Category Archives: anime

AMV of the Day: Party Rock (One Piece)

Posted on by Arleigh

We’re now in the second AMV of my One Piece-themed anime music video min-marathon. The previous video was by PixelCreekAMVs and this second one is also by this AMV creator.

The AMV I picked from his collection of One Piece videos is titled “Party Rock” and like the previous AMV chosen it’s also one which highlights the fun, bizarre and wacky nature of Oda Eiichiro’s long-running and very popular manga and anime series. For those who might not recognize this song from LMFAO, they will probably better remember it as the song played with the dancing hip-hop hamsters and dancing robots in those Kia Soul car commercials.

I rather found this particular amv quite catchy to watch and listen to. The song is one of those party anthem songs which tend to come and go every year but combining it with One Piece just makes the song much more memorable. PixelCreekAMVs work on this video is much cleaner with a minimum amount of pre-existing credits and/or subtitles. Even if it had those I would still consider this AMV one of my current favorites.

Anime: One Piece

Song: “Party Rock” by LMFAO feat. Lauren Bennett, GoonRock

Creator: PixelCreekAMVs

AMV of the Day: Remember the Name (One Piece)

Posted on by Arleigh

[Marineford spoilers]

Just a little over a year ago a post was put up by resident anime/manga writer pantsukudasai56 in regards to what constitutes as the “Anime of the Decade”. He settled on Oda Eiichiro’s One Piece series both in its manga and anime form. It’s truly the one piece of entertainment in any form that could honestly call itself as epic. It’s an anime which is now nearing 600-episodes and there’s no slowing down in it’s quality and amount of storylines to be told. The latest series of “AMV of the Day” will share in that each amv used One Piece as the foundation to the video.

The first in this series is called “Remember the Name” by PixelCreekAMVs and like most in the series it will include scenes from the excellent “Marineford” story-arc which aired earlier this year. For those who have never watched an episode of One Piece wouldn’t be spoiled by what transpire in this video, but for those who do and haven’t reached the series to this point in the episode listings should be careful about clicking the video. Other than that piece of warning the video itself is quite a fun one.

It’s not the cleanest looking AMV (subtitles, opening and closing credits animation, etc), but in sheer scope of fun and showing One Piece at it’s most bizarre and ludicrous then this video definitely succeeds. It uses the very popular song “Remember the Name” by Fort Minor (feat. Styles of Beyond) from a couple years back. PixelCreekAMVs does a great job of giving each crew member of Monkey D. Luffy’s pirate ship a chance to shine in the video. He also does a great job of picking the right scenes for each line of lyric that the roughness of the overall look of the video becomes nitpicking.

As a recent convert to One Piece this AMV definitely a good way to show the show at it’s most fun and, maybe, even make some newbies to the series want to keep watching or start on it.

Anime: One Piece

Song: “Remember the Name” by Fort Minor feat. Styles of Beyond

Creator: PixelCreekAMVs

AMV of the Day: Imagica

Posted on by Arleigh

The latest AMV of the Day comes courtesy of AMV creator “Chiikaboom” whose works I’ve chosen many times for this feature. This one was just completed and released by Chiikaboom less than a month ago and, like her other AMV’s, this one truly impresses.

This latest AMV from Chiikaboom is simply called “Imagica”. She’s taken on the theme of the mahou shoujo (magical girl) genre which continues to be one of the more popular ones in anime and manga both in Japan and overseas. Casual viewers and readers of the “magical girl” genre tend to view them as just cute and peppy, but for those who have actually watched these series from start to finish know that they’re more than colorful, happy characters.

Chiikaboom latches onto the darker aspects of the mahou shoujo genre and runs with it headlong towards one of the songs which made the Sucker Punch soundtrack one of the best of 2011. The song she picks to shine a light on the darker side of the magical girls is the Emily Browning cover of the Eurythmics classic song, “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)”. The haunting rendition of this song by Emily Browning matches up well with the darker scenes of these magical girls. Scenes which goes beyond young girls and teens with powers, but how such powers weigh heavily on them.

“Imagica” is one of the better AMV’s to arrive on the scene in the last couple months. Once again it’s the one person who seems to have the flair for the dramatic and just the right touches which makes these AMV from Chiikaboom the best.

Anime: Sailor Moon, Houkago No Pleaides, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Movie (1st), Cardcaptor Sakura, Pretear, Mermaid Melody Pitchi Pitchi Pitch, Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne, Uta Kata, Princess Tutu, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Magic Knight Rayearth

Song: “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)” by Emily Browning

Creator: Chiikaboom

AMV of the Day: Maya and Company

Posted on by Arleigh

The latest “AMV of the Day” is one that should elicit more than it’s fair share of “awwwwwws” and may even bring some to happy tears.

“Maya and Companion” is the latest AMV which has caught my eye and I’m glad that it had. I’ve been awash in blood and violence for the horror-theme month of October so coming across this video more than balances out all of October. The video takes scenes of the Azumanga Daioh character Sakaki and her pet kitty Maya. Those scenes alone would be enough to bring a smile to my face (this anime is one of my favorites), but editing the scenes together and pairing it with the song “Good Company” from the late 80’s Disney animated film, Oliver & Company, just sent the video into sweetness and big smile overload.

I must give thanks to this amv’s creator, kireblue, for making this video and I wasn’t surprised to read and hear that it was a huge hit with the con-goers at this year’s Otakon 2011 anime convention in Baltimore.This amv would’ve been one I wish I could’ve seen live with a full audience.

Anime: Azumanga Daioh

Song: “Good Company” – from Oliver & Company (sung by Myhanh Tran)

Creator: kireblue

AMV of the Day: Who’s That Chick?

Posted on by Arleigh

Before I returned to posting something about horror I needed to post another “AMV of the Day” entry after discovering and watching this happy little AMV earlier today. This latest anime music video is the aptly named “Who’s That Chick?” by amv creator gloobe90.

The video’s title comes from the Rihanna song which when listened to perfectly encapsulates the Teppen Toppa Gurren Lagann character of Yoko Littner. This anime is part of the shonen mecha genre. It pretty much means it’s an anime series aimed at boys and young men using action and mecha (giant robots) with some comedy and fanservice thrown in just cover all bases. The character of Yoko Littner pretty much has all four of those traits. She’s quite able in the action and fighting department and while she doesn’t pilot one of the many mechas in the series she does take down more than her share of them. Yoko also happens to be a sort of comedy relief in the series both in her actions and attitude but also in the fanservice way she’s drawn and how others react to her due to her appearance.

It’s really not a surprise that Yoko Littner ended up being one of the more popular anime characters ladies end up cosplaying at conventions and anime events. The trick though is whether they can pull of not just Yoko’s look, but her infectious cheerful attitude. This video certainly captures all of that and more.

Anime: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann

Song: “Who’s That Chick?” by Rihanna feat. David Guetta

Creator: gloobe90

AMV of the Day: Just the Way You Are

Posted on by Arleigh

A brief break from the day-to-day posts of horror reviews and such brings us the latest “AMV of the Day”. This particular AMV is unique in that it’s the type people in the hobby call an MEP as in Multi-Editor Project. This video uses one song but has several different editors taking section and editing in their chosen anime scenes. All these different editors must bring in their section in as smooth as transition as possible.

This first MEP is “Just the Way You Are” and uses the Bruno Mars of the same title. The video has ten different anime from which the 11 editors ended up using to fill up the length of the Mars track. The editing tricks weren’t too complex in this video and that’s probably due to having so many people involved in creating it, but the quick editing and some of the scene transitions were done well enough that the scenes chosen worked well hand-in-hand with Bruno Mar’s cheerfully romantic lyrics.

For an MEP this particular AMV is actually quite short. Most AMVs of this kind tend to run 10 to 20 minutes long as the different editors don’t just edit in their chosen anime scenes, but also must edit in their chosen song as well. These type of AMVs usually will have 3-5 songs mixed in together. For now, I think I’ll start with this short and simple kind.

Anime: Toradora!, Fullmetal Alchemist, Angelic Layer, Kobato, Skip Beat, Ef, Card Captors Sakura, Tsubasa Chronicles, Vampire Knight, Naruto

Music: “Just the Way You Are” – Bruno Mars

Creators: MikuruNyuAMV, xChibiUchiha, xsakuralimited, KobatoCLAMP, ChroniclesLuz, OoxAmandy15xoO, Xiizhel, ApologeticWinterMoon, SAKIPUNKI, PotterGirl1995 & lokapormusik

AMV of the Day: My First Kiss

Posted on by Arleigh

The latest “AMV of the Day” is quite appropriate for this month of October. I will say that this particular AMV is more on the comedic side despite using an anime which has horror themes to it.

“My First Kiss” is an anime music video combining the fantasy horror anime series Dance of the Vampire Bund with the cheerful and double entendre-laden song “My First Kiss” by the group 3OH!3. CodeHeaven, the video’s creator, does a great job of picking the right scenes from the series to fit particular lyrics in the song. The series is fantasy horror, but it is also one of the more risque ones to make it’s jump from Japan to the US with most of it’s scenes intact. The video just hints at some of this and the song just adds to it to great effect.

Dance of the Vampire Bund is definitely not hentai, but it does have heavy ecchi moments which when paired with a song like “My First Kiss” makes for one fun anime music video.

Anime: Dance in the Vampire Bund

Song: “My First Kiss” (feat. Ke$ha) – 3OH!3

Creator: CodeHeaven

 

AMV of the Day: Death Romance

Posted on by Arleigh

Time for a new “AMV of the Day” and this time it was the AMV that was the consensus hit of this past summer’s Anime Expo 2011.

“Death Romance” is the creation of youtube user KaitoKid99 and from the reaction I’ve read about his entry at the AMV contest at Anime Expo 2011 this anime music video was something to have seen with a huge crowd reacting to it. The video took two so very different things and actually ended up quite funny and well-done: Death Note anime and Lady Gaga’s song “Bad Romance”.

Just watching the video I could very well imagine how well this video would’ve gone over. The fact that it won not just Best In Show at Anime Expo 2011, but also Best Comedy should put this video as one of the top one’s for 2011. KaitoKid99 didn’t use too much effects trickery and gimmicks. This video just was edited and synched quite well with a minimum of fuss and in the end those tend to be the best ones since there’s not too much to distract from the video.

I really regret not being able attend Anime Expo 2011 now if just to have seen this AMV on the theater screen at the Nokia Theater with a crowd of a couple thousand otaku.

Anime: Death Note

Song: “Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga

Creator: KaitoKid99

 

AMV of the Day: Furor (Oreimo)

Posted on by Arleigh

For the latest “AMV of the Day” I decided on an anime music video which uses the seinen anime series Ore no Imōto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai (Oreimo for short) as the foundation for the video. This video comes courtesy of amv creator S.A. Robert whose work I’ve just begun to notice.

“Furor” is the title of the amv and matches up Oreimo with the song “Touchin’ On My” by the electronic rock duo 3HO!3. For those who haven’t seen the Oreimo series the premise of the anime may just surprise the uninitiated. While it dances around the topic the series may make some viewers going into it blind quite uncomfortable as the two main characters in the anime are the Kosaka brother and sister, Kyosuke and Kirino. Without ruining the surprise of the series let me just say that the title of the series when translated into English is: My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute.

The video is actually quite well-made. 3HO!3’s song lyrics gives the scenes used in the video double meanings and the inclusions of the anime easter eggs throughout the video makes it a fun one to watch over and over for anime fans.

Creator: S.A. Robert

Anime: Ore no Imōto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai aka My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute

Song: “Touchin’ On My” by 3HO!3

AMV of the Day: Highschool of the Dead Game

Posted on by Arleigh

I came across this particular AMV (anime music video) while trying to find something else. There really hasn’t been many good AMV’s done with 2010’s hit anime series, Highschool of the Dead, which I find very peculiar. Maybe it’s the extreme ecchi nature paired with zombies which makes some people uncomfortable. I, for one, is not one of those people so I was really surprised when someone made a great AMV from this anime. The latest AMV of the Day is simply titled: “Highschool of the Dead Game”.

The title may be simple, but the video itself ended up looking quite complex in it’s execution. From the mind of AMV creator linnepin007, the video takes the many awesome scenes and sequences from Highschool of the Dead and made it to look like a sizzle reel for an upcoming roleplaying game. The game looks to make each character in the series as a playable one in the game right down to individual stats, character classes and even personal anthems and rally cries.

I know that for some the amount of fan-service in this series ruins it for them and how the series should’ve stuck to just the horror, but this AMV’s creator has realized one thing which has attracted legions of anime fans to this series: it’s fun. This is what this AMV has done to further help sell the series. It highlighted the fun aspect of the anime to ludicrous levels. It helps that the creator used an audio clip from Shaun of the Dead in the very start of the video.

The AMV did well enough that it garnered two awards at this year’s AnimeCon: Editor’s Choice and Audience Choice Awards.

Anime: Highschool of the Dead (Gakuen Mokushiroku)

Song: “Dead”  by My Chemical Romance

Creator: linnepin007