President

Zhijie Cao

Hello everyone. I’m back at it again for one more (and probably last) term as your Kaichou. I somehow went from being the youngest on committee to the oldest (yikes). I would tell you what I was studying and what I like, but you can just have a peek at my previous committee intro as I am still the same degenerate as before.

There are a few new developments though. I have a new Twitter account @zoojkao, so if you follow me there, there will be no doubt that you will enjoy the Miku fanart I retweet. I’m also starting to phase away from the tryhard games like League and started playing more Final Fantasy, Yakuza and other JRPGs. My 10+ playthroughs of FFIV as a child will help me ace those type of games.

Feel free to have a chat with me on Discord, bonus points if you like vocaloid. I’m looking forward to continuing my service to the community that we have, and I hope that we can continue to make SAMA an amazing club.

Secretary

Bill Nguyen

Hey everyone, I’m Bill and I’ll be your secretary for 2021/22. I am currently in my third year at Monash studying computer science.

I first started watching anime in 2013 when I came across this show called Sword Art Online. Back then I remember thoroughly enjoying it and it was the start of my journey with anime. Since then I’ve learned to appreciate better shows with some of my favourites being Steins;Gate, Gurren Lagann and Re:Zero (Rem best girl). While I don't watch as many anime as I used to, I still try to keep up with the popular ones people are watching.

I also play a lot of games from a variety of genres. These are largely single player games due to a lack of friends 😦. But also because I realised getting into League of Legends was a mistake. Games that I like are Fire Emblem: Echoes, Dark Souls and Kingdom Hearts 2. Games that I am less fond of are Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Dark Souls 2 and Kingdom Hearts 3.

​I hope that as a committee member I will be able to make the events fun and interesting for everyone involved. I plan to put a lot of effort into this so that everything is able to hang out and make new friends. As a start I invite you all to talk to me about anime, games, or anything else you want and I am looking forward to seeing everyone at our events and meetups.​

Media Manager

Malcolm Garillo

Hi y'all! I'm Malcolm Garillo (he/him), and I'll be your Media Manager for the year :)

I hail from the land known as the Philippines. I moved to Singapore when I was 3, then migrated all the way here in Australia. Since then I have been (not) vibing through high-school, and now I'm a first year studying Engineering/Science ! I hope to specialise in Mechatronics, and major in Astrophysics :)

Aside of my interests in anime, I love playing video games (especially rhythm games, but anything except FPS games. And League.), spending time with my cat, eating delicious foods and just hanging out with my tomodachis :)

My journey as a dege- I mean a weeb started with my dad getting my brother and me to watch Dragon Ball Z with him. At the time I didn't know what anime was, and simply regarded it as a pretty good cartoon. It was when I joined Discord in 2017 that I learned about the world I was missing out on for so long. Finally at the end of the year, I checked out my first franchise, which was ... Nekopara :3 Fast forward to the start of 2020, when I graduated into a fully-fledged weeb and started actively watching anime. Which was a mistake because VCE is unforgiving :D

Honestly I vibe with a lot of genres. You could pretty much throw me anything and I would probably add it to my watchlist :') Genres I enjoy the most are romance and comedy, and I love my shounen, drama, thriller, isekai, psychological and slice of life too, amongst others :) My favourite anime includes No Game No Life, KonoSuba, A Silent Voice, JoJo, Quintessential Quintuplets, Re:ZERO and the recent Tokyo Revengers and Vivy. Feel free to ask for my MAL account if you're curious :33

As the Media Manager, I oversee the weekly screenings, so I'd love to hear your suggestions on anime to screen!! Aside from that, I will try to make most events (living far + strict parents ;-;) and am very responsive on Discord, so you're always welcome to talk to me about anything on your mind! Word of warning though, I may be stupid and act weird, but it's all for the sake of the funny ;o

I hope to have an awesome time with y'all !! Let's enjoy anime like we used to before uni ahahahahaha

Vice President

Michael Yu

Wasshoi!

​It’s ya boi, Michael, your friendly neighbourhood vice president!

I’m a first year student studying music performance and secondary education here at Monash, so I have plenty of years to go. I can regrettably identify myself as a huge degenerate, vtuber obsessed and quite possibly the largest simp on the committee. I’ll save you the deluge of my vtuber oshis I could quite possibly vomit at you, so if you ever wanna chat vtubers just hmu uwu

My weeb journey started way back in the day when I was roped into watching SAO Ordinal Scale (which I can comfortably say was so unremarkable I have forgotten absolutely everything about). My first anime I watched of my own volition was Tokyo Ghoul which was ok? I guess? My favourite show is probably New Game!, an absolute banger of a show about these cute girls developing video games. However, nowadays, I am pretty much a manga reader only at this point, being about a whole year without watching any anime seriously. Some of my other interests include gaming and music.

​I think I’m a fairly friendly and affable bloke so if you ever want to chat about anything feel free to hit me up on Facebook, Discord, or anywhere else you find me. I won’t bite~

Social Representative

Nathan Alger

Hey, everyone! I’m Nathan and I’ll be your social rep for the upcoming year ^-^ / . I’m currently in my 3rd year of a computer science degree majoring in computer networks and security. You can find me either on the discord posting memes or at any of the events trying not to… also post memes…

I’ve honestly been into anime ever since I was a wee lad even without realising it. From watching Naruto on Cartoon Network to constantly replaying my Studio Chibli DVDs young Nathan was a massive weeb from day one. It probably didn’t help my primary school taught Japanese as a language, and that drawing chibis and talking about anime was considered part of that curriculum.

My first real exposure to anime as someone wanting to get into the genre was surprisingly a little romance series called Mysterious Girlfriend X. It changed me... and I haven’t watched romance anime since. I LOVE trashy isekais and good action scenes but do have a soft spot for the classics like Evangelion and the hype seasonals that may be arising (after I get over my hipster pride and watch them). My all-time top favourite anime is FLCL and I will always tell you to watch it (It’s only 6 episodes people!)

Besides anime, I love playing video games and playing the guitar. Music is an overall passion of mine and I love to discuss it regardless of if it’s Japanese music or more western music (I do like me some j-rock).

I can’t wait to meet you all and share our love of anime and manga! Feel free to come to me at any meet-up or event if you have any queries or concerns or if you just wanna talk! I’m always happy to make more friends. If you need to reach me and can’t find me in person you can contact my email at nalg0002@student.monash.edu, find me on the Facebook group or DM me on discord! Just find my name on the SAMA server.

Creative Director

Akash Kariyawasam

Herro everyone

C. Director Akash Kariyawasam reporting for duty. I was told that I had to do an intro for committee. But tbh the best way to get to know me is to come and chat me up. However, since I have to do an intro, I'll try and compress all of me into a few sentences for y'all.

What do I like: a bit of memes and shitposting, sprinkle in some jojo and persona and that's my likes

What do I want to achieve: I wanna make SAMA as fun as it was for me when I first joined. I also wanna make everyone embrace their inner artist.

I try to be very wholesome and encouraging but as all my homies know (and yes I am very old fashioned in my words) I am a very edgy boi.

But I love talking to everyone so don't hesitate to come chat. Let's talk about stuff like "what if anime originated in france" or "the deeper meaning of dragon ball transformations"

​In summary I am a very open edgy boi so yeh. This is your Creative Director Akash Kariyawasam signing off.

Treasurer

Damien Ambegoda

Hey everyone, I’m Damien Ambegoda and I will be the SAMA Treasurer for 2021/2022! I am looking forward to making sure the club doesn’t go broke! Currently, I am a 3rd year Law/Science (Extended Major in Computational Science).

My love for anime/manga and all things weeb started back in year 7 when I found some Detective Conan manga at my school library and got hooked immediately. Detective Conan holds a special place in my heart but I don’t think I’ll ever have the energy to finish reading it ☹️. I’m a huge fan of the classic battle shounen with some of my favourite shows being My Hero Academia and Jujutsu Kaisen but I am always on the lookout for anything though provoking as well like Evangelion.

Other than watching anime, I am a huge fan of Japanese music. My headphones are on basically 24/7 blasting out all sorts of tunes. Usually it’s J-rock bands like Sakanaction, Indigo la End and Cö Shu Nie but I do love other artists like Kenshi Yonezu and Reol. I’m also a sucker for vocalectro (Vocaloid + Electronic) music which honestly carried me throughout high school. If you got any recommendations for music, please send through or post on the music channel on Discord.

I’m a pretty avid gamer ever since I was 4 when my parents bought me a PS1. I love playing all sorts of different games from JRPGS to platformers to your classic multiplayer games like CSGO, LoL, Apex and Valorant. Some of my favourite games include Dark Souls, Hades, Portal 2 and Breath of the Wild. I also have to thank Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney for making me interested in law in the first place.

​You’ll see me around at events, meetups and on the Discord. Please feel free to come have a chat about anything and I’m excited to see all the new and returning faces of SAMA.

Assistant Treasurer

Andy Ding

Hi, my name is Andy Ding [he/him] and I’ll be the SAMA Assistant Treasurer for 2021/22. I’m currently a third-year law/commerce student, who loves maths and can speak Mandarin Chinese.

My earliest encounter with anime was in Year 3 with My Neighbour Totoro. But my love for anime took off in middle school when I watched Ouran Highschool Host Club and Vampire Knight on ABC3. Some of my all-time favourites also include FMA Brotherhood, Barakamon, Majoutsukai no Yome and Noragami. You’ll also find that also I have in military tanks and ships, such as Girls und Panzer and Kancolle.

More recently I have also found myself reading a fair bit of manga. Including isekai’s like ‘I Was Caught up in a Hero Summoning, but That World Is at Peace’ and romcoms like ‘Please Go Home, Akutsu-san!’. If you have or want any recommendations, feel free to hit me up.

At the same time, I also enjoy a bit of light gaming including Minecraft and Osu!, as well as social tennis, learning to cook and building model tanks.

I’ve made so many friends since joining SAMA and I hope to continue making even more. I hope to help create a place where everybody can be passionate about the things they want to be and find friends to be passionate about those things with. So, feel free to chat with me, or message me on messenger or discord at any time.

​I look forward to meeting everyone online or at some fun events!

Sponsorship Officer

Wu-Wei Li

Hello everyone, I'm Wu-Wei Li. I'm now the sponsorship officer of SAMA for 2021/22 and well, a year has passed since I joined the committee, so you may expect something new from me. But honestly, got nothing so here's my previous intro (but slightly modified).

I'm currently a 3nd year Engineering and Commerce student that has been watching/reading anime and manga for as long as I could remember. I began my journey with the Chinese dub of Crayon Shin-chan and Doraemon and have been a fan since. I've seen and read many series since then but these days I mainly just read instead of watch stuff now, as it's more convenient to read manga than to watch anime for me.

Outside of anime and manga I also enjoy playing games and watching eSports, particularly Dota 2 and CSGO. I don't have any particular team I support, mainly support whichever team is the most fun to watch at the time.

Here's hoping for a great year, so that we can all meet and hang out in meet ups and/or events.