Anime

Children of Daicon

By SocialMoth 1 year, 6 months ago

Anime is great; Amv’s seldom are. There are so many videos and a fair majority of them are garbage. This year’s crop of finalists for the AMV contest at Anime Expo shone like a star in a vast and empty cosmos. All the finalists deserve recognition for their entries, but there was one submission in particular that I feel deserves special recognition: Children of Daicon. WAIT! before you go and watch the video its time for an Anime history lesson!

The year was 1983; Japan was looking forward to a prosperous economic future and Return of the Jedi, the final installment in the Star Wars Trilogy, was paving the way for numerous science fiction-themed anime. While all the important people went about their important business, an obscure amateur animation studio known as DAICON Film would produce the most significant AMV in otaku subculture history: Daicon IV.

Fast forward a year and these animators go on to form Gainax Co. Ltd., a studio that will forever alter the geography of otakuland.

Here is the original Daicon III/Daicon IV video.

For the Anime Expo 2010 AMV contest, Solomon Smith’s Children of Daicon would be awarded “Best in Show” and “Judge Favorite,” yet such accolades do little to convey the emotional power of this entry. Submitted to the “pro” category, Children of Daicon was shown during the after hours of the con and the Nokia Theatre had already begun to empty. I was tired and more than a little irked at the poor preparation of the event, admittedly, and was starting to fade fast…

Then suddenly:

A love-letter to Gainax, it stands as a monument to everything fans ever loved about anime, mirroring much of the visual and musical style of the original Daicon IV video while managing to recreate the same magical sense of poignant nostalgia for this generation of anime fans. It reminded me of my own roots as an anime fan, roots that sprouted from a cursory interest and launched into a full-blown obsession.

To me, anime had become more than Japanese cartoons; it became a part of my life, and a part that I had forgotten. The AMV showed me how dispassionate and jaded I had become and I rediscovered the joy I found in anime. As we moved on, the upwelling of emotion left me on the verge of tears and I quietly mused to myself.

“We have seen much and but the journey shall be something I will cherish.”

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