture their myths 
have been kept alive and taught in schools alongside with scientific discoveries. 
Therefore, the Japanese never lost the understanding of what myths are, they 
never confused mythological truth with rational truth. Levi (2001) substantiates 
these claims with the example of the works of Tezuka Osamu, the founder of 
Japan’s postwar manga tradition. In the first volume of Hi no tori (The Phoenix, 
1955) he demystified one of the Shinto creation myths by presenting the Gods 
as humans. This did not strip the myth of its power: “Hi no tori retained all 
the moral ambiguity and fearful reverence for nature that was evident in the 
original” (Levi, 2001). Tezuka’s artistic heirs in manga and anime industry have 
followed his lead in creating new myths better suited to the needs and realities 
of the postmodern world.
Among anime the most vivid example of this are perhaps the works of the glob-
ally renowned animator Hayao Miyazaki. Levi (2001) corroborates this through 
the depictions of his feature-length films Kaze no Tani no Nausicaa (Nausicaa of 
the Valley of the Winds, 1984) where, dealing with contemporary environmental 
issues, he created a new myth of a heroic savior; Tonari no Totoro (My Neigh-
bour Totoro, 1988) where, on the basis of the Shinto tradition, he introduced new 
deities who take the viewer back to the world of nature, magic and hope; and 
Mononoke Hime (The Phantom Princess, 1997) in which his efforts to integrate 
Shinto animism with contemporary environmentalism culminated in a modern 
story where deities and nature fear humans and must fight against them for the 
salvation of the planet.
 3
 There are over 50 anime themes, and some of the most notable are mecha (involves mechs, which 
are massive robots or human-controlled robotic machines), isekai (protagonist dies in the real 
world and gets reincarnated into a magical world/fantasy land), superpowers, school, team and 
combat sports, idols, detective, love polygon, coming-of-age, etc. 

Anime club in the public library: case study   
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Myths are created to model bravery – to guide ordinary, fearful people and in-
spire them. They help us embrace adventures and ordeals despite our fears and 
gain wisdom that enables us to contribute to society. Deities and heroes form 
the basis of every mythology, but modern anime mythology brings forth another 
character: an everyday hero. When we deliberate over heroes we might think of 
“mythological or legendary figures often of divine descent endowed with great 
strength or ability” (Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary) or some ordinary per-
son who went beyond himself to do something great, “who is admired by many 
people for doing something brave or good” (Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary). 
Anime successfully combines all these features into one person and presents 
ordinary people as everyday heroes in mundane settings such as high schools. 
Levi (2001) points out that heroes seem to be in short supply in the contemporary 
West due to its global economics, multinational corporations, and shifting moral 
and social climates. As she put it, there seems to be little opportunity for any 
individual to achieve heroic stature. Certainly the mainstream media in the West 
find it difficult to imagine anyone living out a heroic quest in a contemporary 
framework. Although they are a part of this cultural circle too, the Japanese have 
been able to continually come up with all kinds of heroes.
2.3 Examples of everyday heroes
Classic example of an everyday hero endowed with special powers is Tsukino 
Usagi, an ordinary schoolgirl living in an ordinary middle-class home who 
transforms into Sailor Moon and saves the earth with her demon-slaying skills. 
She is actually:
“less than ordinary, a greedy, lazy, whining adolescent who gets poor grades 
largely as a result of her failure to study. The fact that even Usagi can be 
heroic given the right circumstances offers reassurance to adolescents who 
wonder if they will ever achieve even basic maturity, and Usagi does improve 
a bit as the series progresses.” (Levi, 2001, p. 37)
Among the more recent examples, there is the eighth-grader Shigeo “Mob” 
Kageyama from Mob Psycho 100 (2016), who saves people by exorcizing evil 
spirits after school. Shigeo tapped into his inner wellspring of psychic prowess 
at a young age, but the power quickly proves to be a liability when he realizes 
the potential danger in his skills. To effectively control his skills, Mob enlists 
himself under the wing of Arataka Reigen, who, despite being a con artist claim-
ing to be a psychic, looks out for the boy and provides our hero with sound ad-
vice, high standards, and noble attitudes. A heroes’ journey begins with a call 
to adventure, a challenge, or quest that presents itself to an ordinary person in 

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Žozefina Žentil Barić   
the ordinary world. When a person is afraid, they need guidance from a mentor 
or a text to overcome their fears, cross the threshold, and commit to the journey 
(Campbell, 2008). In anime, this is often represented as a path of maturation, of 
striving to become the best version of oneself. In this way, anyone can become 
a hero – on purpose, or even accidentally.
Such scenario is typical of shounen
4
 anime. Edward and Alphonse Elric from 
Hagane no Renkinjutsushi (Fullmetal Alchemist, 2003) are a classical example 
of boys on a quest. These brothers are ordinary boys who go through a terrible 
ordeal; they try to do something about it but are too inexperienced, so they have 
to suffer the consequences of their foolishness: Edward loses two of his limbs, 
but his younger brother loses his entire body, and his soul is transferred into a 
knightly armor. Edward is haunted by what he had caused and goes on a quest to 
find the solution, a way to bring his brother’s body back. Along the way, brothers 
are tested – they succeed and fail, meet allies and enemies, learn, change, and 
mature. Viewers follow them on their moving adventure, empathize with them, 
learn with them, and experience catharsis together with them.
The best sub-genre for light, relaxing anime fun is slice of life (SOL) anime. It is 
a subgenre built on the broad concept of following ordinary people as they live 
their ordinary, relatable lives. One of the best examples of the everyday hero 
in this genre is Tomoya Okazaki from Clannad (2007) and Clannad: After Story 
(2008). Clannad follows the standard slice of life scenario where a dispirited high 
schooler meets a girl who wants to resurrect some forgotten school’s club. Claim-
ing he has nothing better to do, Tomoya decides to help the girl Nagisa achieve 
this goal along with the help of four other girls and his friend Sunohara. By in-
vesting his time to get to know and help Nagisa, Tomoya slowly transforms from 
a delinquent into an everyday hero who then attempts to help those other four 
girls to overcome their problems.
The real strength of this anime comes forth in the After Story where episode nine 
represents an emotional, but also structural turning point. That typical SOL sce-
nario in which the show ends once the goal is reached, all the issues are resolved 
and everyone is happy, gets abandoned and the viewer finds out what happens 
after high school and after the story is over. Tomoya is now faced with being an 
 4
 Following the categorization of manga, in anime there are also different demographic categories 
intended or expected to be watched by a specific audience. The five major anime demographic 
categories (editorial categories) are kodomo-muke (for children), shōnen (for young teenage boys, 
roughly between 12–18), shōjo (for young teenage girls, roughly between 8–18), seinen (for young 
adult males or younger men, roughly between 18–40), and josei (for adult females or younger 
women, roughly between 18–40).

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adult, finding a job, a place to live and a peaceful life to lead. He wants to get 
married, and Nagisa wants to have kids. They end up doing both, but tragedy 
strikes the young family.
Clannad is a story filled with harsh truths about life forcing the viewer to think 
about their personal “what if’s?”. It is the conveying of tragedy and sorrow hap-
pening to ordinary people that makes Clannad into something special. Tomoya 
depicts an everyday hero who faced with personal tragedy and emotional tur-
moil does not cope well, but overcomes them eventually and finds happiness 
again. Slice of life anime series captivate their audience with the ability to cap-
ture real life emotions and portray them in animation.
At the same time, anime “does not attempt to emulate reality – it knows its own 
limits – instead it offers an alternative [...], the surreal framework of anime’s 
style that allows [...] viewers to so easily project their own cultural and experi-
ential likenesses onto anime.” (Kasa cited in Bennett, p. 3). Portraying reality 
realistically without actually trying to emulate it – this sort of ambivalence is 
typical in anime. It is perhaps the most obvious and predominant in the morally 
ambiguous depiction of the main protagonists, who often display a dark side 
that ranges from mildly regrettable to truly appalling. (Levi, 2001). This is also 
one of the features that distinguish anime from American/Western animation. 
There are rarely true villains – “all heroes have flaws, and all villains have some 
redeeming trait of humanity” (Bennett, 2010, p. 7). Characters cannot usually be 
seen as simply good or bad, they are deep and complex with thoughtfully de-
veloped backstories that enable better understanding of their motifs. Similarly, 
their causes may not always be good or righteous but that does not diminish 
their heroism:
“Anime exposes the audience to the idea that one can be loyal, even to the 
death, to a leader who is unworthy or to a cause that is questionable, but 
that such loyalty is still noble in its own way because “fighting for the wrong 
cause does not affect the heroism of those doing the fighting provided that 
their dedication is sincere.” Yes, sometimes evil wins in anime, but that only 
happens when a good person does what he does for all the wrong reasons.” 
(Bennett, 2010, p. 7)
Levi (2001) argues that it is exactly this internal definition of the heroic that 
enables anime to create everyday heroes in ordinary settings “since the setting 
is relatively irrelevant to the heroism”.
Such thought-provoking use of mythology and everyday heroes enables anime 
to serve young people as a guiding thread on the path of maturation and help 

122 Knjižnica, 2024, 68(4), 113–138
Žozefina Žentil Barić   
them fulfill one of their basic needs, the need for wisdom concerning how to be 
fully human (Roeser and Pinela, 2014). Psychological needs such as the need 
to feel competent in managing external and internal environments; the need to 
feel connected to other people and groups; and the need to feel autonomy or self-
determination are a subset of basic human necessities for (mental) health (Deci 
and Ryan, 2012). Adolescence is the time of self-searching and self-defining, 
differentiating from childhood and positioning oneself in regard to one’s sur-
roundings, family and mainstream culture. Therefore, some of those who were 
watching anime as children turn their attention elsewhere while those who start 
watching as teens take it as their identity marker. They become fans and fandom
5
 
comes into play to fulfill their need for belonging.
2.4 Anime fandom
According to Bennett, anime fandom is closely connected with the idea of family 
and “what it means to belong to a group when you have always been an outsider” 
(Bennett, 2010, p. 32). This is a family of choice, a modern concept prominent 
in the postmodern world where people want to be more individualistic and to 
choose their family out of people with whom they can identify rather than the 
biological grouping into which they were born (Bennett, 2010). Anime fandom 
is a matter of choice, and its most noticeable characteristic since the beginning 
in the late 70ies has been activism within community (McKevitt, 2010). Activism 
manifests through creation of various fan art, translation of works (e.g. sub-
titles), starting fan clubs or holding conventions (or “cons”).
“The demand for activism contributed to a unifying sense of community and 
permitted participants to experiment with new cultural identities [...] illus-
trated fans’ conscious efforts to define anime as a distinct cultural category, 
to develop knowledge about the medium and its relationship to Japanese cul-
ture, and to construct boundaries to mark the territory in which legitimate 
fan behavior could take place.” (McKevitt, 2010, p. 905–906)
The above quotation confirms that active participation within fandom enables 
young people to experiment with their identity within well founded cultural 
boundaries that differ from rules of their birth family and mainstream surround-
ings. Local anime club with its communal activities of watching, interpreting, 
 5
 Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries online define a fan as “a person who admires somebody/something 
or enjoys watching or listening to somebody/something very much”. Definition of fandom is “the 
fans of a particular person, team, TV show, etc. considered together as a community.” 

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and participating provides public space where like-minded individuals con-
struct their distinct community where members accept each other without too 
much judgment for they are all being weird together (McKevitt, 2010). By 2004, 
anime clubs existed on nearly every continent (Patten cited in Lu, 2008).
There are many other ways fans can get together to share interests, such as writ-
ing fan fiction, cosplaying in an event, publishing magazines and interacting on 
the internet. Bennett claims that fears of the internet causing depersonalization 
are unfounded, as internet access is in fact allowing whole new communities to 
grow which would previously have been impossible to actualize (Bennett, 2010). 
One example of this is MyAnimeList or MAL: an anime and manga social network-
ing and social cataloging application website run by volunteers, which has been 
active since 2004 and is free of charge (MyAnimeList, 2023). The site provides its 
users with a list-like system for organizing and scoring anime and manga, and 
facilitates fan connection through forums, clubs, and blogs where users write 
their reviews, ask questions and discuss content. In 2022 there were more than 
18 million active users from 200 countries around the world (DNP Group, 2022).
Today Japanese popular culture is considered a global and transnational phe-
nomenon resulting in multiple local fandoms with distinct manifestations that 
are simultaneously part of a worldwide community which communicates in a 
specific jargon. This jargon specific to anime fandom includes numerous Japa-
nese words such as otaku, kawaii, doki doki, tsundere, which are used to denote 
situations, phenomena, character types, etc.
6
 Most people have probably heard 
of Pokémon but anime fans are not just familiar with the stories, they use inside 
terms to communicate with each other and can sound to the uninformed as if 
they are talking in another language (Guo and Zeng, 2020). Some fans that enjoy 
anime with original voice acting and subtitles in another language, build up the 
interest in the Japanese language over time and want to learn more.
2.5 From cultural elements mixing to anime culture
The Japanese origin of anime is not very important to all fans. For some, as it 
has been suggested above, anime serves as a vehicle to explore their own issues, 
not because it is “exotic” but because it is universal. This takes us back to the 
aforementioned theory that anime is not strictly Japanese but rather culturally 
neutral, universal and cosmopolitan. Kasa contributes to this view by pointing 
out that “[a]nime has its own unique culture, offering universal treatments that 
 6
 https://www.urbandictionary.com/

124 Knjižnica, 2024, 68(4), 113–138
Žozefina Žentil Barić   
can be read identically by each viewer regardless of their own cultural back-
ground.” (Kasa cited in Bennett, 2010, p. 20)
According to Lu (2008) internationalization, meaning incorporation of non-Japa-
nese or ‘universal’ elements, is one of anime’s most distinctive features. Various 
authors (see Rončević 2021a) state that the principle of mukokuseki is one of the 
key concepts of anime that facilitates this medium’s penetration into foreign 
markets. The mukokuseki principle marks the aesthetics of a denationalized 
space in which Japanese elements and characteristics are erased. In Japan, the 
term is used dually, but not mutually exclusive, denoting the mixing of cultural 
elements of multiple origins and erasing obvious ethnic and cultural character-
istics (Iwabuchi cited in Rončević, 2021a: p. 77).
There are many examples of incorporating non-Japanese elements into anime 
from the classic The Alchemist Brothers where the protagonists have western 
names, Edward and Alphonse; through the characters’ love of classical music, 
for example Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata in Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Nari-
takute! (The Eminence of Shadow, 2022); to the well-known Shingeki no Kyojin 
(Attack on Titan – AOT, 2013) which is imbued with German language and its 
architecture resembles European pre-industrial townships.
The mukokuseki principle continues in character design. Due to their lack of ex-
plicit “Japaneseness”, character appearance is often interpreted as “Western”. 
For Ruh (cited in Rončević, 2021a, p. 78), these are actually abstract representa-
tions of the human body dependent on the author, the narrative and the tropes of 
the genre, which is why he prefers to consider their appearance as “nationless”. 
Western animation had a strong influence on the early development of anime and 
its characters. In this regard, the creativity of Tezuka Osamu, who was strongly 
influenced by the Disney animation, stands out. Thanks to his inventions a spe-
cific anime style had been gradually developing – the style of “big eyes” and light 
complexion, moving only the mouth, dark lines of the characters, the death of the 
main character and serious themes (Lu cited in Rončević, 2021a, p. 98).
Amy Shirong Lu (cited in Rončević, 2021a, p. 99) believes that because the themes 
and actions of many anime touch on universal narratives, they actually lack the 
qualities associated with the Orient, which is why she considers it more of an 
international medium. Therefore, as Napier (cited in Guo and Zeng, 2020, p. 488) 
points out, many fans enjoy anime not because they are attracted to Japanese 
culture per se, but perhaps to anime culture.
When one connects the inevitable elements of Japanese culture with elements 
of mythology and heroism, with elements of universality and cosmopolitanism, 

Anime club in the public library: case study   
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and adds to that the characteristic anime style that is imitated by numerous 
fans who are also interested in content creators (screenwriters, producers, voice 
actors, composers), one is actually talking about anime culture. Thus, young 
people who watch anime are not only watching Japanese cartoons but also im-
mersing themselves in a rich and wide-ranging culture that gathers, connects, 
and unites young people of different nations with different needs and interests.
The final point is that anime culture is such a prolific provider of content that 
anyone can find anime to their liking, whether they choose by theme or genre, 
setting, and atmosphere or search for inter-character relationship-driven sto-
ries.
3 Anime in the library
Anime can be interesting for libraries both in the context of reading promotion 
and of creating programs for quality leisure time. Nina Exner (2012) states that 
in regard to manga, anime and reading promotion librarians go back to the old 
debate about whether comics should be part of the library collection and whether 
they can serve as stimulating reading material for beginners. It became clear 
over time that the side winning the debate is the side that advocates comic books 
as an excellent incentive for reluctant readers to fall in love with reading and 
then move on to reading short stories and novels, and as such are mandatory 
material in libraries. Concerning manga and anime, this is especially true for 
English speaking countries. However, considering that only a small number of 
manga get translated into Croatian language and even fewer anime have sub-
titles in Croatian, the possibility of directly using manga and anime as means to 
encourage reading in Croatian public libraries is quite limited. The possibilities 
increase if manga and anime are viewed as media platforms that indicate the 
interests of their consumers.
Researchers have found that tying fan activities such as gaming, movies, and 
manga together with books can increase cross-platform interest (Welch, 2008). 
Velna Rončević (2021a) also pointed out to this while writing about a market-
ing model called anime media mix. According to this model, fans are first in-
troduced to the story and characters through manga, after which they continue 
their interest through anime and other creations such as games, visual novels, 
fan prose (fanfiction); or first contact with the content is established through 
anime, and then they explore other creations, although in the 21st century it is 
increasingly happening that video games pave the way for anime and manga 
(Rončević, 2021a).

126 Knjižnica, 2024, 68(4), 113–138
Žozefina Žentil Barić   
Librarians can take advantage of this tendency of fans to use different media 
platforms based on their awakened interest in certain content and encourage 
them to read books by carefully selecting literature. After all, some highly re-
garded anime works are based on books, such as Hayao Miyazaki’s film Howl no 
Ugoku Shiro (Howl’s Moving Castle, 2004), which is based on the fantasy novel of 
the same name by the British writer Diane Wynne Jones or the successful series 
Gankutsuou (Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo, 2004) by Studio Gonzo, 
which set the action of the French novel of the same name by Alexandre Dumas 
in the future. Many anime reference fiction and/or historical figures in all sorts 
of ways, for example in a popular mecha
7
 anime Eighty Six (86, 2021) the main 
hero reads All Quiet on the Western Front, a novel by the German writer Erich 
Maria Remarque, while the Fate series presents eminent historical figures from 
different time periods from Alexander The Great and Ceasar all the way to Nikola 
Tesla and Thomas Edison. This opens a broad set of possibilities for librarians 
to use in anime clubs for reading promotion and knowledge expansion through 
fiction, history books, biographies, documentaries etc.
In countries where Japanese and English are not native languages, reading pro-
motion can be substituted with foreign language learning. There is a well-known 
debate in the anime fan community whether it is better to watch subtitled or 
dubbed movies/series (sub vs. dub). Free online streaming services usually en-
able watching anime in two ways: with original Japanese voice acting and sub-
titles in English/another language or dubbed into English/another language.
8
 
Reading subtitles can be frustrating at first because the words disappear from 
the screen too quickly or a slow reader can not enjoy the animation while focus-
ing on reading, but it all gets better with practice. Regularly watching content 
with subtitles will make fans quicker readers (Pard, 2020).
In Croatia, fans prefer listening to Japanese voices and reading English subtitles 
(Tandarić, 2016), which is quite useful for learning English, but also an incentive 
for learning Japanese. While researching this field, Velna Rončević (2021) discov-
ered that numerous studies have established a link between the growing interest 
in Japanese popular culture and the motivation to learn the Japanese language. 
McKevitt (2010) noticed the same thing happening in the USA with some of the 
early fans as well as with many college students in Japanese language courses 
today who state that anime and manga inspired them to register. The library 
can serve as a bridge between interest in anime and learning foreign languages   
 7
 A genre of Japanese animation that showcases the use of giant, humanoid robots known as 
mechs.
 8
 For example, Zorox.to, 9anime or Crunchyroll.

Anime club in the public library: case study   
Knjižnica, 2024, 68(4), 113–138 127
by acquiring and offering materials for learning English or Japanese and/or by 
organizing an activity such as Language Cafe
9
 among other anime club activities.
The interests of individuals within anime community often extend to the Japa-
nese language, traditional and modern Japanese culture, as well as all other 
related phenomena such as visual novels, light novels, Chinese and Korean ver-
sions of manga, Japanese video games, etc. (Rončević, 2021). Beyond the content 
of the anime itself, fans are interested in the creators of anime and the voice 
actors. Fans also like to express themselves through creation so they write fanfic-
tion, draw comics, make mashup videos etc. (Reysen et al., 2020). Although this 
work focuses on anime, it is important to note that all the above areas of interest 
can be incorporated into an anime club thereby enriching it and increasing the 
quality of the program.
Anime club has been present in libraries for decades. According to Pard they 
started out across the USA as
“gatherings of college students who were passionate about getting to see any 
sort of English translated version of Japanese animation (something that was 
rare in the early 1990s). They gathered to watch fan subbed versions on im-
ported anime which were subtitled by groups of fans like themselves. The 
rise of internet access gave way to more accessible anime viewing, includ-
ing subscription streaming sites, wider sales of translated content, and even 
public and school library anime clubs.” (Pard, 2020: p. 7)
Ever since those first gatherings, screenings of episodes and films seem to be 
a large and expected part of anime club programs. Although each local com-
munity adapts the activities of the club to its own interests and needs, a similar 
structure can be found in most American anime clubs. It usually starts with ten 
minutes of mingling, followed by either some short craft, game, activity or an 
hour of conversation on topics related to anime, Japanese culture or pop culture 
in general, and ends with communal watching of anime (Pard, 2020). Providing 
a craft or activity in addition to the screening can encourage attendees to bring 
friends along who are not so much into anime yet, as these extra activities will 
make them feel more comfortable.
 9
 The idea is to practice your language skills and cultural awareness by talking to native speak-
ers and other learners, informally, over coffee or tea. Language Cafe is usually led by a native 
speaker or a teacher of a particular language, but it can also function well as a place where those 
interested in learning and practicing will encourage, guide and help each other in mastering a 
new language.

128 Knjižnica, 2024, 68(4), 113–138
Žozefina Žentil Barić   
Anime clubs are not just about watching cartoons and that is why screenings 
are not really necessary, although they are a common and important part of the 
club meeting. According to Pard (2020), it is even welcome to sometimes change 
the routine of the club and devote the entire meeting to a longer activity themed 
from the favorite show of the members. Some libraries choose to purposely cre-
ate Screen-Free Anime Clubs to encourage adolescents to spend their time more 
creatively away from smartphones and computers (Pard, 2020). Games, crafts 
and activities enable participants to develop a variety of skills and experiences 
of which meeting people with common interests is a large part. In addition, so-
cial engagement can be a strong selling point to those who do not see why the 
library would want to host such program (Pard, 2020).
Teen services librarians throughout the USA responded early to teens’ love for 
manga and anime which resulted in anime clubs becoming a staple at many 
libraries by 2007 (Brehm-Heeger et al., 2007). Besides realizing that hosting 
regular anime nights is a great way to serve an often hard-to-reach user group, 
they have noticed that anime is getting ever more popular (Brehm-Heeger et al., 
2007). A decade later, Pard (Pard, 2020) noted that there are few professional 
texts available for librarians who want to start their own anime club, despite the 
high interest. That is why she wrote the manual Anime Clubs for Public Librar-
ies: A Practical Guide for Librarians which was published in 2020. Broken into 
fourteen chapters, Pard’s guide allows the reader to dip in at will, with the first 
half of the book dedicated to the logistics of running a club and the latter half 
focused on the specific kinds of themed events a club might host.
Programing enables libraries to fulfill one of their most important roles and 
that is to meet the individual’s needs for personal development and purposeful 
spending of leisure time. By organizing a program like an anime club librar-
ies can provide a safe space for anime fan community and show these young 
people that libraries understand their subculture and how it extends far beyond 
watching animated series (Roeser and Pinela, 2014). In the USA, where anime 
subculture has a long tradition, even more ambitious programing projects are set 
up in libraries, for instance anime festivals that combine fan gatherings with an-
ime screenings, gaming, reading and discussion, panels, costuming, and more 
(Czarnecki cited in Exner, 2012, p. 28).
In addition to fulfilling the aforementioned need for autonomy concerning who 
one chooses to be as a person and choosing one’s family, such events provide 
adolescents with opportunities to immerse themselves into something greater 
that far outreaches them as individuals. This need for self-transcendence during 
adolescence, for losing oneself in something beyond self is endangered by the 
lack of attention from adults and institutions and may lead to substance abuse 

Anime club in the public library: case study   
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and all kinds of risky behavior (Roeser and Pinela, 2014). As cultural institutions 
libraries have vast opportunities to cultivate healthy forms of self-transcendence 
in young people through programs based on art, that is music, stories, games, 
films, manga and anime etc.
4 Anime Club for High Schoolers case study
What makes this Anime Club for High Schoolers an interesting subject of a case 
study is the fact that its structure was inspired by and based on the way a book 
club functions. The case study focuses on answering basic research questions 
about how and why the program worked, and what can be learned from that. 
The data collection techniques used were archival record research and observa-
tion with participation, given that the researcher was also a club facilitator and 
library employee. The archival records included membership and attendance 
statistics, a facilitator’s work diary, WhatsApp group communication, and an 
evaluation questionnaire at the end of the program year. The Anime Club was 
observed during the two program years.
In autumn 2021 The Anime Club for High Schoolers was launched as a pilot pro-
gram of a public library. The realization of the pilot started with the assumption 
that among young library users, both those who read manga and those who do 
not, many like to watch anime and would gladly participate in an anime club. 
Why anime? The goal was to search for this hidden group of users, as well as to 
attract potential young users to the library, and find out more about their needs. 
Unlike manga, which was well represented in this library’s collection, anime 
was poorly represented due to various problems in film distribution, which made 
it an even more special and interesting material for working with young people.
The target user group of this program was the adolescents. It is a group of indi-
viduals who share the common need to define their own identities. In many cases, 
this search for their own identity leads them away from previous interests, and 
this often includes moving away from books and libraries. To counter this trend, 
librarians launch programs to attract young people back to the library. To achieve 
this, they need something that is not offered by local associations and is at the 
same time very interesting to a larger number of young people. As shown in the 
previous paragraphs, the growing popularity and expansion of manga and an-
ime fan communities is a global phenomenon mainly among tweens, teenagers, 
young adults, and new adults. The fact that there were no contents in the area spe-
cifically intended for manga and anime fans gave the library a great opportunity 
to offer young people something completely new and in line with their interests.

130 Knjižnica, 2024, 68(4), 113–138
Žozefina Žentil Barić   
The theme of the program was narrowed down to anime, the user group was speci-
fied as adolescents, but then the scheduling presented a bit of an issue. A large 
number of secondary schools in the area work in two shifts, which means that one 
week children are at school from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., and the following week from 2 
p.m. to 7 p.m. At the same time, many schools have classes exclusively in the morn-
ing from 8 a.m. to 1 or 2 p.m. In addition, teens engage in various extracurricular 
activities such as sports training, music school, acting lessons and so on, even on 
Saturday. The library usually organizes programs for teenagers on Saturday morn-
ings, as the library is open only until 1 p.m. Therefore, scheduling any time meant 
that a large section of young users was going to be missed. It was finally decided 
to schedule the anime club pilot from 11 a.m. to 13 p.m. once a month on Saturday. 
Already at the first meeting, the participants stated that once a month was too rare 
for them and that they would like to continue meeting on Saturdays at the same 
time, but every two weeks. The librarians were pleased that these young people 
were so interested in the club and were happy to fulfill their wish.
Another issue arose with the event venue. The multimedia hall, which was nor-
mally used for holding programs with teenagers, was booked months in advance 
by another organizer. As all this took place during the COVID-19 pandemic, the 
room designated for reading newspapers was unavailable to users at the time, 
so the anime club found its temporary home there. Although the library users 
peeked inside through the glass doors, the club members still had enough pri-
vacy to freely express their impressions and thoughts. From November 2021 to 
March 2022, users over the age of 16 were allowed to enter the library only upon 
presentation of a valid EU Covid certificate or other appropriate proof of vacci-
nation. Most high school students did not have such certificates, so they could 
not enter the library. Fortunately, there was a cafe in another part of the library 
with a separate entrance that did not require a vaccination certificate, so the 
club moved there. The working conditions in the cafe were far from ideal for an 
anime club. In order not to disturb the normal business of the cafe, the group 
had to sit near the bar during a very busy period. The noise made it difficult to 
communicate, and curious guests of the cafe often interrupted the conversa-
tion by asking what was going on or commenting on the content that the club 
members were displaying on a large portable screen. When this epidemiological 
measure was finally lifted in March, the anime club returned to the newspaper 
reading room where it remained until the end of the program year in July. Such 
detailed descriptions of the time and place of the meetings are intended to serve 
as evidence showing just how much young people wanted this anime club and 
how many obstacles they were ready to overcome in order to realize it.
Due to problems with the venue and constant changes in epidemiological mea-
sures in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was decided that the club would 

Anime club in the public library: case study   
Knjižnica, 2024, 68(4), 113–138 131
start without posters and media announcements/invitations in order to avoid 
possible high turnout. Librarians whose children were attending high school 
at the time asked them to spread the word about starting an anime club among 
their peers. A professor at the local art school, a close associate of the library, 
also encouraged some of her students to join the club. With this word-of-mouth 
approach, 10 high school students gathered at the first meeting, some of whom 
did not show up again, and some brought a friend the next time.
The work method chosen for the Anime club for high schoolers was inspired by 
and based upon the way the library’s Book club for high schoolers had been func-
tioning for years. The pilot was therefore outlined with a clear club structure in 
mind: the meetings are to be managed by a librarian, last for two hours and to be 
divided into three segments. The first segment is intended for discussion about 
the watched anime, the second for socializing with activities prepared by the 
participants, and the third segment is designed for proposing, presenting and 
selecting anime to watch for the next meeting. The goal was for the participants 
of the anime club to feel that this group is theirs and for them. The freedom to 
choose what they wanted to watch and then discuss, as well as the opportunity 
to lead the conversations during the socializing segment based on activities they 
have chosen and created, were to give them the feeling of ownership.
Just like in the book club, all members watch the same anime at home and then 
discuss it during the next meeting. The purpose of this first segment is to cre-
ate a safe environment where young people can exchange their impressions, 
thoughts and feelings based on the anime they have watched. It is the leader’s 
task to recognize tangents and bring the discussion back to the anime, along 
with making sure that everyone has a chance to speak during the meeting. Fa-
cilitating discussion is a skill that includes asking prompting questions in a way 
that encourages and engages participants, but does not pressure them. In order 
to achieve all that, it was decided that the discussion leader should be a librarian 
with experience in facilitating the book club.
It was assumed that the conversation about the watched anime could last be-
tween half an hour and an hour, depending on the content of the anime, the num-
ber of participants who watched it and their willingness to express their impres-
sions. Those who have not watched the anime would also be welcome to the club 
meetings, if they do not mind spoilers. Even if they would be a bit bored during 
this first segment, everyone should have fun during the rest of the club meeting.
The second meeting segment is intended as a time for socializing. The design and 
management of this part should be completely taken over by young people. To 
ensure this, some time should be left at the end of each meeting for participants 

132 Knjižnica, 2024, 68(4), 113–138
Žozefina Žentil Barić   
to agree on who will prepare some activity for the next time. The activities could 
be a quiz related to anime (trivia, music quiz) or a presentation about an element 
of Japanese culture, etc.
The book club experience has shown that adolescents very much enjoy that part 
of the meeting when they choose which book is to be read next. So much so, that 
this has become an unavoidable ending ritual. It was decided to test whether this 
activity would be just as fun at the anime club, but with the addition of a small 
twist. The election has been turned into an elimination one, so hand is raised 
for anime series which one does not want to watch. Participants are to suggest 
an anime by finding its description on the My Anime List (MAL) website. Anyone 
can suggest one or more anime, but on the condition that it is no more than 12 
episodes long so that everyone can watch it until the next meeting, and it must 
have age appropriate content. Each proposer then presents the anime he suggests 
for viewing, stating the reasons for recommending it, what genre it is, what topics 
it deals with, etc. This way of choosing the adolescents found as unusual, in-
structive and fun. In addition to getting the chance to recommend to someone an 
anime they like or have on their plan to watch list, young people practice presenta-
tion skills and how to stand up for something they believe in and find important.
Goals for the pilot were set based on knowledge of previous adolescent event 
attendance and engagement in library book clubs. The realities of contempo-
rary high school circumstances with limited time for students to pursue extra-
curricular activities were also taken in account. Based on the stated, and on the 
assumption that anime is a popular and interesting content for adolescents, the 
following goals were set to measure the success of the anime club pilot:
1) 5–10 adolescents enrolling;
2) 3–5 adolescents regularly attending meetings (at least 50 %) from the begin-
ning to the end of the program year (October to June);
3) every regularly attending adolescent providing at least one activity for at least 
one meeting.
These goals were measured by taking attendance during each anime club meet-
ing and by recording who prepared which activity. There were 20 anime club 
meetings held during the first program year from October 2021 to July 2022. The 
following results were recorded:
1) 20 adolescents enrolled: 7 individuals/session on average;
2) 8 adolescents regularly attended meetings (at least 50 %, that is 10 meetings) 
from the beginning to the end of the program year (October to July), 5 members 
skipped only one meeting each (three were members from the beginning, two 
from February);
3) every regularly attending adolescent provided one activity for a meeting.

Anime club in the public library: case study   
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Considering the stated goals and found results, the pilot program was deemed 
successful. Among the 20 registered participants, those who appeared only once 
were also recorded. Young people came and went: they came out of curiosity; 
they left because of changes in training dates or because of new family obliga-
tions, etc. It happened, for example, that one girl brought two of her friends and 
they then became the most frequent participants, but the girl stopped coming 
due to a change in her choir’s rehearsal schedule. The most visited club was in 
November 2021 when 11 anime fans participated.
As expected, as the end of the school year and the beginning of summer ap-
proached, the number of participants in the meetings began to decrease. How-
ever, due to the great interest of the five most loyal members, the program year 
was ultimately extended to the month of July. Although some of them started 
working as soon as school ended, they still didn’t want to give up the anime club.
From the beginning to the end of the program year, more adolescent boys than 
girls participated in the meetings, which is the complete opposite of the expe-
rience with the book club. In total, there were 12 registered girls and 8 boys, 
however, among the regular 8 attendees were 2 girls and 6 boys. Twenty anime 
series were watched and commented upon.
Participant feedback was gathered at the end of the program year via an anony-
mous paper survey. The evaluation questionnaire entitled “Review of the first 
year of Anime Club” contained 14 questions. Young people were asked how did 
they find out about the club and why they joined; what did they expect and to 
what extent were their expectations met; how satisfied were they with the gen-
eral club organization (e.g. venue) and the way club functioned (frequency of 
meetings, quality of structured conversations about watched anime, how many 
opportunities they had to participate, etc.) as well as to review the leadership per-
formance. After giving the club a final rating in anime style from 1 to 10, they were 
asked to write what anime club means to them. Participant feedback was limited 
to those who came to the last two meetings which included some of the regulars 
and some of the occasional partakers. These eight collected responses do not re-
flect the opinions of all participants, but nevertheless provide important insight.
Young people joined the club expecting to talk about anime and meet new people 
who love anime, so everyone felt that their expectations were fulfilled to a very 
large extent. Nobody offered an answer to the questions about what they didn’t 
like and what was missing, except for one participant who apparently likes to 
sleep longer on Saturdays, so he didn’t like the 11 a.m. meeting time. They liked 
discussing anime, the people who gathered in the club, the atmosphere that pre-
vailed, and the fact that they have discovered and watched a lot of good anime. 

134 Knjižnica, 2024, 68(4), 113–138
Žozefina Žentil Barić   
Most of them felt that they had enough opportunities to participate in activities 
during meetings, only one participant thought that they had too many, while one 
had too few opportunities to participate. Everyone was very satisfied with the 
conversations about the assigned animes. Leader’s work (communication with 
the participants, leading the discussion, support in the selection of activities, 
etc.) was rated 10 by 90% of the participants. The technical organization of the 
club was rated the worst due to the previously mentioned venue problems, but it 
was actually quite highly rated in the range of 7 to 9.
After reflecting on the individual elements, participants were asked to rate the 
club overall. The anime club pilot was completed with an average rating of 9.5, 
for which an explanation was offered by one participant: “The members still 
need to get to know each other better and relax, and it will be 10.” At the end of 
the questionnaire, participants were asked if they had any suggestions for the 
following year. There were no concrete suggestions offered; however, one par-
ticipant thanked the library for organizing the anime club and expressed hope 
that it would continue.
Information about the intrinsic motivation/ interests and needs of the partic-
ipants was intended to be obtained through answer analysis to the question 
“What does Anime Club mean to you?”. The participants mostly expressed a 
strong feeling of satisfaction because they had fun and found a group of people 
they could easily talk to about their favorite subject. Therefore, the anime club 
was a place of entertainment in which these young people fulfilled their need 
to socialize and belong to a group. During the second program year one partici-
pant shared with the researcher that the anime club meeting is a highlight of her 
social life mostly because she was stressed out by the demanding school and 
had no time to meet with her friends due to different school shifts and the bus 
schedule issues that all travelling students have.
Considering the success of the pilot, it was understood that the anime club would 
continue its work, so the second program year lasted from October 2022 to July 
2023. The same goals and evaluation criteria were set as in the previous year, 21 
meeting was held and the following data collected:
1) 23 adolescents enrolled (8 from the pilot year): 11 individuals/session on aver-
age;
2) 10 adolescents regularly attended meetings (at least 50 %) from the begin-
ning to the end of the program year (October to July), 6 members skipped only 
one meeting each (four members from the pilot, one from October, one from 
November);
3) every regularly attending adolescent provided at least one activity for a meet-
ing.

Anime club in the public library: case study   
Knjižnica, 2024, 68(4), 113–138 135
At the beginning of the second programing year, a poster in the library next to 
the manga shelves was added to the word-of-mouth marketing strategy, which 
resulted in a slight increase in registered participants compared to the first year. 
The Music Department was chosen as a venue to hold the meetings in, because 
there, in a secluded corner, is enough privacy for a small group to talk freely and 
laugh loudly, and the atmosphere is cozy with music in the background. The 
interest and need for an anime club among new members had been underesti-
mated, so the anime corner was often too cramped, and when 18 participants 
came to the meeting, they occupied the entire department. This happened, for 
example, when one member prepared a musical quiz for the central part of the 
club.
As can be seen from the above data, in the second year, there was an increase 
in interested young people (three more than during the pilot), and more partici-
pants regularly attended individual meetings (four more than during the pilot). 
By observing the group dynamics, it was noticed that during the second year, the 
members became more connected; they started playing online games together 
and going out for walks. They went to the theater together to support the acting 
ambitions of one member, brought cakes that they had baked themselves on the 
occasion of their birthday, and went to the cinema together to watch the first 
anime that came to the local cinema in years. They also started participating in 
other library programs such as literary meetings.
During the second program year, 22 anime series were watched and commented 
upon. The conversation about the watched anime included a review of the ani-
mation and soundtrack; personality, believability and motivation of the char-
acters; the quality of individual story arcs; and the themes and ideas that the 
anime deals with. By discussing art and ideas, young people grow intellectually 
as well as spiritually because they are not taking what is presented to them at 
face value but digging deeper and understanding the root causes of events – 
why people do the things they do, what drives them, and how we can improve 
as people. 
The most popular activity in the central socializing part of the meeting was the 
three by three (3x3) photo collage. This activity was suggested by one of the 
members who encountered such photo collages in online fan communities. A 
themed 3x3 collage is made from anime clips. The topic can be your favorite an-
ime, the most annoying characters, your favorite love couples, etc. The collage is 
shown on a large screen, and its author stands next to the screen and talks about 
the selected anime. The audience often chimes in with their opinion about an 
anime or a character, and sometimes a heated discussion ensues because anime 
encourage fans to talk. On many occasions during the year, the assertion from 

136 Knjižnica, 2024, 68(4), 113–138
Žozefina Žentil Barić   
professional literature was confirmed that “even a quiet person will talk about 
his favorite characters with a passion that seems endless” (Reysen and Brans-
combe cited in Guo and Zeng, 2020: page 484). Young people thus practice public 
speaking and presentation skills in a friendly environment. This activity helps 
adolescents to form their own opinions and develop their own taste, as well as 
critical and creative abilities.
Considering anime as a media platform that indicates the interests of its consum-
ers, as it was discussed in previous chapters, the librarian decided to recommend 
some books to the members. By observing what kind of anime particular mem-
bers like and, in those anime, what are they specifically drawn to, the librarian 
can then select books tailored to their individual interests and thus encourage 
them to read. For example, to a girl who enjoyed 86, and especially the story of 
the main male protagonist, the librarian offered a book in which that character 
became engrossed: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. The 
book Roadside Picnic by the Strugacky brothers was recommended for a boy who 
likes anime that deal with deeper topics and encourage reflection. This led to 
the establishment of a book club for high school students on their initiative. Six 
anime club members joined the book club (3 girls and 3 boys), and one girl took 
on the leadership role with the support of the librarian.
Two years of monitoring the anime club showed that many high school students 
in Croatia are eager for anime culture content and that they are ready to use the 
various services of the public library when librarians show that they understand 
the interests and needs of young people.
5 Conclusion
The popularity of anime is a global phenomenon that libraries worldwide can 
use to create programs that will attract adolescents and enable them to spend 
their leisure time creatively. The Anime Club for High Schoolers case study has 
shown that an anime club, when based on the way a book club functions, is a 
low-budget program applicable to public libraries. It provides a means of reas-
serting the library as a still-relevant space for young adults to enjoy their inter-
ests in a safe, welcoming, and nurturing physical space. By attracting young 
anime fans, the library has the opportunity to become a stimulating space for 
adolescents to explore and test out their identity within anime culture. In ad-
dition, by using anime as a media platform to discover the interests of young 
people, librarians can get the opportunity to put the book back into the hands 
of adolescents and, with thoughtfully selected books, encourage them to read.

Anime club in the public library: case study   
Knjižnica, 2024, 68(4), 113–138 137
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Žozefina Žentil Barić
Gradska knjižnica Zadar, Stjepana Radića 11b, 23000 Zadar, Hrvaška
e-pošta: zbaric@gmail.com