20. Starstruck
editor: alchemyminiAMV
anime: Bocchi the Rock!
music: Skye Sweetnam – “Sharada”

Outside of the biggest shonen series, which sort of have a life of their own outside of everything else we normally call “anime,” Bocchi the Rock! was probably the biggest anime in the world of AMVs over the past year. But despite that sort of overexposure, I don’t think I saw a single Bocchi AMV that I didn’t enjoy on some level. Going down the list of all the AMVs I watched this year, here were the comments I left on all the Bocchi the Rock! AMVs that I bothered to log (several not appearing here as I began to realize, in the early days of December, that I really needed to get a move on with this and dispense with chronicling my reactions to even more Bocchi AMVs that I definitely wasn’t going to be writing anything about in the coming weeks):

“good”

“good”

“VERY GOOD”

“lol”

“COULD BE VERY GOOD”

“good”

“WOW”

On alchemyminiAMV’s “Starstruck,” my comment simply reads “DAMN.” I think I knew that this one was clicking with me in a way that none of the others, for everything they had to offer, never completely did. Short and punchy in all the best ways, “Starstruck” demonstrates excellent flow, locking into the song in a way that’s intuitive and stimulating but never repetitious or predictable. The lyric sync is exceptionally clever and meaningful, making for a character profile-style AMV that’s running over with humor and pathos. There’s a kindness and sympathy in this that I was really craving; fans objectified this character and laughed at her misfortune so much over the last year that, fictitious non-person that she is, I started to feel vicariously embarrassed for her and the sort of attention she was getting. That’s not an accusation that I’m making against anyone else’s AMV, just some broader vibe in the anime fandom that I was picking up on. This AMV is the perfect antidote for it. It’s super joyful and fun in all the right ways. Who decides which of these ways are right? You guessed it!

19. R. U. M. B. L. E
editor: TritioAFB
anime: various
music: KDA feat. Tinnie Tempah & Katy B – “Turn the Music Louder (Rumble)”

“R. U. M. B. L. E” exists squarely within a zone of AMVs that I rarely gravitate towards and am usually suspicious of any time I encounter one. It employs lots of OP footage, a battery of scene-dominating visual effects that I associate more with hyperactive TikTok edits than anything in the world of “real” AMVs, and might not have any ambitions beyond holding its own in certain circles of competitive editing. It’s pure eye candy but I cannot tear my gaze from it. If the internal sync in this video isn’t perfect, it’s still totally convincing and effective because every clip is so energetic and fun. The editor’s confidence in this material is infectious, and no matter how many times I’d previously encountered certain pieces of footage throughout this AMV, they somehow felt fresh and unexpectedly vital. The last thing I want to do is call this video “stupid,” which is isn’t, but I wonder if the key to making a video like this is to stop overthinking every decision and just go with what your gut says (if it officially comes out that TritioAFB truly agonized over every shot in this, I’ll do the once-unthinkable and rewrite this entire blurb). There are some fantastic transitions in this that took repeated viewings to notice, which is probably the ultimate rebuke against my first impressions: “this video is a lot of things, but subtle it ain’t.” Good thing those words are delicious because I’m eating them right now!

18. What Will You Leave Behind
editor: Lux
anime: Sousou no Frieren
music: Max LL feat. Maude Plante-Husaruk – “What Will You Leave Behind”

I know nothing about this anime that I haven’t gleamed from the scenes in this AMV and the fact that it is currently the top-rated anime of all time on myanimelist.net. Maybe I ought to watch it? Maybe I ought to check out some other Frieren AMVs? Maybe I’m a little concerned that they’ll all turn out to be variations on “What Will You Leave Behind,” attempting to hit all the same emotional beats with diminishing returns until I’m left feeling nothing at all. I’m perfectly happy with this one, so while this kind of reaction is completely antithetical to my mission (watching lots of AMVs, giving new editors a fair shake, etc.), I’m currently content to enjoy this moving yet surprisingly breezy video as the only Frieren video one of the two Frieren videos that I’ve seen so far. Now if that’s still the case a year from now, well that’s just being stubborn, isn’t it?

It’s kinda startling to watch a video this wholesome, slow-paced and simple. This might be one of the most soothing AMVs I have ever seen. That’s not a compliment that comes at the expense of the weighty themes of this story. Yes, this video is undeniably “sad,” but not in an emotionally exploitative way that gets a reaction from the viewer by incessantly provoking them. If you’re already onboard with this anime then I guess you know what you’re in for and can’t wait to think about death and get sad and stuff, but for everyone else who’s encountering these scenes for the first time, I think that Lux does a fantastic job of gently easing the viewer into this world and its comforting embrace.

17. Deculture!
editor: machina21
anime: Macross (various)
music: Phantogram – “Fall in Love”

machina21’s intricately-cut edit of various Macross releases is his most ambitious effort yet and the kind of intensely composited video that I never expected to see from him. Designed to evoke a glitzy, high-budget music video, and pretty convincing in its execution of the concept, “Deculture!” feels like the last gasp of the 2010s, showing up late and wondering why everyone is down and what they might have missed (maybe this impression was informed by knowing just how long the editor was planning or editing this AMV, but if this soundtrack doesn’t scream peak Lame Duck Obama/Twitter-era then I don’t know what does). I mean that in the best way possible: black and white AMVs have fallen out of fashion as editors have followed trends toward hyper-saturated color schemes, ideally impossible to miss on a smartphone screen at a hundred paces. In describing the making of the video, machina21 explains that draining the color from these characters was a creative necessity to convincingly combine the different sources. This casts the entire AMV in a classy, retro-tinged haze, and when individual elements of a shot sporadically appear with selective bits of color (see the thumbnail above for the general effect), it’s a subtle but beautiful treat that adds the perfect finishing touch to this dazzling montage. Oh, and the editing itself is spectacular, kind of an important detail to mention as I get lost in the analyzing the aesthetic of “Deculture!,” which is possibly something I shouldn’t be doing at all until I can say I’ve watched Macross and could finally tell you what the title of this AMV actually means. Yes, even after all these years I’m still not sitting at the cool kids table.

16. The Noise
editor: vivafringe
anime: various
music: The Beths – “Silence is Golden”

“The Noise” was the last of seven AMVs released by vivafringe last year and it was another showcase of his unique talents in combining multiple sources together in a way that no one else does. If you’re familiar with his AMVs, then you can probably see the creative throughlines from his previous work informing the structure of this video, but the process is usually in favor of an experience that’s far more chill, reflective and contemplative than this cacophonous joyride. I’ll stop beating around the bush here and just admit that I was shocked to hear a rawk song playing over anything this editor released, but sonically and thematically, it’s not like this is completely new territory for him or anything. I guess it makes sense that the editor who invited us to sit around the fire and slow it down would edit an over the top indictment of the soul-sucking din of modern life. This is super fun, locking in to an effects-free degree of blistering sync that basic we’ve been told is impossible to achieve via basic editing. Nothing this editor has released has ever been “difficult” but this is his most accessible entry point yet. How this was not a hit is beyond me, but I guess I already said that about one of his other videos in this very same countdown.

15. Half crow half spider
editor: Melts in your mind not your hand
anime: Haibane Renmei
music: The In-Keepers – “The Cobweb Threads of Autumn”

Here’s where you expect me to say that I like this video, but I’d love it if the editor hadn’t bothered with any of the text they slapped on the screen. Yes, I assure you that it’s still me typing this and that I’m in possession of all my mental faculties when I tell you that I actually kinda sort of love the onscreen lyrics in this AMV and I don’t want any changes to it. It’s possible this has something to do with the choice of music, the sort of late 60s orchestral pop with touches of psychedelia that, let’s just face it, no one is editing with (especially not with such an obscure group as this, who seem to have released a half dozen songs at most before calling it a day), and maybe my brain is just caught flatfooted in its reaction to seeing the lyrics splashed on the screen accompanied by these kind of vocals or melodies, as opposed to the immediate gut level-rejection of, say, another editor making sure you get a handful of half-transcribed lines from a Taylor Swift or Fall Out Boy song (ideally, the ones that the matter least, if my experience with this sort of thing has taught me anything). Maybe I’m into what this editor is doing because the font choices are so very different from anything I’ve ever seen in a lyric video-style AMV. I’m not an expert on typography, which is one major reason why I’ve avoided it completely so far in everything I’ve ever edited, but I love the decisions this editor makes, including the choice to skip the text altogether as the chorus of the song is repeated: I suppose this keeps the video from getting too repetitive or predictable. For as much time as I’ve spent on talking about this single aspect of “Half crow half spider,” somehow it’s an element of the video that I initially forget about any time I return to watch it. The rest of the video is still strong enough to hook me, even in this year when it felt like I was seeing more Haibane Renmei AMVs than I ever had before. Still not many, but perhaps more than ever.

There are a couple of well-trodden themes and shapes that Haibane Renmei AMVs tend to take. I’m not going to suggest that the editor has struck out on some completely newfound ground with this edit, or that they’re the first to try combining the series pastoral wanderings, goofy ensemble cast, haunting mysticism or its themes of tragedy, grief and redemption, but… it’s all here and it never feels like it’s unfocused or overreaching. It’s a relaxed edit and there’s never a sense that there’s a rush to include this or that iconic scene, a problem I’ve had with certain Haibane Renmei AMVs over the years. The cut at 1:22… maybe the editor is a “total newb” (their words, not mine) but they absolutely knew what they were doing here. Yeah, in an average year, this would have been a top ten pick for sure, but I guess Miymnyh will have to work their way up to the top like every other jabroni here. Hey, those are the breaks.

14. Falling Water
editor: ElFamosoDemon
anime: Shin Dousei Jidai: Hawaiian Breeze
music: Ljones – “Falling Water”

I’m obsessively suspicious of whatever it is that, since the dawn of the “vaporwave era,” has drawn people to visuals depicting economic miracle/bubble economy Japan and the lifestyle these people supposedly led: visions of the good life celebrating blissful middle class consumerist culture, marinating in that special sauce of Japanese “otherness” that I’m eternally conflicted about exploring or asking any questions about at all because I really don’t want to accuse anyone of any problematic motivations and I know that, at the end of the day, I’m really no different from any of the hypothetical gawking gaijin that eat this stuff up. Also: I remember when people cared about “selling out,” and now there’s nothing cooler than television commercials?

Something (or everything, whatever) about this aesthetic runs through the work of ElFamosoDemon, who’s been one of my favorite editors in this space for years now. “Falling Water” is one of the most chill AMVs he’s ever made, although to this day I really don’t know if they have ever actually used the term “AMV” even once to describe their future funk and retro-themed videos that have been popping up on YouTube since 2011. Most of their music video-style edits are not compiled from anime sources, but anytime they happen to be it’s always a treat and “Falling Water” feels like the absolute peak of their craft in this niche. It’s as laid back of a video as you’ll ever see, barely more than a meditation on latter 20th century middle class Tokyo Life, but if that sounds like your idea of a good time then this video will be your bread and butter. There’s so much more going on in “Falling Water” than any of this pretentious lead up is probably preparing you to expect, exploring nothing less than some of the deepest longings of women and men and how difficult it is to square these desires with the compromises we inevitably have to make living under capitalism (to say nothing of the generational trauma of growing up in the shadow of the atomic bomb, which ElFamosoDemon alludes to in the hazy opening second of the AMV). What, you thought you’d escape that discourse here? On a blog?

13. Feel It
editor: purple bell
anime: Hikari no Densetsu
music: Jazzy – “Feel It (Club Edit)”

The hardest part of trying to write about “Feel It” is that pretty much everything I once said about ElFamosoDemon’s “Do The Thing,” another Hikari no Densetsu AMV, also applies to this video. It’s just as upbeat and joyful, but if there’s a meaningful difference, it’s that purple bell’s edit is not only more concise, but more deliberately synced than EFD’s take on the series. Less content to bask in the general vibes of several episodes, pb works almost exclusively with a single scene—or succeeds at stringing together several into one seamless montage, I actually have no idea—focusing almost completely on the series protagonist. I found it hard not to get caught up in her transparent enthusiasm during her grueling routine, which isn’t exactly “suspenseful” but is as gripping as this sort of thing can possibly get. I didn’t think I needed another Hikari no Densetsu AMV after “Do The Thing,” but “Feel It” escapes its shadow with ease, transmuting these sublimely retro visuals into something addictive and urgent. The internal sync between the music and the beautifully choreographed classic animation is strong yet relaxed and utterly convincing. 9.75 out of 10 sounds about right.

12. Two Can Win
editor: Thaddues Bigsby
video: Street Fighter (various)
music: J Dilla – “Two Can Win”

The coolest video of the year? The best vibes? What can even hold a candle to this? Can you really call something “timeless” if it’s so completely retro and indebted to such a specific moment in time in every single fiber of its being? This is easily described as “nostalgia” but that’s kind of a disservice to the way it celebrates the eternal coolness of the shots it splashes across its scanlined, CRT frame. Thaddeus Bigsby is so good at this kind of thing and this might be his most satisfying celebration of any source he’s worked with. Just like J Dilla twisting samples of semi-obscure soul song into vibrant new shapes, TB’s arrangement of Street Fighter’s short and simple cinematics is the purest essence of the soul of the series that I’ve ever seen.

11. House of Climb
editor: delay
anime: various
music: Leon Vynehall – “Blush”

Despite the occasional abrupt change in footage aspect ratio and a few stray subtitles slipping their way into the mix, it’s rare for such an ambitious display of AMV editing at its rawest, especially with so many different sources, to feel so technically sound or as seamless as “House of Climb.” The editor maintains a sense of constant momentum from beginning to end, stringing together action clips that sometimes clash in overall tone or artistic style, yet this never breaks the spell that somehow all of these clips are related, like you’re watching a mixtape of the world’s greatest parkour race. There are moments where one clip transitions into the next via a perfect match cut. This doesn’t happen as often as one might hope, or even necessarily in the exact way one might expect, but this is just as well; this is complete devotion to a concept and a mood in which the editor disappears into the work and never calls attention to themselves. Unsurprisingly, as I’m writing this, “House of Climb” has well under 100 views. Let’s fix that first and then work on repairing YouTube’s busted algorithm.