Yu-Gi-Oh! Ya! Pow! Boom!

As part of Asian Month at Fresno City College, students and staff celebrated the fifth annual Anime Day on April 21. Since the weather was rainy, the students moved the event inside the cafeteria and staff dining area.

During the Anime Day event, students played video games, watched anime movies and played the popular Yu-Gi-Oh card game together, in a celebration of the Asian-inspired anime culture. Many participants dressed as their favorite anime characters, know as “cos-play” for costume play.

Matt Springer, 22, a music major, dressed as Professor Oak, from the hit series “Pokemon.” His costume took about five minuets to put together, he said, but it took him a while to get the coat.

“I’ve been into anime for about 15 years now,” Springer said. “I first started liking anime by watching cartoons.”

A graduate student from UC Santa Barbara, Knight Utnea, 23, attended the anime day. She bought her costume on eBay for $130.

“I got this costume because of the weather,” said Utnea, a studio art major. “It started to rain and I wanted to be warm.”

Utnea said she got into anime by watching G-Force, a popular cartoon show that used to come on when she was a child.

Business administration major Kenji Wong, 27, had no costume to wear but enjoyed Anime Day anyway. Wong draws and watches anime.

Wong said he has been into anime for 17 years. “I watch Sailor Moon, when I first started to like anime.”

Sailor Moon is another popular animated series that a lot of students used to watch.

Wong said, “Video games [are the] creativity that brought animation into our culture, well appreciated and more cultural,” Wong said.