Club That Really Likes Anime

The Club That Really Likes Anime (often abbreviated as simply CTRL-A) is the student-run anime club of the University of Waterloo that intends to promote interest in Japanese animation, and to serve those members of the University community with this and related interests.

History
CTRL-A was founded by David de Jong and Bret Hoeffler who initially had set up an anime showing of Laptua: Castle in the Sky in the winter of 1991. The club and its name was formalized in the summer of 1992 and continues to this day over 20 years later.

In 1995, CTRL-A's mascot, Emiko Kawasaki, was drawn by Ian Kim for the club. Emiko remains the mascot for CTRL-A having gone through several design updates throughout the years. Emiko also stars in her own webcomic named Emiko's Genesis (Later renamed to Genesis Chronicles) that was drawn by Ian Kim.

CTRL-A has assisted various anime conventions and related events such as the Waterloo Festival for Animated Cinema (WFAC), founded by CTRL-A alumni Joseph Chen. Recent impacts have included the formation of the "Gym Leader Squad", a Pokemon themed group of game players that accept challenges at various anime conventions and events, and assistance in running the first ever Canadian tournament for the Japanese anime-based trading card game Weiss Schwarz.

Membership
CTRL-A membership is open to all, including undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, local and regional members. Membership grants access to all events, shows and tournaments and costs $8 for each term. First year undergraduate students receive a $1 discount on their membership.

Events
Anime Shows: CTRL-A runs four anime showings throughout the term. Shows present a mix of both series that are continued throughout the term and samplers that are shown only for the current show for variety. Shows are done in lecture halls with CTRL-A's own high quality projector and audio equipment. These shows function as much as a showing as they do a social gathering and a variety of other activities are also performed in-between and during shows.

Project Nights: Project nights serve as a gathering to allow members to work on whatever projects (such as cosplay costumes or homebrew board/card games) they wish or to simply gather for games and other activities.

Gaming Nights: A room is usually reserved for members to gather to play various board, card and electronic games.

Weiss Schwarz Tournaments: CTRL-A usually hosts Weiss Schwarz card game tournaments and attracts players from all around Ontario. Entry is free with membership and prizes are offered. Other rare anime-related trading card games are occasionally run as tournaments as well based on demand including Chaos TCG.

Cosplay Cafe: Once a term, CTRL-A hosts a cosplay cafe in the SLC. Providing a small cafe staffed by CTRL-A members in various cosplay costumes for the entire day.

Cosplay Contest: Traditionally on the Anime Show nearest to Halloween a cosplay costume contest is held and participants show off their costumes to the show crowd and can win various prizes.

EOT Hot Pot/Picnic: CTRL-A usually closes off each term with a Hot Pot or Picnic party depending on the season.