katranat

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Video title: Jinshi’s Addiction

Editor: Shark Tooth Goosie

Anime: Apothecary Diaries

Song & Artist: my strange addiction - Billie Eilish

VPR: Motion, fades to black, red emphasis scenes, 

Comments:

“Jinshi’s Addiction” is one of those videos where I have no context for the anime, and yet everything in the AMV is utterly clear because of how well the editing conveys the story

There are so many moments which Shark Tooth Goosie absolutely packs full of attitude - I live for the syncing of the girl brushing the guys hand off her shoulder constantly. I love how unimpressed the girl seems throughout the whole video, and yet there’s obviously some kind of attraction between the characters - it’s a really fun dynamic and Shark Tooth Goosie shows it off so well. 

29

Video title: NiteLight

Editor: Radical Yue

Anime: Various

Song & Artist: The Night Out (Madeon Remix) - Martin Solveig

VPR: All

Comments:

I usually don't have any issues watching AMVs on YouTube regardless of the quality - I've been using the site since 2005 when the quality was around 144p and I often still watch videos of that age. “NiteLight” is one of the few videos where I take issue with the YouTube quality. When I watched it for the first time I had a rather visceral rejection of what I was seeing, never before had compression looked so reprehensible to me. “NightLight” is an AMV that, in my eyes, demands to be beautiful - and the 720p YouTube upload simply isn't good enough for it. So I broke with my decades long habit of watching AMVs on YouTube whenever possible and downloaded myself a copy of it to watch locally - while not my preference, it is a vastly superior experience. I'd recommend grabbing yourselves a copy, there really is such a difference.

The effects work in “NiteLight” isn’t what I’d call subtle, however it is unobtrusive and adds a lot to the concept and mood of the video - this can be somewhat of a difficult balance to strike and Radical Yue has nailed it. 

There’s so much fun and joy in this video, it really feels like a celebration of all these different anime and is a love letter to the sub genre of dance AMVs themselves.  

28

Video title: Queenslayer

Editor: GodFire91

Anime: Sailor Moon Crystal/Eternal/Cosmos

Song & Artist: Kingslayer - Bring Me The Horizon feat BABYMETAL

VPR: All

Comments:

Sailor Moon combined with Babymetal - this combination was destined to rock, and GodFire91 has achieved the pinnacle of this with some top tier editing. I love the use of distortion effects - GodFire91 uses several different types of distortion throughout the video to match some of the noises and moods in the song and it makes the AMV super dynamic and interesting. Also generally there’s great scene selection and sync making for a solid video all around that’s a blast to watch. 

27

Video title: NAKA-KON 2024 AMV CONTEST SUBMISSION

Editor: K!LL SCREEN

Anime: Various

Song & Artist: Energy Laser - Kobaryo

VPR: Major all

CW: Strong gore, violence, sexual imagery, nudity

WARNING! THIS VIDEO IS NOT AGE RESTRICTED ON YOUTUBE - IT ABSOLUTELY SHOULD BE, SO PLEASE BE CAREFUL WHEN WATCHING.

Comments:

Sometimes the shock factor and crazy energy is the main draw of a video, and that's exactly the case here (the AMV doesn't have a proper name, and I refuse to type out its title every time I want to refer to it). It is highly NSFW in its content and the editing style is deliberate in its enhancement of this. Some of the video is quite tongue-in-cheek, especially the intro, which does soften the content slightly - it’s not glorifying the content here, it’s mostly just being stupid and having fun.

K!LL SCREEN is a super interesting editor for me. They're primarily a DJ, making mixes of hypercore music, and they also sometimes pair this with visuals, often creating a lot of original graphics to accompany their music. Occasionally they make AMVs. I think this is the first AMV from them that's an individual project - previously they've made AMVs for entire DJ set pieces (which are quite wild). K!LL SCREEN’s editing style is just so out of the ordinary I can’t help but be mesmerised by anything they create.

26

Video title: Harmonia’s Dream

Editor: GonzoZord

Anime: The Tatami Galaxy

Song & Artist: Harmonia’s Dream - The War on Drugs

VPR: All

Comments:

Clocking in at almost six and a half minutes, “Harmonia’s Dream” is the longest AMV in my top 50. Despite this it doesn’t feel like a “long” AMV at all, in fact whenever I watch it I get so sucked into the upbeat editing that the time simply flies by. The energy GonzoZord packs into the video is impressive, editing long AMVs can feel like a chore sometimes, but there’s no evidence that GonzoZord lagged at all in their endeavours and indeed the video even seems to pick up steam the longer it plays! There’s so much happening all the time in this AMV - it’s definitely one to repeatedly watch in order to catch all of the wonderful sync moments. 

GonzoZord uses a lot of split screen throughout “Harmonia’s Dream” which is a gimmick I’ve seen in many other AMVs and GonzoZord brings something fresh here - using it as a way to show differences in the passage of time and compare and contrast changes in scenes. It’s honestly one of the greatest ways of visually communicating some of the scenes in The Tatami Galaxy I’ve ever seen. 

25

Video title: Transcend-Dandy Cha Cha Cha

Editor: Aqua Sky Productions

Anime: Space Dandy

Song & Artist: Transcendental Cha Cha Cha - Tom Cardy

VPR: Flashes, quick cuts, intense colours, motion, patterns, light leaks

Comments:

When this song and accompanying music video dropped I felt it would be perfect for AMVs and yet I couldn't envision a way someone could make something that would be as fitting as the animated music video made for the song. I just had no idea what anime they could choose or how they might even put something together that could stand shoulder to shoulder with the official music video because it was just that good.

Well, serendipity struck and Aqua Sky happened to be in the exact correct situation in order to create history. Honestly, you really don’t need me to tell you all how awesome this AMV is - it’s clearly evident simply by it’s existence, seriously, just watch it. I am so so happy that it has achieved so much success on YouTube, Aqua Sky deserves every bit of it. 

24

Video title: Dying Light

Editor: Videobeats

Anime: Star Wars: Visions Volume 2

Song & Artist: Dying Light (Justin Hawkes Remix) - Metrik, Shockone

VPR: All (major RGB split effects)

Comments:

So uh, yes I consider this an AMV - even though I guess it’s technically western animation mostly? Whatever, there’s clearly at least one short in here that’s stylised like anime and that’s good enough for me. 

A couple years ago VideoBeats made a different AMV using the first series of Star Wars: Visions, which was also one of my favourites the year it came out - “Dying Light” is an absolutely gorgeous successor to this. The RGB split effects are just really super cool, I’m not really the type to nerd out over effects, but I just can’t really think of any better descriptors of how I feel about them - they’re so darn neat in the context of this video. Videobeats is single-handedly keeping the world of Star Wars cool for me. 

23

Video title: du and ich

Editor: sailormoonfreak

Anime: Revolutionary Girl Utena, Adolescence of Utena

Song & Artist: Du Und Ich - Blümchen

VPR: All (major flashing & strobing)

Comments:

Random anecdote - I used to play a lot of Audiosurf back in the day (I was one of those people who would only play Ninja Mono) and my favourite song to play was Du Und Ich because it was the most challenging song in my music library I could find. I never in my wildest dreams imagined someone would make such an amazing AMV with it, or that would ever even be on anyone's radar to edit with in the first place.

sailormoonfreak has a strong back catalogue of editing with Revolutionary Girl Utena and “du and ich” is absolutely her magnum opus for the series - there’s so much heart and soul and clever bits of editing. The interweaving of the car scenes from the Utena Movie and the sword fighting scenes with the corresponding characters in the series is utterly incredible. There’s a lot in this video I feel I’m unable to fully comprehend as I haven’t watched the series, but I can see the craftsmanship and dedication that’s gone into making this. 

Somehow, the YouTube Algorithm seems to have completely missed sharing this video with the Utena fan vidding community - there are nowhere near as many eyes on this as I believe there rightfully should be. So if anyone reading this knows anyone who might appreciate this video, please share it with them!

22

Video title: Nothing to Hide

Editor: vivafringe

Anime: Spy X Family

Song & Artist: Nothing to Hide - Cosmic Gate

VPR: Motion, vignettes/peripherals, light leaks, explosions, flashes

CW: Violence, blood

Comments:

Another rare single source vivafringe AMV (although at this point, can they really be considered rare anymore?) - this time though, “Nothing to Hide” feels incredibly intimate. So far “Nothing to Hide” is the only Spy X Family AMV which has made me feel anything for the anime in any kind of meaningful way - I have nothing against the anime, it just doesn’t come across as my kind of thing. “Nothing to Hide” paints a portrait of the character Yor as someone who has realised that the important things in life are right in front of her with her fake family, and her super important top secret spy job (or whatever it’s supposed to be) isn’t actually who she feels she is. I feel it’s a really interesting take on this character and story and I appreciate that Vivafringe has made this a lot. 

21

Video title: Cursed To Be First

Editor: Animetrash AMVs

Anime: RahXephon

Song & Artist: Wanna Be Her - june

VPR: Motion, fades to white, quick cuts, flickering

Comments:

“Sweet”, “Silly”, and “Cute”, are not descriptors I’ve ever really associated with RahXephon AMVs before. Animetrash is a king at subverting expectations with his editing and “Cursed To Be First” is no exception. Obviously there’s a lot of other emotions at play in this video, it’s a lot more nuanced than just sunshine and daisies, but just the fact it’s so fun and upbeat breaks my brain a little bit every time I watch it. RahXephon had a small cult following back in the day and was semi popular to edit with for a bit, and it absolutely got type cast into a particular kind video (serious psychological/experimental videos mostly).

The unique atmosphere is not the only reason I enjoy this video. “Cursed To Be First” also has all the usual things I particularly love in Animetrash’s AMVs like interesting sync and  refreshing scene selection, which all together has made it one of my all time favourites of his. 

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