The Dying Art of Anime Music Videos

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Video Essay
Title: The Dying Art of Anime Music Videos
Creator: Gigguk
Date(s): August 13, 2018
Medium: Youtube
Length: 13:43
Footage:
Fandom: Anime
Topic: Anime Music Videos
External Links: Youtube
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The Dying Art of Anime Music Videos is a 2018 video by Anituber Gigguk. Throughout the video, Gigguk discusses the history and influence of AMVs on the broader anime fandom as well as some of the AMVs that had an impact on him or were otherwise noteworthy in the community.

The Video

Some Topics Discussed

  • Origins in the 1980s
  • Development with the advent of the internet
  • Trends and improvements
  • Linkin Park, AMVs in general, and Naruto in particular
  • Peak of popularity
  • AMVs now
  • Theories about decline

Some AMVs Featured

Discussion and Response

General Fan Reactions

I may or may not have teared up a bit with this video. AMVs was such a big part of my fandom experience - that by itself was a big part of my life in general at the time. Thank you for making this and reminding me of that time - the super active time, AMVs still a part of my stuff, just not as big anymore. PS: Steel Fenders will be forever in my heart, it inspired me so much, it kinda changed my life a bit!

Comment by Catherine_Ea

I can't believe it took me 5 years to find this video but AMVs were such a big part of my high school years xp Nostromo was the first editor I really knew by name too! When you shouted out Into The Labyrinth I literally started yelling and jumped out of my chair X"D it's my favorite To This Day!!! How it popularized the use of twixter (I think) to get that buttery smooth slomo can't be overstated, but I think my favorite things about it are how abstract it is: the syncing of different effects to different parts of the song, mouths moving to the beat cause they can. It rejects a storyline entirely but still reflects the climax of the music with Vibez. I was waitong for you to mention Pencilhead which is my other favorite - perfect song choice, mindblowing execution, also my go-to when telling someone about AMVs. I could go on, but thank you for making this video x)

Comment by Kebbythetraveler

Thoughts on Community Decline

Former AMV creator here. I went by "Castor Troy" and made amvs from 1999-2012. I did over 80 videos and won over 3 dozen awards with videos like Resident Evil 4 : Die Another Day, Naruto Ball Z, and Naruto Ball Z Shippuden (all which you can find here on YT). I retired from AMVs in 2012 to pursue game reviews here on YouTube and I'm good friends with Jay (Koopiskeva) who you've mentioned in this video.

From my experience, the decline of AMVs started around 2005-2006 when YouTube started become more relevant and most of us in the AMV community got angry that people were uploading our work without our permission and even removing our credits, so we had to start accounts here to combat the imposters. Also, with the rise of YouTube, the anime content people wanted also changed since YouTube allowed people to do video reviews/analysis/essays of Anime and even parody fandubs like DBZ Abridged.

Also, around that time, alot of us old guard were already either graduating from college and moving forward with our lives. Jay (Koopiskeva) already has a wife and a kid and so do many of my old amv peers. I was getting close to graduating college myself in 2006 and had to put AMVs to the side in order to focus on deciding what to do with my life.

If there's one thing I really miss about amvs is the experience of watching them on the big screen with your fellow fans and peers. I've seen my amvs played in front of 6000+ crowds at Anime Expo and even the Nokia Theater (Now the Microsoft Theater) in LA where the American Idol finale was held in 2008. Just seeing your video on the big theater screen and hearing it with the big booming speakers is an experience that YouTube can never match.

I'll forever be grateful to AMVs because of all the skills I've learned, all of the friends I've made, and all of the places I got to travel to. AMVs even helped me get my first job in the film industry.

Thank you for this and you've hit on the points as both a fan and an observer. It's fans like you who made making amvs worth it. :)

- Ryan "Castor Troy" Molina

Comment by Castor Troy

I made my first ever AMV a couple of months ago for a competition, and was floored at just how awful the AMV community has gotten in the last few years, due to Youtube and awful management at anime conventions.

1. Despite putting in 70-100 hours of effort, my video got less than 200 views. 2. Despite putting in 70-100 hours of effort, Youtube copyright claimed my video. 3. Despite putting in over 70-100 fucking hours of gawd damn effort, my video was rejected by the competition, because the anime convention just picked 20 random videos to show. No really, they actually picked 20 random fucking videos that were sent in, and didn't even check for quality (this was stated in the confirmation e mail).

So yeah, nobody should be surprised that the art is dying out, because everyone who doesn't care about it, is fucking it over.

Comment by TheScruffyRevolution

I haven't been tagged so much for AMV stuff in so long... thanks for the shoutouts on my Euphoria and Skittles videos! Glad they influenced you all these years!

To be honest, like most of the people you mentioned in your video, we've all just moved on or just in a different phase of our lives. I'm still friends with many editors to this day... and that'll never change. As far as the AMV community goes, it's just been de-centralized for awhile now, so it just doesn't seem like its as active as it once was. It is still thriving and doing well, just not in the same vain as in the pre-YT and early YT days.

Anyways, I like your vlog style and you're doing an awesome job mang. Keep it up!

Comment by Koopiskeva

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