Daicon Opening Animations

Synopsis

"It's either real, or it's a dream, there's nothing that is in between."

There are many ways one can describe the Daicon III and IV videos, but when someone pointed out to me the quote above (which is a lyric to the song in the Daicon IV video), it made me realize something: these short videos represent the dreams of science fiction and animation fans the world over -- the dreams of the otaku. It's what a fan might subconsciously envision after watching 12+ hours of anime, having played six or more hours of video games, ingested liters worth of Coke Classic, and having used just a little too much wasabi with the sushi. We are treated to wild and crazy visions of cool, cute, and powerful bunny girls, cities being destroyed and rebuilt, sakura blossoms... just a mish-mash of everything you've ever seen in a way that only makes sense when you're dreaming -- Macross Valkyries with Gundam beam sabers, flying swords performing the "Itano Circus", Darth Vader vs. our hero as Imperial stormtroopers cheer on, a huge white radish firing its main cannon to repopulate the world with trees, all kinds of special effects shots, and reference after reference to the shows and movies which have inspired us, continue to inspire us, and capture our imagination as fans.

The Daicon (note: a daikon is a Japanese white radish) videos are cool to watch just for the sake of watching them, but they're important for other reasons, too. Without the Daicon videos, the studio known as Gainax might never have come into being. Daicon III, held in Osaka in 1981, was the 20th Japan Science Fiction Convention. The volunteer staff of mostly college kids created the short (music video length) opening animation for the convention's opening ceremonies. This is the "Daicon III video". Although it was an amateur production using relatively low technology, fans loved it, and the use of opening animations at conventions would become a long-lasting tradition.