Favorite AMVs of 2021 (#10-#1)

Here’s my top ten AMVs of 2021. Once again, real life got in the way of me finishing this on the overly optimistic schedule I tried to stick to. But it’s finally done. You can watch all 50 AMVs on this playlist. Thanks for reading.

10. your lost little girl
editor: Ethel Gumm
anime: Midori
music: The Pop Group – “Thief of Fire”

I suppose this isn’t really a new video, but it’s such a radical transformation of the editor’s original interpretation of this material that watching it becomes a completely different experience. Draping his previous AMV with a simple effect (or maybe even two or three, describing the technical process that lead to the “look” of this AMV isn’t going to make anyone want to watch it and I don’t necessarily feel compelled to understand every nuance of it myself) transforms Abrogate Need’s “THIEF OF FIRE” from a simple yet unflinching music video cut from the profoundly disturbing animation of Midori to something far more abstract and open to personal interpretation. The starkly monochromatic visuals help take the edge off the often horrifying imagery, still provoking an emotional reaction in the viewer but, at least speaking of my own experience, one that’s rooted in a fear of the unknown more than a visceral response to the grotesque. Certain shots, expertly timed and visually smeared by the effects applied, even strike me as perversely silly in ways they were no doubt originally never intended to be. Maybe this isn’t for everyone, but considering that I’ve said or inferred that about at least half of the AMVs on this list so far, that ought to go without saying.

9. (300) NoraBytes
editor: Nearphotison
anime: Twinkle Nora Rock Me!
music: Neil Cicierega – “300MB”
warning: flashing lights

I have a weird sense of humor. But honestly, who among us would actually boast about having a “normal” sense of humor? Chew on that while you watch this. This AMV is the purest expression of whatever it is that makes me laugh hardest. Responding to AMVs as mixed media (re)creations, it’s hard for me not to latch onto the mashup appeal of the music used in this video and what that does to my brain, which Nearphotison’s shouldn’t get “credit” for but look I’m just being honest here, it probably is contributing to my favorable reaction to this as a work of art that could be categorized as a “remix” and all that that means to me. The anime used in this video is hilarious on its own terms but it’s amazing to me how well it gels with this song or at least how well Nearphotison deceives us into believing it does. It does not redeem the shortcomings of Twinkle Nora Rock Me! (hypothetically speaking, I’m not inferring that’s actually possible) but there’s something fitting about this rough draft of an anime soundtracked by the passionate monologue in this piece of music. If you can’t wrap your head around that or any of this arrangement “working” on any level then feel free to skip to the next video!

Also, this is a video that should not even be on this list. While it was uploaded to YouTube in May of 2021, I have spent the last nine months unaware that it was originally part of Nearphotison’s 57 minute-long AMV made for Neil Cicierega’s Mouth Moods album, which was uploaded to YouTube in September of 2020. I have not actually watched the entirety of that creation, nor have I watched his 56 minute-long AMV made for Neil’s Mouth Sounds album, released last April. I have watched many individual parts of each, most of which were hilariously brilliant or admirably stupid (or often both), but I never took the plunge into either of these album-length visual remixes in their entirety, despite my admiration of the long-form AMV, my supposed quest to discover as many attempts at them as I’m able to find, and my inclusion of two individual hour-long AMVs on my special mentions list this year. Singling out a single segment of one of these larger and exponentially more ambitious works is, at best, a backhanded compliment to the editor. At worst, it’s more confirmation of my own laziness. I guess I’m bending my own rules here by including “(300) NoraBytes” at all, but I could not imagine doing this list or even just this top ten without it. It’s so joyful and ridiculous, a beautiful celebration of tacky taste and “bad” media and how this stuff can give us life. <sincere>Some people would call this a “shitpost” but I call it a masterpiece.</sincere>

8. Esoterra
editor: SQ
anime: various
music: AURORA – “Apple Tree”
warning: flashing/strobe effects

I’ve been waiting to talk about this one for what seems like forever. Now that the moment has come, what on earth do I even say? The first time I watched this I was astounded by how beautiful it was and that impression has barely subsided despite plenty of time for me to lose touch with that initial feeling of surprise and wonder. Yet again, this is one of those works that I don’t have any better descriptor for than “psychedelic,” which I don’t really want to use given that this is not a drug-influenced creation or trying to evoke the experience of being on drugs. It may, despite the creator’s intentions, resemble a hallucinogenic vision question of sorts, the collage of imaginative and beautiful clips, often masked, layered or overlaid, exploring natural and spiritual themes open to interpretation. The flow in this AMV is beautiful and unpredictable but always feels logical and driven by the content of these scenes or the occasional case of lyric sync that connects it all together. It is one of the prettiest AMVs and coolest video collages I have ever seen.

7. Repeater
editor: CrackTheSky
anime: Macross Plus
music: Machinedrum – “Rise N Fall”
warning: flashing/strobe effects (I realize I’m using this specific warning as an inappropriate catch-all for every photosensitivity trigger under the sun, please accept it as the well-meaning disclaimer it’s meant to be, I’ll do better some day I promise)

There are sequences of “traditional” editing interspersed throughout “Repeater,” all of which are extremely well done and satisfying beyond anything you’d expect from a video so interested in such a purely psychedelic AMV experience. But the compelling action sequences are just a setup for this kaleidoscopic trip, which interweaves and overlays clips from this vividly-colored anime and transforms them into one of the most memorable visual trips you will ever go on in your personal AMV journey. There’s a 30-40 second sequence near the end of this where the entire video just washes over you all at once, absolutely overwhelming your senses but in a manner that’s as far from the brutal seizure warning that I still feel compelled to slap on this just to be safe. It’s one of the most gratifying passages I’ve ever seen in an AMV and it feels like a destiny of sorts, a feeling I’ve been chasing ever since I got into this stuff almost 20 years ago and could never quite imagine but knew I’d recognize if it ever crossed my path.

6. Work of Arte
editor: Kaeldri
anime: Arte, Your Name., various
music: Musica Antiqua of London – “Dura Passion [frottola à 4]: anon”

“Work of Arte” didn’t leave much of an impression on me when I first came across it some time in early 2021. I have no idea what changed for me in the following months, but rediscovering it later in the year I was profoundly moved by it in a on a level that I’ve never quite experienced before, at least from watching an anime music video. It wasn’t an all at once-epiphany, the kind that Taki from Your Name. suddenly has at the end of this AMV, but it was no less thought-provoking or surprising. The editing that comprises most of this work is fairly straightforward, but does a more than adequate job of establishing a setting, characters and conflict. Actually, considering this AMV was my entire introduction to the very existence of Arte, I think I’m not giving Kaeldri enough credit for making everything in this story as crystal clear as it is, especially in what amounts to less than a minute and a half of this already short edit. It is bookended by a very creative framing device that encourages the viewer to relate to the video in a way that’s very different than they would if it weren’t there. Or maybe I’m just speaking for myself. But I certainly hope that other viewers could be just as inspired by it as I was, or at least in their own way.

Clips comprised from five different anime titles create the illusion of entering and exploring the depths of a public art gallery, with nothing but the ambient sounds of which accompany the visuals until we arrive at the painting that provides the gateway to the rest of the AMV. This is done so well that, personally speaking, I found the way this AMV connects the present with the past to be one of the more interesting meditations on art that I’ve come across in quite some time. A painting like this (or this, to be precise) is a tangible work that was created by a person living in a world as messy and busy and full of conflicts as the one we live in today (flawed as Arte may be in several respects, this lighthearted slice of life drama set in 16th century Italy does a serviceable enough job of making its world feel not so different from our own or so distant as to be othered, so to speak). It is a bridge from the present to the past, not merely a showcase to ponder the greatness of the work itself or the talent of the person who created it. Nearly 400 years have passed since this painting was last touched by the hands that applied every brushstroke to its canvas, but confronting it and being present in the moment while doing so provides an opportunity to feel a connection not simply to the person who made it, but also the people they knew, the streets they walked, the struggles they overcame and the opportunities they made the most of. This is all “obvious” stuff that won’t sound the least bit interesting to a lot of you, and I can’t say for sure that you’ll come away from this AMV with any kind of similar takeaway whatsoever. Actually, I hope you come away with a totally different but no less meaningful reaction of your own. That will be more meaningful than just swallowing this drivel!

If nothing else, I have never been so caught up in an AMV that features this kind of music. This piece has been stuck in my head for days but that’s a blessing considering the music that usually plays on an uncontrollable loop in my mind. I didn’t I didn’t know anything at all about the painter that this character is loosely based on (emphasis on loosely, I’m certain), but it’s been fascinating to learn more about her and the Renaissance in general. I started watching Arte and will hopefully continue to enjoy it as a morning coffee anime for the next week or so, or whenever I finally wrap it up. This AMV lead me to the single strangest channel I’ve ever found on all of YouTube. It’s been an unexpected voyage and I don’t know where it’s going to lead next!

5. Painter’s Polished Dream
editor: Rena Cava
anime: various
music: Smashing Pumpkins – “1979”

I’ve made a lot of hyperbolic statements over the past couple of days so here’s one to top them all: this is one of the most original AMVs I have ever seen. It doesn’t look like anything I’ve ever seen before, and I’m not just including AMVs in that discussion. I get unexpectedly wistful when I watch this and I cannot for the life of me understand why. Is it the song? The classic anime source material? This is, by and large, one of those nostalgic videos where every source has a retro feel to it (relatively speaking, of course), but every one of those AMV I can think of is clearly pitched as such and Rena Cava is doing no such thing here. This is the only video on the creator’s channel that even resembles an AMV. Perhaps it was never really intended to be viewed as one in the first place? Who knows! I cannot really describe this in any adequate detail that would do it justice. It’s a completely alien experience, a trip you’ll return from forever changed. You’ll have to see it yourself to understand.

4. GET IN LOSERS! ONIISAMA E’S COMING TO BLURAY
editor: Caribou-kun
anime: Oniisama e…
music: Avril Lavigne – “What the Hell”

The dissonance between the violence and drama onscreen and the catty but upbeat music here is certainly not an accident but also not merely “twisted” in the usual ironic sense that AMVs tend to be. To me (two words I cannot emphasize enough in this case) there’s something perfect about the elegance and retro charm of these visuals and how this song recontextualizes them into something I never expected or never knew I could make me feel so embarrassingly giddy. This is a simple video that defies most of the common wisdom about editing, omitting any of the pans or zooms that would add a touch of motion or the immersion those techniques provide to these sometimes static scenes. There’s no transitions or crossfades here, just hard cuts, which often feel abrupt and unexpected. So many of these cuts come at a pace so frantic that it’s often hard to keep up. There’s even a lot of lip flap… and somehow that just leaves me in stitches when I see it and I really don’t know if I’d love this AMV quite so much if it had been properly removed. I expect that out of all the videos on this list, this one might be the toughest sell as an example of universally-recognized Great Editing, but I’m as sure as I’ve ever been certain about anything that Caribou-kun was in command of every second of this video and knew exactly what he was making here. I’m less confident that anyone else is really feeling this AMV as much as I am, or that anyone reading this will really understand why I’m ranking this so highly. Even the editor, according to his own response to a viewer comment, admits to finishing this AMV and then sitting on this for 15 months before uploading it to YouTube (although that decision was possibly informed by, well, I mean it’s right there in the video title). I am really thankful that it was not forgotten or tragically never shared at all, because it’s been one of my go-to AMVs throughout the year and has always left me in a better mood than I was before watching it.

3. Wistful (Fata Morgana)
editor: Thaddeus Bigsby
anime: various
music: Baths – “Wistful (Fata Morgana)”
warning: flashing/strobe effects

Thaddeus Bigsby throws just a little bit of everything into this video–glitch effects, film grain filters, footage of massively varying qualities and art styles, computer graphics, abstract compositing, screen mirroring–a maximal approach that could have been just as overwhelming as his previous AMV but kinda feels quaint and intimate, and not necessarily just by comparison. There are countless flashy moments throughout this video but the aim is never to stress to impress. This is a mellow and playful edit that never takes itself too seriously, as if the goofiest visuals in this don’t make that clear enough. Somehow, the most peaceful and unedited moments here–nautical scenes from Ponyo and Porco Rosso–have a subdued sense of calm to them that’s totally infectious and hit me on a gut level just as hard as the most elaborately composited sequences. If there was an intent to make something deeper than a fun and totally unpredictable AMV here, it’s gone over my head and then some. But when I watch this, I come away with the feeling that Things Are Going To Be Okay. It’s insanely fun and feels like it’s opening a once-hidden door to new possibilities.

2. My Everyday Vibes
editor: Synæsthesia Productions
anime: Nichijou
music: Snail’s House – “Vivid Green”

“My Everyday Vibes” is one of those supremely technical efforts where it’s easy to imagine that every tool in the box was pulled out before the job was done. That being said, it isn’t quite like any other effects-heavy video that I’ve ever seen. I’ll stand by that statement even though I’m not sure I can articulate what it actually means. This list you’re reading right now and all the ones before it are overflowing with AMVs crafted with all sorts of effects, most of them praised in one way or another for bucking the trends of “effects videos,” a nebulous, catch-all descriptor that I’ve never clearly defined for your benefit or for my own personal clarity. Years ago I formed a grudge against a certain style of editing that’s either become a minor concern today or is just easier than ever to ignore. Concentrated in an impenetrable social clique, excessively competitive and pleased with itself, I despised it with a passion hot enough to melt away all sense of reason and discernment: a decade later, here we are on a blog built in no small part to push back against this ever-shapeshifting aesthetic that may no longer actually exist, and of which “My Everyday Vibes” stands as the complete antipode. But here’s the best news: you do not have to subscribe to my neurotic logic to appreciate this AMV as a casual viewer or as an AMV connoisseur. It’s that good!

So yeah, technically speaking this is probably an “effects” video, which is to say that there’s a good deal of masking and keyframing and such. It’s all used in the whimsical spirit of this anime and this music and is executed with a smooth precision that reinforces the mellow mood. The sync that Synæsthesia pursues throughout this video is more of an oddly satisfying sort of zen than the kind of visual punch designed to get your blood pumping. Watching this AMV is a thoroughly positive experience. It’s relaxing, sure, but always engaging and in motion. You can chill to this, sure. Perhaps you can even vibe to it! Who would have thought, right? Upon further consideration, that pleasing sync I’m all about here is due just as much to the raw editing–or so I’ve heard the kids call it–than the overlays or compositing. I’m at a loss for words as to how much I love this. Hitting the ground running from the very beginning barely even three years ago, Synæsthesia has always been exploring different moods and genres and constantly trying new things. His videos express a sense of genuine joy and wonder and this one just channels those feelings in a particularly direct way that’s designed to invoke those feelings in the viewer.

1. Starlighter
editor: UnluckyArtist
anime: Urusei Yatsura
music: Dua Lipa – “Levitating”

For the entire time I’ve been doing this blog, which basically runs parallel to the entire time that I’ve been editing AMVs, the videos of UnluckyArtist have entertained and inspired me like the works of almost no other editor. Or at least it’s always seemed that way. I joined animemusicvideos.org in late 2009. UnluckyArtist, according to his profile join date, didn’t appear until 2014. I’m honestly struggling to wrap my mind around this development. I don’t have a specific memory of the first UnluckyArtist AMV I ever watched, but sorting through the depths of their older edits, it seems likely that the first UA video I truly “noticed” was his Madoka Magica AMV from 2014. This and practically everything that ever followed has amounted to a shockingly consistent run of absolutely delightful creativity that’s always just gelled with my conscious and subconscious aesthetic sensibilities in ways that I have never experienced, but always staying a few steps ahead of how I expected those sensibilities to be indulged. “Starlighter” might be my favorite thing that he’s ever released. But that’s almost not worth bringing up because I’ve had that experience with his work several times over, and it’s not unlikely that I’ll have it yet again in the future unless he suddenly stops editing.

It’s difficult for me to talk about this video without acknowledging its “old school” appeal. UnluckyArtist has never been shy about leaning into this, having edited AMVs solely devoted to exploring ‘80s and ‘90s aesthetic as well as other retro-themed AMVs made with older source material. I realize this is not a new trend by any means. What sets UA’s videos apart from others in this regard is that the aesthetic is secondary to the editing. The 80s-specific vibes of an anime like Urusei Yatsura might work as a hook to lure the viewer in, but the use of internal and lyric sync always takes over in ways that go above and beyond what would merely make the video work as a simple fan edit. Despite my fondness for videos that use this kind of source material (underutilized, underappreciated, classic), the overall batting average for how often they really win me over isn’t anywhere as high as you’d probably expect. “Starlighter,” like its spiritual cousin “Moonlighter,” does not merely bask in dated yet fabulous-looking visuals. It is constantly in motion and in a dialogue with the music, not simply obliging viewers’ cravings to bask in a half-baked nostalgia-themed edit but instead constantly leading and engaging them. Like pretty much every video on this whole list, it is packed with sync. I don’t even need to mention that at this point, do I? Internal sync and scene selection are flexed to perfection from beginning to end. If it was merely one or the other, I imagine I’d still be gushing about this, but every sequence of this is a clinic in music video editing and the potential of this medium. It leaves me with the feeling that this is the cutest and coolest anime ever made and, at least for a few minutes, the greatest song ever recorded.

Literally beginning with the opening shot, I have too many favorite moments in this video to individually list. It’s not that I don’t want to, but trying to do so would probably amount to hyperbolic and overenthusiastic obsession and at this point I’ve probably already walked right up to the edge of obsessive and annoying fanboy with my praise of this. “Starlighter” embodies everything I love about AMVs, past and present… and oh how I wish I could say future but considering how much shorter “anime edits” of all kinds are getting year after year–yeah, I know these are a fad but the only thing that’s certain is that whatever takes their place as the quickest path to views, likes and ego-boosting praise in a few months will be even shorter–I just don’t know how optimistic I can force myself to be about that. But as long as musicians keep making 3-minute pop songs there will always be a niche of people compelled to edit their favorite anime into fanvids resembling music videos in their classic form. But I digress. Watching “Starlighter” fills me with the simmering sense of excitement I felt when I first discovered AMVs, a feeling that’s as difficult to recapture as it is fulfilling.

Favorite AMVs of 2021 (#20-#11)

20. she lost control
editor: Ethel Gumm
video source: Balan Wonderworld
music: Polygon Window – “Quoth (Hidden Mix)”
warning: SEVERE flashing/strobe effects

I’ve watched this video several times, or at least attempted to, going the distance about half the time while having to check out after a minute or so just as often. I hate to reduce this AMV to some kind of endurance challenge that viewers can brag about successfully completing, but I don’t want to underscore just how much this will do things to your eyes that you’ve probably never had done to them while watching an AMV, especially if you’re viewing this on a proper screen in a reasonably dark room. Only the faintest of recognizable shapes or figures briefly flicker into view, taunting or tempting the viewer like glitchy apparitions. The starkly jagged textures and artifacts that morph in and out of view for the remaining 98% of this video are beyond description and I doubt they’ll be the sort of eye candy for everyone else that they are for me, but they’re the most apt visual interpretation of this kind of industrial techno that I’ve ever come across.

19. Crazy Diamonds
editor: Diamond Eclectic
anime: Land of the Lustrous
music: Pink Floyd – “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”

Not sure if I’ve ever seen anyone give their audience more from a debut AMV than this. Yeah, Diamond Eclectic has a very unfinished version of “Crazy Diamonds” that was uploaded to YouTube in early 2020, but that was clearly a work in progress in light of this completed version. I’m glad I missed out on that because seeing this entire 13-minute epic with fresh eyes and no preconceived expectations was a delightful surprise. This editor tries a little bit of everything in this AMV, loosely edited in the sense that it switches on a dime from passages of loosely-edited lyric sync to action-packed scenes that mirror the various movements of this song. It all works marvelously, and even the moments that kind of don’t just feel like they’re part of the whole beautiful package. This is a big labor of love and it shows.

18. f[r]iend.exe
editor: MinetChan
anime: Serial Experiments Lain
music: Billie Eilish – “Bury a Friend”

In hindsight, “Bury a Friend” was never quite so big that it ever got the chance to be annoying, but at the time I first saw this video as part of the AWA PRO contest in November of 2020, I’d more than had my fill of hearing it. This unfortunate prejudice on my part really blunted the effect of MinetChan’s excellent editing, which builds upon both the creepy atmosphere of these visuals and the understated qualities of the song. Stepping away from it for a long time and reappraising it today, it’s nothing less than one of the best Serial Experiments Lain AMVs I’ve ever seen, easily taking its place in that perennially crowded echelon of videos that seems to cover just about every possible take on the series. Uploaded to YouTube in mid-December of 2020, there was no time for me to truly weigh my fondness for it in time for last year’s list. Being one of those AMVs that really took its time to get under my skin, this was for the best.

17. Truck-kun x Train-chan: Get Wrecked
editor: TheLazyDaze
anime: various
music: Jay Harper – “Here Comes the Pain Train”

As a sentient, sopping wet blanket, my general feelings towards this particular strain of “meme humor” will surprise no one: in a vacuum (three words I cannot emphasize enough here), the concept of this AMV does not appeal to me. I’d say more but I want to keep this a positive experience. And I don’t think I’ll have trouble doing that because I actually love this short and thoroughly goofy video with all my heart. Every shot of this is perfectly timed, from the many train/vehicle-pedestrian encounters that form the thesis of this remix (a sentence I never thought I’d type if there ever was one) to the frequent syncing of railcrossing signals with the samples in the song make this AMV a perversely silly delight. There are many individual moments that stick out for me–syncing to the whistle blowing at 0:41, the unexpected lyric sync at 1:05–but I experience this video less as a collection of notable pieces than as a nonstop, completely absurd experience. It’s a simple joke taken as far as it can go less than a minute and a half, one that’s rarely made me laugh out loud but reliably clears my head of whatever it is that I’d rather not be worrying myself over, which has come in handy a lot over the past nine months.

16. Into the Madness
editor: Kireblue
anime: Soul Eater
music: Dan Bull – “Dive into the Madness”

The campy slapstick horror tone that this AMV captures so perfectly brings to mind another Soul Eater AMV that I will not name but maybe you know what it is. And the fact that this video succeeds so completely in spite of the long shadow that other work has cast is a testament to Kireblue’s mastery of this footage and every technique he employs here. I suppose I have a personal preference for AMVs that branch out from the tradition of what this hobby is known for, the experimental and conventionally-defying approaches that comprise the “weird” portions of this list. But the nerdy, fan-pleasing fun of this one is just too much for me to resist, and returning to it after a month or so since I last laid eyes on it, it’s astounding how perfect of a synthesis it is between this particular song and these particular visuals.

15. ascension
editor: Shade the Novice
anime: Angel’s Egg
music: Carpenter Brut – “Escape from Midwich Valley”

I’ve got this nagging feeling, without an examples I can dredge up from anywhere I’ve been able to find, that I’ve complimented every editor who’s made an Angel’s Egg AMV for how effectively they captured the atmosphere of this movie and used it to their advantage. Once again, that’s my immediate reaction to this video, as insightful as it is or isn’t. But that hardly describes why “ascension” is so captivating. Yes, the visuals are hauntingly beautiful, but that impact is squared by the use of this foreboding synth track and how patient the editor is in leading us through this unhurried journey. Shade the Novice slowly builds an ominous sense of tension with every passing minute of this video, and yes, this video going somewhere and that “payoff” you love so much is right around the bend if you trust the process and just stick with it.

14. Shards
editor: CrackTheSky
anime: Mawaru Penguindrum
music: City Girl – “Ellipsis”

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not over here tearing up at watching this. After all I’ve never seen this anime and I have no context for anything I’m watching, but I find it so inexplicably moving regardless. Gorgeous overlays add a creamy touch to these already deliciously abstract and colorful visuals, and I really like the way that the color palette of these scenes fits the melancholy mood of this song. That mood isn’t as simple as it might sound, as the surrealism and wholly unexpected drops in the music halfway through break the spell that this was ever going to be just be another mellow mood piece. If it was, I’d have been fine with that. It’s disconcertingly more complicated than that, yet there’s still something comforting about it.

13. Do The Thing
editor: ElFamosoDemon
anime: Hikari no Densetsu
music: mtbrd – “Do the Thing”

I could do nothing but watch this AMV all damn day and I know I’d be a happier and probably healthier person than I am now. I checked out the new “rhythmic gymnastics anime” and it looks like a completely soulless, focus-grouped product compared to this anime from 1986. They don’t make ’em like this anymore, I guess. But back to the AMV you thought you’d be reading about, sure this is a fairly simple edit but there’s so much motion and internal sync and genuine human emotion in every scene that it’s an absolute joy to watch. It’s charming, refreshingly simple and conveys a beautiful sense of youthful optimism that feels like the product of a completely different era (reality check yet again: that it is). I don’t know if the editor was striving to choreograph the movements in these clips to the music, but I’m sold on the illusion that they’re working in sync. I can’t imagine a person who could buy into that and not adore this.

12. Believe in the Slam Jam
editor: Zarxrax
anime: Battle Athletes Victory
music: Quad City DJs – “Space Jam”
warning: flashing/strobe effects

Leave it to me to not realize until several viewings that this is just as much of an homage to Kevin Caldwell’s final AMV as it is the Space Jam (1996) nostalgia bomb that it first struck me as. Either way, watching this will leave your brain reaching for something familiar, even if you’re not quite sure what it is. I guess that’s exactly how I’d begin an evaluation of a derivative AMV that’s nowhere near as polished or as fun as this, so let’s start over. Metatextual pleasures aside, this is a straightforward celebration of a retro anime that looks astoundingly crisp and colorful. Apparently cel animation can age for decades before its true beauty is revealed, waiting in limbo for the age of VHS and DVD to finally pass before its true beauty can be appreciated on the small screen. This is the kind of AMV that literally could have been made 25 years ago and would have been a stone cold classic today if it were. That’s neither here nor there, just a thought I have every time I watch this. There are still timeless pleasures to be had in this hobby, despite that nagging feeling that it’s all been done before. The action sync, the lip sync, the simple effects, even the goofy text all come together in this to demolish that sort of cynicism and leave you feeling like you did the first time you watched that big, dumb AMV that got you hooked on this stuff for good. I know I’m talking out of both sides of my mouth here, praising this for invoking the familiar but also somehow being totally unexpected in 2021. I doubt the creators of Battle Athletes would be pleased to know that its ultimate legacy outside of Japan is likely the lasting impression that it’s left on AMV viewers. “Believe in the Slam Jam” all but seals that fate. Really, they should be so lucky!

11. REBIRTH天の
editor: nakana
anime: Space Runaway Ideon: Be Invoked
music: bliss3three – “REBIRTH天の (dotnds rmx)”
warning: flashing/strobe effects

This isn’t strictly a “glitch” edit, though I have a hard time thinking of many AMVs that have done more with that aesthetic than this. There are traces of VHS-esque filter effects here and there, but never applied in the way that editors are usually content to slap onto a finished video to give it a flavor without much thought. Footage of this 1982 film has an unapologetically aliased quality to it, which is even more pronounced under the color treatment that every frame of this video is bathed in. The whole AMV feels like old video games used to look when they would crash or freeze up. Here I’ve done nothing but describe a series of common effects that don’t really capture how this really looks or feels while you’re watching it or how well it’s synced with the frantic but upbeat remix of this song. It’s a wild ride and easily one of the most unique and ultimately euphoric AMVs of the past year.

Favorite AMVs of 2021 (#30-#21)

30. Drowning in the Kiddie Pool
editor: drewaconclusion
anime: Nichijou
music: There I Ruined It – “Bodies (Kids’ Edition)”

Every year since I’ve been doing this list (and long before that ever started), drewaconclusion has released one incredibly unique AMV after another, never repeating himself or going half-in on any of his ideas. So many of these videos have surprised and delighted me and raised the bar for what I thought was possible within any of the genres that he’s chosen to work within. In spite of this, I’ve never really thought of him one of my favorite editors, and I’ve probably come to take his presence for granted, despite all the memorable and surprising stuff he’s made over the years. Maybe, just maybe, this will be the AMV that finally changes that for me–as if the genuine psychedelia of “Pachyderm Panic” or the immaculately synced action of “Roadrash Remix” somehow didn’t go far enough to convince me that his work was worth anticipating in the same way I do with so many of my other favorite creators.

“Drowning in the Kiddie Pool” isn’t drewaconclusion’s first comedy or parody video. In my opinion, I think it’s the funniest thing he’s ever made. Yes, this AMV is edited to a parody song but it’s not coasting on the jokes provided by the music. There are obvious visual gags that any editor would try to make with this combination, and he flawlessly nails every one of these opportunities. But it’s the moments in between the instances of lyric sync that put this AMV over the top for me, syncing to all the little sound effects and children’s reactions in ways that are just as convincing and hilarious as the obvious punchlines are.

29. Angels Grew Louder
editor: Kurissuu Trash
anime: End of Evangelion
music: Cocteau Twins – “Frou-Frou Foxes in Midsummer Fires”
warning: flashing/strobe effects

End of Evangelion is probably the most AMV’ed anime film of all time, even surpassing any individual Studio Ghibi movie. There is little left to do with it that hasn’t been done already, or so I thought! I’ve never quite seen anything like this AMV. I’ve certainly seen videos that work with color filters and overlays and the effects that Kurissuu Trash is experimenting with here, but I’ve never seen anyone bring it all together quite so well, certainly never before in the service of this movie. It’s a fitting set of creative decisions that feels appropriate given the dread and anxiety and introspection and mysticism that defines EoE, building a moody and psychedelic visual atmosphere that echoes the creamy coos and swirly melodies of the song. None of this attempts to paper over the unsettling imagery of so many of these scenes, and the way the editor incorporates snippets of dialog from the film into the mix makes it clear that this is not a simple Chill Out AMV. Then again, maybe that’s exactly what many viewers feel when they watch it. This is kind of a Rorschach Test of a video. You might find it relaxing or disturbing, an engaging feast for the eyes or an invitation to turn off your brain and just melt into the screen. I love it because it uses music I’m always excited to hear in an AMV (and not only doesn’t suck but actually lives up to my wildest expectations for it) and because it approaches this film with a very different mindset than most editors apply to it.

28. DAMN!
editor: ElFamosoDemon
anime: Anmitsu Hime
music: Missing Hito – “Damn!”

The unexpectedly tight editing that makes this impossibly cute and surprisingly great-looking old source so likeable kind of falls apart near the end of this AMV. But what a petty complaint! I have a smile on my face for every second of this every time I watch it. I love the music, I love the simple internal sync and I hate to say it but most of all I love the V I B E S. ElFamosoDemon’s YouTube channel is filled with video remix content that’s hardly limited to animation, and most of the AMVs they have made feature older and/or lesser known anime. Is this editor really an “anime fan” in the same sense that most editors on this list are? I’m not asking with intentions to gatekeep or ask who “should” be editing. As with the work of Thaddeus Bigsby (wrapping up the previous page of videos), I just find it personally interesting to observe the differences in creative approaches between editors who are clearly into anime first and foremost as avid fans and those who may have found a backdoor into the hobby from a completely different perspective. Neither approach is right or wrong, which I hope is an obvious statement at this point, but as anime is continually mainstreamed while its most obscure underbelly is unearthed year after year, there’s always going to more and more edits like these. And I’m excited to see what happens next!

27. Dysphoria
editor: SQ
anime: various
music: JT Bruce – “Hypnic Jerk”
warning: flashing/strobe effects

I won’t dig deep into the creator’s motivations in editing this video, other than to say that it’s rare for such a personally meaningful work to take the form of such a trippy visual feast. Lots of AMVs achieve a dream-like quality via soft visuals or a relaxing atmosphere. Few get there chasing such a purposefully disjointed and disorienting approach as “Dysphoria,” which feels closer to embodying how illogical and chaotic the experience of dreaming actually is than most editors would ever attempt, much less ever pull off quite as well as this. Of course, there’s a meaning to this madness. SQ invites you to find your own.

26. The Planets part 01 & 02 AMV A tribute to Gustav Holst ☀
editor: Megamom
anime: Revue Starlight
music: Gustav Holst – “Part 01: Mars, The Bringer Of War,” “Part 02: Venus, The Bringer Of Peace” (Performed by Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

I’m totally out of my depth when it comes to knowing classical music, to the point where I’m not even going to try to pretend otherwise. I am not familiar with this composer or these pieces of music, which surprisingly seems to put me in an uninformed minority compared to a lot of people in my life. On the other hand, I have watched some of Revue Starlight, an anime I couldn’t really get into despite its fantastically imaginative premise and gorgeous animation. From a visual standpoint alone, it’s undeniably beautiful and feels like a natural companion to this music. Indeed, the pairing of these sources plays into the individual strengths of both, as the dramatic battles and fantastically massive settings they play out across convey the same rousing sense of tension and release that flows through this piece of music, particularly in its first half. Yes, this AMV is broken into two sections, with two movements of the entire suite presented here, bringing the runtime of this AMV to fifteen minutes in length. This is not a problem. Unless you really have something you need to be doing instead, you’ll be too caught up in this AMV to mind. Megamom (AKA PlanetsideAMV) puts on a clinic of restraint and mindful editing, using slow zooms and soft crossfades when it’s fitting the music, while transitioning into strong action editing with seemingly little effort when it’s called for. It’s difficult to watch an entire video this long and not pick out individual scenes that, especially as an AMV editor (or an annoyingly nitpicky viewer like myself), one may question a creative decision here or there. Any imperfections I could nitpick are almost inconsequential to what this video achieves overall. This is not just a solid and ambitious effort, but one of the definitive classical music AMVs ever created.

25. We’ve Lost Dancing
editor: vivafringe
anime: various
music: Fred Again.. – “Marea (We’ve Lost Dancing)”

This isn’t the flashiest of dance videos, composed mainly of hard cuts and containing none of the visual effects that give this genre of edits such a flashy reputation. Maybe it doesn’t even work as a “dance AMV” at all, focusing more on mood sync than the standard beat sync that we’re used to. I mean, of course I think it succeeds, but maybe not in the way that the last twenty years of this stuff has assured us it’s supposed to. This AMV being about what it’s about, expecting it to conform to an outdated norm or a typical sense of carefree hedonism is kind of missing the point. As usual, this editor’s knack for finding the perfect clips in the perfect moments allows him to expresses emotionally resonant feelings of incredible specificity, feelings that I really believe most viewers will connect with whether or not they truly identify with the narrator of this song. This is one of those AMVs that gets better with every passing minute, gradually finding its feet, settling into a thematic and musical groove and ultimately rewarding your attention in ways you never anticipated.

24. Strange Life
editor: Milan21
anime: When Marnie Was There
music: Koethe – “Amber”

Correct me if I’m wrong as I haven’t seen When Marnie Was There since it first came out, but this AMV is as linear and straightforward take on the film as they tend to come. That being said, it conveys its feelings with disarming effectiveness and wastes no time wrapping the viewer in such a specific and fitting mood that’s oozing with more drama and mystery than ought to be possible for such a simple edit. Milan21 has been a low-key favorite editor of mine for some time and it’s super gratifying to see them taking their craft to new levels with this AMV.

23. How to Disappear Completely
editor: takara
anime: Watamote
music: Radiohead – “How to Disappear Completely”

Watamote oscillates between comedy and mild slice of life-tragedy, with most AMVs devoted to the series crafted in the humorous spirit that its creators originally intended (or so I assume). Few editors who explore its themes of adolescent alienation are able to resist the allure of its physical comedy and the hilariously awkward predicaments that its protagonist, Tomoko Kuroki, repeatedly lands herself in via her naivety or overenthusiastic attempts to fulfill her social or personal desires. This AMV goes in a different direction, and while it’s not the first “serious” Watamote AMV I have ever watched, it’s the first that cuts out all semblance of the optimism or adorkable charm that’s at the heart of the series, plunging the viewer into a serious meditation on Tomoko’s melancholy, loneliness and isolation. This is every bit as dark as it sounds, but it’s never aggressively angsty or overly melodramatic to the point that it ever feels indulgently miserable. There are times where the editing feels a little too busy for its own good, but even this feels like an accurate reflection of the character’s state of mind. If you have a shred of empathy for this character, you will feel this one in your bones.

22. Jellyfish
editor: Extraterrestrial Elephant
anime: Kuragehime
music: Caroline Konstnar – “The Jellyfish Song”

My experience with Kuragehime AMVs is that they usually push its many colorful supporting characters to the forefront, rarely giving the spotlight to its main protagonist. If you’ve watched the anime, it’s easy to tell why this is the case, as Kuranosuke and the eccentric NEETs of Amamizukan provide endless sources of visual comedy and flamboyant fun. On the other hand, “Jellyfish” is a rare Tsukimi-focused video, which I’m sure has been done before but probably not in pursuit of the mellow vibes on display here (and certainly without any hints of the romantic subplots this anime explored but never resolved in its brief one season run). This is a simple AMV by all accounts, one that I doubt its prolific creator likely would single out as a particularly impressive highlight among many in a a super creative year of work, but it left me with an unusually cozy and assured feeling and a private sense that this little AMV was made just for me. Which it totally, totally wasn’t, but it’s always special when a video leaves that kind of impression on you.

21. Happy December.
editor: pack
anime: FLCL
music: FemDot – “Happy December”

My ire towards “Instagram edits” eventually spilled over into misplaced frustration towards short AMVs in general. Same goes for any time I’ve used the descriptor “effects video” to describe an AMV, which is certainly called for when it’s appropriate but not as the all-purpose pejorative that I’ve reduced it to. Once again, I’m all wrong about this stuff and here we have yet another video as proof. Sure, “Happy December.” could have been longer than it is, but something about how abruptly it begins and ends feels essential to how effectively it catches me off guard when I watch it. This video is technically impressive on every level and it’s easy to see how pack uses these scenes to establish this mood and play off the lyrics in this song. But there’s a single sequence that plays out near the middle of this short edit that’s possibly one of the most interesting and creative moments I’ve ever seen in an AMV. It will not change your life or blow your mind and the more I try to build it up, the less likely it is that you’re even going to notice it at all. Maybe, just maybe, I’m the only person who had that moment of frisson while watching it. If I knew for sure that was the case, I’d still include this video on this list and it wouldn’t be budging an inch from this ranking.