When he came to the U, undeclared freshman Shay Blackley was no longer able to do what he enjoyed most, so he started his own club to do it.

Blackley and his friends love to watch Japanese anime on big screens every Friday night. Though there is a local anime group, it only meets once a month, and “they weren’t what we were looking for,” he said.

So they created the Anime Kurabu Club on campus.

“My friends and I decided that it just wouldn’t work to carpool up to Park City (for its anime group) every Friday,” he said.

Blackley’s club wants to follow the shows that are currently playing in Japan. For now, the U group has chosen to follow the anime series “Bleach.”

The club is open to suggestions on other series. “After the first meeting, we will talk and vote on alternate series that others may be interested in following,” he said.

The club has five members right now. Every Friday they watch four different episodes.

“We’re watching the exact same thing the Japanese are watching,” he said.

Vice President Joe Amici, a freshman in film, gets the current episodes sent to him from Japan.

The club hasn’t received any funding from the Associated Students of the University of Utah, so the president and vice president have been paying for expenses themselves.

They have submitted an application to receive $100 to $120 from ASUU, which would be used for advertising and basic essentials such as cables for projectors.

Amici said the goal of the Anime Kurabu Club is “to allow the students of the U the opportunity to view contemporary Japanese culture through the medium of animation as it was originally intended to be shown in Japan.”

Tyana Rees