Daicon IV
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Daicon IV was a sci-fi convention held in 1983, in Osaka, Japan; the 22nd Nihon SF Taikai.
Name
Daicon is a pun with the east asian giant radish called daikon in japanese, the word "convention", and the first kanji of the city in which it is held, which can be read either ō or dai, and means "big/great". "Daicon", like the names of most Japanese sci-fi conventions, is always written in the Latin alphabet.Opening
The opening to Daicon IV, made by Gainax (which at the time was called Daicon Film), is a 4:23 video of beautiful cel animation, comparable to that of 1988's Akira or the 1984 film . It is no surprise that the opening to a sci-fi convention was anime, as often, back then and still today, otaku in general often were into several "geek" fields of interest at once. Thus, the video has many references, and features the now grown up Daicon III girl fighting a wide selection of creatures from all sorts of science fiction and fantasy movies and novels (appearances include Darth Vader, an alien, a Macross VF-1 Valkyrie, a Pern dragon, Aslan, a Klingon battle cruiser, Spider-Man, and a pan across a vast array of hundreds of other characters) as she surfs through the sky on the sword Stormbringer.The video features Electric Light Orchestra's "Twilight" from the album Time as background music, and the prologue lyrics from that same album as an introduction:
- Just on the border of your waking mind
- There lies another time
- Where darkness and light are one,
- And as you tread the halls of sanity,
- You feel so glad to be unable to go beyond.
- I have a message from another time...
Culture and references
This video, although short, clearly marked the otaku subculture for its state-of-the-art animation for 1983. There soon were merchandise and figures of the nameless "Daicon IV bunny-eared girl" who is seen surfing around on a flying sword in the video.In Gainax's 1992 OVA Otaku no Video, a character shows another what are anime and animation techniques, and shows a part of the Daicon IV opening. Additionally, Otaku no Video's very mascot, Misty May, is clearly a reference to the Daicon IV girl.
Another of Gainax's OVA, FLCL (2000-2001), shows Haruko in episode 5 dressed in the same bunny suit, flying over a guitar to attack a giant monster. During her attack, she screams "Daicon V!".
The Japanese TV series Densha Otoko (2005) features an opening that is also a clear reference, featuring a girl with bunny ears surfing around on a train with the same background tune, Electric Light Orchestra's "Twilight".
The Daicon III and Daicon IV animations have experienced a difficult time being brought to video. Due to the huge number of characters, images, and music used in the animations to which Daicon Animation did not own the license, copyright restrictions prevented them from profiting from the work. Nevertheless, they did manage to release it on Laserdisc in 1988, as a free bonus that was included with a book about the creation process of the film. Though the Laserdisc is labeled "Not For Sale", the steep price of the book (around $150 USD) made it obvious that the real product being offered for sale was the disc itself. Being produced in limited quantities, that Laserdisc has since become one of several "holy grails" for collectors of anime paraphenalia, often selling at auction for prices reaching up to $1500 USD.
See also
External links
- [Gainax's Daicon III and IV videos official site] (Japanese)
- [Daicon III and IV Opening Animations] - a fan site about Daicon and the early history of Gainax
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