Hello there I am trying to start an anime club for teens in my area. Right now we are just trying to get a kind of start up unofficial version of the club going in my school. We are currently asking the administrators for permission to have the club during "seahawk times" I currently go to Syracuse Jr. High School and am the president of the club. We are already trying to get screening rights to show Hamtaro(I own 1 of the DVDs so haha no moolah needed) for the first week of the school one. All others we show at school will be TVPG(that way the principal can't get ticked at us for "inappropriate content")it will most likely viewed by an administrator. We have already ordered "Save Me Lollipop" from Operation anime and plan to view that the 3 consecutive weeks after Hamtaro. I would love to have some guidance from you experienced anime clubbers. So if you would consent to it, post some tips on this board. I would also like to bounce some of my ideas for my club off of you guys, If that is ok of course. If you guys think that "aaaaaaah! its a competing club! quick delete the post and the account before we get infected!" then go ahead. I'm just new at this and would really appreciate it. so here are some quick facts about my club:
Name: Chibanime
Motto: A little Anime can go a long way!
Mascot: Chibi the Onigiri
Website: http://chibanime.webs.com/ (<---- surprisingly the name wasn't taken yet XD)
Club Status: Unofficial in school club during seahawk time(30 min time in between 4th and 5th period mon-thurs for students to do clubs or study hall)
Times anime(will be)shown: once a week, Thursday, each anime we show we will show the 1st 3 episodes
Show related activities will be on Mondays-Wednesdays
Special Events(1 per anime) will be shown on a wednesday instead of craft day
Mondays=everything day: discuss, perform skits, catch up on ur drawings
Tuesdays=learn how to draw the characters from the anime
So what do u think(ok I admit it those weren't exactly quick facts)
Nothing is set in stone, and we possibly won't even be able to do this at all if we're not approved by the school administration(sad face)
COMMENT AWAY!

Tip: If you want more club members, ask for permission to post flyers in the hallways.

Sorry its taken me so long to reply to this I saw it on Thursday night but was really tired so I left it for later.

First of all there's no such thing as a competing club. We love to see people getting into anime. And if I can't delete the spam accounts I think you're safe. I would think a key to getting your club authorized would be to have enough people to start it and justify its existence before you take it to the administration.

I am not going to pretend to understand the legalities of publicly showing anime I think it is legal if you have less than thirty people or something. However I took a few seconds to find this link http://www.koyagi.com/showpermissions.html Hope it helps.

Hopefully you can get approval for your anime club. It is always great to know that there are other fans out there. Don't think you can't come to our club just because you are in high school we won't kick you out. We don't watch anything that would be considered offensive. (At least I don't think we do.)

One thing to note. Avoid Deathnote. People have been suspended/expelled for keeping deathnotes. If you do loan it out include a disclaimer or something. By all means recommend the series. It is awesome. But be sure to warn people.

I can definitely donate some Manga for your library and maybe some Anime. I will try to get a list together later. I'm in class now.

I am already aware about the whole, getting screening permissions thing. Thanks for the death note warning, So far like half of our club's manga "library"(technically its a combo of my friend's and my stuff) is made up of Deathnote. oh and BTW, we're in Jr. High, so right now we're just doing the PG stuff if we get approved by the school. We'll save anything PG14 and up for the official club starting summer break. I'll be sure to keep you posted on the things going on in our club.
I can't wait til the summer so I can show the club the awesomness of Darker Than Black(with parent's permission of course ) oh and some anime and manga donations would be great! we'll gladly accept anything. the whole point of the club is to explore all different kinds of anime anyway, isn't it? We won't be like "eww I don't want that" or anything I swear. Our interests(at least mine) are very broad(I watch and like both hamtaro and Darker than black, and there couldn't 2 more different animes in the world.) If you want to see our current(pitiful) library list can be found on our website. PS the link is in my siggy.

I'll try to remember to bring them to club this week if you want to swing by in some way. Do you know where we're at?

Umm I'm pretty sure your in weber, and I'm kinda in Davis county. I don't think I'll be able to go there soon, but I'll let you know when I'm gonna be in the area. Or I'll send one of my representitives to you. If Im ever near there I'll be sure to stop by. Maybe during the official summer club I'll schedule a field trip.

"It's something different," said Tanner Nyard, 16, about why he likes anime over more traditional styles of cartoons. "It gives us variety and lets us experience another culture we don't normally get to experience."
But the popularity of Japanese cartoons and literature is not limited to Galesburg.
"There are similar anime and manga clubs all over the United States," Garman said, adding that teens in Japan are equally fascinated by American cartoons and literature. Knowing this, she started the Animagna Mania club only to discover a niche of kids with an interest that was previously being overlooked.
"It's just different enough to be intriguing but familiar enough that it's very relatable," she said.