Category Archives: anime

AMV of the Day: Moves Like Jagger (NSFW)

Posted on by Arleigh

This particular tune had stuck itself in my head all week and I finally figured out who sang the song. Maroon 5 is a band that I would consider as being part of this new generation of pop rock. That’s not to denigrate the band or anything. I like them well enough and when they release a new single it’s usually one that’s quite catchy which makes them big hits for the band. It’s the use of one of their songs that the latest “AMV of the Day” uses to some good effect.

“Moves Like Jagger (Anime Mix)” is the latest AMV and one produced by one xXxKrazyKookiexXx and one that uses scenes from a cornucopia of anime series. It’s a video that’s simple and straightforward in that the editor tries (and succeeds) in syncing the lyrics being sung to lip movements in the scenes chosen. Even the type of scenes picked fits the song well with all of them characters dancing, singing or doing both.

DxXxKrazyKookiexXx has other AMV’s, but this is one that I’ve latched onto as a favorite of this particular producer and just like the song used in the video this AMV is just as catchy and fun. It is also quite fan service heavy which means NSFW as a word of warning.

Anime: Macross Frontier, Nyan Koi, Needless, Baka to Test, Seitokai Yakuindomo, Princess Lover, Kampfer, Highscool of the Dead, Sekirei, Sora no Otoshimono, Asobi ni Ikuyo, Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls, Ladies vs Butlers, Bakemonogatari, Naruto, Chaos Head, Uta no Prince Sama, Melancholy of Haruhi Suziyama, Rosario+Vampire, Teppo Tengen Gurren Lagann

Song: “Moves Like Jagger (Radio Edit)” by Maroon 5 feat. Christina Aguilera

Creator: xXxKrazyKookiexXx

Past AMVs of the Day

Scenes I Love: Clannad After Story

Posted on by Arleigh

After people see this scene they will think I’m either crazy or a glutton for heartache for loving this scene. It’s hard to disagree with that statement. There’s a reason why I love this scene from the anime series Clannad After Story and it has less to do with the tone of the scene, but a major reason why anime is not just for kids or about boobs, tentacle rape and all the other things adults in the Western media dismiss the art form for.

This scene from Clannad After Story happens between the series’ main lead in Tomoya who has now come to the realization that he must now make amends to the daughter he left behind to be cared for by his wife’s family. It’s a powerful scene that has brought many to tears from young teen girls to grown-ass men who probably bawled more than the former. One doesn’t even have to have seen the previous season to this anime or any episodes leading up to this scene. The moment itself has enough of a backstory that one cannot help but get caught up in the moment. It’s also a scene that does a great job of emphasizing that bond between parent and child even when the former hasn’t lived up to their responsibilities.

I think if more people watched anime like Clannad After Story their opinions of anime would change for the better and see it in a new and positive light.

AMV of the Day: Mayoi Calling Araragi (Bakemonogatari)

Posted on by Arleigh

It’s quit an early Thursday morning and I just thought to pick a brief but very interesting piece of AMV as the latest “AMV of the Day”.

It’s actually called a MAD video. A type of fan-made video very popular in Japan where fans take an audio clip from a favorite anime (or even a non-anime) and splice it together with piece of music and try to match the dialogue with the beats and tempo of the song. This particular MAD is by creator called fillin and take the comedic way the Bakemonogatari character of Mayoi Hachikuji always stutters the name of the series’ lead in Araragi.

The song used is the Moogle’s Theme from the Final Fantasy V soundtrack. The video pretty much works perfectly as Mayoi’s stuttering of Araragi’s name matches the tempo and melody of the song perfectly. One thing that’s clear is that this video is quite addictive to watch since it loops and plays again once it finishes. I think I watched and listened to it for almost an hour straight and would’ve continued longer if sleep hadn’t called.

Anime: Bakemonogatari

Song: Moogle’s Theme from Final Fantasy V

Creator: fillin

 

Past AMVs of the Day

AMV of the Day: Troll of Hearts (The World God Only Knows)

Posted on by Arleigh

I would say that the AMV producer who has shown up on this “AMV of the Day” feature the most has to be tehninjarox. His videos rarely turn out to be misses and even the ones I don’t gush over still end up being very well done. It’s no surprise that one of his latest videos was chosen to be the latest AMV profiled.

“Troll of Hearts” is one of his latest and it manages tomake use of Rick Astley’s now classic and over-memed song, “Never Gonna Give You Up”, with the harem anime series The World God Only Knows. This video manages to make the anime series’ main lead, Keima Katsuragi, come off much more committed and romantic than the series really lets on. For those saying I just spoiled the anime shouldn’t worry. The World God Only Knows is less about drama and emotional growth and more the comedic side of a young man so obsessed with dating sims game that he’s forced by Hell to use those same gaming skills to try and romance real “3D girls” instead of 2D virtual ones he seems to prefer.

I know that the Rick Astley song has become the butt of many a joke and parody video. This AMV doesn’t change yet the lyrics fit in well with how tehninjarox (aka Shin) edited the scenes from the series. If there was one thing which keeps me from making this latest AMV pick as one of my all-time favorites it would be the length of the video itself which is under 2 minutes and doesn’t make use of the song’s total running time. It’s a little nitpick really since the AMV was something done for an AMV contest that didn’t require he use the whole song. The fact that he was able to place 1st even with a truncated video just goes to show the impact the video had with those judging.

Anime: The World God Only Knows

Song: “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley

Creator: tehninjarox

 

Past AMVs of the Day

High School DxD gets 2nd Season

Posted on by Arleigh

News that should make fellow site writer and contributor pantsukudasai56 very happy just came down the pipeline. According to Anime News Network the shonen series High School DxD has been given the greenlight for a second season.

While details about this second season has been, for the moment, quite sparse the fact that the season is now in production means that it’s not just a promise of one, but a guarantee that more harem hi-jinks involving the clueless Issei Hyodo and the beautiful, albeit demonic, girls of his high school. This is a series that’s definitely more about comedy than anything serious and/or thought provoking. Then again one can only survive on dramatic and deep anime for so long. Some levity needs to be mixed in with the dark and High School DxD certainly delivers in that front.

The popularity of the series (and the new season should get quite a welcome from its fans) also stems from the fact that it is a harem anime that also involves some very ecchi (fan service) moments. While this type of anime doesn’t appeal to everyone it still attracts a huge number of anime fans.

There’s no word when the new season will air, but until then I’m sure pantsukudasai56 will be anticipating ew stuff from his favorite character on the show: Koneko Toujou.

Source: Anime News Network

Anime You Should Be Watching: Princess Tutu

Posted on by Arleigh

Mahou shoujo (magical girl) anime has become the bread-and-butter of the anime scene. Whether one would like to admit it or not they have watched some episode or an OVA of a magical girl anime by chance or accident. I mean if they caught reruns of Sailor Moon in the past 10 or more years then they’ve watched a magical girl anime. There’s one magical girl anime that hasn’t been getting as much attention even amongst anime watchers. It’s this mahou shoujo series that I think more people should be watching and I’m talking about Princess Tutu.

Princess Tutu is a series adapted from the manga of the same title written by Mizuo Shinonome. It’s a series that dares to do something different with the magical girl genre by relying less on violence and battles (people tend to forget that these series may be called magical girl but they’re also quite violent). The series is a sort of fairy tale but with the complex twists and turns that anime tends to layer onto something old and familiar to good effect. We have a duckling given the chance to become a human through a magical gem necklace. When in human form she resembles an awkward, sweet teen girl who reverts back to her duckling form if she quacks. Only by touching water once more can the duckling become the human girl Ahiru once more. This necklace, given to her by a sort of puppetmaster figure of the series, also allows Ahiru to take on the ballerina aspect of Princess Tutu whose mature bearing and expertise in ballet grants her special powers.

One could say that Princess Tutu only owes it’s mahou shoujo label due to the magical abilities granted to Ahiru in her Princess Tutu aspect, but other than that the series is quite different from such magical girl series like Sailor Moon, Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. While the series does have conflict between the other characters around Ahiru like Mytho, Fakir and Rue the fights doesn’t use the more typical magical duels and battles common in the genre. Instead the series uses a clever way of implementing ballet and it’s use to represent fight’s between characters.

Like some magical girl series of it’s kind Princess Tutu has it’s comedic and light-hearted moments. Where the series shines is when it delves into the darker side of the narrative. Just like the traditional fables and fairy tales this series works best when letting the darkness of the story come to the forefront instead of just being hinted at. It’s definitely a turn in the series’ narrative that may surprise some people who are expecting an anime that’s all about cute character. Ahiru and the rest of the cast might be animated young-looking (with the male leads looking androgynous), but the trials and tribulations they go through during the series’ run would be considered very adult if done live-action.

Princess Tutu is actually available as a complete set on DVD and not very expensive when compared to other anime DVD sets. So, if one looks at mahou shoujo anime as their cup of tea or just looking to dabble their feet into this type of anime then Princess Tutu is a good place to start. I would usually put up a trailer of this series to better give people an idea of what to expect but I think two great AMV (anime music videos) produced by two fans of the series best describes what people should expect.

There’s Danse De Raven by Chiikaboom…

…and then there’s Hold Me Now by Marissa Panaccio

Anime You Should Be Watching

AMV of the Day: Written in the Spirals (Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann)

Posted on by Arleigh

The next “AMV of the Day” comes courtesy of AMV-producer extraordinaire tehninjarox whose other works I’ve profiled here many times.

“Written in the Spirals” is the title of this latest AMV and is a play on the title of the song used for the video, “Written in the Stars”. The song is by Tinie Tempah with Eric Turner providing the chorus between Tinie Tempah’s rhymes. The video itself is pretty straightforward in that it rarely uses many of the video effects tricks other AMV creators have been using of late. This creator just does a great job of taking the scenes from the anime series Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and lets each sequence match the tempo and feel of the song. This particular video from this series has the producer focusing on one of the leads in the show, Kamina.

Kamina is sort of like the Han Solo of the series and also ends up becoming the mentor to the main lead of the show in Simon. This video is only the second one I’ve picked which uses the Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann series as the backdrop. As much as I truly enjoy this video it’s still not the best I’ve seen using this series. That honor goes to Nighthawk’s “Spinning Infinity”.

Anime: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann

Song: “Written in the Stars” by Tinie Tempah feat. Eric Turner

Creator: tehninjarox

Past AMVs of the Day

AMV of the Day: The Way You Are

Posted on by Arleigh

The latest AMV of the Day is actually one I just stumbled onto on youtube while looking for something that wasn’t even related to AMV’s. I know I would take a hit by admitting that I like the song this video ended up using but dagnabbit it’s a catchy and sweet song.

“The Way You Are” is the title of the AMV by editor xwiz89 who takes scenes from two anime series, Bakemonogatari and Nyan Koi!, and ends up with an anime music video that does a great job highlighting the two relationships which occur in both series. While the video makes the coupling sweeter than how they really appear in the series the way xwi89 edits the video makes that sweetness feel natural.

The title itself was taken from the title of the song by Bruno Mars, “Just The Way You Are”, and while it’s a song that has had it’s legion of detractors it’s still one that I ended up liking when first hearing and I’m going to assume that the AMV’s editor felt the same way. The song just fits the video and, if any, it helps sell both anime series to those who might not have heard about it and still not sure whether to give it a look see.

Anime: Bakemonogatari, Nyan Koi!

Song: “Just The Way You Are” by Bruno Mars

Creator: xwiz89

 

Past AMVs of the Day

AMV of the Day: Means to an Endgame (Code Geass)

Posted on by Arleigh

I was going to pick something lighthearted for the next “AMV of the Day” but decided to save Mr. Satan for a later date when I return to posting more Anime Expo 2012 stuff. So, I chose an AMV that I would categorize as the opposite of lighthearted and could be considered as very dark, indeed.

“Means to an Endgame” is the latest from AMV producer extraordinaire tehninjarox. He picks one of my favorite Florence + The Machine songs in “Seven Devils” and uses it to musically score and highlight just how much of a devil the main protagonist of the anime series really turns out to be. This is not to say that Lelouch is a bad guy. He’s just very focused on taking down his enemies to make the world a better place for his crippled sister. How he goes about this includes committing what he calls evil actions for the greater good.

The video itself does a great job in matching up with the song that one would almost think that Lelouch (the man in the black armor and cape) was the villain of this piece. While I’m not like fellow anime contributor pantsukudasai in that mecha doesn’t do it for him, I myself don’t mind mecha anime and it was mecha that first brought me back to the artform during the mid-80’s. This video just shows just how far mecha anime has gone from just being about pilots in giant fighting robots fighting it out. Code Geass has it’s share of mech fighting but it also has a strong, dramatic narrative that blurs the distinction of who the good guys and bad guys are.

Just like another great AMV producer in Chiikaboom, one tehninjarox has become a favorite of mine with each new video he releases. This one definitely make’s my favorite list.

Anime: Code Geass

Song: “Seven Devils” by Florence + The Machine

Creator: tehninjarox

 

Past AMVs of the Day

AMV of the Day: Azumanga Daioh 1985

Posted on by pantsukudasai56

I believe this is the third Azumanga AMV to be posted here, but what can I say?  The series lends itself nicely to being made into AMVs.  This is an older AMV, and I really don’t know if it was ever entered into an AMV contest at a convention or if it was just done for fun.  Either way, this was created by Suberunker Studeosh and it mixes scenes from Azumanga Daioh with the Bowling for Soup song 1985.

This video in particular has a bit of a checkered past if you will.  Perhaps this is a recent development, but for the longest time these videos were either taken down or had their music blocked because Bowling for Soup, or most likely their producers, objected to the use of their song in the video.  Mainly this was an issue with it being posted on YouTube, but as you can now see, they don’t seem to have a problem with the music being played these days.  Either cooler heads prevailed and they realized that no harm was being done, or they figured the song was old enough to where its monetary value was sufficiently decreased so it didn’t matter anymore.  At any rate, it’s good that people can now see and hear this video as the creator intended.

At any rate, this video features the somewhat jaded and a little immature teacher of the series, Yukari Tanizaki, and the majority of the scenes were taken from Azumanga Daioh, but there were a few quick snippets from other anime shows too.  It’s a really well put together video, and fans of the series are sure to enjoy it, as well as people who just appreciate a good AMV.

Anime: Azumanga Daioh, Naruto, Fruits Basket, Pokemon, Full Metal Alchemist, Neon Genesis Evangelion

Song: “1985” by Bowling For Soup

Creator: Suberunker Studeoh

 

Past AMVs of the Day