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sequel.
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producer of Akai s first 16mm film project, Yamata no Orochi no Gyakushu129, or
Orochi the Eight-Headed Dragon (I ll just call it Orochi from here on out). They
planned on making it their last independent film, and they wanted to go out with a
bang.
DAICON FILM and General Products were separate organizations, but our business
relationship was very close. General Products employees like Sawamura and myself
were involved in the making of the films, and the General Products store was the
perennial hangout for DAICON FILM employees. So when DAICON FILM ran out
of money halfway through the filming of Orochi, General Products, which had really
hit its stride, stepping in and financed the remainder of the film.
Part of the reason why DAICON FILM kept going after DAICON 4 was because of
a mistaken belief that the party would never end. Even General Products had no
more than a handful of employees, and DAICON FILM s main staff was comprised
of college students who would eventually graduate or lose interest. It was just a
matter of time before the whole thing ground to a halt, but no one understood that
then. As staff members began to drop like teeth from an old comb, it became more
and more painful to be a part of things. But it turned out this was just one more
step along our path toward becoming filmmakers. Once we were able to overcome
this phase, we shed our amateur skins and became full-fledged professionals in the
industry.
One incident that springs to mind was a minor mutiny within General Products
itself. Led by me, several General Products employees descended on Okada. He
was the one who d started the company in the first place, and what s more, it was
formed as a division of his family s Okada Embroidering Corporation. Our beef was
that lately he hadn t been fulfilling his responsibilities as head of the company. We
gave him an ultimatum: Shape up, or we ll ship out.
I have no idea what Okada s real thoughts on the matter were. From where I stood,
it just looked like he was sick of running the store.
 If anyone s going to quit, it should be me , he said in response to our threat.  If
all of you were to leave, the company would go under for sure. I ll quit, so you guys
keep going, OK?
He looked as though all the wind had left his sails. But the next day he just came
in like nothing ever happened. The issue never seemed to be formally resolved.
129
Monster movie directed by Takami Akai, which was produced by DAICON FILM in 1985. Set
in Akai s hometown of Yonago, its plot centers on a mythical monster named Yamata no Orochi
( eight-headed dragon ) that tramples the city. This marked the pinnacle of DAICON FILM s
production history, and was filmed using incredibly expensive 16mm film. The movie itself was
hard to make because of the ever-expanded scale of production and the shortage of staff. Eventually,
we ran out of money and were forced to accept financial support from Bandai, who later distributed
this movie on video. The DVD version is currently available through GAINAX.
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Later, during the filming of Orochi, the same problem once again reared its ugly
head. This time it was all of the rest of the employees against Okada and me. Same
story - if we didn t get our acts together, they d quit. Apparently, they were upset
about the fact that Okada and I did all our planning at the coffee shop next door.
 You two do nothing but sit around chatting and drinking coffee all day , they
complained.  We can t take it anymore!
I snapped. Maybe I just didn t like taking the heat myself, but for whatever reason,
I felt betrayed. I thought we were all on the same team, but now this.
In the end, we never could come to a resolution. Several of the members left to form
their own company - which oddly enough, continued to accept subcontracting work
for General Products. A few years later, our two companies would merge, and then
split once again.
I learned something from this experience. The simple act of people gathering around
someone they feel they can trust and trying to talk out their problem can cause
emotions to come into play and actually make the problem much, much worse.
Which is a shame, because most of the time, the initial problem was something
quite trivial.
Incidentally, one of the part-time illustrators was a manga artist named Sonoyan
(better known as Kenichi Sonoda130). Later, both of us would end up moving to
Tokyo and living in the same neighborhood. I guess we just can t get rid of each
other!
At the General Products store we also sold fan comics on consignment from none
other than Masamune Shirow131, who was still an amateur at the time.
Okada was working with Yamaga on some OVA (original video animation) project
around this time, but they didn t tell me much about it. You know the rest of
this story - the project would turn into GAINAX s first commercial film, Oritsu
130
Kenichi Sonoda (1962-) Manga artist. He is well-known for his recent titles Houshin Exaxxion [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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