My top AMV's of 2022: 20 - 11
Jan. 7th, 2023 10:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
katranat20
Video title: Can Hearts Sing
Editor: Madmancross
Anime: Gundam: 08th MS Team
Song & Artist: Links 2 3 4 - Rammstein
Comments: “Can Hearts Sing” is a massive nostalgia trip for me. When I first began watching AMV’s around 2001ish, it felt like every other video was either a Gundam AMV, a Rammstein AMV, or they would be both.
Madmancross keeps everything very true to this form, sticking with simple but effective editing. If someone had told me this was edited in 2002 I would believe them. Not that this was made in 2022, Madmancross is upfront in the YouTube description that they “Made this video years ago” and have only recently been able to release it, though somehow I doubt it’s been lingering around on Madmancross’s computer for as long as 20 years. I’m so happy that Madmancross was finally able to share it with the world.
VPR: Major flashes to white, flickering, fades to black
19
Video title: Duology
Editor: TheLazyDaze
Anime: Bananafish
Song & Artist: yes & no - XYLØ
Comments: One day I might get around to creating that Bananafish MMV idea I’ve had since 2009. At some point I might also knuckle down and finish that Bananafish AMV I started editing in 2020 but got stuck on half way through. Until then, TheLazyDaze’s “Duology” fills the void in me which yearns for Bananafish content. “Duology” is only a bite sized AMV of 1:18, but my goodness the amount of symbolism TheLazyDaze packs into that runtime which so cleverly conveys the concept of the title “Duology”, is astounding. TheLazyDaze’s timing and rhythm in this is exquisite, emphasising the desolate emotions perfectly.
VPR: Flashes to white, motion
18
Video title: I Don't Believe in Titles
Editor: Pablo Shoe
Anime: Various
Song & Artist: Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na) - My Chemical Romance
Comments: “I Don't Believe in Titles” is one of the more unique AMV’s I saw in 2022, as it’s made entirely of production material clips where the animation is incomplete. I had no idea such material was so freely available on the internet, I always assumed that kind of thing was kept safely by the animation studios and occasionally added to DVD extras. It seems however that quite often the animators themselves will post short work in progress clips to their twitter and then people will upload these to clip aggregate sites such as sakugabooru - which is where Pablo Shoe found all this wonderful material to create with.
The My Chemical Romance song is one many people have used for AMV’s in the past, which I believe in this case enhances the concept. The familiar audio helps to galvanise the unusual visuals into something that plays out like a love letter to AMV’s, anime and animation.
The whole thing is also just super cool to look at.
VPR: Major motion/patterns (line art), flickering, high contrast
17
Video title: Thru Our Fire
Editor: TheDestineeAMV
Anime: Demon Slayer
Song & Artist: Walk Thru Fire (feat. Meron Ryan) - Vicetone
Comments: I have been supremely uninterested in Demon Slayer AMV’s for a couple of years now. Demon Slayer is a hugely popular anime to edit with so I definitely suffered from overexposure, plus a lot of Demon Slayer AMV’s tend to all do similar things.
In general, “Thru Our Fire” is still a classic Demon Slayer AMV, containing all the slick sakuga action scenes many people enjoy. TheDestineeAMV has however completely sold me on the Nezuko angle in “Thru Our Fire” - with the core message being about the love and dedication that can exist between siblings. It’s a video with a monumental amount of heart, giving this anime a true level of beauty which I doubt I would have been able to appreciate otherwise.
VPR: Red emphasis scenes, fades to black, motion, flashes to white, vignettes
16
Video title: Growth and Regrowth
Editor: vivafringe
Anime: Various
Song & Artist: Ani Kuni - Polo & Pan
Comments: “Growth and Regrowth” makes me so happy whenever I watch it. The song is so joyful and upbeat and there are so many clips of adorable plants - yes plants can be adorable. As usual, vivafringe beautifully illustrates the theme of growing things and the endurance of life using many different anime and animations.
VPR: Flashes to white, fire, motion/patterns
15
Video title: Stable Relations
Editor: Animetrash AMVs
Anime: Madoka Magica
Song & Artist: Stabilizher - Frankmuzik
Comments: One of the many things I love about the editor Animetrash, is the selection of music they make their AMV’s with, especially as their choices often intersect with my own love of EDM. I have found so many amazing songs through watching their videos that I would never have come across otherwise. With “Stable Relations” the opposite happened, Frankmuzik is an obscure British artist hardly anyone has heard of, who I only briefly came across many years ago and had completely forgotten about, so I was very surprised to see their music pop up in an Animetrash video.
I find “Stable Relations” to be incredibly heartening with an abundance of Animetrash’s usual satisfying sync which I love.
VPR: All
14
Video title: Shout
Editor: tonbonthemon
Anime: Akira
Song & Artist: Shout - Tears for Fears
Comments: There’s nothing I love more than my deeply held preferences being totally obliterated. Whenever exceptions to my dislikes come along, they often leave a far more profound impression than many other things which follow my usual tastes.
tonbonthemon’s work has so far been on the edge of my interest due to the way they often incorporate snippets of audio from the anime source. Hearing audio trying to compete with music during the course of an AMV is something my senses find particularly grating. I have now found my one exception to this in the form of “Shout”, where tonbonthemon keeps their usual editing style of including anime audio, however in “Shout” it finally makes sense to my ears. I believe this is mainly due to the song choice - the song Shout by Tears for Fears is musically rather chaotic and lyrically very simple and repetitive - so instead of the anime audio competing with the music, the noises start to sound like part of the chaotic instrumentation, almost like they were part of the song all along and enhancing the mood of the video. “Shout” is also visually chaotic, tonbonthemon is constantly cutting between scenes, relentlessly driving the video forward through the narrative of Akira, however dispersed between the main story line tonbonthemon also jumps back and forth between older plot points ratcheting up the tension.
“Shout” is by far the longest AMV on my list for 2022 and at no point does it ever feel slow, I’m not sure I’ve ever been so thoroughly invested in an AMV quite like this before.
VPR: All
CW: Violence
13
Video title: Time Lapse
Editor: vivafringe
Anime: Various
Song & Artist: Age of Phase - Bonobo
Comments: vivafringe’s editing is always a pleasure to watch, and “Time Lapse” is one of the most satisfying videos I’ve seen from him so far, all the match cuts and sequences of time passing are divine.
The passage of time is inevitable but never has it been so delightfully elegant.
VPR: All
12
Video title: Anyone Can Fly
Editor: VideoBeats
Anime: Various
Song & Artist: Anyone Can Fly - The Spiritual Machines (Ranji Remix)
Comments: I feel anything I have to say about “Anyone Can Fly” is going to be incredibly bland in comparison to the video. VideoBeats sweeps us up on a journey through the sky and into the cosmos, and then back into the sky, and then “Anyone Can Fly” goes absolutely anywhere and everywhere flying is possible.
The entirety of the AMV is pure excellence, but I want to mention I particularly enjoy the aeroplane/dogfight section.
VPR: Major All
11
Video title: How Can You Lose?
Editor: Animetrash AMVs
Anime: Halo Legends
Song & Artist: Headlock - Imogen Heap
Comments: I was the type of teenager in the 00’s who played an excessive amount of Halo and got especially attached to the games. Despite this, I never did watch the anime Halo Legends, but the simple fact that this AMV contained something related to Halo was more than enough to pique my interest.
“How Can You Lose?” was created as a follow up to an Animatrix AMV Animetrash made in 2021 which also used an Imogen Heap song. Imogen Heap used to be an AMV staple several years ago, and using her music as a backdrop for Halo was an inspired choice.
“How Can You Lose?” has some of the most impactful sync I’ve seen from Animetrash yet, and I appreciated it more and more every time I watch. There are so many moments that blend perfectly with the sounds in the song, I find watching this utterly captivating.
VPR: All
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no subject
Date: 2023-04-22 08:52 pm (UTC)TheLazyDaze gets a lot done in just 1:18 in "Duology." Actually, that's never in doubt, if she makes a standalone AMV then it's going to convey a complete idea, whether it's in 1 minute or 4. The best part about this video is that it's good enough to leave me wanting more. The worst part about it is that, yeah, it leaves me wanting more.
I'm not watching Demon Slayer AMVs until I watch the series so, sorry TheDestineeAMV (and everyone else who's worked hard on one at some point in the last 3 years or so).
I'm kind of at a loss to keep finding new things to say about vivafringe's AMVs, but rewatching "Growth and Regrowth"just now, oh dear, I DID notice new things about it that completely flew over my head on the first few viewings. I absolutely appreciated the general vibe/mood of it before as well as the overall sync, but I never paid close attention to how he chose to structure it and why/how that makes it work and gives it meaning rather than just leaving a series of pleasant impressions on the viewer. I realize this is EXTREMELY BASIC attentive viewing that I should be putting in to every video I watch but... I don't know, I think there's something to be said for a video that doesn't require a deep analysis to be thoroughly enjoyed, but then reveals layers of meaning and symbolism when you look for them. Yes, I am just trying to justify my own lazy viewing.
"Stable Relations" might be one of the most thoughtful AMVs Animetrash has ever made. Nice focus on characters, good lyric sync, these are becoming much less surprising as time goes on as the editor is doing much more of this lately than the strictly sped-up, hyperactive style of videos that was their bread and butter for quite a while in the beginning. Thankfully, that focus on fun is still present here and I appreciate how that makes what I was assuming would be another dark and moody trudge through the trials and tribulations of these characters into something much more breezy.
I don't think any editor combines native sound effects/dialog from anime with songs as well as tonbonthemon does, who really understands how to avoid the most common mistakes that editors use when they try to make this kind of AMV. On the other hand, the AMV might stand on its own just fine if the audio was 100% just the song and nothing else. Whether that's pointless speculation or an important question to ask, I have no idea. Really enjoy this song getting some love, though.
If I could watch any AMV from last year on a big screen--ideally in a theater with the sound system that would hopefully provide--it would definitely be "Anyone Can Fly." I don't have much to say about it, but maybe I might if I could properly watch it in the 4K resolution that it appears to be available in? I was also fond of VideoBeats' "Can't Keep Me Down" and I think the videos split my affection right down the middle.
Preconceived notions about certain media unfortunately keep me at arm's length from some AMVs. Halo is a franchise that does nothing for me, so maybe I just never even bothered to watch this Animetrash AMV? I definitely don't remember it, that's for sure. There's a lot more to "How Can You Lose?" than I was ever expecting. Lots of great sync, a nice balance in the sources, it's paced well... the various sources sometimes feel out of place together for me, but a viewer with even just a little knowledge of what they're about to watch would probably feel completely different. This is not going to be in my upper tier of this editor's work, but it's proof they're surprisingly versatile and impossible to pin down.
no subject
Date: 2023-04-24 09:22 pm (UTC)Thank you very much for your comments here, you've expanded on some things that I feel I missed off saying about a few of these myself (especially Stable Relations, my write up for that I feel was very poor in comparison to how much I love that video).
no subject
Date: 2023-06-09 12:15 pm (UTC)Duology: I like it, although maybe not as much as I once would have. The editing is slick, there's nothing here to really dislike, I'm not going to pretend this is anything other than a very well-edited little video.
I Don't Believe In Titles: This was one of the few Pablo Shoe videos I didn't watch last year, mainly because of the song choice -- there are already two videos I really like that use this song, and I'm weird about watching multiple AMVs that use the same song (although the meta suggestion you make that this fact just enhances the concept is actually a pretty interesting one). I wanted to like this more because I think the idea is really neat, and it does have some great moments, but I was hoping for something with much tighter sync. Maybe I've been ruined by the other "Na Na Na" videos out there, I don't know :/
Thru Our Fire: I think there's an upper limit to how much I can enjoy Demon Slayer videos in general but this one is pushing against that boundary. This is very good, the editing is really slick and I do love the focus on the relationship between Tanjirou and his sister -- it's handled extremely well. Could really do without the thumbnail that makes it look like they're lovers though.
Growth and Regrowth: I like this video a lot more rewatching it now, compared to when I first saw it last year. It's still probably my least favorite of viva's 2022 videos, but it's good and flowy and conceptually sound. Maybe it's just the song I don't care for, which does tend to make a big difference with how I perceive his videos.
Stable Relations: Unusually focused delivery from this editor, whose videos I usually expect to just be collections of random scenes thrown into a blender (<-- this isn't always a bad thing). There's a lot of really nice sync in here too, overall this is a really solid video from Animetrash, hardsubbed footage aside (side note: really can't believe that it's the 2020s and we're still seeing this in AMVs, smh).
Shout: I really like this video and it almost made it onto my Honorable Mentions but I cannot tell you how much I hate the inclusion of voiceovers/sound effects in AMVs -- it's the fast-track to getting me to completely discount whatever good things you did in your editing. I am so tempted to take this video and swap out the audio track with the song only, but because of its length I probably wouldn't watch it nearly enough to make the effort worth it.
Anyone Can Fly: I missed this one last year, didn't see it until it came up in this year's RICE discussions, and yeah, wow, this video is undeniable. Video Beats briefly mentions in the video description that this is kind of a tribute to Nostromo's videos but I think they're underselling that angle a lot; this absolutely feels 100% like a Nostromo video, full stop. I really love it, the adrenaline charge the builds throughout it is just unreal.
How Can You Lose?: I'll keep this one short and just say that I don't see what you see in this one, sorry!