I reject the complete title of this AMV and won’t use it here, because describing this work simply as a pastiche of the visual or musical aesthetic of an entire decade isn’t just misleading, but sells it short on a number of levels. Execution of the general concept of the “80’s AMV” has been done more effectively since this was originally released by editor Ultimatetransfan in 2010, but I guess credit is due for even conceiving of such an idea at all in a world where vaporwave, future funk and VCR grain worship were still years from really catching on as ideas to plunder for likes ‘n subs.

My first impression of this AMV was inadvertently colored by the lackluster quality of the occasionally-corrupted footage that I was able to download when I got around to finally watching Gunbuster last week. By comparison, the video quality of this AMV is absolutely pristine and shows off the still amazing-looking level of animation in the series that helped put Gainax on the map. To say it looks objectively better than, well, a lot of very popular computer-animated anime of very recent years probably isn’t even a daring statement anymore. It probably helps that Ultimatetransfan (UTF from here on) consistently works in some of the best-looking scenes from the series, their vivid animations flowing beautifully with the music in a very standard but effective display of consistently-great internal sync that brings this video to life, heightening its emotional peaks at all the right moments and achieving a sense of flow that makes this AMV feel so alive and inviting. I suppose some of the scene selection here was a no-brainer, but no single scene or cut feels chosen to stand out on its own, nor do any iconic scenes feel exploited in their use. There’s a logical progression in the editing that works on a narrative level but, more importantly, feels right on a gut level that viewers will understand and effortlessly follow.

I’d like to hold back on throwing superlatives at a video I only just found yesterday, but UTF’s “Invincible” certainly checks most of the boxes I can think of when it comes to being a good candidate for one of those kind of AMVs. UTF captures the dramatic spirit of Gunbuster in a fittingly upbeat but equally serious tone, breezing through the series through consistently great lyric sync that never breaks from a chronological flow of scenes that basically recaps the series. (I’ve been critical of this approach to series-focused AMVs in the past, but that’s critique at its most misguided. When an editor approaches their material with a such a fundamentally solid grasp of internal, external and lyrical sync, the choice to appropriate the material in a linear or nonlinear fashion is much less a significant creative choice than it is simply one aspect of the work that barely bares any meaningful mention in discussing it, or certainly no more than I already have, in this case.) The use of Pat Benatar’s “Invincible” doesn’t work because of its synchronicity with Gunbuster as a product of an arbitrarily decided ten year-long block of time, but because its empowering, dramatic tone is an uncanny match to the larger-than-life stakes of the story. The lyrics are vague enough to graph an array of scenes onto, yet specific enough for the viewer to infer an undeniable connection between the song and the anime being used, giving the editor a clear path to follow with generous room for creative interpretation. It’s a golden opportunity that UTF milks for all it’s worth, resulting in a video that’s instantly pleasing and accessible, even to viewers who’ve never set eyes on the source material.

UTF was not an editor that I was at all familiar with going into this AMV, or so I’d thought. A glance at his profile reminded me that I had in fact viewed one of his videos a few years back…one that left a very different impression on me than the one I’m writing about here and which I’d rather not revisit at this time but perhaps owe a second chance in light of new evidence. Actually, there’s nearly fifteen years’ worth of videos in his body of work to comb through. It’s a contradiction, I know, but finding another old-school flavored gem like “Invincible” in the mix feels both inevitable and like a total longshot. Hopefully I haven’t oversold this one, but it’s just the right kind of simple brilliance and joy in editing that I love best.