Ah, high school...

a time of change, a time of firsts.

It's when I first discovered my interests, when I first developed a sense of humor

And when I first found my close group of friends.

Okay "Yo mama's so ugly, that when she was born her parents named her shit happened."

"All right how do Chinese parents name their kids? They throw a pan down the stairs."

...

And that's the first time I felt Asian.

I mean, I knew I was Asian, but it's weird realizing,

I was seen as Asian, which confused me because I always felt like I was the same as them.

They were born here, I was born here,

Even my parents were born here, but

Being the only Asian in school brought along

special treatment

So how much do we owe?

Leo's got this

Here you go.

(Not all Asians are good at math)

uhh Falco? No...Samus?

Wait. What the f*ck is this?

Oh lucario.

Who?

He's a Pokemon.

Oh you would watch anime

I'm Samus.

I tried. Yeah, we really were not prepared.

Yeah. I think I could have read that PowerPoint a little more.

Hey, you're supposed to be the one that's good at these things.

Hey, uhhh

Listen, do you have a...

Date to the homecoming dance?

Ughh no

Wait why?

(GO FOR IT)

Oh!

Leo, really? Come on! We wouldn't be a good match

*REJECTED*

for the dance, right?

Wait... Why?

You know... We're just different

*horn honks*

Um see you later...

See ya

So did you hear? Apparently Asian means different.

I was different

Until now!

I was off to college and not just any ordinary college. A college in Southern California!

Do you know what that means? Let me break it down for you.

UC San Gabriel

57.9% Asian!

Let's just say 60... 60% Asian. That's more than half the school of people like me!

I was always "too" Asian back home because I was the only one

not here!

We all Asian, baby!

College. This is where I discover where I fit in. This is where I discover where I belong

Hey you

Yeah, we're having a rush party tonight at Alpha Zeta Nu

It's the Asian fraternity.

I'll be there

신발! (shoes!)

Yeah?

Shoes

*Come on now. How do you not know that?!?*

Hey

You look really familiar

Do I?

yeah

Hey, Julie, doesn't this guy look like Jeff Chang?

I think you mean Jeff Cheung

Or is it Ching?

Ching?

Sounds almost like a pan getting thrown down the stairs

WOw... *offended*

Oh my god...

Woah... Is this anime?

Yeah, Tokyo Ghoul

Never heard of it

Strange. Quite the anime expert back home.

Oh, yeah? What'd you watch?

Dragon Ball. Pokémon.

Ha!

Did you watch subbed or dubbed?

What's subbed?

What's subbed?

Man get out of here, Goku.

Get out of here! Let's go

What the fuck is going on?

Subtitles

Sorry?

Subtitles - those words at the lower third of the screen that give context to the scene.

you know, something you desperately needed tonight whitey

Whitey. I am NOT white trust me...

It's not second nature for you to take your shoes off indoors

You use that played out and frankly offensive pan joke

And the only anime you watch are Dragon Ball and Pokémon

Dubbed

Sounds pretty white to me Pillsbury

No you just don't understand

Oh really?

May I?

And I was different back home because I was too Asian

But those things that made me Asian back home are supposed to make me fit in here

You're kind of doing what your white friends did to you

What are you talking about?

Well, your white friends pushed you away on the basis that you're Asian

But you're trying to connect with these people on the basis that they're Asian

You're just reducing people to their race

It's no different from your friends back home

No no no

no I...

Wait right here

Check it!

I just got that girl's number over there. We connected. I didn't bring up race

We'll see

Gotta go. Later, Charmin (the toilet paper brand)!

So what do you think

Huh?

oh!

These are amazing

The photography department's lucky to have you

oh

No, not a photography major. My passion's photography, but I'm actually a bio major

oh

Well if it's your passion maybe you should switch majors

No my parents would never let me do that

why not?

It's your dream, right?

You should be honest with your parents.

Are you kidding me? They would never support me in that kind of field

huh, they're your parents. I'm sure they'll understand.

No they won't

why wouldn't they?

Why won't you?

Maybe we're just different

You were right. What do I do?

Listen...

Maybe you just have to learn to accept that you're different from everyone

You feel like you don't belong here

or there

You just fall somewhere in between

It's not necessarily a bad thing

Not a bad thing?

I have no one

Wait where are you going?

Back to at least some familiarity

Rush party tonight check it out.

Yeah

heard Karen's coming

I'll sign up

First frat

Nah... I actually checked out Alpha Zeta Nu last night

ah

Should have known

God, there are too many Asian kids at this school

Too many.

Why don't they just go back home already

That's fucked up

What'd you say bro?

I said that's fucked up!

You guys, you guys don't get it, do you?

this is as much as their home as it is yours

And you know it's statements like these that make it hard for people like me to find a home in the first place

so if you don't get that, then maybe you, you should go back home to... to Norway

or Slovakia

Or wherever the hell you come from you ignoramus

*sighs*

Whoa, Hey man, you okay?

Yeah, I'm fine

Yeah, that really sucks with those guys said to you back there,

But it takes a lot of balls to respond the way you did

Props, man

Thanks

Yeah, so what are you?

Chinese

No no, I mean, are you a freshman, sophomore...?

Oh!

Freshman

Ah. Not the best first impression of us here at UCSG. Just don't hold it against us

Kyle!

Hey man, what's up?

How's it going? Good!

Oh shit. It's you.

What you guys know each other?

yeah, he was at the party last night

Why'd you dip so early? You missed the jello shots, bro

Didn't think anyone noticed

We're actually about to head to this alumni homecoming event if you want to tag along

They got free tacos

Yeah, I'll meet you guys there, I just have to take care of some stuff first

Okay, adios man

Yeah! See ya there

Nicely done

I learned from the best

Tough being an in-betweener, huh?

Wait, you're one too?

Yep, Michigan

I went through all the same things you did when I first moved here

Well, didn't tell someone to go back to Norway

But same frustrations...

Took me a lot longer to feel like I fit in

Speaking of which, you should get to that event

Whoa wait, what else can you tell me? You're the first person in this place who I...

I just don't want to make a fool out of myself

Again!

Okay fine

I'll help you

Although it seems like you don't really need my help.

I mean you got that invite to the homecoming event all by yourself

See you later. Hey, enjoy the in-between

Huh

The in-between. I guess I was still right about college. I did find where I belong

I was just a little misguided to think I needed to force myself into one community when in reality

I can belong to many

and really, the best things fall in between

sandwich meat, Oreo filling, Empire Strikes Back

It's not what I expected, but I think I can get used to this

Well I first want to say congratulations, I'm really proud of you guys for making this. This was obviously a very big

Production and project that you guys took on completely

like on the side of everything that you guys already doing, so good job, like honestly

Thanks, thank you

For the most part it was a pretty small scale production.

it felt big but like it was like a large-scale story.

Right, right.

Well. I mean what like what was the genesis of this project?

Why did you guys want to make it or what was the original intention?

So it actually started about a year ago when there was this film contest.

things circulated amongst our community.

It was a call-out for Asian filmmakers to make entries about Asian identity.

We shared it with each other and we thought maybe we can make something for this contest

We're thinking of a story to tell them. The best idea we came up with was an experience that we shared as

multi-generational Asians

Oh okay. So was this story actually pretty personal to you guys like you actually like went through

This identity crisis that you know that were you actually like kind of your character at some point in your life?

That opening joke of Leo laughing at the joke and the friends that happen to do yeah, yeah

That's because it's just so interesting because yeah from being multi-generational Asians, we're not necessarily

You know raised any differently, right?

It's funny growing up, and then you're like oh, no we see you as as different though

And then we're talking with friends and there were just a lot of

similar

funny instances of feeling like too Asian amongst non-Asians

And then not feeling not Asian enough amongst Asians.

But that's that's the struggle already like right there where it's like what what even is

"too Asian" or "Asian enough" right and like yeah

It's unfortunate that just because of how you look, people are just gonna think you need to be this way right

Yeah

I mean

I'm glad that you guys told this story and brought your perspective cuz I remember the first time I watched it

I was like oh my gosh. Do I make you feel this way cuz cuz I've teased you guys before. I'm first-generation

You know you guys multi-generational you guys your fans have been in America for a long time

And I've teased you guys about being "Asian enough" or whatever. I'm like oh no!

it's just an entire passive-aggressive film at Phil

that's all but no it's it's great that you guys brought your you know your own story and I'm glad

That you know people can watch and see something that I think is a story that is not that common in our community