BJK’s AMV Roundup #3 – Believe In The Me Who Believes In You

Since I got an MP3 player and realised that I can put AMVs on it and watch them in teeny-tiny perfecto-vision my intake of the things has increased substantially. Thus, BJK’S AMV Roundup #3 – Believe In The Me Who Believes In You was born—nay, forged.

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Anime: One Piece
Song: Sam Tsui and Christina Grimmie – Just a Dream
Spoilerage: Moderate-High

If I heard this song on the radio or something I doubt I’d even notice it, except maybe to think “Gosh what a mediocre and immediately forgettable song”. Paired with One Piece, though, somehow it works. I’ve been thinking lately about why it is that I love AMVs so much, and I think what it comes down to is emotion. I am an emotion junkie, I can’t get enough of it, and the best AMVs are like a shot of pure emotion straight to the heart.

Best Selection: “If you’ve ever loved somebody put your hands up”, jeezy crizzy.

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Anime: Suzumiya Haruhi No Shoushitsu
Song: One Republic – Good Life
Spoilerage: Medium-Rare

I cannot adequately explain why but this one really affected me. Maybe it’s because Disappearance is the best story to be told in the Haruhi series, maybe it’s because everything about it is so superbly done, maybe it’s because of the rather clever downplaying of Yuki.N, maybe it’s just everything. I love this AMV to pieces, it’s easily one of my top ten favourite ever.

Best Selection: I honestly can’t pick a single moment.

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Anime: Various
Song: Underworld – To Heal
Spoilerage: Low

I really, really like this one. ‘Slow’ AMVs are pretty rare and when they do exist they often come off as … well, as kind of wishy-washy and ineffective, but this one just builds and builds until you feel like you could burst. It’s a little odd, but this really reminds me of the slow musical bits in LA Story, it affects me the same way.

I just wish it were longer.

Best Selection: A kiss beneath fireworks.

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Anime: Kowarekake no Orgel
Song: Lifehouse – Sick Cycle Carousel
Spoilerage: High

…

Best Selection: … *sniff*

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Anime: Ga-Rei -Zero-
Song: Breaking Benjamin – You Fight Me
Spoilerage: Moderate-High, probably

I haven’t watched Ga-Rei -Zero- but after seeing this AMV I think I might have to.

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Anime: Bakemonogatari
Song: Boom Boom Satellites – Upside down, Finger Eleven – Paralyzer
Spoilerage: Medium?

Another AMV for an anime I haven’t watched. Sometimes I just like images and music juxtaposed in a pleasing way.

Best Selection: The ‘What Do You Mean It’s Not Awesome’ bit with the stapler near the start. 1:00 – 1:15 has something special about it, too.

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Anime: Nichijou
Song: ????????????
Spoilerage: ?????????????????????

This one deserves kudos just for making Nichijou seem even weirder than it actually is.

Best Selection: Seriously, I would have thought that to be impossible.

 

BJK’s AMV Roundup #2 – I Am An Alien Magic-User

AMVs! Thousands of ‘em!

Well seven. But they’re all really good.

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Anime: Various
Song: Vanilla Sky – Umbrella

I’m not in love with the song for this one and I’m only vaguely familiar with most of the featured anime, but in the end I only really ask one thing of an AMV, and that’s that it makes me tingle. This one makes me tingle.

Best Selection: 2:30 – 2:36. Build-up, pause, release, tingle.

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Anime: Star Trek (Star Trek is an honorary anime)
Song: Maps

I’m not much of a shipper. When I do ship it’s usually for at least vaguely canonish couples like Mustang x Hawkeye or Tanis x Lauralanthalasa, but Kirk x Spock is a love for the ages.

(Actually, just writing that I couldn’t help but think, “Kirk x Spock IS a canon couple”.)

(Don’t ship Kirk and Spock? You do now.)

Best Selection: STAR MAPS.

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Anime: Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Song: Ellie Goulding – Every Time You Go

I recently finished watching Puella Magi and, as expected, it tore me apart—not least because the way in which it tore me apart was totally different to what I was expecting. I cried all the way through the last episode then couldn’t sleep for thinking about it. Great series. Great series.

(By the way, this AMV contains some pretty big spoilers for a show that really shouldn’t be spoiled at all—I was lucky enough to go in knowing nothing about it except that it was something of a deconstruction of the Magical Girl genre. If you haven’t already I recommend you watch the show now—NOW—and then watch this.)

Anyway, I haven’t watched many AMVs for Puella Magi yet (spoiler avoidance, you know how it is) but out of those I’ve seen I chose this one because if you don’t ship Madoka x Homura then WHAT WERE YOU WATCHING?

Best Selection: do you know the regrets I paid / for all the times I saved

(Oh Homura.)

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Anime: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Song: My Chemical Romance – The Black Parade

he said son when / you grow up / would you be / the saviour of the broken / the beaten and the damned

It’s almost spooky how well this song matches the anime. Fantastic AMV. Just excellent in every possible way.

Best Selection: Kind of, sort of, basically all of it. Look, just the fact that it manages to make TTGL even more epic is incredible.

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Anime: Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Song: Globus – Orchard of Mines

Another tingly AMV, although I felt the ending was a teensy bit weak—or just not quite as strong as the rest, maybe. I’m in the middle of re-watching Brotherhood now, and it’s amazing just how much I want to just keep going all the way through. That’s the mark of a truly great story, I think, even when you know what’s going to happen you still get pulled through so strongly.

Best Selection: Ed trying so desperately to reach Al with the music and the flashes of memory and excuse me I’ve just got something in my eye

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Anime: Suzumiya Haruhi No Yuuutsu
Song: The Veronicas – 4ever

There are a lot of things to praise about this one, but mostly I like it because it reminds me of how much I like Haruhi, despite her faults (and she has her share).

Best Selection: Haruhi failing to throw grass in Kyon’s face was basically a perfect moment. I mean … it’s not really anything the AMV did. But still. Perfect moment.

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Anime: Darker Than Black
Song: Darkwing Duck Theme

THE CONCEPT ALONE MERITS INCLUSION

Best Selection: DARKER THAN DUCK

 

BJK’s AMV Roundup #1 – My Legend Began In The 12th Century

‘#1′, he wrote, somewhat optimistically. AMVs are one of my favourite things about fandom, there’s an amazing amount of both talent and love out there, and who doesn’t enjoy splendid editing and wonderfully synchronised music/visual beats? People who don’t like marvellous things, I suspect.

Hugely massive spoilers may follow; you have been warned.

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Anime: Soul Eater
Song: Marilyn Manson – This Is Halloween

Soul Eater is a great anime, even though the exact point at which it diverges is the point at which the manga turns things up to eleven and becomes insanely awesome, so … I mean, I love the anime, don’t get me wrong, I think in a lot of ways it couldn’t be better (the voice acting especially, and especially especially Maka–hard to believe it was Omigawa Chiaki’s debut, she does an amazing job). I even liked the gecko ending (how could I not, it includes one of the best punches in the history of all things), but like Fullmetal Alchemist the manga’s story post-divergence is just so much better and makes far more sense. Hopefully they’ll do a ‘Brotherhood’ once it ends. Anyway, I love this AMV. I had no idea Marilyn Manson had even done a cover of This Is Halloween (from The Nightmare Before Christmas, natch), at first I was like “Whaaaaa~” but then I was like “Actually this is kind of great”. I’m not normally a fan of covers or Mr Manson but this is pretty fantastic, and the marriage of Soul Eater with this particular song is something that I’d never think of but which makes perfect sense now that I’ve been exposed to it. A bit like a catflap. Also the editing is utterly majestic.

Also also, watching this reminds me that although I think of Soul Eater mostly in terms of funny and awesome, it really does have more than its fair share of superbly creepy moments.

Favourite Moment: “Everybody scream! Everybody SCREAM!” with Tsubaki and her brother. 200% Sync Ratio: Perfect Combo.

(Also any clips from when Maka went crazy eight bonkers from using Black Blood, that was hilarious and disturbing and awesome and mental in all the right ways.)

(Incidentally, Soul Eater gets my personal awards for both ‘Best Maniacal Laughter’ AND ‘Best Screaming’. Seriously, the screaming and laughing in that anime are top notch.)

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Anime: Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood
Song: 30 Seconds To Mars – This Is War

Hagaren is one of my favourite manga, mostly because of the absurdly huge number of fantastic characters, and although the first anime went a bit mad towards the end Brotherhood truly does justice to Arakawa-sensei’s work. And this AMV does justice to Brotherhood. Not much to say, except the bit at the end made my breath catch in just exactly the right way.

Favourite Moment: Roy Mustang is ‘The Messiah’.

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Anime: Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu
Song: Breaking Benjamin – Diary Of Jane

This one’s a teensy bit rough as far as editing/timing goes, but it’s the best AMV I’ve found of Yuki.N so there you have it. Nagato-san is the main reason I like this anime so much (not such a fan of the novels, not sure why), being not only my favourite character in the series but one of my favourite characters in any series.

Favourite Moment: Honestly, any time Yuki does her stoic-but-scowly ‘Nagato Disapproves’ face.

Yep, that's the one.

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Anime: Various. Like, REALLY various.
Song: DJ Earworm – Blame It On The Pop

Something jolly to finish with, I love this kind of wacky joof fun/slightly sentimental AMV and DJ Earworm is aptly named—and the title speaks the truth, 2009 WAS a good, good year for anime.

Although apparently I can’t watch even a one second clip of Tokyo Magnitude 8 without tearing up.

Favourite Moment: Honestly, who could choose? I did particularly like the clips of Endless Eight matched to the lyrics “When I say the same thing every single time”, that was class. Man, Endless Eight. What a hoot that was. Funny at the time, looking back … yep, still funny.

(Also the lip-sync bit with Yui (“Baby don’t worry”) made me super happy for some reason.)

(And 3:00 to 3:16 is just excellent.)

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Well that was really fun! Ahhh fandom, I do so love you.