:: FAQs .

Frequently Asked Questions. Or questions we think are asked frequently. Or just questions that we don't want to answer in person.

What do we do at anime club meetings?
Wouldn't you like to know? We watch anime, of course, you silly goose. Make announcements, discuss conventions, cosplay!, and whatever else we plan. It's.......RANDOM!

When do you meet?
That would be on wensdays right after school, in Glista's room, 224 I believe (check around there, at least).

Do I need to pay to get in?
This one is a regrettable yes. But on the bright side, its only a one time fee of $5, and out of that you get a great wensday afternoon hangout spot, contests with prizes, parties, and the occasional gift if we feel generous. But since we have such a large club, $5 is all we need from each person to sustain our activities. Yay for large numbers of otaku!

Do I have to bring anything to the meetings?
Nope, come as you are, be comfortable with absolutely nothing in hand if you dont want to bring anything. Snacking and consuming beverage type things is allowed, so long as you clean up after yourself. Because if the council or our sponsor has to clean, we may have to put restrictions on that. And if you bring food for everyone, we will be your best friend. Seriously, we like food, so long as it gets cleaned up afterwards, bring it.

And some days we might be holding special events, like cosplay contests. So if you want to, dress up those days. You dont need to, but its fun. Come on, you know you want to.

You said something about cosplay. Whats allowed?
For the cosplay contests (or random days you feel like dressing up, you know who you are), you dont need to dress up the whole day. But if you're brave enough, why not? So long as the costume actually follows the dress and weapons code of the school, I dont really have anything restrictive to say. Look in your copy of the SR&R for rules on dress and weapons, since this is a school sponsored event, we have to abide by the school rules. And for the sake of all things anime, dont do anything disruptive in costume. The EHSanimeclub has has enough bad press, we would like to present ourselves as good people. Not really normal people, but good people.

What are we watching on-
Hold it, we have a page for that here. You have no idea how much we got this question last year. Even when I wasnt a council member, I would get it. So in response to that, we have an upcoming events page, which will not only say what we're going to be watching, but also any announcements we have, and any events we have planned or are planning.

Can we watch this *insert anime title here*?
Another question that we got a lot in years past. Firstly, take a look at what you want submitted. Is it 16+? There is a rating system that we have to follow, and if it befitting of 16+ or less, then we cant watch it. Then you can submit the name to us here at EHSanimeclub@gmail.com and we'll do some research. We might need to watch it to make sure we want to show it to our audiences, so dont be afraid when we ask to borrow it for review. Then, and only then, will you anime be considered by the council for the club's viewing pleasure.

And yes, this is with the new parental consent rule. 16+ is the highest we can show in the school, even with a parent's signature.

Weren't the meetings on Tuesdays before?
In fact, they were. But this year, we have sponsor issues on tuesday afternoons. Fridays were out because of everyone wanting to leave early. Mondays were gone because of activities planned, and well, we like Wensdays better than Thursdays. If you have an issue with the day, bring it up in the club, and we could see about changing it eventually. Not that we can cater to everyone, but we like to make as many people as possible happy. Like our sponsor. I mean, he puts up with enough from us, we really ought to let him have his tuesdays...

Are we going to go to conventions with everyone else in the club?
We dont go as a huge mass of people, partly because we couldnt arrange for transportation for all those people, partly because not everyone really wants to go with everyone else, and partly because doing anything more than group registration arrangements in school wouldnt be allowed (Come on, if the school saw an actual anime con, we would get caught up in red tape really quickly).

But we can all pre register together so we get a group discount. We can just pick up our badges at the con with pre reg, so much easier than paying at the door (if the option is even available). And no, you dont have to show up with the group to get the badge, just check in and you'll recieve it.

How much of a series do we usually watch?
If and only if we get through the opening announcements quickly (without disruptions), we can usually fit in three episodes from a series. Those three are usually from the beginning of the series, unless its something absurdly well known, such as Rurouni Kenshin, then maybe not. This gives you a chance to get a feel for the series, and if you like it, you might buy it yourself or ask to borrow it.

What are the art contest rules?
We will have different guidelines for every contest, but there are a couple general rules. The work must be your own. The work must not be dirty, meaning cover up the nasty bits. The work must adhere to the guidelines of the contest, otherwise it'll be disqualified. You must be willing to share your work with the rest of the club if you want to enter the contest officially.

Once we have given you the contest guidelines, draw till you feel it's done and show it to us. We will then make a copy if you dont want your original work out of your sight, and we'll post a picture of it on the website too. At the last meeting of the contest, there will be voting, and if you win, you will get a prize.

Via the forums: Would some "uber-1337 person make a FAQ about where/how to download some new animes?"
Ask and ye shall recieve. Alright, this is going to be a long one, so be patient. Firstly, downloading itself is getting a file (of an anime, in this case) put on your computer. Most of the time, without having to pay for it. Therefore, many, if not most, of the anime you will be able to download will be unlicensed, meaning that it has not been bought by an american company for distribution in the states. While its not impossible to download licensed anime, keep in mind that you are denying your domestic anime provider money, and that could be considered morally wrong in some circles.

You can find just about anything your little heart desires if you look hard enough, so Google will be your friend for this. Now, we have a link page here with a few download sites you might want to start out on. These are basicly just ones that I personally use, but as more people submit their favorite places, the list will grow.

Now we get into the meat of the downloading questions. The sites I list are all direct download sites, meaning that you dont have to use a third party downloader to get to your anime. This is the simplest way to download anime, but not always the fastest. Its also a huge drain on the site thats hosts the file, so many times you have to look really hard to find a direct download. Remember, its just clicking a link to download the file.

The alternative is Bittorrent. This is a seperate application that you can download (the standard Bittorrent can be found here, but you can get just about as many variations of it elsewhere). In a really, really dumbed down way, you are downloading the file from other downloaders instead of from a central source. The speed at which you can get the file both depends on your internet connection speed and how many other people are trying to download it.

As opposed to direct downloads, where more people slow down the process, Bittorrent speeds up as more people download. As you download, you are a leecher. You are slowing down the downloading process without contributing that much to the upload process. But when you finish downloading, you become a seed, someone who only contributes to the uploading process, not the downloading process. This is a good thing, and its a nice thing to do for others. If at all possible, become a seed whenever you download by leaving the Bittorrent window open after you finish your download. Remember, more leechers means slower, more seeds means faster, be nice to others by leaving the window open after you finish.

If I missed something, or if something is unclear, there is an big Bittorrent guide located here. Whoo, that FAQ was a doozy....