The 12 teenagers shifted awkwardly in their seats. One fiddled with her nametag while another eyed the table of snacks.

The Anime/Manga Club for Teens met for the first time Saturday at the Evanston Public Library, 1703 Orrington Ave., to watch and discuss all things anime.

Collections of anime, a style of Japanese cartoon shows, and manga, Japanese comic books, have been growing in popularity, said Christie Chandler-Stahl, the young adult readers adviser at the library.

Chandler-Stahl and Laura Antolin, a librarian for the children’s section, said they established the club because several teens approached them with the idea.

“We’re trying to respond to an expressed need and desire to have some programming along those lines for young adults,” Chandler-Stahl said.

At its first meeting, the group watched DVDs provided by Anime Advocates, a national program that helps start-up anime clubs.

The group viewed one episode from the series Gilgamesh and two from Kaleido Star, another series. Members munched on seaweed-wrapped rice crackers and Pocky, a stick-like biscuit coated in chocolate that is popular in Asia.

In a discussion after the viewing, the teens brought up ideas for other club activities, such as bringing in an anime artist, reading manga and holding an anime drawing session.

Suggestions from club members will be used to improve the library’s anime collection, Antolin said.

Many of the teenagers who attended were already fans of anime and came to discuss it with their friends.

“I was at the South Branch library and saw flyers for it,” said eighth grader Cassy Cardos, who enjoys reading manga. “Then I found out my friends were coming.”

Some who were clueless about anime came with to see what it was about.

Chris Walsh, a freshman at Evanston Township High School, 1600 Dodge Ave., said he only came because his friends dragged him there.

“Anime is just like cartoons from another country,” he said. “I don’t get the big deal about it.”

But after watching a few episodes, Walsh said he might come to the club’s next meeting because he thought anime “wasn’t so bad” – and because there would be free pizza.

The club plans to meet monthly, but did not set a definite date for its next meeting.

Reach Angela Chang at [email protected].