My top AMV's of 2022: 10 - 01
Jan. 8th, 2023 11:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
katranat10
Video title: Static Noise
Editor: Legato2400
Anime: 5 Centimeters Per Second
Song & Artist: Touch - 3LAU
Comments: 5 Centimeters Per Second is getting very close to being an anime where my brain just kinda shuts off whenever I see it in an AMV. I also can’t recall watching any 5 Centimeters Per Second AMV’s previously where I actually cared about what was happening between the characters. Legato2400 though, has managed to keep my attention with "Static Noise".
There are obvious reasons to describe “Static Noise” as pretty, Legato2400 has done all kinds of upscaling etc. making an already gorgeous anime even shinier. What I personally mean though when I say I feel “Static Noise” is pretty, is the editing and scene selection and how these mesh with the music, which are then further enhanced by the video source looking as good as it does.
VPR: Flashes to white, flickering, fades to black
09
Video title: The One Who Loves You
Editor: Gemma Lemon
Anime: Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms
Song & Artist: Dog Years - Maggie Rogers
Comments: Gemma Lemon is an editor who has made a couple of my all time favourite AMV’s. She’s been on a bit of a hiatus from AMV editing over the past five years or so and has instead been concentrating on creating her own webcomic and animations (which are awesome btw), so I was super happy when she dropped a few new AMV’s in the last year.
As someone who hasn’t seen Maquia, “The One Who Loves You” is a bit of a confusing video to follow narratively, even after watching several times I’m still not 100% confident on which characters are which. This is further complicated by Gemma Lemon showing the story non linearly, at least that’s how it feels, there’s obvious progression along the main plot points, but things jump around quite a lot. Ultimately though, this is irrelevant, as the powerful emotions shine through regardless.
VPR: All
CW: Violence08
Video title: Something Nice
Editor: Megamom
Anime: Grave of the Fireflies
Song & Artist: Money - The Drums
Comments: “Something Nice” took me by surprise. I’m aware Megamom is a highly creative editor who has never been confined by any boxes, but I was so sure it wasn’t possible to do anything new with Grave of the Fireflies. It’s such an infamous movie, even if you’ve not watched it, I would say the majority of people who’ve at least heard of it know exactly what type of tragedy unfolds during the course of the film. To do anything with an AMV that doesn’t focus on said tragedy would be an injustice surely? Well, Megamom turns the idea of a typical Grave of the Fireflies AMV on its head with “Something Nice” - quite literally too! In “Something Nice” we are immediately confronted by the tragic end to the story, and then Megamom slowly walks us backwards through the points in the story which led up to that conclusion - note that in this case backwards does not mean the clips themselves are playing in reverse, rather Megamom is simply playing a selection of scenes in reverse chronological order. We rewind through all kinds of moments between these siblings, their struggles and successes, eventually getting all the way back to a time where life was happy for them and their family is whole.
Watching a video which focuses on these characters' lives rather than their inevitable demise was heartbreaking in a completely new way for me. Sure, these elements have been focused on before, but when you normally see a narrative which plays forwards and the ending is so severe, it’s easy to push the fact that they were kids with lives to the back of your mind because in the end they’re gone, that’s just what happens. In “Something Nice” the confrontation is them being alive and happy until almost the very last scene, driving home what a devastating waste of life this was.
As you can probably tell, I have been heavily affected by this AMV.
VPR: Red emphasis scenes, fire, flickering
07
Video title: Burnout
Editor: TRUTH CRAB
Anime: TO-Y
Song & Artist: Burnout - 0171
Comments: Finally TRUTH CRAB makes an appearance on this list! In truth, TRUTH CRAB didn’t make very many videos in 2022, and several of the ones he did make weren’t AMV’s (those are also excellent though). I have very little I feel I can say about this AMV. In some ways it feels like a culmination of TRUTH CRAB’s work, and it is exceedingly excellent. The mood is impeccable, and the message is supremely relatable.
VPR: All
06
Video title: Mercury’s Blessing
Editor: Animetrash AMVs
Anime: Various
Song & Artist: Take Me To The Sunshine - Matoma, SUPER-Hi
Comments: Pure romance videos don’t often do much for me, I’m more of a mix in some drama, action or comedy to balance out the lovey dovey stuff type of person. “Mercury’s Blessing” however is almost 100% lovey dovey stuff - Animetrash has found a monumental amount of clips of anime couples being infatuated with each other, and concentrated them into what I feel is the ultimate romance AMV.
There’s a fair amount in “Mercury’s Blessing” that’s far from perfect, for example, several of these anime are quite old so the clip quality is questionable. There’s also a fair amount I enjoy here, like the sync and the scene matching Animetrash employs. However what elevates this AMV for me is how we’re constantly bombarded with all these highly intimate moments between so many diverse anime couples. It’s not only fluffy high school anime crushes either, Animetrash took great pains to find clips from anime with deep relationships between characters of different ages, ethnicities, genders, and heck, even magical beings. All of this builds up a level of authenticity in the emotions which I never felt would be possible in such a hugely mixed source video. “Mercury’s Blessing” is hyper focused on the regard these characters have for each other, and these feelings transcend whatever type of anime these characters are in.
VPR: All
CW: Nudity
05
Video title: Mirror
Editor: Extraterrestrial Elephant
Anime: Various
Song & Artist: Mirror - Kendrick Lamar
Comments: I’m definitely having a hard time organising my thoughts regarding “Mirror”. Extraterrestrial Elephant’s use of filters here is inspired - quite often I dislike these types of visuals which make the video look like we’re viewing it on a phone, but in this case it helps to bring us closer to these characters as we watch through their associated journeys. It’s piece of exceptional craftsmanship which Extraterrestrial Elephant has poured their utmost into.
On that note - Extraterrestrial Elephant has given their own thoughts regarding the creation of “Mirror” in the YouTube description, and I highly recommend you go read that as well - it’s a wonderful piece of insight.
VPR: All
04
Video title: Mov. II
Editor: oreodog
Anime: Weathering With You
Song & Artist: Piano Concerto No. 2 - Rachmaninoff
Comments: I will be forever grateful that oreodog decided to post this to reddit. If any of you read through my honourable mentions list, you may remember me talking about how Weathering With You was an anime I’m tired of seeing in AMV’s - well oreodog has done the impossible and made a Weathering With You AMV I cannot watch enough.
The first thing you might notice here, is the classical music. Classical music AMV’s are somewhat of a special interest of mine, so already a point in “Mov. II’s” favour.
The second thing you might notice is the colour correction of the visuals with some added dreamlike effects which occasionally make an appearance in the form of blurs/mirroring etc. It is my belief that these have been added specifically as a copyright strike prevention measure by oreodog, who has a history of augmenting their videos in some pretty wild ways to ensure they stay visible on YouTube. It may not have been oreodog’s intention, but these visual changes enhance Weathering With You to the point where it starts to feel otherworldly. As far as I can tell, “Mov. II” uses only one particular section from Weathering With You, letting it play out while syncing it to the classical music effectively. I find it to be one of the most beautiful AMV’s I have ever seen.
VPR: Flickering, motion, fades to white
03
Video title: Am I the Only One?
Editor: Nearphotison
Anime: Mob Psycho 100
Song & Artist: Fake Plastic Trees - Radiohead, Everybody - Backstreet Boys (rave.dj mashup)
Comments: I think Synæsthesia said it best in his YouTube comment - Nearphotison videos “are truly one of a kind”. In this case very literally as the song is a mix you’re not going to hear anywhere else as Nearphotison combined them using rave.dj. I had a go with rave.dj myself, and thus far have not been able to find any combinations that sound good at all - I’m super envious of whatever magic leads Nearphotison to find songs that work together, but I’m very happy they managed it as it lead to this AMV.
“Am I the Only One?” is a Mob character profile video. The dichotomy between the two songs in the music creates an interesting backdrop which explores the space between the two sides of Mob we see presented in the show in a way I’ve not experienced before. It’s a fascinating bit of characterisation that must not be missed.
VPR: All
02
Video title: Fight Baby Fight
Editor: Speedy180
Anime: Fate
Song & Artist: Demons - Icon For Hire
Comments: So far my top 10 has been packed with emotionally heavy videos filled with themes relating to all kinds of love for others and love for oneself. We now move onto a completely different type of emotion - pure determination.
Even after only two years of the RICE contest, I seem to be developing a trend where I become completely obsessed with one of the action entries. In 2021 I was head over heels for Opner’s “Whiplash”, and in 2022 my interest was dominated by Speedy180’s “Fight Baby Fight”. The RICE contest for 2022 came to an end in March, and I was increasingly worried that Speedy180 wasn’t going to release this video publicly, so when he finally uploaded it at the end of October I was ecstatic as it meant I could include it on this list.
There’s almost never a still moment in “Fight Baby Fight”, Speedy180 has packed the video with either wildly kinetic clips from the anime Fate, or has employed the use of zooms/pans which keep the momentum constantly going. It’s an incredibly powerful video and I adore watching it.
VPR: All
01
Video title: Cogitationes Lucis
Editor: Drakmalar
Anime: Land of the Lustrous
Song & Artist: Keep the Faith - Nomak
Comments: Around the 2nd time I watched “Cogitationes Lucis” I bet to myself that if I made a top 50 AMV list for 2022 that this would be at the top - and now we’re here and it is indeed my number 1 AMV released in 2022, nothing else I saw throughout the year ever came close to unseating it from that position.
Drakmalar has written somewhat about this video themselves in the YouTube description, mainly alluding to their love of the source and what brought them back into making AMV’s, but there’s not as much insight here as with some of their other videos. I’m not sure if I prefer this or not, on the one hand, insight might be useful to me as I have no idea what’s going on this anime in the slightest, on the other hand, one of the things I love about this video is how mystical it is and how the answers feel just out of my reach to obtain.
“Cogitationes Lucis” is one of the best examples of the music perfectly matching the visuals. The tinkling piano is exactly how I visualise the characters in Land of the Lustrous would sound. It’s everything I ever want in an AMV - it’s a beautifully choreographed dance depicting the struggles and danger these characters are dealing with. I have no idea exactly what these struggles are, but when it’s as delicately crafted as “Cogitationes Lucis”, that doesn’t matter, I’m simply left with some of the most delightful visual and musical moments I’ve ever had the pleasure of appreciating.
VPR: Motion, flashes to white, fades to black, red emphasis scenes
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no subject
Date: 2023-04-15 08:43 pm (UTC)I want to let anyone who's looking for it know that "Am I The Only One?" is available to watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXo-cRRVYuw
no subject
Date: 2023-04-28 01:25 am (UTC)I subscribe to Gemma Lemmon. Why haven't I seen "The One Who Loves You"? This is nice, I think I'm feeling it not as strongly as you are but hey, it holds my attention. Maybe seeing a couple other Maquia AMVs before this one has me feeling like I'm not confused by any of the story here. At least I think I'm keeping up with the narrative as it's supposed to be followed. Not much to say about this one but it's good.
I find it difficult to talk about "Something Nice" but it's a very creative work that does get to me and I can see why it resonated with you or why it could have deeply resonated with any viewer. It's an interesting concept that's very well executed, that's for sure.
Knowing or suspecting that "Burnout" is TRUTH CRAB's final video definitely changes my mindset while I'm watching it. It shouldn't, I ought to appreciate the video onscreen for what it is and ignore any extrinsic context to it but that knowledge does make me pay extra attention to it in ways that I haven't consistently done with his other AMVs over the years. There would always be more to come, there was no reason to suspect that any of the scores of TC AMVs that I might have watched at any point in time would have been any more "important" than the one that came before it, etc. But with all that in mind here, "Burnout" does feel poignant in a way that I didn't really consider when I watched it last year. It's also one of his most "active" edits in a while, or at least relying more on external sync than the effortless-feeling mood sync that he always does so well. And YET AGAIN, this is an AMV that no one else was ever going to make, and those are the kind of AMVs that I love most.
"Mercury's Blessing" doesn't really click for me but I appreciate your reaction to it and that has me feeling like the issue isn't really the AMV or any of Animetrash's decisions but just some personal issue I have with the song or the video just trying to do too much (is there anything wrong with trying to do "too much" if you can make 95% of it work?) or something, I really don't know. The last 30 seconds or so are particularly great and, actually, it's hard to argue that sequence is really all that much different from everything that came before it.
I really like "Mirror" but I spent a lot of time last year struggling to understand if I was responding to the AMV as a whole or just really loving the song and enjoying the visuals as a pleasant background to it, if that makes any sense. I'm still not sure. I have some mixed feelings about the inclusion of at least one of the sources here, although it is a source I enjoy on its own and EE's use of it DOES fit in to the overall theme that he's trying to work with here. I hadn't read any of his extensive notes on the creation of the video before this, those may definitely color my reaction in a future viewing. Perhaps the "filter" that's on this video made me more prone to view it as eye candy than as the thoughtful and sensitive work that the editor intended? That's partially on me and my preconceived notions, if not completely.
I like this oreodog AMV, it does work extremely well for being a near or complete "hands off" edit, effects work aside.
"Am I the Only One" might be the only rave.dj song I've heard that doesn't sound like a complete trainwreck. I am not sure if I ever watched this AMV before. The problem is I don't know how to keep track of when any of Nearphotison's individual AMVs were first released since so many were parts of much larger projects that themselves might have been taken down from YouTube and then later reuploaded at different times. BUT this is not an AMV made to a Neil Cicierega track like I was expecting it would be so it is obviously not part of any of those much longer videos. 0:24-0:28 is such a nice way for the AMV to wrap up its little intro and hit its stride. This is fun. I have thoughts about AMVs made with "mashup" music but they're too complicated to spew into this comment section.
Fate videos are usually not my thing, I won't try to explain why but "Fight Baby Fight" is active and just upbeat enough to escape the trappings of the generic "Fate video" that I have in mind when I think about them. Also, I hope this doesn't come across as condescending (to the artist? to their fans?) but Icon For Hire is sort of a guilty pleasure of mine and Speedy takes everything that I DO like about this kind of a song and uses every opportunity it gives him to create an AMV that's really active and colorful and the opposite of what I feared it could've been. All that's a weird way for me to say that I liked this so I'll just say yeah, I liked this and I have no idea what videos this was up against in last year's action category but somehow I'm still certain that this one deserved to win.
"Cogitationes Lucis" is a strange AMV. Not because of the source material. I've watched Land of the Lustrous (give it a chance, maybe I don't know your anime tastes all too well but I have this hunch that you'd like it) and seen a few AMVs made with it and somehow this one just felt different from all the others. It's just "off" in a way that I can't quite put my finger on, but I really love that kind of feeling. At 0:58 there's this effect in the music--some kind of an audio filter, I think, it's not an uncommon one either--that makes gives the song a distant/"underwater" kind of sound and the editor pairs that with a series of liquid-themed clips and it doesn't sound impressive when I describe it but it's really sort of brilliant. Overall, the tinkling melody of the song DOES feel like a fitting response to the visuals in all its shatters and sparkles and delicately falling petals and such. This one is really nice. Finally, I'm subscribed to this editor.
no subject
Date: 2023-04-30 01:48 pm (UTC)Thank you so much for your comments and insights into all of these videos. I appreciate it a lot!