Anime Club @ UCI

(Cal Animage Epsilon)


Timeline

Overview

Cal Animage Epsilon (CAE) was founded in October 1990 as a member of the Cal Animage Network. As the first anime club at UC Irvine, it evolved to become the club that we are today.

This timeline was made to display the long history of our club. We derive much of our information and materials from a limited array of old records and first-hand accounts. There is always more history to uncover, so compiling this timeline is an ongoing process. If you are an alumni or an old affiliate who might be interested in sharing a story with us, we encourage you to reach out!

Last updated: August 25th, 2022

2021 - 2022

Before returning to in-person meetings, both anime clubs reunited as simply the Anime Club @ UCI (Cal Animage Epsilon). Fall 2021 saw a return to in-person meetings after more than a year of online instruction; ENIGMA was resurrected for Halloween. The first half of Winter 2022 temporarily returned to virtual meetings as a result of COVID. Spring 2022 saw the return of ZotCon and an improvement of membership diversity.


Recorded Officers
President - Yanni Thai
Vice President - Brian Mei, Khai Kober
Internal Secretary - Shawn Xia
External Secretary - N/A, Kiana Burnett
Treasurer - Garrett Marton, Ocean Lee

General Officers - Damon D., Gavi B., Ellie H., Charlene C, Ethan M., JC, Estey B., Cole B., Andres G., Melody Z., Brian K., Joellie H.

2020 - 2021

As the COVID-19 pandemic continued, university instruction and club meetings were entirely virtual for 2020-2021. In substitution of in-person meetings, both Cal Animage Epsilon and the Anime Community Club continued holding meetings on their respective Discord servers. As vaccines began becoming more widely distributed by the summer, a number of ACC members met up in-person for the first time; outings included seeing the Demon Slayer Mugen Train movie and a re-traditional trip to Little Tokyo.


Recorded Officers
CAE President - Jayden Thomas
CAE Vice President - Alex Nyguen
CAE Secretary - Charlene Collado
CAE Treasurer - Jeremy Lawton

ACC President - Yanni Thai
ACC Vice President - Garrett Marton
ACC Internal Secretary - Beto Mendez
ACC External Secretary - Noreen Delossantos
ACC Treasurer - Ethan Meng

ACC General Officers & Trustees - Damon D., Mako, Brian M., Shawn X.

2019 - 2020

Recorded Officers
CAE President - Jayden Thomas
CAE Vice President - Alex Nyguen
CAE Secretary - Charlene Collado
CAE Treasurer - Jeremy Lawton

ACC President - Mike Robertson
ACC Vice President - Jorge, Johnny Wong
ACC Secretary - Noreen Delossantos
ACC Treasurer - Johnny Wong, Yanni Thai

In the summer of 2019, CAE’s sister-club rebranded itself from “CAE Masquerade” to the “Anime Community Club at UCI”. The rebranding was done to reflect a shift in focus from Masquerade performances to a more broad emphasis on community interactions. Both clubs shared many of the same members, but held separate meetings.

The Spring quarter of 2019 saw both clubs transfer to virtual meetings as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic; meetings were held on respective club-dedicated Discord servers.

2018 - 2019


Recorded Officers
President - Jayden Thomas
Vice President - Daniel Cox
Secretary - Alex Nyguen
Treasurer - Ziyuan Zhang
WebMaster - Ryan Ward
PR - Michael Robertson
Officer - Jorge Quiros

Spring 2019 saw UCI’s first anime convention through ZotCon. Cal Anime Epsilon participated by hosting a successful game panel of an anime version of Jeopardy.

2017 - 2018


Recorded Officers
President - Jayden Thomas
Vice President - Daniel Cox
Secretary - Alex Nyguen
Treasurer - Ziyuan Zhang
Webmaster - Ryan Ward

2016 - 2017


Recorded Officers
President - Alyssa De La Rosa
Vice President - Cameron Blue
Secretary - ???
Head of PR - Joseph Dowd
Webmaster - Ryan Ward

2015 - 2016


Recorded Officers
President - Peter Niu
Vice President - Lawrence Day
Secretary - Jennifer Yang
Head of PR - Sara Burt
PR - Cameron Blue & Alyssa De La Rosa
Webmaster - Jake Beel

2014 - 2015


Recorded Officers
Presidents - Zee Rogers, Jackson Cheang
Secretary - Lisa Duckers
PR - Sammy, Bradley, Aristotle, Kevin, Peter N.
Webmasters - Jake Beel

CAE Masquerade:
Winner in Anime Los Angeles 2015 (Best in Class Master Presentation, Judges Choice for Set Design)

2013 - 2014


Recorded Officers
President - Vincent Cablarda, Jackson Cheang
Vice President - Robert Baker.
Secretary - Lisa Duckers (?)
Treasurer - Victoria Tibbetts (?)
PR - Nicha (Head PR), Brian, Sam, Ziyiah R., Jackson, John G. (“Costco ambassador, contractually obligated bringer of Corgi”)
Web Designer / Graphics - William Tung

CAE Masquerade:
Winner in Anime Los Angeles 2014 (Runner-up, Best in Class for Performance, Humor)

2012 - 2013


CAE Masquerade is believed to have been officially registered during this year to secure itself a separate club room.

Recorded Officers
President - Vincent Cablarda
Vice President - Alex Rose
Secretary/PR - Victoria Tibbetts
Treasurer - Lisa Duckers
Media Manager - Robert Baker
PR - Nicha T., Roseanna T., John G., Alexander T., Jackson C., Hataka M.
Webmaster - William Tung

Masquerade Director - Katrina Leonoudakis
Masquerade Coordinator - Justin

CAE Masquerade:
Winner in Anime Los Angeles 2013 (Best in Show: Presentation)
Winner in Anime Expo 2013 (Runner Up: Best Presentation)

2011 - 2012


Recorded Officers
President - Robert Baker
Vice President - Max
Event Coordinator - Katrina Leonoudakis
Treasurer - Sarah
PR - Victoria T., Vincent C., John G., Nicha, Rose, Alex R.,
Webmaster - William Tung.

CAE Masquerade:
Winner in Anime Los Angeles 2012 (Best in Class for Performance, Humor)

2010 - 2011


First known organized performance by CAE members in a Masquerade event.

Recorded Officers
???

CAE Masquerade:
Winner in Anime Los Angeles 2011 (Most Humorous & Sign Construction) Winner in Anime Expo 2011 (Judge’s Award”)

2000 - 2010


Historical records of Cal Animage Epsilon from before 2010 become significantly more scarce, but we’ve managed to piece together some information from old website archives.

2006-2007 Recorded Officers
President - Christopher Nelson (“Death God Extraordinare”)
VP - Chrislyn Lynton (“Professional Fan Girl”)
Secretary - Stephanie Goble (“Resident Alchemist”)
Treasurer - Kimberly Chua (“Keeper of the Cat Boys”)
Advisors - Jerry C., Jennifer C., Jason G., Shaun H., John J., Rob W., Justin E., Kevin E., Alex S., Ann C., George J., Jason S., Alice B.,

(All Advisors from 2002-2005)
Kong Chang (“One Of CAE's Founding Fathers, R2 DVD Elitist and Advisor”), Rob Wu (“Otter Clubber, Final Fantasy Dragoon, and Advisor”), Jennifer C. (“Behind The Scenes Advisor of Cute Things”), John J. (“Acquisitions Of Cool Tape Things”), Shaun Hendricks (“CAE's Fanzine Editor”), Jerry C,, Jason G,, Otter C.

2004-2005 Recorded Officers
President - Alice Baran (“Sunshine Alchemist President”)
VP - Jason Shuai (“Presidential King of Gandits Bing”)
Publicity - Ann Chang (“Publicity Scrabbler and Guktan Arch Convoker”)
Unspecified Officer - George Jiang (“The Iron Rod of Steel”)
Artisan - Alex Szeto (“Artisan Extraordinaire of Drawings”)

2003-2004 Recorded Officers
President - Justin Emerson (“Otaku Summa Cum Laude and Lord Commander Of Pecopecos”)
Vice President - Kevin Eav (“El Vico Presidente and Frozen Wizard Of The Frost Diver”)
Publicity - Ann Chang (“Publicity Scribbler and Arch Convoker”)
Unspecified Officer - George 'George' Jiang (“All-Purpose Gopher Fetcher”)
Master Librarian - Alice Baran (“Master Librarian and Falcon-Eyed Hunter”)
Co-Librarian - Jason Shui
Drawings - Alex Szeto

2002-2003 Recorded Officers
President - Justin Emerson (“Otaku Summa Cum Laude and Club Commander”)
Vice President - Kevin Eav (“El Vico Presidente”)
Publicity - Ann Chang (“Publicity Manager and Poster Scrawler”)
Unspecified Officer - George Jiang (“George Jiang”)
Artisan - Alex Szeto. (“Artisan Extraordinaire Of Drawings”)
Librarian - Chris Cheung (“Librarian Of Too Many Heavy Tapes”)

2001-2002 Recorded Officers
President - Jason Gong
Co-Vice Presidents - Jennifer Chau, Justin Emerson
Publicity - Bryan Garvey
Advisors - Jerry C., William C., Robert W.
Acquisitions - John Jones
CAE's Fanzine Editor - Shaun Hendricks

2000-2001 Recorded Officers
President - Jason Gong
Vice President - Robert Wu
Publicity - Jennifer Chau, Bryan Garvey
Advisors - Jerry C., William C.
Acquisitions - John Jones
CAE's Fanzine Editor - Shaun Hendricks

1990 - 1999


We have very few sources about Cal Animage Epsilon from before 1999; some few pieces that we have are from the generosity of those that have provided us with valuable first-hand accounts.

1997-1998 Recorded Officers
President – Jerry Chu
Vice President – Kiet Han
Advisor – Andy Park, Joseph Lee, Christian Hwang, Mike Nguyen
Campus Liaison – Lawrence Bolante
Intern – Jason Gong

1996-1997 Recorded Officers
President – Andy Park
Vice President – Jerry Chu
Advisor – Joseph Lee, Christian Hwang, Mike Nguyen
Campus Liaison – Lawrence Bolante
Intern – Kiet Han

1995-1996 Recorded Officers
President – Joseph Lee
Vice President – Andy Park
Art Director – Christian Hwang
Advisor – Mike Nguyen
Campus Liaison – Lawrence Bolante
Intern – Jerry Chu

Jerry Chu’s insight

For well into the 2000's -- Officers would maintain a large library of VHS fansubtitled anime in these huge bins and allowed for members to check out on a weekly basis. Every club meeting, there would be a mad rush to return tapes in the beginning of the meeting and line up to check out tapes towards the end. Officers would maintain the completeness, addition, and management of the library often lugging the bins from off campus to the club meeting locations each week.
Having a long history as related org with Cal Animage (UC system and beyond) - much of the communication and co-mingling between different schools occured as volunteers for Anime Expo each year. Most of the officers and some members from CAE were assigned as AX staff managing the "Hospitality" department. This group was responsible for feeding the entire volunteer corp running Anime Expo smoothly and efficiently each year.

Between 1992-1999 UCI's bookstore managed an extension store called Alt.Ant which was a fantastic source for the latest and greatest anime soundtracks, laserdiscs, artbooks, and merchandise at the time. The store was one of the few places in the US actively selling newly imported merchandise from Japan at the time and we were lucky to have it in on campus. Mike Kiley was the manager of the bookstore and later went on to help establish Tokyo Pop manga.

Kong Chang’s insight

What's funny was that we were officially called "Anime Appreciation Club" in Spring of 1991, founded by David Cotelessa and Larry Mann. This was before we became a chapter of "Cal Animage" one official quarter after Spring (not counting summer) in Fall, 1991. Cal-Animage started in UC Berkeley and had 10 chapters. We were the Epsilon chapter (chapter number 5). CAE was formed after I advised David that we should join in the Cal Animage group, as they were dominant body in the anime fandom and on IRC channel #anime back in those days. Plus, their founder, Mike Tatsugawa, headed and speared the project of creating a convention around Anime, the first convention being held in San Jose, CA, called "Anime Con '91" (which later became Anime Expo due to some political nonsense and some people splitting from the SPJA to form Anime America, which only lasted a few years before they died out, which then later some of those stragglers with some help from Anime Expo staff formed FanimeCon back in the mid-90's).

It's true that you can watch anime by yourself alone in your own room, but it's more exciting to hear other people's reactions in the room or to hear their thoughts and feelings about certain story plots and such. That's the core of our anime club.