Animec No. 21
Daicon III Opening Anime
The 20th Japan SF Convention was held in Osaka. The opening anime was extremely popular. Let’s rewatch the anime, in which Lolicon and Mecha Fetishes went wild, on this magazine’s VCR…from August 22nd and 23rd.
It’s an 8mm film, so it may be hard to see. The opinions of people who have seen it seem to be, “The beauty of the screen is Gundam, the movement is Ideon, and the mecha and girl are good.” The way this anime was made is so unusual that it has now become a hot topic.
＊Staff
Original animation: Hideaki Anno
Mecha setting: Takami Akai
Character: Hiroyuki Yamaga
Chief Director: Yasuhiro Takeda
Cooperation: (Well done, to everyone who entered the octopus room…)
The road to the opening anime
The opening anime at the SF convention was very popular. (The fact that it got several encore screenings speaks for itself.) Now, in order to include it in this magazine, we needed the film. Not knowing his phone number, we sent a letter and a telegram to [chief director] Yasuhiro Takeda, and a week passed…we don’t have time!
The editor-in-chief flew to Osaka and, with the help of Jutland, contacted the staff of the Kansai University Association. The film was delivered to the editorial department by the staff the following week.
Episode 1
“The reason why we didn’t hear from Takeda” (staff explanation):
Umm, Takeda-san was on duty that week! He’s a Nuclear Engineering student at Kindai University. So he goes to the university at six in the morning.
Then he goes to the uranium storage area on the third basement floor, puts it in a lead bucket, and takes it to the reactor. He opens the reactor’s safety device, goes inside, and puts newspapers on the floor. Then he throws in two or three sticks of firewood, and when it starts to burn, he adds uranium little by little. When it turns red, he throws in the rest of the uranium.
Next, he runs up to the control room on the upper floor, grabs the long control rods, and pushes the uranium into the reactor below until it starts to burn properly. This is called critical operation, and it happens around ten o’clock, so I guess he was too busy to call, right?
I guess you can call it a sense of wonder. It’s a joke from the Kansai region.
There is a sequel to this story. When one of the editorial staff heard it, he said, “Wow, Kindai University uses an old-fashioned nuclear reactor!”
Here is a conversation between “Ma” and Mr. Okada, who brought the film. (It’s a very surreal story)
Ma: The cels are a little strange.
Okada: The fact that the film was completed is a miracle in itself. No one knew how to make anime, so the people who drew the animation said, “There’s something called a cel!” So we started looking for cels. One of our friends said, “You can buy cel sheets at an industrial park!” So we bought a cel sheet about the size of a tatami mat, and we divided up and cut it with a cutter.
Ma: Um…what happened with the size? I heard the size was off…
Okada: (Laughs) It was no laughing matter. When I showed the cut cels to my brother, he said it was too small. After some discussion, I decided that a B5 sheet would do the trick. So this time I bought B5 cel sheets.
Ma: Aside from the cels, what about the video paper [on which the pencil art would be drawn]?
Okada: That’s the point. I learned that you need video paper before you make cel, but this was really easy. Daiei’s discount calculation paper was B5 for some reason, so I went out and bought some.
Ma: That’s great vitality, isn’t it?
Okada: I just went ahead based on sheer determination. Next, I was told that I needed to punch holes in the video paper to be drawn on.
Ma: Well… If you don’t make a hole in the movie paper before drawing…
Okada: That’s right. If you draw a picture before you punch the holes, it will be wobbly, so it’s better not to do that. I’ve seen holes in paper that has been drawn on, but it must have done it in the wrong order.
Ma: Uh, what happened with the tracing?
Okada: I believed the story that it could be done with Xerox, but it couldn’t. First of all, the holes don’t line up, and the black lines could be rubbed off! So I hunted people down, and the ones who were good at it became trace men, and the rest were colorists.
Ma: So, was this entire anime hand-traced?
Okada: That’s the way it was. The rest was just manpower. I dragged in anyone I knew even a little bit and had them color it. If they couldn’t color, they made meals. Some of my subordinates cried, “My parents will disown me, please let me go home…” I encouraged them, and the work was completed in a month and a half.
Ma: Octopus room abduction!
Okada: It happens all the time…
******
In this way, the animation, tracing, coloring, special effects (which was also a great story), background, filming, and editing were completed the day before the convention. The sound was recorded at 8:30 a.m. on the day. It was apparently delivered to the venue at 9:45 a.m. This opening anime, created with the passion and sense of Osaka fandom, will surely be passed down among fans in the future.
Recorded on the second day of the SF convention
MC (Takeda): Well, I’d like to introduce the staff who made this animation. These are three people from the Graduate School of Film and New Media, Osaka University of Arts. (Applause)
Anno: Hideaki Anno, I was in charge of the mecha and effects. (Comment sent to Animec — I don’t like robots that can’t move their necks. Sorry to the tracer for the many lines. Sorry to the colorist for the many shadows.)
Yamaga: Hiroyuki Yamaga, I was in charge of editing and backgrounds. (Comment — We made something amazing. I like directing the most, even though there was no director part on the staff. I don’t think I could do it again.)
Akai: Takami Akai, I was in charge of everything except the mecha and effects. (Comment — I was relieved when it was done on the morning of the day. I was surprised that it was well-received.)
Takeda: I’m Takeda, I did all the coloring. (laughs)
Episode III
Ma: Was it like this from the beginning?
Takeda: No. At first, there is Osaka Castle, and then Gomora appears. (No need to explain to tokusatsu fans; following the tradition of Ultraman‘s “King Kaiju,” the symbols of this SF convention were Osaka Castle and Gomora) The residents of Osaka started to make a fuss, and then the Roger Young appeared in the sky, and hundreds of powered suits came down one by one…
As soon as I started to talk about this, all the animators ran away, hahaha! So now there’s only one powered suit, and since there were a lot of Lolicons in the group, I included some girls, and that’s how it was.