Category Archives: AMV of the Day

AMV of the Day: A Thousand Miles (Macross Frontier)

Posted on by Arleigh

I think this is the second time I’ve chosen an AMV which uses the same song. The first time was an earlier “AMV of the Day” which starred the two leads of the anime series Toradora!. This time around the latest “AMV of the Day” goes from romantic-comedy to the mecha-action genre.

This latest AMV also uses the same title. “A Thousand Miles” is not just the name of the AMV but the title of the song used in the video. Yes, it would seem Vanessa Carlton’s hit ballad from several years ago is quite popular with AMV creators who plan on creating a romance-themed video. I must admit that this video was quite good. It’s not everytime that one can create a romance AMV out of the mecha-series Macross Frontier.

Looking back on the video after several viewings I will say that the song fits the romance between the character of Ranka Lee (green-haired girl) and Alto (the Veritech pilot). While the video only shows the Ranka/Alto romance (Alto also catches the eye of another beauty in the series to create a love triangle subplot) the song seems more appropriate in giving voice to Ranka Lee as a character and how she feels about Alto.

It is a shame that Macross Frontier still hasn’t been licensed for an American release. This video just shows how great this anime really is.

Anime: Macross Frontier

Song: “A Thousand Miles” by Vanessa Carlton

Creator: whispersreloaded

AMV of the Day: Instinct

Posted on by Arleigh

The latest AMV I’ve chosen for the regular “AMV of the Day” comes from one of the anime hit series from 2010. It combines the horror and ecchi (softcore) themes and images from that series with one of Rob Zombie’s most popular songs to date in “Dragula”. The video is plainly and simply titled, “Instinct”.

Highschool of the Dead  (Gakuen Mokushiroku in Japan) was one of the major anime hits of 2010. It was the anime adaptation of the wildly popular manga series of the same name. It was a series which successfully combined the horror aspects that a zombie apocalypse brings to any story and the softcore elements that ecchi brought to the table. Simply put it was a series that was about sex, violence and horror. So, it wasn’t too much of a surprise that someone decided what better song to merge scenes from this series than Rob Zombie’s very own “Dragula”.

The editing work on this video was actually excellent. The creator, StarSapphire26, didn’t just edit and splice together scenes to match the tone and tempo of the song, but added some visual touches which made it stand out from most AMVs. This is one reason why this video stood out for me beyond just being one of the better and rare good AMVs which uses Highschool of the Dead as the foundation.

Anime: Highschool of the Dead (Gakuen Mokushiroku)

Song: “Dragula” by Rob Zombie

Creator: StarSapphire26

AMV of the Day: Hold Me Now (Princess Tutu)

Posted on by Arleigh

(amv slightly spoilerish)

When I came across this particular AMV I knew that I had to post it as the latest in the long line of “AMV of the Day” for the site. Like a previous AMV posted months earlier this one uses the excellent mahou shoujo anime Princess Tutu. The AMV I speak of is called “Hold Me Now”.

This particular anime music video takes the ballet-themed mahou shoujo (magical girl) of Princess Tutu and combines it with the song “Håll om mig” by Swedish singer-songwriter Nanne Grönvall. The end result of this combination makes for what  consider one of the best AMV’s I’ve seen since I’ve been watching them for the past couple years. It’s on par with the previous Princess Tutu AMV posted in March (Danse de Raven).

While that previous AMV had a much more seductive tone to the video this latest Princess Tutu music video settles on some heavy dramatics to give a sense to the story of the anime. I particular like how the amv’s creator, Marissa Panaccio, was able to deftly time the beats of the song to the action on the video (or is it vice versa). I’ve been watching this video for the last couple days and I’m still not tired of it. That in itself is a mark of an AMV that’s done well.

Anime: Princess Tutu

Song: “Håll om mig” by Nanne Grönvall

Creator: Marissa Panaccio

AMV of the Day: The Beautiful People of Black Lagoon

Posted on by Arleigh

Finding very good to high quality AMVs (anime music videos) have become easier to do on YouTube as I get myself more immersed in the amv scene. While I don’t ever see myself creating one even on a dare I do appreciate the work which goes into creating the very good ones. The latest “AMV of the Day” choice is definitely one of the very good ones and, if not, for the non-HD quality of it (though it still looks very good in its SD format), would probably be one of the best out there that I’ve seen.

“The Beautiful People of Black Lagoon” dares to combine scenes from the anime which makes up the latter part of that title with the Marilyn Manson song which begins the amv title. This AMV was able to capture the chaos and mayhem of Horie Rei’s Black Lagoon and also highlight the fact that this series does have a large amount of beautiful people in it from Revy to Gretel and, of course, Roberta. It really gives credence to the lyrics in Manson’s song and the industrial rock sound of the song goes well with the violence that’s so inherent in Black Lagoon.

I could easily show this to people who have never heard of the anime Black Lagoon and I can guarantee that more than half would be intrigued to see the series after this watching this AMV. It is still a marvel that this AMV was made almost four years ago and still can hold it’s own on the more recent ones. Shame there’s no HD version of this AMV. If it looks this good on SD I think it would look great on HD.

Anime: Black Lagoon

Song: “The Beautiful People” by Marilyn Manson

Creator: Jasta85

AMVs of the Day: SugardanSen & Attack of the Otaku

Posted on by Arleigh

Today, I couldn’t make up my mind which amv to pick for the latest “AMV of the Day” so being the co-founder of the site I decided to use my God-like powers and picked the two which caught my eye. I mean if I couldn’t abuse my God-like powers over the site then why have them…right? So, instead of one AMV we have two and they’re from the same creator and definitely have the same vibe and feel to them. I guarantee that like these AMV’s or not you’re feet will tap to the beat or maybe your head begin to bob to it.

The first AMV is titled “SugardanSen” and takes the “Caramelldansen” meme to a new level through creator Chiikaboom’s editing of scenes from 50 different anime to create one of the most catchy and sugary AMVs I’ve ever had the pleasure to watch and listen to. The part of the video that comes on at the 1:03 mark always brings about a huge grin to my face. It’s really not needed for me to describe this video other than those prone to seizures due to extreme flashes of light and rapid image editing should avoid it.

The same goes for the second AMV which also shares the same happy and pop sugary tempo and tone. It only includes scenes from three anime series but what it lacks in numbers it more than makes up for less seizure inducing video (though not by much). This video uses the “The Game Of Love (E=MC2 Mix)” by Jenny Rom (yeah, never heard of her either but she sings a catchy tune) and Chiikaboom has done a better job of editing the scenes to match the lyrics.

Both AMVs must been seen one right after the other. I always end up watching both whenever I feel down and on the way to depress mode. It’s hard to not feel better (at least by a bit) once I’ve these AMVs.

Attack of the Otaku

Anime: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Lucky*Star, Ouran High School Host Club

Song: The Game Of Love (E=MC2 Mix) by Jenny Rom

Creator: Chiikaboom

SugardanSen

Anime: 50+ too many to list..click link for the list

Song: “Caramelldansen (Speedycake Remix) by Caramell

Creator: Chiikaboom

AMV of the Day: Fairy Tail Teenage Dream

Posted on by Arleigh

Well, for the latest AMV of the Day I have picked one which includes one of my favorite anime of late (also a favorite manga) and a song that I didn’t care for to be honest. But when combined together they make for an awesome anime music video. I’m talking about the mashup that is “Fairy Tail Teenage Dream”.

Fairy Tail is one of those anime that one just ends up loving whether they want to or not. It shares similar character designs as the long-running and uber-popular anime series, One Piece, and they even share similar-sounding storylines. The song “Teenage Dreams”  by Katy Perry I’ve always caught on the radion or used in some ad campaign, but it’s always been too sugary pop for my taste. It’s very catchy to listen to and I can understand why it’s become so popular. It only took pairing that song to this anime and how the creator of said AMV edited the whole video for me to actually like the song.

Will I listen to “Teenage Dream” when not in this AMV form? Most likely not, but at least I’ve come to appreciate said song and not completely dismissed it. Another reason why when AMV’s are done well they open up the viewer to a whole new realm of music possibilities not to mention anime ones.

Anime: Fairy Tail

Song: “Teenage Dream” by Katy Perry

Creator: Getsusekai Studios

AMV of the Day: Repeat (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

Posted on by Arleigh

The latest AMV of the Day continues my current obsession over a great mahou shoujo (magical girl) by the name of Puella Magi Madoka Magica. This amv is called “Repeat”.

“Repeat” uses the song “Sleep Now” by Hugh Hall and it’s atmospheric sound goes hand in hand with the dark, almost gothic sensibilities, of Puella Magi Madoka Magica. I’m none too familiar with Hugh Hall’s music, but the song that creator Chiikaboom used to highlight the dark nature of this anime series really makes this amv seem like a well-made trailer for the series. In fact, if I didn’t know that this video was an anime music video I would’ve thought it was a professionally done teaser trailer for the anime series.

This amv once again shows just how engaging an anime series Puella Magi Madoka Magica really is. Yes, the animation and character designs are quite cute, but that lighthearted aspect of the show doesn’t last very long. This video shows just how mature, dramatic and tragic this series ends up becoming.

Song: “Sleep Now” by Hugh Hall

Anime: Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Creator: Chiikaboom

AMV of the Day: Toradora! Rough Love (Grow A Pear)

Posted on by Arleigh

So, finally back from a near week of anime and manga festivities at this year’s Anime Boston. One of the things I’ve enjoyed while attending these anime conventions have been the creative AMV’s which come out during the the event’s AMV contests. This year the crop of AMVs which won the different categories were very unique and inventive. One such AMV which seem to think outside the box was in the Best Romance category. This AMV combined the Ke$ha song, “Grow A Pear”, with the romantic comedy anime series Toradora! with an end result that was quite funny and charming.

The video took the give-and-take and very hostile early relationship between the two main characters in the series, Taiga and Ryuji. The song matches up pretty well with these early scenes of tsudere hostility from Taiga towards Ryuji but it does finally build-up towards the inevitable admittance from both characters of their true feelings for each other. This video had won the Best Romance category and could easily have won the Best Comedy category as well, but with the quality of romance AMVs being quite lacking during this year’s Anime Boston it wasn’t a surprise that this particular AMV won.

Song: Grow A Pear – Ke$ha

Anime: Toradora!

Creator: l33tmeatwad

AMV of the Day: Black Lagoon…To Be Loved

Posted on by Arleigh

I was going through my notes of my Saturday over at this year’s WonderCon when I got a tad bored and began to look at some AMV’s on YouTube. I realized as I was watching these AMVs that I hadn’t seen using Black Lagoon as the foundation. Well, I sure solved that. The latest AMV of the Day is “…To Be Loved” and it’s definitely Black Lagoon-centric.

I’ll start off by saying that Papa Roach is not a bad I particularly enjoy listening to. Well, I really don’t like most of the bands which came up during the so-called nu-metal craze of the late 90’s and early 2000’s. I will admit that the song “To Be Loved” by Papa Roach was a good pick to highlight just how action-packed the anime series Black Lagoon truly is. This series has one of the most kickass female characters in anime/manga with Revy.

Revy is the hard-drinking, chain-smoking and all-around badass fighter and gunslinger for the mercenary group she belongs to. There’s a reason why a majority of the scenes in the AMV has her pretty much eother punching, kicking or shooting someone or someones. She’s always getting her and her team in trouble with her attitude but she’ll always be the first to solve said problem. Usually through the use of an inordinate amount of violence. There’s a reason why so many anime/manga fans love her and it’s not just because her usual attire is a very short tanktop and very short cutoff jean shorts.

So, while I don’t like the band used for the video I do at least like the choice of song. Long live Revy!

Creator: Fleon

Song: “To Be Loved” by Papa Roach

Anime: Black Lagoon

 

AMV of the Day: This Is War (Fullmetal Alchemist)

Posted on by Arleigh

As a continue to write my Sucker Punch review I decided to take a break from it and watch some AMV’s on YouTube. I finally found one that I thought was worthy of becoming the latest “AMV of the Day”. This one combines one of the most popular action anime series of the last few years with a song from the American hard rock band 30 Seconds To Mars.

“This Is War” forms the basis for this AMv which takes that song and combines it with scenes from the anime series, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. One thing which I always look at when choosing which AMV makes the grade is whether the creator has a fine grasp on the song and its lyrics. It’s simple enough to cut-edit anime scenes together and slap on a song to it, but matching the song to those very scenes takes skill and the creator of this amv definitely has that.

Creator: klepohi

Anime: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Song: “This Is War” by 30 Seconds To Mars