AMV of the Day: Furor (Oreimo)

Posted on September 1, 2011 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: Devil’s Game

Posted on June 21, 2011 by Arleigh

The latest “AMV of the Day” is another one which is based on the mahou shoujo series, Puella Magi Madoka Magica. It’s become one of my favorite anime series of late and with each repeat viewing just increases my love for it. This latest anime music video takes that “magical girl” anime series and combines it with a symphonic rock song to create an AMV titled, “Devil’s Game”.

“Devil’s Game” is not just my latest pick for “AMV of the Day” but also the latest from AMV creator-extraordinaire Chiikaboom whose anime music video creations have always become instant favorites of mine. This latest really highlights the darkness that permeates throughout the anime series. For a mahou shoujo series, Puella Magi Madoka Magica get pretty dark and the subgenre as a whole uses themes of darkness to balance out the cute magical girl art design.

Within Temptation’s “A Demon’s Fate” is quite an appropriate song to use for this video. The series is all about Magi (magically-enhanced teen girls) fighting evil Witches to save the innocent people and the world. The series also includes Kyubey whose extremely cute appearance hides a secret that the song’s lyrics and title really meshes well with.

Chiikaboom’s editing of the video was not as extensive as some past ones which really comes and goes in rapid-fire fashion. For this video the editing and scene transitions matches very well with the bass drum sections in the song that it’s not noticeable at first glance, but really shows after repeat viewings. And it’s well-made AMV’s like this using scenes from this series that really should help sell Puella Magi Madoka Magica to the uninitiated whose experience with anime is from Adult Swim showings on Cartoon Network.

“Devil’s Game” is the best Puella Magi Madoka Magica AMV I’ve seen, so far, hand’s down.

Anime: Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Song: “A Demon’s Fate” by Within Temptation

Creator: Chiikaboom

AMV of the Day: Mahou Shoujo Requiem

Posted on June 11, 2011 by Arleigh

I think my love for the anime mahou shoujo series, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, may extend past this summer and til the end of the year. I’ve begun to watch the other new series to premiere in the last 12 months over in Japan, but this particular one has stuck itself in my head in a good way. It’s why whenever I find a great AMV done using the series I end up loving it. So, the last “AMV of the Day” is another Puella Mago Madoka Magica production.

This one is appropriately titled, “Mahou Shoujo Requiem”, and is paired with the ethereal and hypnotic song “Cosmic Love” by the group Florence + The Machine. Even the title of the song is quite appropriate as it highlights the cosmic aspect of the anime series the video is using.

The video’s creator is one “tehninjarox” and this creator also made the previous “AMV of the Day” entry (“A Prelude to Dreams”). The editing work in this latest AMV was exceptionally well done with scene transitions coming in fast and clear with each percussive beat of the song. I also like the fact that following the cosmic theme of the song there’s many images of Kyubey in the video. Can’t have a cosmic and requiem-themed AMV of this series and not Kyubey show up.

So, far this AMV of the Puella Magi Madoka Magica series one of the best one I’ve seen though not the best. The next one I plan to post in the future is the best one but not by much.

Anime: “Puella Magi Madoka Magica”

Song: “Cosmic Love” by Florence + The Machine

Creator: tehninjarox

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

Posted on May 27, 2011 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 May 21, 2011 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