AMV of the Day: Skyfall (Cowboy Bebop, Fate/Zero)

Posted on August 10, 2015 by Arleigh

Skyfall was the James Bond that seemed to have resonated with the so-called millenials. For the most part, James Bond the film franchise was considered dated and quaint when compared to the more action-oriented and cynical spy thrillers like the Jason Bourne franchise. This younger generation couldn’t take seriously a superspy who dressed in exquisite suits and tuxedos. A spy who bedded beautiful women like young people collected causes to support and/or protest.

This type of generational ennui, thankfully, hasn’t truly hit the otaku set. No matter how old an anime we otaku would have heard of it, watched it and, most of the time, enjoyed it. We’re not just stuck on what’s the latest trend in the anime scene. We’ll search out old with the new. While the quality of the animation have improved since the early days of the medium the storytelling from way back still remains strong and resonates with the oldest and youngest crowd.

So, the latest “AMV of the Day” is a celebration of that appreciation for not just the now but what came before: James Bond with Cowboy Bebop (with some help from Fate/Zero).

Anime: Cowboy Bebop, Fate/Zero

Song: “Skyfall” by Adele

Creator: Okill78

Past AMVs of the Day

AMV of the Day: Chained (Princess Tutu)

Posted on August 3, 2015 by Arleigh

The latest AMV of the Day comes courtesy of one of my favorite amv creators. Vivifx created this particular video almost 5 years ago.

“Gravity” is a beautiful video and really does a great job pairing Sara Bereilles’ song “Gravity” with the more lovely and bittersweet emotions that brings up the relationship between Ahiru (Princess Tutu) and ballet dancer Mytho. It’s just one aspect of the the Princess Tutu anime, but one that show’s the animated series’ very mature storytelling.

I still find it amusing that when I mention anime to the uninitiated they look at me funny. They still think it’s just cutesy cartoons from Japan that only cater children or just cartoon porn (hentai). Producers of anime do make them for kids, but they also understand that kids have enough mental and emotional capacity within themselves to handle some of the mature themes and ideas being told through the very cutesy animation presented to them.

I wrote a couple years ago that one such anime that people should be watching is the series Princess Tutu and this video just reinforces that recommendation even more. When paired up with another AMV of the Day (Danse de Raven) that also uses the Princess Tutu series as a foundation it should more than make some curious to check out the anime.

I know Lisa will appreciate that it’s a video that doesn’t just have dancing, but ballet…

Anime: Princess Tutu

Song: “Gravity” by Sara Bareilles

Creator: Vivifx

Past AMVs of the Day

AMV of the Day: Breaking (Various)

Posted on July 25, 2015 by Arleigh

It’s been awhile since we’ve had a new AMV of the Day. With con season in full gear it’s been tough waiting to see what new AMV’s come out of these conventions. The problem with finding new and interesting anime music videos, especially in the United States, has been the tendency of the same videos winning awards at North American conventions. Name recognition has become the norm when voting which videos make the grade and, in the end, win the prize in their chosen category.

Not saying that these videos and their creators don’t deserve the recognition and accolades for their work, but it does make finding new fresh voices and visual styles in the field harder and harder to discover. Foreign videos tend to be the last realm for people who are into AMVs to find rare gems in the rough.

This latest AMV of the Day is “Breaking” and by the creator Pat [AMVCON-2015] and meshes together some of the more popular and action-oriented shonen (and some shoujo) anime to the tune of Linkin Park’s “Breaking the Habit.”

Anime: Amagi Brilliant Park, Bleach Movie: Hell Verse, Btoom!, Ga-Rei Zero, Kokoro Connect, Kyoukai no Kanata, Madoka Magica: Rebellion, Naruto: Road to Ninja, Nerawareta Gakuen, One Piece: The Movie 70, Persona 3: Spring of Birth, Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji, Sword Art Online 1 and 2, Steins;Gate: Fuka Ryōiki no Déjà vu, Suzumiya Haruhi no Shōshitsu, To Aru Agaku Railgun S

Song: “Breaking the Habit” by Linkin Park

Creator: Pat [AMVCON-2015]

Past AMVs of the Day

AMV of the Day: Another Fanny Service Video (Kemeko DX)

Posted on May 18, 2015 by Arleigh

I’ve been remiss about posting the winners of the Sakura-Con 2015 AMV Contest. This particular video won the “Fun” category and it’s a production from one of my favorite AMV creators, IleaiAMVs.

“Another Fanny Service Video” is a short, but to the point AMV that combines not just the romance-comedy anime series Kemeko Deluxke! but also the Jason Derulo song “Wiggle.” It’s a pairing made to order and just goes to show that an AMV doesn’t have to use an epic length song (though nothing bad about those).

Ileai has always been very using timed edits to her chosen song to tell the particular story her video are trying to tell. Whether the original intent of the anime being used comes across doesn’t matter. She could take a super serious anime and turn it hilarious through clever editing and the correct choice of music. This time around this video doesn’t stray too far from the comedic aspect of the anime Kemeko Deluxe! and instead highlights the ecchi sequences from the series.

The video has already won several AMV Contest awards reaching back to last year and all accolades Ileai’s way have been well-deserved.

Anime: Kemeko Deluxe!

Song: “Wiggle” by Jason Derulo (feat. Snoop Dogg)

Creator: IleaiAMVs

Past AMVs of the Day

AMV of the Day: Cosplay Bargain Bin (Various)

Posted on April 6, 2015 by Arleigh

This past weekend saw myself and fellow site contributor pantsukudasai56 over in Seattle attending Sakura-Con 2015. One of the activities we ended up participating in (meaning we sat down and watched) was in the AMV panels. While we never made it for the AMV Contest panel itself where people got to vote on the videos themselves we did manage to sit down and watch some of the videos. One of these days I will dedicate an entire con to just watching AMVs (well, at least go to the contest itself).

So, for the next week or so I shall be posting the videos we did catch and the one’s which ended up winning awards.

The first “AMV of the Day” Sakura-Con 2015 Edition made it as a finalist for the “Best Fun” Category. It’s “Cosplay Bargain Bin” by TarageAMV and is an amalgamation of over 30 or so anime clips edited to the tune of Macklemore’s “Thrift Shop.”

While it didn’t win in the end, this video from TarageAMV was actually quite funny and does a great job of spoofing the hardships and stress that cosplayers must go through to get ready for the next anime convention. As someone who broke his cosplay cherry this year with a simple enough costume (and I was still stressed that I couldn’t get all the pieces) I think I have a much better appreciation of the lengths and dedication cosplayers put into getting their cosplays ready.

Anime: Acchi Kocchi, Aquarion Evol, Attack on Titan, Baka and Test – Summon the Beasts, Black Butler, Black Rock Shooter, Bleach, Bodacious Space Pirates, Chobits, Clannad, Code Geass – Lelouch of the Rebellion, Cowboy Bebop, Daily Lives of High School Boys, Darker Than Black, Darker Than Black: Gemini of the Meteor, Dragon Ball, Neon Genesis Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone, Neon Genesis Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo, Genshiken Second Season, Gj-Bu, Golden Boy, Great Teacher Onizuka, Hayate the Combat Butler, Heaven’s Lost Property Forte, Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere, Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere II, Inu Yasha, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Kill la Kill, Log Horizon, Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions, Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, Mayo Chiki!, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, My Little Monster, Naruto Shippuden, Occult Academy, One Piece, Ouran High School Host Club, Plastic Nee-san, Robotics;Notes, Sailor Moon: Crystal, Spice and Wolf, Stein:Gate, Yuru Yuri

Song: “Thrift Shop” by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (feat. Wanz)

Creator: TarageAMV

Past AMVs of the Day

AMV of the Day: Can Can Pantsu (Various) NSFW

Posted on February 15, 2015 by pantsukudasai56

The following AMV of the Day is decidedly NSFW, unless you work at a place that is very lenient with what they allow their employees to watch. Which you probably don’t. So don’t watch this at work. Seriously, it’s not porn but it’s still very NSFW. Not sure if I’ve stressed this enough, but this is NSFW, and Through the Shattered Lens takes no responsibility for any discipline handed out for those that still haven’t paid close enough attention to what I’ve said.

Now, with that disclaimer out of the way, this is an AMV that I first saw when I was at Another Anime Convention back in October. They had the great idea of having a room dedicated solely to the showing of various AMVs all day every day of the convention. It was great to be able to relax and catch a few AMVs in between various panels that caught my interest. It was typically broken up into blocks that specialized in certain themes, and one of their late night themes was for various ecchi, or racy but not full blown porn AMVs. (They had a block for hentai, or porn AMVs, but that’s another story) The one thing I wish they had done different was that they didn’t always list the name and creator of the AMVs they were showing, so while I was aware that this one existed for some time, I didn’t have any luck finding it until Arleigh found it and showed it to me.

While I have seen a lot of ecchi anime in my day, this is made up of some 35 different anime, some of which I haven’t seen, and even further surprising to me was that there were even two that I had never heard of before. After viewing this AMV, I believe that’s an oversight I’ll have to correct. One wouldn’t necessarily think that the Can Can would work for this, but it is so perfectly done with just a rapid fire string of panty shots that I can only hope that someday the creator decides to do another like this except with boob shots. I was a little confused as to who the creator is, since at the end of the AMV it says it was made by Potato, but according to animemusicvideos.org, which is pretty much THE authority on AMVs, the creator’s name is FlamingMangos. Due to the racy nature of the AMV (did I mention this is NSFW?) I don’t believe that it’s been featured in any formal AMV contests. It’s too much for a general audience AMV contest, but not really bad enough to be in a hentai AMV contest. Still, its lack of awards is in no means a measure of it’s fun qualities. At the very least, I doubt you’ll be able to hear the Can Can and not have this AMV come to mind.

Anime: Akane-Iro Ni Somaru Saka, Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-chan, Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-chan 2, Demon King Daimao, Freezing, Freezing Vibration, Green Green, Gundam Seed Destiny, Hagure Yuusha no Estetica, Heaven’s Lost Property Forte, High School DxD, High School DxD New, Kanokon, Kyou no Asuka Show, Ladies Versus Butlers!, Maji de Watashi Ni Koi Shinasai!! S, Majimoji Rurumo, Manyuu Hiken-chou, Onī-chan dakedo Ai sae Areba Kankei Nai yo ne!, R-15, Rosario + Vampire, Rosario + Vampire Capu2, Samurai Girls, Seikon no Qwaser, Sekirei, Sekirei: Pure Engagement, Shuffle!, Shukufuku no Campanella, Sora no Otoshimono Final: Eternal My Master, To Love-RU (OAV), To Love-RU (TV), To Love-RU – Darkness, Tonagura!, Watashi ga Motenai no wa dō Kangaetemo Omaera ga Warui!, We Without Wings

Song: “The Infernal Galop” by Jacques Offenbach

Creator: FlamingMangos

Past AMVs of the Day

AMV of the Day: Warriors (Various)

Posted on January 28, 2015 by Arleigh

The latest “AMV of the Day” is one of those rare, but impressive anime music videos which happens to have a several creators working together to make one video. These are called MEP which stands for Multi-Editor Project.

“Warriors” is a video collaboration between nine video editors by the names of Mycathatesyou, Kireblue, Xophilarus, Shin (aka tehninjarox), Obsidian Zero, Warlike Swans, Warlike Cygnet, PieandBeer and Rhianic. I always found it impressive that so many imaginative and creative individuals could work together to make one product. While collaboration between such people are not rare I’ve found that sometimes ego plays a huge part in making such things fail more than succeed.

As this video shows they’ve definitely succeeded in creating an anime music video which sticks to the theme of the Imagine Dragons’ song “Warriors”.

Anime: Kill la Kill, C-Bu: Stella, Women’s Academy, Kara no Kyokai, Attack on Titan, Fullmetal Alchemist, Pokemon, Slayers Evolution-R, No Game No Life, Fate/Zero

Song: “Warriors” by Imagine Dragons

Creator: Mycathatesyou, Kireblue, Xophilarus, Shin (aka tehninjarox), Obsidian Zero, Warlike Swans, Warlike Cygnet, PieandBeer, Rhianic

Past AMVs of the Day

AMV of the Day: Sweet Dreams

Posted on December 19, 2014 by Arleigh

It’s that time of the year when we should all be celebrating peace and love (and lots of presents and alcoholic festive drinks) yet the world of late has turned meaner, sadder and just plain not-fun. People really just need to chill and let the holidays move them.

This latest “AMV of the Day” is just plain fun and smile-inducing. No leaked emails here. No threats that lead to censorships. Not even a cynical pixel to be found.

So, let us just sit back and watch some Hall & Oates (never thought I’d say that in this day and age) inspired anime music video.

Anime: Angel Beats, Bakemonogatari, Black Lagoon, Carnival Phantasm, Eden of the East, Eden of the East: Paradise Lost, Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Neon Genesis Evangelion 2.22 – You Can [Not] Advance, Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Song: “You Make My Dreams” by Hall & Oates

Creator: Alexmichur00 & Dragontamer5788

Past AMVs of the Day

Horror AMV of the Day: Carnivore (Tokyo Ghoul)

Posted on October 9, 2014 by Arleigh

While horror anime is not quite widespread as other genres they do exist and one of the more recent ones is the horror/dark fantasy series which came out this past July.

Tokyo Ghoul is the anime from whence our latest “AMV of the Day” was born from. I’ve only seen highlight clips of the series, but from what I’ve seen it’s definitely right up my alley. It’s not so violent and gory that it goes over into “guro” realm. It looks like it’s series dealing with ghouls hiding within the human population and having their own clans and factions gives the series a nice urban gothic feel to it in addition to the horror.

This particular AMV uses the appropriate song by Starset called “Carnivore” which is one thing the ghouls in this series tend to be as eaters.

Guess what they like for breakfast, lunch and dinner? I heard it tastes like pork. Some very long pork.

Anime: Tokyo Ghoul

Song: “Carnivore” by Starset

Creator: Anime Bros

Past AMVs of the Day

Horror AMV of the Day: Sweet Dreams (Another)

Posted on October 3, 2014 by Arleigh

For the first Horror AMV of the Day we go back to good old Another. Those not well-versed in the world of anime this series is literally titled Another.

Another is one of the best horror anime to arrive in years and it combines elements of the supernatural ghost story, mystery and, most important of all, enough gore to satisfy even the most bloodthirsty fan. What better way to advertise some of the highlights of Another than by making a video to the tune of Marilyn Manson’s cover of the classic Eurythmics song “Sweet Dreams”.

Horror anime is quite a tough thing to pull off well. Either one goes full-on gore but sacrificing a coherent narrative or going for characterization and a great story yet lacking in the blood and gore. Another is able to accomplish both and amv creator S&D Productions does a great job of making sure this comes across in the video simply titled “Sweet Dreams”.

Anime: Another

Song: “Sweet Dreams” by Marilyn Manson

Creator: S&D Productions