2022 in retrospect: top 30 amvs (30 – 21)

Today starts the ranked countdown of my 30 favorite AMVs from 2022. As a reminder, this post and the following two (which will be posted over the next two days) will contain 10 AMVs each, and there will be no Editor of the Year award, like there has been in previous years (if you skipped the Honorable Mentions post, take a gander at the introductory text there to understand why). Also, to reiterate — these are my favorites, and the only standard by which I judge them is my own taste. Hopefully these write-ups will do a good job at explaining why I feel the way I do, but as usual, nothing I say here should be taken as gospel. Each person reading this will certainly not like everything shared here, and that’s okay!

Also, at the end of the final post, I will, as usual, provide a link to a spreadsheet showing all 70 videos that I sorted through to get to this final list of 30 (plus the 15 Honorable Mentions from yesterday), in case you just haven’t had enough AMVs by that point.

Alright, enough babbling, let’s get going. Thanks for checking this out, and I hope you enjoy!

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30. Bauzi – 21st Century Metropolis

Anime: Various
Song: “Cirrus” by Bonobo

The city as a setting — even more, as a kind of manufactured, living organism — is a concept that has always fascinated me. Living near Chicago, I love going downtown and getting lost in its mind-bending complexity — there’s a mental stimulation that it provides to me that nothing else can. It’s an ever-shifting, unsolvable puzzle that is simultaneously alluring and repulsive, a bizarre amalgamation of organic lifeblood and mechanistic automation. I am captivated by these contradictions.

It’s probably no surprise then that 21st Century Metropolis is the kind of AMV I would latch onto with hardly a second thought. Bauzi puts the suffocating claustrophobia and churning, seething character of modern urbanism on full display, draping everything in a monochromatic, machine-blue sheen, flattening out all the wildly different animation styles into a single, all-encompassing uniformity. Meanwhile, the dizzyingly intricate arrangements of steel and concrete are put front-and-center — if people are shown, they are only ever portrayed as completely insignificant, subservient to the inhalations and exhalations of the metropolis’s inscrutable nervous system of power lines, sewer systems, and transportation arteries. The city doesn’t care about the individual — you are now one of millions in a setting where your staying or leaving, living or dying is completely immaterial to its continued, inevitable expansion. 21st Century Metropolis is a cold, artificial AMV, but that’s kind of the point. If you don’t get it, go watch a Mushishi video or something.

29. FallChild42 – Truly Truly Truly Cretaceous

Anime: Gal & Dino
Song: “Dinosaur” by Matt Mulholland

I would be utterly, utterly shocked if, at any point in 2022, a more fun video born out of a purer pool of innocence came into being. Truly Truly Truly Cretaceous is so fantastically, absurdly joyful that it creates new, never-before-cataloged Good Vibes out of nothing — the goofy premise, the mixed media source, the way that FallChild42 ties it all together through his energetic, bouncy editing that feels both razor-sharp and wildly spontaneous…those facial muscles move with no resistance. The smile is permanent for the two-and-a-half minutes this video is playing, and then for a while afterwards, too. Every little piece of this, even down to the kitschy early-2010s-esque, so-bad-it’s-good dance-pop song, just fits together in that way which suggests it was always meant to be. One day, when he’s old enough to enjoy it, my son will see this video and then it’ll be on repeat for months, I can already feel it coming. Maybe then I’ll get tired of it, but for now, I have to believe that there’s never a wrong time to watch this video. You don’t need to be in any particular headspace. It will automatically put you in a better mood — guaranteed or your money back!

28. Shade The Novice – Hisoyakani

Anime: Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop
Song: “Hisoyakani” by Lamp

This anime has produced some really one-note AMVs — not bad ones per se, but it’s a source that results in very little variation in theme from one video to the next. Hisoyakani doesn’t totally escape this conceptual cul-de-sac, but Shade The Novice’s languid approach lends the video significantly more pathos and emotional reflection than you might be used to. Single (beautiful) scenes linger in the air like the setting sun, giving isolated passages from the movie more screen time than common editing sense would typically deem a good idea — but it’s all in the service of communicating that simmering, quiet uncertainty and self-doubt that defines every adolescent relationship. The video ends in the same happy way that all AMVs which use this source do, but it’s a more ambiguous, muted happiness that doesn’t feel completely resolved. A perfect ending, in other words.

27. Seasaltmemories – Playing House

Anime: Mawaru Penguin Drum
Song: “Fake It” by Bastille

You can choose to try and follow the story in this AMV — it’s definitely there, but like the anime itself, is more than a little shrouded behind evasive symbolism and context-dependent scene selection. I’ve seen the anime and made my own AMV with it, and those are probably the only reasons I kind of get what Seasaltmemories is going for here, but the great thing is that she imbues this video with so many clear emotional cues that it’s easy enough to follow its bigger arcs, even when the details are maybe a bit esoteric. There’s pain and grief tied up in nearly every scene, but it all bends towards something like hopeful resolution by the end — certainly not cancelling out of the video’s sadness, at least not completely, but its tragedy is softened.

And Seasaltmemories does this all with an impressively skillful touch — the editing here is the kind of thing I would study in my free time, if I had any (kids, man). It flows at a subconscious level, with little overt manipulation by the editor — there are some masked transitions here and there but for the most part this video is carried by an impeccable scene selection that caters to the concept without ever sacrificing any momentum or emotive force. Even the innocuous, “filler” scenes that communicate nothing on their own slot into place here in an immensely satisfying way, linking characters and settings together to make it all just work. This year was my first of encountering this editor’s work, but I assure you it won’t be my last.

26. Pablo Shoe – A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes

Anime: Various
Song: “A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes” by Lily James

You could probably distill pure cane sugar from this AMV if you had the technology — the saccharine Disney that seeps from its every pore is palpable from even just its title. And maybe part of why I ended up loving it so much is because it vibrated that tiny nostalgia bone in my body that sets off the feel-good chemicals — as a child, the 1950 version of Cinderella was a movie I remember watching quite a bit, so this modern rendition of one of its songs was immediately familiar to me in that warm, cozy way that only happens when long-forgotten, happy memories unexpectedly surface. But even ignoring all that, Pablo Shoe immaculately captures the gentle optimism of the song, weaving scenes from different anime together using silky internal sync that artfully traces the rises and falls of the orchestral sweeps. It’s a pure pleasure to watch from any angle you choose to view it, a perfect way to end your day right before turning off your computer or phone for the night in order to prime your brain for the most pleasant dreams imaginable.

25. DopplerDo – Love Is Not A Victory March

Anime: Revolutionary Girl Utena
Song: “Hallelujah” by Pentatonix

If you’re looking for a fresh take on this anime in AMV form — an anime that has seen its fair share of AMVs pretty much since AMVs have been a thing — this one ain’t it. It pains me to say this, but most Utena videos tend to do what DopplerDo(es) here — load themselves with all the visually poetic, beautifully-composed scenes and let those do the heavy lifting while the resultant drama swirls around your head like a flock of doves. Yeah, it’s an effective tactic, and it tends to work because this anime has a timeless artistry about it that pretty much inoculates it against ever looking bad in these kinds of equivocal drama videos. So while Doppler doesn’t get many points for originality, it bears emphasis that this video still manages to stir up something in me where other, similar Utena videos simply don’t.

A part of it probably has to do with the song — while I’m not a huge fan of this particular version, much like the anime, “Hallelujah” is an eternal piece of music, pure poetry that you can’t really ruin no matter how hard you might try. And it truly works here to elevate Doppler’s vision to operatic heights — I’ve seen most of these scenes a hundred times before but they are given new weight and force with these particular words sitting behind them. And while Doppler’s effect work is uncharacteristically subdued here, when he dips his finger into the pond it ripples out to gracefully enhance this video here and there, giving the video just enough extra momentum and visual flair to stand out in the pack, if only just. It all just works, in a way that is entirely predictable but, somehow, no less powerful for it.

24. dubstepkin – EVERYTHING IN ITS RIGHT PLACE

Anime: Neon Genesis Evangelion
Song: “Everything In Its Right Place” by Radiohead

CW: Extreme strobing

EVERYTHING IN ITS RIGHT PLACE starts with a deceptively innocuous intro — the first 35 seconds are nothing but a distant shot of Shinji’s back, obscuring a light source on his other side which slowly starts to spill around his silhouette. As the video progresses, we’re treated to a slowly accelerating descent into what amounts to the manifestation of a mental breakdown — cutouts of Shinji on a chair, gripping his head, spiral around the edges of the screen; the pencil sketches from Evangelion’s final episodes layer on top of one another in a jumble; headache-inducing strobes dominate most of the video’s middle portion; those shifting blurs that start around 2:57? I’m still not sure if the editor added them or if my eyes are just malfunctioning from the optical assault that comes right before. What starts as a simple character profile completely collapses in on itself under its own internal stresses, and all that’s left for the viewer is a smeared, impressionistic three-and-a-half minutes that leaves you totally spent, and maybe even partially blind. Recommended viewing, but dubstepkin might want you to sign a waiver first.

23. takara – Gone up in flames

Anime: K-ON!
Song: “Gone Up In Flames” by Morning Runner

Play this video for one (1) second and pause it — from there on out it is exactly what you think it is: a celebratory, endorphin-riddled party of goofy facial expressions, non-stop motion, and the requisite scenes of moe girls playing in a band, edited together to one of the most fun indie rock songs I’ve heard in recent memory. I wish I had something more substantial to say here but some videos just don’t have it in them — Gone up in flames is wonderful, superficial entertainment that forces a grin to your lips and asks you to abandon your worries, fears, and worldly concerns for a blissful two-and-a-half minutes. I love the energy, I love the purity, I love pretty much everything about this, really. How could you not?

22. drewaconclusion – At the End of the Road You Find… Nothing

Anime: End of Evangelion // Neon Genesis Evangelion // Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death and Rebirth
Song: “This Is Nowhere” by Orville Peck

Another year, another Shinji character profile. You’d think this idea would have been bled dry by now, and maybe it has, but this dead-simple, meditative reflection on Shinji’s relationship (or rather, lack thereof) with his mother is a worthy addition to the pile. Slow, deliberate, and immersed in a gaping pensiveness, At the End of the Road… trudges by in a brief 81 seconds, yet it leaves a deep, lasting impression that is hard to dislodge. Even the video’s final scenes — the grotesque imagery that remains after End of Evangelion’s Apocalypse — are robbed of their horror, only to be replaced with a bleak sadness that drives home the empty loneliness present throughout this entire video, as if we see all this viscera and desolation but none of it, ultimately, matters in the face of Shinji’s personal loss. This AMV is short, but the title says it all — it will leave you with an absence that you’ll feel profoundly.

21. JCD – Timering

Anime: Puella Magi Madoka Magica (movies)
Song: “Frog Machine” by Infected Mushroom

Fun fact: last year’s list was the only one that didn’t have any Madoka videos in it (if someone decides to fact-check that and it ends up being false, well, my bad). I’m happy to reintroduce Madoka to the upper echelons of this year’s AMV offerings, though, and even moreso because this is an absolute return to form for JCD, an editor I’ve been a fan of since my earliest days in the hobby. The psytrance, the slicker-than-slick editing full of juicy internal sync, the way it all attaches to the chosen anime like a magnet…there’s no story here, none of the oft-explored drama of Madoka Magica’s tragic story, just a full-force torrent of adrenaline being fed directly into your veins. JCD maximizes all the surreal imagery to emphasize the song’s most psychedelic moments, injecting his own minimal effects work here and there to give it that extra oomph that puts this thing into orbit. It’s absolutely exhilarating, a painless kick to the balls — it knocks the wind out of you, but trust me, you’ll be coming back for more.