sawayn.shyann - 2013-05-29 05:35:06

These are extremely important leading up to the formation of GAINAX. These opening animations are essentially their calling card and paved the way for classics such as Honneamise, Evangelion, and Gurren Lagann.

However, they don't have much relevance if you aren't a fan of more than just anime; because they are about various topics commonly associated with otaku/geeks such as science fiction, superheros, tokusatsu, kaiju, and more. I will say one thing though: I don't particularly enjoy DAICON III all that much because it doesn't live long in the memory. In terms of memorable content, I think DAICON IV blows it away by a considerable margin. It having the song "Twilight" by ELO (Electric Light Orchestra) probably is the reason why.

I remember exactly when I first saw them as well. It was ConnectiCon 2009, and they were shown to me and I had no idea what they were. I was so excited, blown away, and amazed at how a couple of guys did those animations by themselves. It will probably be never licensed for a couple of reasons. 1: the unlicensed use of the Playboy Bunny suit and 2: The unlicensed use of Twilight. I don't why Gainax doesn't go back and pay the fees (which they most certainly can afford) so they can remaster this thing?

As far as criticism goes, you can't really be critical about these things in terms of story or characters, because none of that applies in these two cases. The animation, while looking dated by today's standards, still has that warm hand-drawn feeling and, I think, holds up tremendously well. In terms of video quality, I have to make a strike against it because it is all scratchy and grainy, and does not look pretty. This is mostly due to the fact that the video that everyone knows of concerning this thing came from a LaserDisc that came along with an officially licensed GAINAX art book of these animations. One thing that, surprisingly, doesn't suffer is the sound. The sound is crisp and unusually intact, considering both the age and the format this thing was released in.

If you haven't seen these and you are deep into anime, you owe it to yourself to do so. There is a reason why they were so well-remembered in the years to come. It is because they are, as far as I'm concerned, the official anthem of otaku; and a reminder of why anime was and shall always be cool.

Embedded are the actual animations so you can watch them here to see what I'm talking about...

Till then...I have a message from another time.