Daicon Opening Animations

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Daicon, Daikon, Daicon films, Daicon III, Daicon IV

Japanese: DAICONオープニングアニメ

Information

Type: Special

Episodes: 2

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Aug 22, 1981 to Aug 20, 1983

Producers: None found, add some

Licensors: None found, add some

Studios: Gainax

Source: Other

Genres: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

Themes: Mecha, Music, Otaku Culture

Duration: 5 min. per ep.

Rating: PG - Children

Statistics

Score: 7.72¹ (scored by 11,698 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #1191²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #4757

Members: 21,113

Favorites: 194

Available At

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ANN

Synopsis

Daicon III Opening Animation
An unnamed girl watches as the Science Patrol lands their aircraft. A masked individual exits the ship and approaches the girl, entrusting her with a cup of water and a simple task: to water a radish. The girl enthusiastically accepts her mission but is obstructed by a multitude of foes. Faced with waves of unrelenting monsters, mechas, and starfighters, can the young heroine protect the cup of water and make it to the radish unharmed?

Daicon IV Opening Animation
Clad in a Playboy Bunny suit, an older version of the same girl takes on new and notable adversaries from around the galaxy. From dueling with lightsabers to surfing the magical sword Stormbringer, there is no shortage of action!

Set to Electric Light Orchestra's "Twilight," the Daicon IV Opening Animation is a grand tribute to science fiction culture, showcasing hundreds of familiar characters in one spectacular bout.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Edit

Background

The Daicon III and Daicon IV Opening Animations were produced with the intent of being showcased at the twentieth and twenty-second Nihon SF Taikai science fiction conventions—specifically the 1981 and 1983 Osaka conventions, nicknamed Daicon III and Daicon IV.

Daicon III Opening Animation
The 1981 Daicon III Opening Animation was solely animated by the three-person studio Daicon Film—consisting of university students Hideaki Anno, Hiroyuki Yamaga, and Takami Akai. While others were involved in the short's production, there were only three members credited.

Daicon IV Opening Animation
The animation's unauthorized use of the Electric Light Orchestra song "Twilight" prevented it from receiving an official release; however, unofficial laserdiscs were produced to pay off the debt of the production.

The production of the 1983 Daicon IV Opening Animation was said to be rigorous, and its completion was on the day of its premier. Nevertheless, the short's reception was overwhelmingly positive and spawned it a favorable legacy. A 2001 edition of the Animage magazine ranks both shorts at number 35 in its Top 100 anime productions ranking.

The twelve individuals involved with the production of Daicon IV would go on to found the studio Gainax, responsible for the acclaimed anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion. Brief moments of Daicon IV can be seen in Gainax's anime Otaku no Video, which is based around the formation of the studio.

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

DAICON Girl

Main

More staff

Staff

Yamaga, Hiroyuki

Director, Episode Director

Electric Light Orchestra

Theme Song Performance

Anno, Hideaki

Key Animation, Animation Director

Sadamoto, Yoshiyuki

Key Animation

Edit

Opening Theme

"Twilight" by Electric Light Orchestra

Edit

Ending Theme

No ending themes have been added to this title. Help improve our database by adding an ending theme here.

Reviews

Dec 29, 2021

The_Cmoose

Recommended

This was a guerilla team of otaku's tribute to everything they geeked out over. Made with a fast and loose approach to copyright laws, and using Electric Light Orchestra's music without permission these opening animations are a hallmark of GAINAX's love of big cool nonsense.

Star Wars, Ultraman, Kamen Rider, other old sentai properties, bunny girls, booba, huge explosions animated by Hideaki Anno himself, these shorts have everything befitting a science fiction convention in the late 80's.

Massive copyright infringement, fair use in limbo, and made for free in their spare time these projects are an essential part of understanding Gainax and all of their ...

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Dec 21, 2020

lethargilistic

Recommended

Daicon III:

It's endearing to know that the otaku in charge of that convention understood even then that the essence of anime is "cute gorl; also fetishistic referencing and remixing." I liked her design and I liked the ersatz monsters and mechanical stuff. It's not like I was expecting a story, so I wasn't really disappointed in any regard. If there's not enough here, it's just because they would go on to do bigger and better stuff as professionals. As a community, we should be and are glad that they did.

Daicon IV:

Everything that Daicon III was, but, like, more of it. And topping it in ...

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Aug 12, 2016

FAKEANIMEGIRL

Mixed Feelings

Gainax's two short films made for the science-fiction conventions Daicon III and Daicon IV. But that's not exactly true. The truth is is that this wasn't made by Gainax in name, but rather a group of young animators that would go on to form that of one of anime's most prolific and influential studios of all time. These seemingly little things birthing such a giant of Japanese animation would come as no surprise to anyone who'd watch them. These music videos are full of fluent, active animation as mascot girls jump between absurd scenes and battles featuring science-fiction icons such as Darth Vader, Gundam, and ... Transformers. The number of references is astounding, and this is a work that bursts from passion both from its animation and appreciation for the fantasy of anime and its many national and international origins.

The opening for Daicon IV is the most well-known of the two, partially for featuring the song "Twilight" by rock band Electric Light Orchestra from their 1981 album "Time". I was never that much of a fan of that album for getting away from ELO's faux-electro orchestra sound, but if there's an exception it's that single song. And if there's a reason, it's this single short which I saw for the first time ages ago. The use of the track is such literary genius that I wonder if it was accidental because of the language barrier and just chosen for being a cool song. The opening text scroll subtitling the album's concept narrative implies otherwise, as lyrically Twilight conjures up the story of a bewildered man who finds himself transported through time into the future and questioning whether he's in reality or a dream, and that he "only meant to stay a while". These shorts, made at the beginning of the anime Otaku-boom and birth of a true subculture herald such an event, a celebration of the starry-eyed fanaticism that the boundless wonders of escapist imagination anime has been inspired for decades since. It's a beautiful thing to look back on now as a celebration of anime while at the same time being at that early a stage in the medium's life making it an optimistic view looking forward to the countless dreams to come. The bouncing surrealist narrative is unhinged and loose with excitement about all of the creative fantasies that have been created as well as the ones that would be on their way forever more. To give us one last reminder, an ending animation features ELO's "Hold on Tight" which repeatedly states "hold on tight to your dreams". And many of the animators who touched this project did just that.

It's just about impossible for an anime fan to not like the Daicon shorts, because they are so definitively "anime" in their sporadic eccentricities, and that level of energy was only just blooming at the time they were created. It's almost like watching something new come to life, because in a way, that's what was happening.

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Recent News

Gainax Announces 'Daicon Film 33'

A teaser website for "Daicon Film 33" has been published by Gainax. It is a sequel to "Daicon Opening Animations," originally produced as Gainax's first work when it...read more

Dec 25, 2013 3:11 AM by Dunois | Discuss (34 comments)

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Poll: Daicon Opening Animations Episode 2 Discussion Iri - Aug 24, 2008	32 replies	by NeandertalKnight »» Apr 18, 6:32 PM
Why haven't you seen this masterpiece yet? Say-My-Name - Aug 13, 2022	4 replies	by PossumCore »» Aug 14, 2022 1:14 AM
Poll: Daicon Opening Animations Episode 1 Discussion RafaelDeJongh - Mar 13, 2013	12 replies	by Kristiwazhere »» May 13, 2020 6:51 PM
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Characters & Voice Actors

DAICON Girl

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Opening Theme

Ending Theme

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Daicon Opening Animations

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Information

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Available At

Resources

Synopsis

Background

Visit MALxJapan MALxJapan -More than just anime-

Characters & Voice Actors

DAICON Girl

Staff

Opening Theme

Ending Theme

Reviews

Interest Stacks

Recommendations

Recent News

Recent Forum Discussion

Recent Featured Articles

MoreTop Anime

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