AMV of the Day (Horror Edition): Am I Not Human? (Another)


Yesterday site anime and manga contributor pantsukudasai56 posted his anime horror post for the month be recommending to everyone to watch the anime horror series Another. Using that as inspiration I’ve chosen the latest “AMV of the Day” by picking an AMV that uses that very series as the foundation for the video.

I’ve still have to find time to watch the series, but I know that Another is a horror anime that seems to have reached cult-status and beyond since it’s release earlier this year. Unlike pantsu here I do enjoy lots of anime horror but I will agree that they’re not in the same realm as mahou shoujo and slice-of-life series in terms of consistent quality. The last horror anime that I thought to be very good was Gakuen Mokushiroku (better known as Highschool of the Dead) but even that series earns much of it’s popularity due to it’s excessive (I thank Zoidberg Jesus for it everyday) use of fanservice shots.

With this AMV we get one from a high-quality horror anime and also paired up with one of the music industry’s preeminent producers of musical scores from Two Steps From Hell. This time around AMV producer AnimeFanOtaku123 uses that groups song, “Am I Not Human?”, to be the score for the chosen scenes from Another to complete the video. In fact, AnimeFanOtaku123 does such a great job with this AMV that one could easily say that it works perfectly well as a trailer for the series if one didn’t think it was an AMV to begin with.

I’ll probably have one or two more horror-related AMV’s before the end of the month, but this is a good choice for this month..

Anime: Another

Song: “Am I Not Human?” by Two Steps From Hell

Creator: AnimeFanOtaku123

Past AMVs of the Day

AMV of the Day: Moves Like Jagger (NSFW)


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

AMV of the Day: Mayoi Calling Araragi (Bakemonogatari)


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)


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

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


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


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)


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


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

AMV of the Day: Safety Dance (Nichijou)


In what will be one of several posts about my experience during this year’s Anime Expo 201, I have chosen to begin this series by choosing the latest “AMV of the Day”. While I wasn’t present when this video was shown to attendees (the schedule for the AMV contest panel conflicted with several other panels pantsukidasai56 and I were already committed to attending) I still sought it afterwards.

“Safety Dance” by Shin (listed under the Youtube account of tehninjarox) was well-received by those who attended the AMV Contest panel. While it didn’t win Best Comedy category it was picked as the winner of the Random/Fun category which is like the place where the hard to categorize and label videos end up. It’s a hodgepodge group of videos which tend to range from the weird, funky right up to just plain psychedelic.

The video is another feather in the cap of Shin who is considered one of the top AMV producers. Using the song “Safety Dance” by Men Without Hats (plus some dialogue from Futurama) and the quirky anime series Nichijou, Shin has created a really hilarious and unique AMV which really shows his editing skill in keeping the song in-sync with the anime characters in the video. The anime itself works well with the song with all the scenes of dancing (funny dancing but dancing nonetheless).

I think if I was present during the AMV Contest when this video played at Anime Expo 2012 I probably would’ve voted for this to win. I’m just glad that many others thought the same and made sure it won.

Anime: Nichijou

Song: “Safety Dance” by Men Without Hats feat. dialogue from Futurama

Creator: Shin (tehninjarox)

Past AMVs of the Day

AMV of the Day: Remember My Name


I’ve been looking for a new AMV that was very recently made (usually means in the last 3-4 months). Finding a good AMV is looking looking for anything creative. One must go through the dreck and dross before finding that diamond in the rough. One of the more recent ones that definitely qualifies as a gem makes it as my latest “AMV of the Day”.

“Remember My Name” is a Sheryl Nome-centric anime music video. Sheryl Nome is one of the main characters in the Macross Frontier series of anime (both tv series and OVA) and who also happens to be one of the most popular female characters in anime of the last couple years. At first I wasn’t too keen on the music used when I heard the first few moments then I realized the song used by the video’s creator (VivifxAMV) wasn’t just titled fame, but was actually a cover of the classic theme song from the film and tv series of the same name. This time around the song was covered by Naturi Naughton (have no idea, but she definitely killed it) and as I watched the video more to its conclusion the more I ended up really loving it.

The song really fits the character of Sheryl Nome very well. Sheryl is what one would call an idol in Japanese pop culture. Meaning she sings, dances, models and does everything else entertainment-wise while being managed by a powerful figure behind-the-scenes. Idols are huge is Japan and the only Western comparison I can make will be someone like Britney Spears and her ilk but ten times bigger in popularity in their home region.

“Remember My Name” is a great AMV of 2012 and my choosing of it for this on-going feature means I’ve also discovered a new AMV artist who I plan to follow closely with each new video made.

Song: “Fame” by Naturi Naughton

Creator: VivifxAMV

Past AMVs of the Day