Psst... Hey, buddy, c’mere.  Wanna see something?  Check it out, it’s...
 
 

Xoth’s Special In-Depth AX ’03 AMV Contest Review!

    Actually, the title of this part might be a bit misleading.  I say “in-depth,” but that’s probably for only a few of my favorite videos.  Honestly, some of them I don’t remember very well at all. ^_^  Nevertheless, here I will present my impressions of the Anime Expo 2003 Anime Music Video Contest in a video-by-video breakdown.  This is not only for the benefit of those who (like me) love anime music videos but also for those who are already tired of my long-winded reportage, so they don’t have to skim over it in the actual report. :D

    Anyways, there were 28 videos presented on Friday night.  I know this because I remember there were four categories and seven videos in each category.  Some of these videos weren’t hard for me to recall; others, though, were a bit more elusive.  Sometimes it was just the video and song titles that escaped me; in a few cases, even the actual video is only a vague recollection.  Thankfully, I was able to get at least the basic details of all 28 videos through a quick online search.  What follows is a listing of the videos and what I have to say about each of them.  I’ll try to avoid giving spoilers, but I can’t promise anything, as some reviews may not make much sense without me giving something away.  Also given are the videos I picked as the best from each category, and at the very bottom is a list of the actual award winners.  We begin with the first category presented that evening, Drama.

Drama Videos
“I Get a Kick Out of You”—Cowboy Bebop/“I Get a Kick Out of You” by Frank Sinatra
What better way to kick off the contest than with Ol’ Blue Eyes and Cowboy Bebop?  The focus of this video was Spike and Faye; I suppose it was suggesting he sees her as more than just a respected colleague.  It wasn’t a bad video, but somehow it didn’t click with me.  Yeah, it’s jazz and it’s Bebop, yet Sinatra’s style just doesn’t seem right for an anime music video (well, maybe another video could make it work; IMO this one didn’t quite pull it off).  Another problem was categorizing it in Drama; there was nothing specifically dramatic about the song, or even much of the selected anime footage, which leaned more towards action.  Of course, that may be more the fault of the contest judges than of the creator.

“Everything You Want”—Evangelion/“Everything You Want” by Vertical Horizon
Before you groan to yourself “Oh God, not another Eva vid,” I should say that I ended up liking it in spite of myself.  I’m not a big fan of contemporary pop music, which includes Vertical Horizon’s one-hit wonder.  Also, the video suggests an unrequited romance between Asuka and Shinji, which is an idea that I feel doesn’t hold up well.  I won’t go into my thoughts about romance and Eva here; I’ll say only that in an intimate relationship I doubt Shinji would really be everything Asuka wants or needs.  Still, neither the song nor the video suggest any real resolution, so I suppose the creator realizes they’re not a match made in Heaven.  And regardless of its central theme, the video was well edited.  So it won me over despite using a well-worn song and a concept that still doesn’t sit very well with me; I think that says something (maybe just that I really like Evangelion, but whatever).
 

“Restored Pieces”—Love Hina/“Small Two of Pieces,” Xenogears OST Oh my heck, a Love Hina video without a single act of violence against Keitaro!  Yes, it’s a genuinely dramatic LH vid.  Or more accurately, a genuinely romantic LH vid.  In my view, there’s a fine but discernible line between “dramatic” and “romantic,” and this AMV is unabashedly the latter.  Still, it’s not to say love can’t be dramatic, and there were moments when that line blurred.  The video focuses on the twists and turns of Keitaro and Naru’s relationship, which nicely blends both elements.  I enjoyed it thoroughly, both in terms of the lovely song and the quality animation.  I’m not even a Love Hina fan, though that’s probably because I’ve seen only two episodes.  Most of what I’ve experienced of the series I’ve seen in AMVs, all of them comedy; thus to me “Restored Pieces” was a refreshing change of pace.  While I’m sure there are other LH drama vids out there, I don’t know if they could get much better than this one.

And I’m free...free fallin’... oops, wrong song.

“Love’s Reflection”—Ah My Goddess/“You Got It” by Roy Orbison
On this one let me admit ignorance and bias up front: I haven’t seen any of AMG, and I don’t particularly care for Roy Orbison.  Maybe I’ve heard “Oh, Pretty Woman” and “Only the Lonely” a few times too many, I don’t know.  That said, this video didn’t strike me as particularly memorable.  Keiichi, Belldandy, and a Roy Orbison love song; woo-hoo.  Of course, Keitaro and Naru is no huge revelation, but at least “Restored Pieces” surprised me by showing a lot I hadn’t really seen or heard about before (and by using a tune from the game Xenogears, which I haven’t played).  Still, I don’t want to blame the anime or the video’s creator, who turned out to be the one behind my AX ’01 AMV Contest favorite, “Memories Dance.”  So I’ll go out on a limb and blame the music.  It seems a number of the videos I love feature songs I’m not familiar with—not that that’s a difficult feat, but still.  So it stands to reason that a video using a song I’m all too familiar with might not trigger my enthusiasm the way those others would.

“Center of the Sun”—Metropolis/“Center of the Sun” by Conjure One, featuring Poe
I know at least one friend of mine doesn’t like Metropolis.  Thus I took note when someone (Deeblite, IIRC) said that the video was better than the actual anime.  Not having seen it myself, I can’t vouch for that assertion, but somehow I don’t doubt it; this video was excellent.  I go for videos that move me more than the ones that make me laugh (unlike most fans, it seems :P).  And of course, it doesn’t hurt that I really liked the music, not to mention the footage.  If the scenes the creator selected are any indication, the animation in Metropolis must be top-notch.  These amazing visuals came together with the lyrics perfectly and made me care about what I was witnessing.
 

“Through Time, Through Space”—Voices of a Distant Star/“Out There” by DJ Encore Now here’s a dramatic/romantic video that errs more to the side of drama.  In fact, it’s difficult to describe this one as “romantic” in the current sense of the word.  An anime that revolves around the separation of the love interests is bound to be lower on warm-and-fuzzy-ness and higher on angst.  This video captures the latter quite well; although it shows a few moments of happy togetherness, it has a lot more of lonely despair.  However, it’s not all romantic angst; there’s also quite a bit of intergalactic mecha-combat action (it is anime, after all).  Meanwhile the song, with its lyrics of longing and its electronic sound, fits both the human drama and the sci-fi themes perfectly.

The anime the cell phone companies don’t want you to see.

“1000 Years”—Final Fantasy X/“A Thousand Years” by Sting
Hey, whaddya know, a Final Fantasy video!  See, FFML, my AX Report is sometimes OT. ;D  Anyways, it too is a romantic drama vid, this time revolving around Tidus and Yuna.  Again, the song chosen was an appropriate choice.  (And I don’t know if this counts as bad or good, but I didn’t even begin to suspect that it was done by Sting until I had seen it several times.)  The video wasn’t actually anime, of course, but FFX’s CG animation, which meant a combination of near-photographic realism and spectacular visual artistry.  If you can’t stand CG, Sting’s music, or romantic themes in general, then be warned: this video will give you hives.  To everyone else, though, I gladly recommend it.

Note: Note to non-FFMLers—one of FFML’s in-jokes is that we’re supposed use OT to mean “on-topic” (not “off-topic”) since we rarely are. XD

Action Category
“Everyday”—Macross Plus/“Everyday” by Bon Jovi
There was a Macross Plus video at AX ’01 too, but this one was quite different; it didn’t do anything for me.  Granted, I’m not a Macross fanatic(the most I can say is that I watched Robotech back in the day), but again I’ll blame the choice of song for my lack of enthusiasm.  The mecha combat stuff wasn’t bad, but for its part Bon Jovi’s defiant rock anthem didn’t inspire me to flaunt any conventions or challenge any authorities; it didn’t even make me want to get up and rock out.  Yes, anime is mostly visual, so it might not matter so much to an anime fan, but these are still music videos.  I guess that this vid suffered due to my musical tastes.  But, if you’re a fan of Macross Plus or Bon Jovi, feel free to ignore my criticisms.  It’s your life. ^_^

“Bite the Dust”—Noir/“Another One Bites the Dust” by Queen Anime about gun-wielding assassins; song about blowing people away.  Well, you can’t say it doesn’t fit.  I was taken aback by the fact that the creator cut parts of the song to make the video (unlike the previous example, I dig Queen, and thus felt their music shouldn’t be fooled around with), but still the video wasn’t bad.  All the gunplay was predictably but impeccably timed to the song’s beats.  You can argue that the idea isn’t very novel, and that the video isn’t even all that action-packed (the shootings shown in the video are quite unspectacular, especially by anime standards).  However, I just haven’t seen many AMVs done to “Another One Bites the Dust,” nor do I hear the song itself a lot, so I found this video to be a treat.

Pedophiles, beware: this is one anime girl you ain’t gonna mess wit’.

“Souls of Rage and Sorrow”—Escaflowne movie/“Path” by Apocalyptica
I did a little research, and it seems Apocalyptica is a group of classical musicians who put out an album of Metallica covers.  The song used in this video is one of their original compositions, but make no mistake, it rocks hard.  Combine its metal stylings with the mayhem of the Escaflowne movie’s action sequences, and you have a great video.  Of course, I’m one of the half-dozen or so fans who actually liked the movie (probably because I haven’t seen the series yet), so I may be a little biased.  Still, I can’t see how this video (or the movie, for that matter) would disappoint any fans of action; the fights are bloody but not really gory, violent but not over the top.  And hey, the music totally rocks (yes, this statement is also applicable to both the video and the movie :) ).  So as long as the mere mention of the Escaflowne movie doesn’t make you wince, I think you’ll find this to be a superb action vid.

“Eternal Damnation”—Hellsing/“Pompeii” by E.S. Posthumus
Another bloody action video set to music by a group with classical leanings; of course, bloodletting is to be expected with an anime about vampires hunting other vampires.  Yet this video had a far different feel than the previous one.  While “Souls of Rage and Sorrow” was more dramatic in tone, showing some of the Hitomi-Van relationship and other elements of the movie, “Damnation” was, as you might expect, heavy on horror themes.  Naturally, the anime employs many horror-film standards: jarring camera angles, ominous shadows, and of course grotesque monsters.  Unsurprisingly, these elements also show up in the video.  And the music is a pretty good match, as it builds to dramatic peaks along with the footage.  So another thumbs up from me, especially if you’re a fan of horror.

“Eye of the Battousai”—Rurouni Kenshin/“Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor
Now this is how a power ballad AMV should be done.  Not that I’m suggesting more AMVs should be done to power ballads, mind you, but hey, I liked this one.  If you know anything about the anime and the song, then it shouldn’t be too hard to infer the video’s theme.  Of course, that won’t stop me from explaining anyways; it’s about everyone’s favorite samurai killer turned nice guy Kenshin Himura and his many bouts with blade-wielding maniacs.  Like Rocky, the fictional character for whom the song was actually written, Kenshin takes a lickin’ and keeps on kickin’—ass, that is.  Eyes (particularly prepare-to-die glowers) also apparently play an important role in the anime, so the song’s metaphor is especially appropriate.  In short, it all works.

“Sin City”—Various/KFDM, "Sin City Remix"
Unfortunately, I can’t say much about this video, because I don’t remember it very well.  All I can recall is a definite city theme (urban settings, etc.), a dark and lurid tone (again appropriate to the video’s title), and random flashes of Asuka from Evangelion, for some bizarre reason.  Clearly, I found this video incomprehensible, which explains why I have such vague memories of it.  I couldn’t find a download at animemusicvideos.org (the premiere Internet resource for AMVs), but at least the creator finally made an entry providing the vital info for the video (which is about the only way I would have known the song and artist).  The creator also writes that he wasn't happy with the video, and that he will eventually remake it.  Such remarks make me feel a bit more justified for finding “Sin City” version 1.0 somewhat forgettable.
 

“Mitternacht”—Hellsing, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, Blood: The Last Vampire/“Mitternacht” by E Nomine Vampires, vampires, German heavy metal, and more vampires; that’s the name of the game in this video.  You might think that, what with “Eternal Damnation,” my quota for vampire-themed music videos was already filled, but it seems there was room for one more, provided it was good.  And “Mitternacht” was.  As awesome as the song “Pompeii” is, nothing sets the tone for horror as perfectly as a menacing male voice narrating in German.  Plus, this video had more variety in its night stalkers.  From the toothily grinning protagonist of Hellsing to the stoic, eponymous hero of Vampire Hunter D to the hideous hell-beasts from Blood, the vampires of “Mitternacht” make up a veritable dream team of horror anime.  Goths and hemophiles, rejoice; there are AMVs for you!

With a grin like this, he’s either a vampire or one freaky perv.

Action Vid I Picked: “Souls of Rage and Sorrow” (?)
I’m guessing here because I’m actually not sure what I voted for.  I know I didn’t pick the category winner here, and I wasn’t hot on “Everyday” or “Sin City,” but aside from that I don’t know.  It could also have been “Eternal Damnation,” but if I had to guess, I probably would have gone with what I knew best, and the Escaflowne movie qualifies.  Plus it’s a great video to boot, a nice mix of action and drama.

Comedy Category
“Hound Dogs”—Various/“Hound Dog” by Elvis Presley
One of the strengths of anime is its lack of thematic boundaries.  There’s anime for every genre under the sun: comedy, drama, sci-fi, martial arts, sports, mystery, and so on.  There are all kinds of characters, even heros and heroines who are at times...less than heroic.  Apparently, someone decided that these characters deserved to be highlighted in an anime music video.  Hence this one, which combines Elvis’s denunciation of low-down types with scenes of various anime protagonists at their worst.  You may chuckle a bit at watching these characters repeatedly shame themselves, but I imagine it gets old after awhile.  And I’m not sure about this, but I’m beginning to suspect it’s quite difficult to make good music videos using songs by older artists like Elvis and Sinatra.  Music like that conjures up a very different mindset than anime does, and that gap is hard to bridge.  I suppose anime does have its limits, after all.

“Vanilla Vash”—Trigun/“Ice Ice Baby 2001” by Vanilla Ice
I think this is one of those videos intended to make anime fans of a certain age slap themselves on the forehead and say, “Why didn’t I see that before???”  A white guy with poofy blond hair: sound familiar, children of the 90s?  Of course, Vash the Stampede has some significant differences from Vanilla Ice.  One is an immensely misunderstood outlaw, the other is a rapper who made it big, lost it all, and smashed a mannequin with a baseball bat on MTV.  One is worth millions in reward money; the other is probably no longer worth much at all.  One is a fictional character; the other, sad to say, is real.  But hey, they both start with a “V”!  There was probably a little more to this video than just resemblance, but damned if I can recall what more there was.  Fortunately, I didn’t have to remember much about “Vanilla Vash,” because, as it turned out, there was a better video in the contest also on the theme of anime characters that look like white rappers (skip down a couple entries for that one).

“Leaves of Happaness”—Various/“Yatta!” by Happatai
Geeks and otaku the world over doubtless know “Yatta!” as the hilarious and/or disturbing pop music video featuring a group of psychotically cheerful Japanese guys with strategically placed foliage.  Well, I’m actually just guessing about that; I myself have not seen it but have heard of it through various geek channels.  If the impression I’ve gotten is accurate, then I can safely say that “Leaves of Happaness” is cut from the same cloth as its inspiration: hysterical but so very wrong.  The creator(s) must have realized that a comedy video doesn’t necessarily have to rely on humorous scenes, particularly if the music itself is a riot.  Thus the inexorable cheeriness of the song “Yatta!” is juxtaposed with some of the most disturbing scenes ever put to cel by Japanese animators (see: Evangelion, Akira), as well as comic bits and the obligatory nearly naked anime guys.  And just to drive the point home, helpful English subtitles are there to show those ignorant of the Japanese language just how unrelentingly upbeat the song is.  If you like your comedy perverse, this is the AMV for you.

“In the Mind of a Hina Inn Manager”—Various/“Short Skirt, Long Jacket” by Cake
Because no AMV contest is truly complete without a comedy video involving Love Hina, there was this one.  The gag of this vid was that the mind of Keitaro would be filled with thoughts of anime’s hottest and bounciest babes, naturally.  Because there was no real structure to the video, that’s about all I can say regarding it.  In a nutshell, it’s anime cuties jiggling along with the lyrics.  If not for the title, you probably wouldn’t know there was a joke.  Of course, if you like ogling cartoon females, by all means, seek out this video.  But for a comedy video, it was just a bit lacking in side-splitting and gut-busting laughs.
 

“Without GTO”—Great Teacher Onizuka/“Without Me” by Eminem The creator of this video has made the greatest discovery of the 21st century: Great Teacher Onizuka is the real (albeit Japanese) Slim Shady™.  My God, look at them.  Of course, there’s more to this video than their visible similarities.  It’s well edited and matches the anime with the song quite well.  Strangely, there are moments when the dialogue (from the dub) is audible, if mostly covered by the music, but it happens sporadically, so I can only assume the creator did that for some reason.  Still, it’s not a big thing.  The video is still freakin’ hilarious.  Look for cameos by Vice President Dick Cheney, Eminem’s sworn archenemy Moby, Dance Dance Revolution, and many others.

We meet again, Moby.

“If You Know What I Mean”—Ranma 1/2/“I’ve Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts” by Merv Griffin
What does the creator of this video mean?  Well, let’s see.  Song about coconuts...anime with well-endowed female characters...ah, I see.  Hi-larious.  Hardy har.  And so on.  Yeah, the videos in this category aren’t known for a great deal of subtlety.  I dunno, if you absolutely need to kill 30+ megs of hard drive space, there are no doubt less worthwhile placeholders.  If you have an obsessive compulsion to collect all things Ranma, then you might want to know about this.  But aside from that, well, what more can I say?
 

“The Chibi Things (That Kill)”—Various/“Little Things” by Bush Crossovers in anime music videos never seem to go out of style.  In 2001, it was a Trigun/Cowboy Bebop crossover that took home the coveted Golden Cabbit for Best of Show at the AMV Contest.  Yet in spite of (or perhaps because of) its overwhelming success, AMV creators continued to turn out crossover vids.  With “Tainted Donuts,” a bar had been set, a record that, like all others, was made to be broken.  In 2003, another comedy video came along and shattered all our preconceived notions about the possibilities and limitations of crossover AMVs.  That video was “The Chibi Things.”  Its premise is simple, yet compelling: take some of anime’s most adorable critters and teeny-weeny characters, have them face some of anime’s most badass mofos, and show them handing said mofos their asses on pretty floral-decorated plates.  “The little things that kill,” indeed.  As with all crossover videos, the editing isn’t exactly seamless, but the sight of DBZ’s musclebound punk Vegeta getting blown to Hell by Chobits cutie Sumomo alone makes this video a must-have for any AMV collection.

I call this move the Battousai bitchslap!

Note: Please note that the Golden Cabbit is strictly a figment of the author’s imagination.  It is not awarded to AMV Contest winners, because it does not exist.  The author of this report cannot be held liable for any disappointment experienced by past or future AMV Contest winners upon learning that they did not receive a Golden Cabbit or upon discovering that the awarding of the Golden Cabbit is, in fact, a big fat lie.  Thank you.

A(nime)MTV Category
“Young Felicity”—Various/“Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” by Cyndi Lauper
Do animated girls have more fun?  The maker of this video would have you believe so.  It can pretty much be summed up as two and a half minutes of anime females doing what they do best—being energetic, vivacious, and easy on the eyes.  Okay, it’s fluff, but it’s fun too, which is really all that’s required of fluff.  The maker was mostly successful in matching scenes with the lyrics and lip-syncing, but the main strength of this video is its showcasing girls...just having fun (no surprise there).  I wouldn’t say it’s a must have, but if you want a lighthearted video with a variety of cute girls, then give this one a try.
 

“The Two Shall Meet”—Revolutionary Girl Utena movie/“Nara” by E.S. Posthumus In stark contrast to the previous one, this female-centric video is somber, dramatic, and at times even surreal.  Well, what do you expect from the Utena movie?  The song is appropriately slow and solemn, yet with a steady, dancelike rhythm that adds power to certain sequences.  I should also mention that there is a slight emphasis on visual effects in this video (which seems to be one of the common threads to the AMTV videos).  As I have heard about but not seen the Utena movie, I can’t say for sure what was done by the video’s creator and what was actually in the movie.  Some effects, especially towards the end, are almost certainly the video’s, but a few others I don’t know about.  I guess I’ll just have to go watch the movie sometime.  Well, at any rate, the video is definitely worth watching, especially if you (like me) enjoy dramatic videos.

Gimme an “Oh!”  Oh!  Gimme a “My!”  My!  Gimme a “Heck!” Heck!  What’s it spell? THEY’RE LESBIANS!

“Femme Fatale”—Noir/?????
This video is probably the most obscure of the 28.  I can’t find it for download, and even the online resources I found don’t say what music was used.  The title doesn’t tell me much, since Noir is about female assassins, so what can I say?  I suppose it might say something that I remember nothing about this video, whereas “Bite the Dust” stuck in my memory (not that the gist of “Bite the Dust” is all that difficult to grasp).  I like to think that I would have remembered anything worth remembering about “Femme Fatale.”  But since this video doesn’t seem to be available for download anyways, I guess my non-critique was pointless to begin with.

“Questionable Gender”—I Me My Strawberry Eggs/“Dude (Looks Like a Lady)” by Aerosmith
One guess as to the gag of this video.  Yes, it’s one of those anime.  If I understand rightly, Strawberry Eggs is about a guy who must pretend to be a woman and teach high school.  Hilarity and cheesecake both ensue as he tries to keep his secret from students and co-workers alike.  Naturally, this video involves a lot of shots of (apparently) female anatomy and comparisons of the male and female versions of the protagonist.  And once again, various editing tricks are employed to spice up the video.  While this one was not my favorite in this category, it was far from my least favorite of the night.  One thing I wonder about is why it wasn't in the comedy category, since it was at least as funny as “If You Know What I Mean.”  Maybe there weren't enough videos that qualified for this new category, so the judges switched this one out.  Regardless, I feel “Questionable Gender” was done a disservice by landing in AMTV, because it was clearly better off competing against the likes of “Hound Dogs,” rather than the likes of these next three.

“Euphoria”—RahXephon/“Must Be Dreaming” by Frou Frou
“Euphoria” is an entirely appropriate title for this video, given the dreamy feel of the music and of certain visuals.  However, other apt one-word titles might be “Hallucinations,” or “Effects,” due to its heavy emphasis on flashy effects.  This is not to say I disliked it—I thoroughly enjoyed it—but frankly, if you’re epileptic, then I’d caution you against this one.  Still, it’s not an effects-for-effects’-sake video; there are dramatic and romantic themes to be found in it as well, which is probably what drew me to it so strongly.  The effects truly complement the music and are most concentrated in the chorus sections and at the video’s climax.  It can be a little overpowering on first view, but if you give it a chance, it may grow on you.

“Hindi Sad Diamonds”—Ah My Goddess movie/“Hindi Sad Diamonds,” Moulin Rouge OST
Now if I had to pick one word to sum up this video, it would be “overwhelming.”  Again, I haven't seen any AMG, which includes the movie, nor have I seen Moulin Rouge, which provided the music for this video.  I recently rewatched it, and my reaction was pretty much the same as my initial impression: it’s all just a bit too much.  The visuals and music hit you hard and fast and scarcely let you catch your breath.  IMO, “Euphoria” ran to the edge of incomprehensibility but stopped short, while this video leapt over, shrieking gleefully.  Now perhaps there’s a reason for this.  I have no way of confirming the following thesis, but I have a sneaking suspicion that this video was made in such a way as to not give any of the movie’s plot points.  So if you’ve a strong constitution and you’re looking for an Ah My Goddess music video that tells you absolutely nothing about the story of Ah My Goddess, try this one.
 

“Stop the Rock?”—Various/“Stop the Rock” by Apollo Four Forty Like “Euphoria,” this was a heavily edited vid.  However, it wasn’t a dramatic video but a fun and crazy one.  If I had to pick one video to define the AMTV category, it would be this one.  There’s no clear themes to it other than anime characters boogying and rocking out, but in this case it works.  The simple lyrics and catchy melody of Apollo Four Forty’s song help by not complicating matters.  Perhaps this is what allowed the creator to go wild with his effects and his source material.  In this video you’ll see fancy color effects, digital nudity, and crossovers galore.  Just to name a few of the anime titles sampled in this video, you’ll see Excel Saga, Evangelion, Trigun, Chobits, FLCL, Golden Boy, and Great Teacher Onizuka.  You’ll even see references to non-anime sources, such as video games and online in-jokes.  “Stop the Rock” is a rockin’ special effects extravaganza, and was perhaps the best choice to bring the 2003 AMV Contest to a close.

Yes, this video has a little of everything—even Tetris. Tetris, for Christ’s sake!

AMTV Vid I Picked: “Euphoria”
Why yes, I do have a thing for dramatic vids.  That being the case, here I agonized over whether to vote for “Euphoria” or “The Two Shall Meet.”  “Stop the Rock” also made a strong case, but in the end I went with my heartstrings over my funnybone.  Looking back, I really don’t know if I would have voted for “Euphoria” if I had seen it before “Two Shall Meet,” they were so evenly matched in theme, musical appeal, and visual splendor.  Maybe the extra effects (and the extra labor that they no doubt demanded) pushed “Euphoria” over the top; or maybe it was just that it was fresher in my memory.  Regardless, it was my choice for this category, and I do not regret it.

My Best of Show Choice
    As if choosing the category winners wasn’t hard enough, we also had to select one that we thought was the best out of all 28 videos.  I made this choice even harder on myself by not automatically limiting myself to my four category picks.  But as you might have guessed, I decided to stick with the more drama-themed videos, which narrowed my field a bit.  So, “Center of the Sun” or “Euphoria?”  Mmm......“Euphoria.”  No, “Center of the Sun.”  Yeah.  No, wait, “Euphoria.”  No, “Center!”  No, “Souls of Rage and Sorrow!”  Wait, what?  ARRGGHH!  Okay, okay; calm down.  Now, take one more look at each choice.  “Euphoria” had better special effects, but “Center of the Sun” had a clearer plot and thematic focus.  So then, I will...I will—go with substance over style; I choose “Center of the Sun.”

And the (Actual) Winners...
    ...weren’t announced until the next night, at the Masquerade, as I said in the report proper.  First, here’s a list of awards the audience didn’t vote on:

• Judges’ Favorite: “The Chibi Things (That Kill)”
• Creators’ Favorite: “Chibi Things”
• Staff Favorite: “Euphoria”
• Otaku Outpost’s Choice Award: “Center of the Sun”
• Otaku Outpost’s Cajones Award: “Without GTO”
• AMV Creators’ Choice Award: “Euphoria”

    So, this year I was 1 for 5 as far as picking winners.  Yet I regret none of my choices, nor can I feel too disappointed with any of the actual winners.  While there were videos that were confusing, cheesy, or less than memorable, on the whole the AX ’03 AMV Contest was well worth it.

[ Back ]

Disclaimer: This account contains a lot that could offend people.  Sexual content.  Drug use.  Profanity.  Violence.  Celebrations of Japanese culture.  Non-white people.  Crudely drawn pictures.  Sentence fragments.  If anything in this account offends you, find another web page. If your kid reads something that offends you, tell them to find another web page.  If you’re really ticked off by it, then e-mail “cosmic_chicken” at “excite” dot “com” so I can ignore you.  Certain characters, events, etc. referred to and depicted in this account come from Japanese animated films and television series and are copyrighted by their respective companies.  The top image was found via Google and taken from another website; this isn’t a commercial website, so whatever.