Daicon Opening Animations (2024)

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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: 7.71¹ (scored by 12,164 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #1242²

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

Popularity: #4872

Members: 21,860

Favorites: 195

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]

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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.

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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

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Opening Theme

Preview

Spotify	Apple Music
Amazon Music	Youtube Music

"Twilight" by Electric Light Orchestra

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Ending Theme

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

Reviews

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8 Recommended

1 Mixed Feelings

0 Not Recommended

All reviews (9)

Nov 27, 2012

AnnoKano

Recommended

The Daicon Opening Animations are two short films that were created for two Sci-fi conventions. They have gone down in history as the first and second titles produced by the infamous Studio Gainax, which at the time was little more than a group of students from the Osaka University of Arts.

Though they may be fairly humble origins for one of the most influential animation studios of the past 30 years, the Daicon films still demonstrate the tremendous potential of the Gainax staff. Both Daicon III and Daicon IV have essentially the same premise; a single girl fighting a battle royal against the Sci-Fi ...

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Sep 7, 2017

brandotendie

Recommended

This is history. This is art. This is the passion and love of a medium encapsulated and condensed into 5 minutes with the care and effort of three men who would change the face of anime forever.

In just over 5 minutes, this opening animation to the 1981 DAICON sci-fi/anime convention, DAICON III tells the simple story of a little girl's quest to water a radish. Along the way, however, she is assailed and chased by popular pop culture icons, forcing her to utilize her full power to get to her goal.

It's a simple plot, yes. Also, the animation looks very dated and low-budget, yes. But ...

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Aug 30, 2015

YoungVagabond

Mixed Feelings

I came across this anime in an unusual manner. Recently, I lost some files on my computer, including a number of music albums.

That included ELO's (Electric Light Orchestra) phenomenal 1981 concept album "Time", which I consider one of the finest of the decade. Luckily, there was a complete playlist on Youtube. Out of curiosity, I decided to check out the comments and noticed a number mentioning "Daicon IV". "The fuck is that?", I wondered.

Turns out that it was a series of specially made intro videos to several anime conventions during the 1980s (who knew they even existed ...

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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)

More discussions

Recent Forum Discussion

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
evangelionfan - May 12, 2020	3 replies	by DeadlyRaven »» May 13, 2020 12:28 PM

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Daicon Opening Animations (2024)

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Synopsis

Background

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Characters & Voice Actors

DAICON Girl

Staff

Opening Theme

Ending Theme

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