Animec Vol. 33, October 1 1983

Daicon IV report by Akira Arano

The Science Fiction Convention, which had been the talk of the town even before the event, was held in Osaka at the Kosei-Nenkin Building.

It was a great event, and the progress reports (PR) distributed to the participants before the convention were nothing short of amazing! PR No. 2 in particular was a cassette tape with hilarious content that included SF, tokusatsu, and anime. If you know someone who has it, please give it a listen.

The editor-in-chief and the rest of us were totally delirious from all these PRs, so we boarded the night train to Osaka. I was the only one who was still sane. (hahaha…) I was prepared for a commotion on board, but I was surprised when I got on; the train had already been turned into a party train by like-minded SF fans.

Now, finally, Osaka!

This year’s SF convention was a “colony” of participants in the Daicon star system. A fake passport was the participation certificate. The currency in circulation was not yen, but consisted of Cr (credits) and subsidiary currency (pe). The rate was 1 Cr = 18,000 pes = 100 yen. This gave the tournament an otherworldly feel, since only these currencies were accepted inside Daicon. We were afraid of a big fluctuation in the exchange rate at the end of the convention, But the Osaka merchants did not go that far, thank goodness.

While all this was going on, the program was about to begin. First of all, the projection of the OPA, which attracted the attention of many people. Well, the colors were good, and it was fun to see, but there was something missing from the program. The story was not as clear as last time. I felt it was a step too far. But the girl drawn by Akai-san is cute. I think it might be worth seeing just for that.

After the OPA, I went back and forth between two halls and four workshops. Among them, I would like to mention the programs that were especially noteworthy. First of all, the lecture by Noriaki Ikeda, a well-known figure in the history of Japanese tokasatsu films in this magazine. He gave a big lecture on behind-the-scenes stories and secrets of the production using slides of Godzilla and Rodan. We were all captivated by Ikeda’s words, especially when he showed the stop-motion animation of the atomic heat ray gun and the slide of the decaying Maser sleeping in Tsuburaya’s vault.

Fear of the “Pe” that was about to hit us

Next was the sub hall where DBS (Daicon IV Broadcasting System) was broadcasting for two days. The content was very interesting. Whenever the atmosphere started to get dull, a huge “pe” with a diameter of about 2m would come down and a guru of the “pe” religion (?) with a beard and appropriate clothes would come out and start preaching. The hall was always filled with laughter, creating a kind of bizarre atmosphere. Unfortunately, the first SF book the guru ever read was “Pe,” and after he was enlightened by it, he started his missionary work by saying, “I’m going to spread this religion at the convention. “Pe” is scary.

Note — “Pe” refers to the great Perry Rhodan, who has written over 1,000 books.

I wanted to go to a workshop, but I was surprised to find that the room was on the fourth or fifth floor, where there was a narrow staircase. I was a little disappointed, but I didn’t want to give up, so I pulled myself together and went to the fifth floor, but I couldn’t get in…

I wish they had done more with the 4,000 people who were participating. It’s a bit boring if the main hall is full of people taking a break. Anyway, while we were all talking, the last performance of the first day was “SF Music for You” by the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra. It was impressive and amazing, but the selection of music was a bit lacking. However, it was worth the 40,000 yen spent for one minute. It would be a great help to me as a fan if this kind of concert becomes more popular.

Going to the banquet!

After the first day’s program, what to do but to have a banquet at night! Yay, let’s drink and have a party! And so we all headed for the SF dinner party with about 400 people in attendance.

Mr. Chandler started singing, “Ma” and RII-san, the editor-in-chief of OUT, started a series of exposés on anime magazines. It was a big party that I didn’t really understand. (I’m sorry, I don’t remember much after drinking.) I drank some more and got a hangover, then desperately headed to the venue for the second day of programming.

Hangover, head spinning

At the top of the second day was the history of spacecraft development, which included 3D images of the 10-meter-long Discovery 1, Ultrahawk 2, and the HAL9000. The powerful Darth Vader and Prof. Fessenden explained the history of spacecraft development. This Vader was very impressive, completely immersed in the role. The type that could only be found at an SF convention.

I went to the “Ask me anything about SF” corner, and Mr. Okada and Mr. Takeda came out and said, “Sorry, we didn’t prepare anything for this, so we’ll just talk about general topics.” They said that the topic that came up in the subcommittee the day before was “How to make money from SF.” They heard that it’s best to go to the vault of Mushi Pro anime studio for about a week, grab the best stuff, and sell it off. (Please don’t do this.)

In The Return of Ultraman by Daicon Film, there’s a close-up scene of Mr. Takeda. His grandmother’s spirit is seen in the corner. I wondered if she should appear in a film made by her grandson. As expected of these two, who are known as the “Kansai Comedians,” the rapport was very good.

Can you do it? Human Dynamation

Meanwhile, while we were laughing, a commotion had broken out among the people going to the subcommittee venue. It had already been difficult to get to the 4th and 5th floors the day before, but on that day, there was only one elevator to get there. I guess this was one of the biggest failures of this university, and there were a lot of complaints about it.

Well, I didn’t know about the opening anime at AziCon (a convention by Hideo Azuma) and it was also well made. I may mention it in this magazine in the future, so I won’t go into detail here.

However, the biggest attraction of the second day was the costume show “Human Dynamation!” A person wearing the costume of Kin-san of Toyama performed the movements of Dynamation. The way he looked and moved, it was hard to believe that it was a human performance! He should tour around the country. You have to see it once to understand how interesting it is!

With these thoughts, the two-day SF convention came to an end. There were many other events that I would like to cover, such as the Hiroshi Miyauchi show, SF movie information, and the Hard SF Laboratory, among others, but unfortunately I cannot describe them due to space restrictions. My impression is that even though 400 people gathered, there were no accidents. Also, the event included not only SF but also tokusatsu and anime, aimed at a wide range of people. In any case, I can only bow my head to the efforts of the staff and the skill with which they built up excitement beforehand. Thank you very much for your hard work.

The editor-in-chief, who was originally scheduled to write this report, spent the whole day chasing after Tsuji-sensei and received a manuscript for a new series starting with this issue. I am just amazed at Tsuji’s ability to write this manuscript while performing in the SF anime room and the mystery room.

Before discussing the good and bad of this SF convention, I would like to say a few words to those who will serve on committees in the future. Every convention staff should follow Daicon’s example. There was never a point when I asked a question of the information staff and they didn’t know the answer. As I always say, a staff that can’t be contacted is useless, no matter how many people there are. I may be attacked by the SF world when I write this, but it is true.

LEFT: 5,000 “Pes” and 10 Cr bills circulated at the convention. There were also Cr coins.

RIGHT: Six program books were distributed on the day. The promotion for Animec fell off.

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