30. The Argonauts
editor: MegaAMV
anime: Made In Abyss
music: Steve Reich – “Three Movements – Movement I”

I’ve read the editor’s description of “The Argonauts” several times and I still can’t figure out what’s going on here. And maybe that’s for the best because I get the sense that understanding the architecture of it, as interesting as it may be, might not be essential to getting the most out of this AMV (I may be wrong about this, btw). Mega’s strategy to “use Fibonacci sequences” isn’t elaborated on far beyond an explanation of what a Fibonacci sequence is, so my only working assumption is that these sequences determined the frequency of cuts in the video or the duration of the clip length. This makes intuitive sense to me because there’s nothing here resembling the traditional external sync pattern that we’ve come to expect, but over the course of nearly seven minutes it does begin to resemble a rhythm that somehow works on its own terms. What I love most about this AMV is how true it feels to every little bit of horror and awe that the characters and the viewer experience together throughout the second season of Made in Abyss. It’s rare for an anime to make the most of an opportunity to depict a world so utterly alien and unforgiving as the Made in Abyss manga sets the stage for. Any AMV made with such a series could water that down into something more palatable or seek an elusive path towards actually playing into the full extent of its disturbing and awe-inspiring premise and visuals. It’s certainly not a route that most editors would take, but if you’re new to these parts, take note that Mega has never been known for making the easy choices in these matters.

29. Electric Poetry
editor: Animetrash AMVs
anime: Darling in the Franxx, Eureka Seven, Mobile Fighter G Gundam
music: Blake Lewis – “Binary Love”

The three different anime series used in “Electric Poetry” all represent totally different eras of anime (debuting in 1994, 2005 and 2018), probably an obvious observation now that I’m mentioning it but one that never dawned on me until long after watching this AMV (if anything can be said to happen “long after” an AMV that’s less than two months old, that is). I never thought they looked out of place with each other, but maybe that’s because Animetrash is just really, really good at finding common threads between them and laying them out in an infectiously addicting style. Or maybe I’m just a sucker for this kind of video. I’m not calling it old-school because some of it is “old” or because it specifically evokes a style of editing that used to be more popular than it is now (but I’m also not saying that it doesn’t do this!), but because it somehow reminds me of the earliest days of my obsession with AMVs, channeling some early 2000s magic that I will never stop having a profoundly personal response to. How often do we get an action-romance AMV that really delivers on both of those genres?

28. COMPANION
editor: Karmelin
anime: Akira
music: Karmelin – “Companion”

I can’t say if this is substantially better or really any different than any of the other Akira edits that popped up in my feed this year, just as they reliably do every year, but it’s a Karmelin AMV and that’s always going to be a gratifying and unique experience so of course I’m going to be a little more tuned in to this one than one made by any newcomer or random editor out there. Sorry folks, that’s just how it is. This editor has rewarded me so many times over the years with uniquely kaleidoscopic visuals and some of the most chill vibes you’ll ever find in this hobby. Yes, that’s a hyperbolic statement if I’ve ever made one but I stand by it with all I’ve got. It also helps that I’m tuning in to these videos specifically to listen to this editor’s own original tracks, often with just as much anticipation solely for the sounds on their own as I am for the entire AMV experience. A handful of editors have done this kind of double duty on their AMVs, but I doubt anyone has done it better or more consistently as Karmelin.

Maybe this says more about me than it does about “𝘾𝙊𝙈𝙋𝘼𝙉𝙄𝙊𝙉” but anytime I’ve watched this video, my eyes have been glued to the scrolling chyron at the bottom of the screen for at least 80% of the time it’s playing. This is weird to admit since I usually find these things to be nothing but an annoyance anytime they’re on a “real” television program, but here I’m captivated by it, as if the editor is directly speaking to me. Yes, I know that sounds delusional, and maybe it is! But when the editor addresses the prospect of a possible Karmelin album as part of a series of scrolling FAQs, I struggle to recall if I actually reached out to ask this pressing question at one point in the last three years, as I definitely wanted to, or if I never got around to trying to contact Karmelin about it. Even when this scrolling text is nothing but a rundown of news headlines or Top 40 hits from the day the film was first released (also the same day that its opening scene takes place in, a probably well-known fact that I never quite grasped or fully appreciated until now), the continuous rollout of these seemingly mundane details somehow adds an intangible quality to this video, or at least provides a new window into the creator’s mind (or minds, as Karmelin uses plural pronouns in such a specific way that suggests the possibility of more than one person behind the @karmelinmusic channel). The laid-back mood is as pleasant as ever here, even as some of the visuals would seem to be pulling toward the opposite end of that spectrum. This AMV is a lot of things, but comforting? Not like it’s a much more intimate experience than simply “hanging out” with an editor, but Karmelin’s presence looms over this video to a degree that suggests its title could be more purposeful than slapping the name of the audio track onto the AMV itself. Just a theory!

27. The Jungle Beat
editor: vivafringe
anime: various Disney
music: Oliver Koletzki – “Caravana de los Elefantitos”

“The Jungle Beat” feels like the sort of video that should be huge and blow up to the point where it just overflows out of the AMV niche and onto the rest of YouTube. We’re talking Pogo-like numbers here. But the game is rigged now and the algorithm doesn’t actually work so I guess this can be our little secret. Gently set your kids in front of this and soon they’ll forget what Cocomelon even is! This reminds me of the first AMV-esque thing I ever saw and got hooked on as a child. If Disney knew what was good for them they’d get vivafringe to make even more. But I guess they’ve got other ideas for how to maintain their legacy and stay in the black (note to self: insert their latest terrible idea here). Insanely great sync that goes for miles and redefines the experience that you’re probably expecting from that thumbnail. Fun for all ages and no subscription required!

26. Cani di Velluto
editor: Synæsthesia Productions
anime: Children of the Sea
music: Francesco Fiorenzani – “Cani di Velluto”

Jazz is a global music and I won’t pretend to know or be able to recognize any subtle differences between how it sounds in the US versus Japan versus Brazil or anywhere else, but with the knowledge that this is a modern Italian guitarist at work, something about the seaside setting of so much of this video suddenly takes on new meaning. That’s just a minor observation and it doesn’t have jack to do with the sparkling sync and satisfyingly-timed surreal visuals of this AMV that takes this source to places I never expected and opens doors that few editors have ever bothered to unlock or even take notice of. As a purely instrumental experience, this AMV asks viewers to find their own meaning in the mesmerizing montage. It’s a super chill, subtly psychedelic trip that’s supposedly five minutes long but always blows by in a breeze.

25. I Went to the Aquarium and All I Got Was This Beautiful Girlfriend
editor: TroubleClef
anime: Aquatope on the White Sand
music: Birdy – “Keeping Your Head Up”

Aquatope on the White Sand might have been the most enjoyable anime I watched in 2022, one of those rare series that doesn’t condescend to viewers and dares to tell a story with a grounded premise set in the real world. It wasn’t an anime that was attracting a lot of attention from AMV editors, so I was grateful to finally see a video made with the series and delighted that it turned out to be this good. TroubleClef condenses the 24 episodes down into an extremely compelling three minutes, not necessarily retelling its story but faithfully capturing its overall tone. The drama, heartbreak and wonderful sense of new discoveries just scintillate from every moment of this AMV. While it’s not an especially fast-paced edit, the pure sense of flow in this AMV is unmatched. All that holds this together is TroubleClef’s scene transitions, which are consistently brilliant and usually invisible. Just look at the one at 2:52! Those are two totally different opening sequences! As there’s almost nothing I love more than my seasonal visit to the aquarium, maybe I’m a little more inclined to love this AMV than the typical viewer, but I can’t overemphasize how successfully it evokes some of those same feelings I get from seeing the real thing.

24. Moving Forward
editor: delayed
anime: various
music: Dargz feat Moses Boyd – “Lou’s Tune”

This video just works. I have no idea why or how, certainly not via any traditional techniques that are easy to recognize and point out. Even on a personal level, it pleases me deeply but there’s nothing I can point to as some X-factor that’s catering to my tastes or desires. If there’s anything I can say for sure about “Moving Forward,” it’s that delayed chose some absolutely beautiful scenes for it, hardly a surprise given the abundance of Ghibli-produced works that appear over its brief runtime. It feels like the editor is picking scraps off the cutting room floor from other people’s AMVs, the kind of richly animated shots that happen to fall in between the most-used clips from these films, and bringing them all together for an idealistic, inclusive celebration that everyone’s invited to. I can see a newcomer to AMVs taking all the wrong lessons from this but I still want to hold it up as proof that you don’t need a heaping of effects or complicated sync to edit an AMV that conveys a potent feeling: in this case, a rare sense of unabashed optimism that you’ll definitely want a piece of.

23. Sixtyniner
editor: Thaddeus Bigsby
anime: Robot Carnival
music: Boards of Canada – “Sixtyniner”
VPR Warning: Brief flashing

I have a very vivid memory from about twenty years ago—one I could spend paragraphs recounting in detail, but I think you’ll be better off if I spare you this time around—of listening to this exact song about at about 1:00 in the morning, sitting in the dark with nothing but my CRT monitor lighting up my little corner of my dorm room. A combination of the circumstances I was stuck in and newfound emotions I was feeling very deeply (delayed adolescent musings that never came to pass when I was a teen but suddenly dumped themselves all at once over my brain during my sophomore year of college: there it is, the one sentence-summary of what would probably take me years to explain to a therapist), to say nothing of the music of Boards of Canada themselves, masters of this strain of moody and nostalgic electronic music, suddenly brought me face to face with the rest of my life. A peculiar and oddly specific thought came to mind. “Twenty years from now, I’ll still be listening to this music and feeling like this. And I’ll remember this moment forever.” Was this a self-fulfilling prophesy? I think it sort of came to pass. What feeling am I even talking about? I’ve known it for years but it was always a slippery thing that I could never quite put into words. Even the medium of AMVs never quite captured it, until this one did to a surprisingly uncanny extent.

I have still never watched Robot Carnival, so I don’t know how much of this video is edited or exactly what Thaddeus Bigsby did with any of this footage other than what’s in his description (“The only big edits are the first 25 seconds. Everything else plays straight through, no edits.”). If this is really true, then the moment of internal sync at 1:08–you’d know exactly what I was referring to here even if I didn’t include the timestamp–has got to be one of the most serendipitous moments I’ve ever seen in an AMV. “Sixtyniner” isn’t going to be for everybody who’s into AMVs, maybe not even most of you reading this blog, but it’s the sort of one of a kind work that I’ve been waiting for for, um, half my life? Oh gosh, where did the time go?

22. Last Forever
editor: katranat
anime: Genius Party Beyond: Dimension Bomb
music: Fenech-Soler – “Last Forever”
VPR Warning: Brief flashing, warping, blurs

If there was a moment where Genius Party was a really big deal in the AMV world, I think it wrapped itself up right around the year I started blogging and editing. This was probably for the best, since I’ve never had a chance to grow tired of it or view it as an “overused” source like it probably was for a time. This means an AMV like “Last Forever” can leave a fresh impression on me and I won’t be comparing it to older videos, just living in the moment with it and letting the editor do their magic. From the opening shot, this AMV is defined by fantastic internal sync, never overdone to a Mickey Mousing-degree, but always finding some element in the song that an eye-catching animation or camera motion, and above all, reacting to the changes in the music, not simply the rhythm but the overall affect. What I’m describing here is pretty common when it comes to upbeat videos that succeed through traditional editing, so what makes “Last Forever” any different? I wish I could say. I really love each of the sources here on their own and I think that katranat understands the emotional pull of these shots and this song and is just following their lead. But of course I’d think that! I’m just swept up in the feelings of this, as I tend to get with most art that’s successful at persuading my emotions to reach one heightened state or another, too consumed by emotions to use the dozen brain cells or whatever’s left over and still functioning to identify the mechanics of how and why it works. If it’s nothing but intuition, well then, even I can tell that’s something this editor has in spades and is far from using up anytime soon.

21. Someday
editor: Ileia
anime: Metropolis
music: Billie Eilish – “What Was I Made For?”
VPR Warning: Blurs, flashes, ripples

The cynicism I felt when I first encountered this video in my feed–are people editing with Barbie songs because they’re great or simply because they’re the hottest thing of 2023?–absolutely melted within a minute or less once I actually watched it. This really is the ideal song to make a video about Tima, isn’t it? With these beautiful settings, the trademark proto-Twixtor slow motion in those iconic close up shots, the slow zooms and camera movements, soft transitions… the character herself sometimes takes a backseat to everything else that makes Metropolis and Ileia’s fundamentally sound editing work with this song so well. “Someday” is the ultimate synthesis of this bittersweet song with this tragic film, an AMV that’s made me appreciate each just a little more and couldn’t have been possible without an editor bringing a sensitive and nuanced understanding of both to the project… from the editor of xXwheresmyjewelXx.rm!