My Top 50 AMVs of 2024: 40 - 31
Jan. 21st, 2025 09:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
katranatIt's about time I posted the rest of these eh
40
Video title: Turn Your Head
Editor: Kyapture
Anime: Neon Genesis Evangelion
Song & Artist: Evita - DeVita
VPR: All (major flashing & strobing)
CW: Violence, blood, gore
Comments:
There are many great Evangelion AMVs, there are also many great Asuka character profile AMVs. “Turn Your Head” has slotted itself into the upper echelons of these supremely smoothly and with (disappointingly) little fanfare.
I can say with certainty that this is the classiest feeling Evangelion AMV I have ever seen, there’s a quality to the song which gives easy breezy eighties vibes, which lends a certain grace to the video even when some of the more horrific moments of the anime are onscreen. In the video description Kyapture talks about how they feel the song is contradictory - I agree with this and think that’s what makes it an absolute perfect fit for this particular AMV idea. It really helps to show the different aspects of the anime and particularly the character of Asuka in a stark light, and the fact Kyapture has curated the pairing flawlessly is the icing on the cake.
I love a lot of the the editing decisions Kyapture has made, they have a meticulous attention to detail which helps craft the narrative - the use of the opening door several times in quick succession is awesome, and the small amount of text near the end in the style of the font from the anime wraps the whole video up in such a satisfying way.
39
Video title: meganemania
Editor: SeasonsAMV
Anime: Various
Song & Artist: Various songs - Sneaks
VPR: Flashes, motion, light leaks, peripherals, cuts to black
Comments:
I find “meganemania” unusually addicting. As a series of short AMVs collected into one, it offers a unique experience every minute or so. Each short uses different songs by the same artist (who is someone incredibly obscure), and they also oddly, or not so oddly, focus on the anime trope of girls with glasses, “megane” through use of some anime rarely seen in AMVs.
Each short has its own endearing characteristics; seasons is a master at delightful sync which “meganemania” is chock full of. The songs are each laser focused on one particular subject, which is brought to life in such a charming way. It's hard to compare each short with each other, and they do work altogether as a whole, but I will admit my favourite of them is the second one - it's just so silly I couldn't not fall in love.
38
Video title: A Moment Apart
Editor: HDV AMV
Anime: Your Name
Song & Artist: A Moment Apart - Odesza
VPR: Motion, light leaks, flashes
Comments:
“A Moment Apart” is simultaneously the most stereotypical Your Name AMV I’ve ever seen while also somehow feeling completely different to every other Your Name I’ve ever seen. I can’t quite put my finger on exactly what HDV is doing to create this feeling. In its base form and structure there’s little to distinguish “A Moment Apart” from many of its peers; HDV has chosen a minimalist editing approach mainly relying on the beautiful scenes and internal sync. HDV does also do some interesting things in the form of match cuts and repeated scenes - this however is yet again something else that appears in several other Your Name AMVs as the anime does lend itself to this type of editing trope quite well.
To be clear to anyone reading, making AMVs with repeated sources/scenes/tropes/whatever is a good thing. I'm a firm believer in taking inspiration from others and iterating on ideas, so if you wanna make something and you're scared it's not unique enough, make it anyway! Your personal touch will shine through regardless - I’m just someone who has watched way too many AMVs over a long period of time and as a result am more likely to get excited by things in the medium that are new to me.
Anyway, back to “A Moment Apart”. I think ultimately what drives my love of “A Moment Apart” could probably be boiled down to simply the song choice and the way HDV has edited the AMV. This is my favourite kind of music, and HDV has also deployed some of my favourite types of sync throughout the video. In addition there’s a slight intangible quality to it all. It’s almost as if the video is focusing on the space that exists between the two characters rather than the characters themselves - which I realise I’ve described poorly, again that sounds like basically every single Your Name AMV, but honestly I don’t know how else to describe it. It’s such an unusual feeling, I hope you all are able to experience it somewhat when you watch it yourselves.
37
Video title: Violet
Editor: Sagar Amrania
Anime: Mob Psycho 100
Song & Artist: Violet - Conner Price
VPR: All (major motion)
Comments:
I think this is the first time I've spontaneously come across someone who isn't BoxJoe editing with a Conner Price song - no doubt there are several people who have, but Conner Price is not a music artist I've ever deliberately sought out, so I wouldn't know.
Honestly my thoughts on “Violet” can mostly be summed as; I like Mob Psycho action AMVs, “Violet” is a particularly satisfying one and it makes my brain happy. The slightly bouncy beat of the song has a certain energy that Sagar Amrania has matched wonderfully using internal sync and pleasantly well placed camera motion.
This is one of those videos where no matter how many times I watch it, I notice something new each time; whether that be a little bit of clever sync, or some neat bit of effects work Sagar Amrania has sneaked in so expertly it flows as if it were part of the anime.
36
Video title: Run Little Hero
Editor: BoxJoe
Anime: Jujutsu Kaisen
Song & Artist: Run Little Hero - LeGrand
VPR: All
CW: Violence, blood
Comments:
My knowledge of Jujutsu Kaisen comes mostly from watching AMVs and reading fanfiction. So yeah, I don't know a lot. Despite how little I know about Yuji as a character, I feel this is an aptly fitting character profile video for him - I could be wrong about that, but I doubt there would be this much vibrancy in BoxJoe’s editing otherwise.
BoxJoe does a lot of fun editing tricks here, and they help make “Run Little Hero” very energetic and dynamic. BoxJoe always impresses me with the way he uses masking etc. often there is so much that it might be overwhelming, yet somehow it never feels over the top, it’s always just the right amount. I think it helps that he usually establishes early on in the video what kinds of shenanigans are going to happen and then he keeps the flow consistent throughout, so that while it’s visually fun and engaging, it’s also not unexpected or jarring.
35
Video title: Footloose
Editor: SQ
Anime: Inu-Oh
Song & Artist: Dancing in the Street - The Struts
VPR: Fire, motion, blurs
Comments:
I'm so happy SQ made this. I feel there's a huge amount of untapped potential for using scenes from Inu-Oh in dance AMVs and a lot of people just aren't seeing it, either because they are unfamiliar with the anime, or they are put off by the art style. In my opinion the dancing in Inu-Oh is some of the most authentic and emotionally engaging, considering some of it is being used to convey a story and other moments of it are representing such sheer unbridled joy at witnessing a beautiful performance - I dunno, I think it's great, and SQ has done an amazing job at showing it all off here, tapping perfectly into the energy of these scenes. Something which is also really neat is SQ has structured the video to essentially tell the story of the song, which is massively satisfying considering Inu-Oh is about telling stories through music.
34
Video title: Video Killed the Radio Star
Editor: Takara
Anime: Kodocha
Song & Artist: Video Killed the Radio Star - The Buggles
VPR: VHS lines, flashes, flickering, light leaks, particles/patterns, quick cuts
Comments:
This is one of those videos which in hindsight is a really obvious pairing, and yet somehow no one thought to make it until Takara in 2024. I’m super happy this now exists, and Takara was perhaps the perfect person to create it - they have a penchant for creating slightly whimsical and nostalgic videos and “Video Killed the Radio Star” excels at both of these. The nostalgia is brilliantly twofold, as the sources themselves are fondly remembered by many people, as well as the impression of missing a bygone era from the words in the song itself.
Takara’s editing is utterly delightful, tapping into the charm and whimsy of Kodocha, and using many scenes in clever ways.
33
Video title: Never Let Me Go
Editor: vivafringe
Anime: Macross Plus
Song & Artist: Always (Tinlicker remix) - Above & Beyond
VPR: Flickering, light leaks, motion, flashes, patterns/particles, red emphasis scenes, peripherals
Comments:
It’s always fascinating to me when vivafringe releases a video showcasing only one anime. I’m more familiar with his work showcasing ideas/themes/concepts by intertwining several sources to create hugely ambitious narratives. “Never Let Me Go” somehow still has the huge presence of one of these more involved projects, despite being edited with only one source. The scope of the video covers such vast complicated feelings and displays a variety of imagery and sync. It’s incredibly beautiful and honestly amazing for only being created in one week.
32
Video title: AMOR ex Machina
Editor: Synæsthesia Productions
Anime: Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song
Song & Artist: Real Love - Beautiful Machines
VPR: All
Comments:
I think my favourite thing about “AMOR ex Machina” is the unending sense of motion, the whole video flows so smoothly - even when Synæsthesia does moments of creative external sync, it all binds together and feels incredibly cohesive.
Vivy is an anime I haven’t seen very frequently in AMVs, which is a shame as it’s rather stunning and definitely seems to make for great editing material. Synæsthesia uses the beauty of the name to its full potential, and in particular the moments where the chorus kicks in and the visuals open up are gloriously elating
31
Video title: Miss Everything
Editor: Nashironeko
Anime: Bocchi The Rock
Song & Artist: Miss Nothing - The Pretty Reckless
VPR: All
Comments:
From the first opening notes in “Miss Everything” it’s clear this is going to be a good time. There's not a single thing out of place in “Miss Everything”, Nashironeko’s sync and eye for editing here is unparalleled. Nashironeko’s love for the medium is very apparent, “Miss Everything” is a video that’s not only fun to watch, it also looks like it was a blast to edit (at least I hope it was!). Bocchi is a super relatable anime for a lot of people, especially creatives, and I love Nashironeko’s framing of the themes here.
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Date: 2025-01-22 06:08 am (UTC)