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Aug 24, 2008 8:47 AM
#1

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Apr 2007
1609
THIS IS AN ANIME ONLY DISCUSSION POST. DO NOT DISCUSS THE MANGA BEYOND THIS EPISODE.
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For those unaware, this weekend is the Nihon SF Taikai, and since it's in Osaka this year, it is Daicon VII. This happens on the 25th anniversary of Daicon IV and its rather interesting opening animation sequence.

The Daicon IV opening has always been one of my favorite pieces of animation. There aren't that many works where you can see the love that the animators put into it, but in this case it really shines through. There are so many impressive sequences in it that it just blows the mind that it wasn't even finished until the morning of showing. From a very early Itano Circus to bootleg ELO music to the wonderful invention of the "Gainax jiggle", this short has it all. The sequence where the city is destroyed by an atomic bomb and then transformed into an endless field of flowers is one the most technically beautiful pieces of animated art I've seen.

I personally view Daicon IV as one of the key moments in the transition to modern anime. I hope they did some sort of tribute this weekend to it -- I've always thought it would be great if modern Gainax did an updated version with additional characters from the past quarter-century, although that seems pretty unlikely with them being a legitimate company now. In any event, it remains a landmark in my mind.

Watch it if you can, if only to see Darth Vader fight a bunny girl.
Aug 8, 2009 9:09 PM
#2

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May 2009
284
loved it great animation I loved seeing all those characters and I loved the song^^
Aug 27, 2009 7:35 PM
#3

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Jul 2009
153
I loved all the pop culture references. She had a lightsaber duel with Darth Vader X3
Sep 4, 2009 4:06 PM
#4

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Jun 2008
8100
Wow, she was actually battling Darth Vader, along with other pop culture icons. This.........was the most awesomest thing I have ever seen!
Jan 19, 2010 4:02 AM
#5

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Sep 2008
11495
This was so awesome in so many ways...
Jul 11, 2010 8:01 PM
#6

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Nov 2007
1415
i was told these were made in a garage by two nerds that became Gainax. lol frikken epic!


banana
Mar 13, 2013 4:44 AM
#7

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May 2012
25829
Damn that was sure amazing, for being made in that year it sure was totally epic! Great effects and just amazing art!
Apr 21, 2013 6:52 AM
#8
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Oct 2010
59
DarkRoseOtaku said:
i was told these were made in a garage by two nerds that became Gainax.

I was purely man-made indeed. Amazing!
Jul 29, 2013 7:02 PM
#9

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Mar 2013
145
For a garage work, this surpasses even motherloving Voltes.

...
Oh well, at least we have LD rips with us, since this will never officially be released on DVD or Blu-ray due to copyright cowship.
Dec 31, 2013 5:05 AM
The Shrike

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Nov 2009
11554
Amazing animation. Even by today's standards this was superb. Even more so when one thinks it's made by hand.

No wonder these guys went on to form the great Gainax.
"Perhaps there is a universal, absolute truth. Perhaps it justifies every question. But that's beyond the reach of these small hands." Mamoru Oshii

There is a cult of ignorance (...) nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that “my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” Isaac Asimov

Jul 16, 2014 3:32 AM

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Oct 2013
2896
I have a new found respect for Gainax this is one of the many anime That was jsut over the top and great
supper amusing wish they a full show of this
[/quote]
May 28, 2015 11:36 PM

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Feb 2015
1076
This was awesome. ELO's music was perfect.
Jul 27, 2015 6:56 AM

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Mar 2015
1953
This was just awesome.No wonder these guys were later able to build up Gainax.

The scene of the red surface of earth turning blue...ending of the last EVA rebuild.Calling it.
Feb 24, 2016 2:55 PM

Online
Jun 2015
3465
Nailed it

Across the night I saw your face,
You disappeared without a trace
You brought me here, but can you take me back?
Aug 12, 2016 12:30 PM

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Mar 2013
513
you mud have no idea.... this was made by few people and is in insanely great quality. a masterpiece. amazing references. strong girl.
Sep 16, 2016 7:04 AM

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Dec 2015
6474
A great talents demonstration and a big love letter to the sci-fi genre in general and animation in particular.

Enjoyment: 5/5
Score for both: 8/10


@HeroKenzan I thought it was a reference to Yamato's finale.


@Pixel_Vapour Yes, no wonder that they were noticed and that Honneamise no Tsubasa looks like it does.
Rei_IIIAug 13, 2017 7:32 AM
Nov 11, 2016 6:11 AM

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Mar 2015
1953
@Rei366 Not saying anything else. Gainax is full of allusions to older works afterall. Eva in particular. In fact the series can be seen as a rehash of retro sci-fi/mecha anime for a new generation. Where it originated from doesn't matter in the end, Gainax and Anno love referencing themselves.
Dec 26, 2016 6:31 AM

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Feb 2014
3783
This was even better than the first episode. The animation in this, with the detailed art, smooth and realistic movements is easily one of the best I've seen in any anime.
Apr 2, 2017 6:11 PM

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Dec 2016
30
Did you know that this animation contains the very first incarnation of Gainaxing.
Aug 13, 2017 6:52 AM

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Nov 2016
2981
This was really good considering the time it was made and by newbies of animation. I have to hand it to Gainax. 6/10
Pixel_VapourAug 13, 2017 7:33 AM
Sep 13, 2017 10:34 AM

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Jul 2016
512
The best animated short film I've ever seen, the sound and animation converge together so well... Beautiful. A magic tribute to "nerdism" (comic books, kaijus, anime, various sci-fi movies and series...) I just can't do anything else than give it a round 10.

And of course this was all hand-drawn, yes, every single character in every single scene, even the mindblowing nuclear explosions.

This is the true meaning of a masterpiece, even in 2017, I was amazed when I watched it.
Around the gif~
"It's a big mistake to think you're the only one who can turn into a car"
- Shiori Takatsuki
Nov 23, 2018 6:31 PM

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Nov 2016
31820
If you consider how and by whom it was done, then it's actually impressive.

One Piece episode 914 & 915 & 1027 were a mistake and 957 brought the salvation - FMmatron


Jan 3, 2019 3:20 PM

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Mar 2017
163
9/10. Best short i've ever watched. Animation looks better than most anime which aired in 2018. That's how you know you made something timeless.
Brandon2149Jan 3, 2019 8:05 PM
Sep 7, 2019 9:02 PM

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Nov 2012
4711
Iconic, it's amazing how something so low budget and so short can have more soul than most newer anime.
May 13, 2020 6:37 PM

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Sep 2018
2222
The gainax fanboys/girls are gonna hate me, but this is probably the most over rated (I mean in stature, not in relation to the ratings on this site) piece of japanese animation next to Akira.

Personally I found the first one much better than this, sure the animation and artwork is better, but the awful editing and lack of sound effects make it seem like a hastily made AMV, also the references to SF shows seem much more forced this time around.

Oh, and you know that "two guys" thing you fans keep spouting, yah, that's a myth. It was true of the first one, but go look up the credits on AniDB, this one had a team of around 10 people on it by my count.
KristiwazhereMay 17, 2020 4:40 PM
May 16, 2020 3:00 PM
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May 2019
3168
Awesome animation, for the most part. I preferred the song in the first one, however.
Jun 27, 2020 7:54 PM
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Jul 2018
564125


This was so beautiful. Even though the animation is just a simple twelve minutes, I still feel it's a worthy addition to my Watched catalog. After all, I've tackled the AMV part about a dozen times now.

And to think, this is the literal definition of an anime AMV. Who knew something like this was around in the 80's.

Tbh, I only found out about this because I love the band Electric Light Orchestra. After listening to all of their hits, I started listening to their other works and the 1981 Time album is so great. I always like to check if certain songs have Wikipedia articles, though. And this one did. When I looked, I immediately saw the word "otaku" and was like, wtf. A mainstream British pop band had an otaku anthem? What the actual f---?

Turns out the track from the Time concept album was used *unauthorized* for Part 2 of a two-part series of opening animations for Daicon anime conventions. My biggest question is if Jeff Lynne ever found out about this and what his reaction was. I can't imagine Lynne being capable of fathoming what anime even is/was, so I'm really curious.

It's also fascinating that just TWELVE FvCKING INDIVIDUALS CAME TOGETHER TO MAKE THIS!!! Just twelve human beings banded together to create something absolutely timeless. And reading about the conditions of the production space... dang, my heart goes out to those guys. I'm impressed.

Can you imagine witnessing this live when it first played? It was gorgeous. I'm not big in nerd culture aside from anime but I recognized a lot of references. It was all so great, these guys really tried to pay homage to a vast array of fandoms.

Overall, the "Twilight" track is astoundingly beautiful. Gorgeous harmonies and an incredible vibe. It instantly became one of my favorite ELO songs. And when I found out it became an anime anthem, it just made the song and its lore all-the-more amazing. Really, the part of the city exploding and the trees blooming during the song's climactic moments... twelve amateurs actually pulled off the feeling they were going for by implementing fluid animation. Absolutely incredible. If I were a Japanese otaku in the 1980's, I would've been moved to tears.

Really cool part.
removed-userJun 28, 2020 12:36 AM
Sep 1, 2020 12:11 AM
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Apr 2016
13216
Awfullyyyyyyyyyyyyyy random but fun! The animation—at that time that is—was especially nice!
Aug 8, 2021 1:24 PM
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Jul 2018
564125
This 2nd was an absolute joy to watch. Massive improvement over the 1st one. 8/10
Nov 28, 2021 10:01 PM

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Oct 2013
8404
Both openings show how awesome thigns can create a team formed of dedicated, passionate and talented people.

Out of two Daicon openings, this one I liked the most. It was basically worldwide popculture in a nutshell, haha. It also looked way better than the first opening.
Sep 17, 2022 6:46 AM
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Oct 2020
21
This is the peak cinema and the moment that japan has proven the future of animation Industry in Japan has evolved for better future
Oct 25, 2023 9:23 AM

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Apr 2015
2425
Wow I could really see the love for the animators in this , They really had a vision and kudos to them.
Every single frame looks like it was made with hardwork , especially that bomb animation sequence.
That was extremely smooth and satisfying.
Another important piece of anime culture.
Apr 18, 6:32 PM
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Dec 2019
6
Truely inspirational. I wish I had this kind of talent.

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