In 1981, Michael Burgess was attending the Denver World Con sci-fi convention when something caught his eye. The animation room, run by Barb Edmunds, was showing episodes of a cartoon show he'd never seen before and it was in a different language. He became engrossed in the series and watched it to try and find out what was going on. When the tape ran out and the screen went blank, Burgess went to the control room, found it unmanned, and dutifully put in the next labeled tape so he could continue watching. Before it was over with, he spent most of the night watching the entire run of "Mobile Suit Gundam". Burgess pressed Edmunds as to where she got these shows. Soon he was showing his friends copies he had gotten. After several informal showings of the "Denver Animation Society" involving Burgess's friends and friends of friends, dubbed "Animacons", he and Edmunds petitioned the California-based Cartoon/Fantasy Organization (C/FO) to become a chapter. In January of 1982, the Cartoon/Fantasy Organization of Denver (C/FOoD) was formed. Staff included Michael Burgess as president, Barb Edmunds as V.P., Ed Connell as Librarian, Club Representative to the C/FO was John Cook, with Keith Savage as his assistant.

Meetings for C/FOoD were held in a club room at the Iliff School of Theology where Burgess was attending. Meetings were very informal and they basically showed whatever they could get there hands on. Sometimes the viewings would last through the night and the members could be seen leaving the school in the early morning. People wanting copies of their own would bring in their own VCRs and chained them together. When the lights were out, the equipment displays looked like a small city. For those that didn't want to watch a particular program, they would go to Burgess's dorm room to talk. While other students had religious material on their walls, Michael filled his dorm room with anime imagery.

Back in those days, anime was hard to come by. The VCR had just been introduced commercially and many studios had yet to release tapes of their TV shows. Most anime got to the states via Japanese pen pals or American exchange students in Japan. From there, copies were made and shared via clubs and fan groups. Hence the wisdom of becoming a part of the C/FO and it's vast network of tape traders and information. Home computers were still very primitive compared to today, so subtitled programs were nonexistent and even newsletters were still cut-and-pasted together with typewriter type.

By being part of anime fandom so early, C/FOoD managed to stay ahead of the curve, viewing programs like "Super Dimensional Fortress Macross" well before Harmony Gold melded it with two other shows and release "Robotech". Following the lead of other chapters across the country, C/Food started to produce a newsletter with program descriptions and news. Dubbed "The C/FOoD Platter" ("sea food" get it?), the first issue premiered in January, 1986 and was barely a cover and a handful of pages put together by John Cook & Keith Savage. The newsletter grew in both length and infamy as the Denver club's playful antics offset some of the more serious minded C/FO chapters. Doing most of the poking artfully was Rich Arnold, C/FOoD's cartoonist extrodinaire, whose donations of sketches to the C/FO chapters made his artwork well-known in early anime fan circles. He parodied everything from the weird stances and hair colors of anime characters, to club equipment problems, to C/FOoD's lack of a chapter mascot.

Another 'trend' was started in 1986 with the publishing of the Lemon APA. Amateur Press Associations were popular at the time with subscribers required to contribute stories and artwork for publication, much like Dojinshi's in Japan, except most were only shared among the group and not sold to the general public. The Lemon APA, named after the Japanese term used to designate some adult publications and films (Creme Lemon, Lemon Angels, Lemon People, etc.), was filled with the more risqué musings of anime fandom and several C/FOoD members were early contributors.

One of the early contributors was a man named Scott Fraizer. After attending C/FOoD for a while, he joined in assisting the staff and eventually became Club Representative. He was so enthralled by anime that he eventually made the trip to Japan to study animation in, as did others. Scott eventually rose in the ranks overseas and even came to head his own studio for a while. He was known to come back to Denver to share stories and visit his old friends. Several years later, he would be a very sought after guest in the American anime convention circuit.

C/FOoD's time at the School of Theology ended the same time that Burgess graduated from school. With their esteemed leader moving onward (to a church in Nebraska, no less), the club found a new president in Don Gallagher, new V.P. Mike Odell, Chapter Rep Rich Arnold, and a new location, at the Cedar Run Club House. The newsletter had changed hands as well, becoming "Out of Chaos", under the helm of Ed Connell and Keith Savage. The newsletter had grown quite a bit and was featuring a strip called "Program Error: Hyper Battlebot", drawn by Rich Arnold, which poked fun at the various mecha shows that were popular at C/FOoD at the time. Various mecha shows made their way through C/FOoD showings, and Gundam topped the heap. For a time, the C/FOoD was known as the "Blood & Mecha Club" because of the leanings of the programs shown. In the meantime, C/FOoD members were running an anime room at Mile High Con, as well as maintaining a strong presence at StarFest/Con. The club interacted with several other fan groups, including the now-defunct Dream Buccaneers.

Meanwhile, events were building in the C/FO. At this time, there were C/FO chapters in almost every major city in the US, and a few abroad. The amount of newsletters was so vast that they started to bind them together so chapters could get their 'trades' in one stack. The "headquarters" moved to San Antonio, under the control of Randell Stuckey, and there was talk for a time of bringing the various chapters under more direct control. But each chapter tended to be very individualistic and many scuffed at the idea of being told what to do. Other member chapters felt that their association with C/FO was a waste of time and money, since the national organization seemed to do little more than produce a newsletter and an outdated membership list. C/Food was one of the first to go and officially broke away in February,1988. Denver, and some other chapters, intended to form an alternate national organization, Anime International. However, none of the other chapters joined in and Denver became the only Anime International. However, seeing that Denver, and others, managed to split from the C/FO and survive caused a great migration. Clubs jumped right and left. Currently, the original C/FO club is still alive and well in California.

"Out of Chaos" had lasted two years, until the newsletter was handed over to frequent contributor, Rich Arnold, with Keith Savage still helping out with publishing duties. Changed to "Stray Particles", it continued following Out of Chaos's format and style. There were also other changes in leadership. Vice-president Mike Odell took over the helm of the presidency, with Jeff Hunt as VP, Paul Blair as Club Rep, and Anthony Leonard as Archivist. The club had finally worn out it's welcome at Cedar Run, having been meeting there long after the last club members moved out of the complex. Odell secured meeting space at community room of Southwest State Bank, meeting place of other clubs such as the Denver Area Science Fiction Association (DASFA), which puts on Mile High Con. Rich Arnold lasted 8 issues and S.P. was taken over by Gary Olhava, with assists by previous Club Archivist Jareth Hein.

More changes in store as Jareth Hein moved to Japan to study animation. The club newsletter was reduced to a pamphlet called "kaos?" and was put out sporadically by Jeff Barnhart. The change in meeting places was a bit of a backlash, as attendance dropped. However, as with the ebb and flow of fandom, a new group of fans started showing up at DAI (including this writer). The club really hit bottom in January 1991, when Mike Odell was the only staff member left. Then-Vice President Jeff Hunt was called into duty due to Desert Shield and the other staff members seemed to vanish into thin air over the previous year. Hunt had even started taking over the newsletter, calling it "DAI-Versions". That February, the staff got a new boost with Jeff Moser as VP, Chris Murdock as Club Librarian and Representative, and Roger Morse as Newsletter Editor. The newsletter was renamed "DAI-gest", picking up on Hunt's pun. Later, Katie Gojiro and Jennifer "Fuji" Sumi would take up the title of Club Reps.

This turned out to be a period of rebirth for Colorado anime fandom. The Colorado Springs club, Rocky Mountain Fanimation, managed to raise from the ashes. And Fort Collins got an anime club as well, as two people, Roger Swanson and George Robbert, decided to merge the anime clubs they intended on starting. Both clubs had several members who attended DAI meetings and had decided to start clubs in their own towns. All three clubs saw alot of member trading. After a year in Japan, Jareth Hein returned. His knowledge would lend itself to helping DAI and RMF have more detail synopses of their programs. Jareth would also team up with DAI member Dan Durkin, who assemble "From S.I.D.E. to Side" for Summer Side Anime in Orange County, California. The two would produce not only FSTS, but a few manga translations as well, under the banner of "Studio AWOL"

Also at this time was the start of anime being commercially available in the U.S. AnimEigo was starting to release subtitled shows, and Carl Macek left Harmony Gold to form Streamline Pictures, with which he brought re-dubbed anime to the States. Project A-Kon started in 1990, and Anime Con in 1991. Project A-Kon would see a heavy contingent from Colorado in it's early years, as the Denver anime fan group AWOL would join in with Corn Pone Flicks and Pinesalad Productions to make A-Kon the liveliest anime convention in America.

DAI continued on course for a few years until more changes in staff. Roger Morse left his newsletter position and took over the librarian position that Chris Murdock vacated, as he moved to the Vice-presidency. The newsletter was taken over by Jeff Crouch and renamed "Don't Panic". Morse then moved out of state and Dan Durkin, longtime DAI member, filled the librarian position. Jareth Hein also returned to Japan, this time to program video games, and has only visited the States occasionally. Jeff Crouch then moved on and the newsletter was taken over by George Robbert, who had recently returned to the Colorado area, and was renamed "Anime Syns". Morse returned to Denver two years later and became the Club Representative, putting up a website for DAI, which he still maintains.

Also at this time, talk of putting on an anime convention in Denver resumed. Finally, DAI members Dionne LeBeau, Bob Chase, and Roger Morse assembled the first Nan Desu Kan, which as a 2-day event at the Tivoli Center. Attendance exceeded expectations, and so NDK 2 was planned. At this time, Roger Morse stepped away from the convention and Bob Chase moved to just taking care of the Gaming Room. Rebecca Norman and Shawn Eason would step up to bat with LeBeau for NDK 2. Roger Morse would then take over the abandoned StarCon Anime Room. Barb Edmunds was now taking care of Anime Rooms at Mile High Con and the two Denver Gaming Association cons, Tacticon and Genghis Con. NDK would become a driving force in Colorado area anime fandom. Clubs in Fort Collins, Boulder, Golden, and Colorado Springs would help the Denver-based convention to rise to the level of other well-established area conventions.

Chris Murdock resigned as Vice President, and Roger Morse would step into that position. And after over 10 years as DAI's president, Mike Odell would step down as president of DAI. Roger Morse was elected to the post and Chris Murdock would resume Vice Presidency. Newcomer Laura Phillips would take on the Club Rep mantle. But in the fall of 2000, the bank (which had changed hands a few times since DAI started meeting there) would inform DAI and the rest of the clubs meeting there that the community room was to be closed down. Morse managed to find space at the Jefferson County Courthouse and the January 2001 meeting was held there without a hitch. But a change in staff caused Jefferson County to decided to change it's mind about DAI meeting there. The February meeting was canceled as Roger scrambled around to find space. Then DAI began meeting at the Ross-Cherry Creek Public Library on it's usual 4th Saturday of every month.

However, more changes were in store. Soon afterward, Morse called a vote on DAI's ban on subtitled programming, which had been placed in the DAI-Laws back in 1988. The law was quickly overturned. At that time, George Robbert and Dan Durkin decided to move on after holding their positions for several years. Chris Murdock took over the newsletter and re-named it "DAIjyobu". The Librarian post was taken over by John Walker. Also at that time, Roger began working with John to create a real club library since the dubbing chain had fallen out of favor. Roger would also place the StarCon anime room he was running under DAI's name.

Roger Morse opened up his own anime store "Gimme Anime", and retired from the position of President. Chris Murdock was voted in as new DAI president, and John Walker moved into the Vice President position. Cary Quinn, Vice President of RMF is now the Club Representative (until we can find a better title for him). In the spring of 2003 the Denver public library announced it would start charging for the use of its meeting space and thus DAI was forced to move yet again. In summer 2003 the Denver Gamers Association would ask DAI to take over running the anime rooms at their gaming cons Tacticon and Genghis Con. Also in early summer 2003 DAI moved it's meetings to the game store Edwolf's Game Pit but the store owners decided to move out of state in the fall. Once again DAI was without a meeting place but as luck would have it one of our core members owns his own anime store and agreed to let DAI meet in their back room until a better meeting place could be found. So in January 2004 DAI began meeting at Roger Morse's store Gimme Anime.

In July of 2004 Chris Murdock stepped down as DAI President. John Walker was elected DAI President and Mike Jirsa was elected Vice President in a contested election. John's first action as president was to announce that he was doing away with the position of Club Representative and Librarian as he felt those positions were no longer necessary. In their place two new positions were created; Club Steward and Webmaster. Jeri Jirsa assumed the role of Steward and John Krukoff became Webmaster after having previously maintained the website with Chris Murdock.

With declining attendance, John Walker stepped down from the presidency at the DAI 25th anniversary meeting in January of 2007. The DAI presidency was reclaimed by Roger Morse, with Ed Luwish volunteering to help. Ed Luwish stepped into the reinstituted Librarian position, with the Vice Presidency remaining vacant. The Steward position was also dropped. The club continues to meet at Roger's store, Gimme Anime, where he looks forwarding to rebuilding the club's reputation as a place to watch anime and hang out with other fans.