Hello everyone and welcome to my list of top 50 AMV’s for 2021. This is the first year I’ve done something like this, and I chose possibly the worst (or best depending on how you look at it) year to start. You see, since the end of 2020 and going into 2021 I’ve been getting into the hobby of AMV’s in ways I hadn’t quite before, this has resulted in the amount of AMV’s I watched throughout 2021 increasing drastically compared to previous years.
For the selection process, I decided to limit myself to only the AMV’s in my liked list on YouTube. I watched a lot more AMV’s than I “liked”, however I decided that if I hadn’t enjoyed an AMV enough to put it in my liked list then there was no point including it in the ranking process. Even with this restriction I ended up with 145 eligible videos that I had to whittle down to 50 and then rank in order (for comparison on how ridiculous 2021 was for me, the amount of AMV’s in 2020 that I added to my liked list was only 68). The ranking ended up being an interesting process (I don’t particularly want to type out the entire process here, as it was a massive faff, but if anyone does want to know the intricacies, let me know and I will be happy to explain), and I learnt a lot about myself and what I value in AMV’s. However it was a little bit like trying to choose my favourite children; cutting some videos from this list was rather painful, and I didn’t leave myself enough time to create a honorable mentions list. Ah well, at least I have the space of this blog to talk about any I feel deserving of some kind of attention later in the year if I need to.
After the ranking process came the challenge of trying to write something meaningful about each AMV and explain why I like it/what it means to me. I have trouble adequately expressing myself through words (one of the many reasons why I’m so attached to AMV’s as a form of expression), especially when trying to explain my emotions/thoughts, so this process was particularly difficult for me. I have managed to at least write something about each video, I’m not quite happy with the amount I’ve written for some of them, but I am proud of myself for being able to roughly express how I feel about 50 different AMV’s.
Creating a top 50 AMV list myself has put into perspective just how much effort and dedication goes into this. I want to give a shout out to CrackTheSky and Seasons, who have both been doing these lists for several years, and honestly I’m so impressed that they continue to do so year after year.
Before we begin the list of AMV’s, I would like to emphasise that this list is all my personal preference, there will no doubt be a lot of ranking choices that won’t make much sense to other people. That’s the beauty of these lists though, they’re personal to everyone who makes one, so there’s the chance of stumbling across something new to enjoy.
In time honoured tradition carved out by those before me, I will be posting the list in chunks of 10, starting with 50 – 41 today and continuing to post each day until 10 – 1.
Onwards to the AMV’s!
50
Video title: The Chain
Editor: Spike C
Anime: Revolutionary Girl Utena
Song: The Chain
Artist: Fleetwood Mac
Comments: That this AMV is at only number 50 on this list is rather sobering for me. I went into this exercise of ranking AMV’s rather naively, thinking “oh yeah, I really like such and such video, it’ll definitely end up in my top 50”. As it happens though, 50 is a finite number and I can’t have all the AMV’s I like in this list. I could only include the ones I absolutely love above all others, and that there are 49 above this one blows my mind as this already sets the bar extremely high.
“The Chain” is not really a song I’d ever consider making an AMV with, in this day and age I doubt many people would. Spike C absolutely pulls it off, and the choice of Utena to this song is inspired.
Spike C chooses to ignore the prominent drum beat and instead syncs almost exclusively to the guitar and the vocals. The result is a video that moves fluidly with the music, my eyes aren’t distracted by any adherence to beat sync, it’s all movement and rhythm and it’s wonderful.
VPR: Flashes to white, flickering, red emphasis scenes
49
Video title: Next Level
Editor: Shark Tooth Goosie
Anime: Haikyuu
Song: Next Level
Artist: Zayde Wølf
Comments: I’m not really into sports anime, so it came as a bit of a surprise to me how much I enjoy this AMV. “Next Level” has a lot of creative and concise sync, which makes it super fun to watch. It’s also possibly the first Haikyuu AMV I’ve watched where the “hype” feels real to me. The song choice plus the intensity Shark Tooth Goosie injects with their editing, makes the energy of the competition come alive for me in a way I’ve perhaps not been able to appreciate in other Haikyuu AMV’s.
I’m going to end by saying I adore all of Shark Tooth Goosie’s videos, they’ve had an excellent 2021 and I would recommend watching more of their AMV’s if you enjoy this one.
VPR: Flashes to both black and white, quick cuts
48
Video title: Wild Love
Editor: NekoKitkat25hug
Anime: Cowboy Bebop
Song: Wild Love
Artist: BANNERS
Comments: I would hope most AMV watchers out there will have already come across Nekokitkat’s videos, but just in case I would like to state that Nekokitkat’s videos are awesome!
“Wild Love” is such a unique take on Cowboy Bebop, and I think Nekokitkat is the only person who could have made an AMV like this. It’s true that themes of family/friendship are prevalent throughout Cowboy Bebop, however they’re so overshadowed by everything else going on in the anime that I doubt many other people would ever consider focusing solely on that aspect.
Nekokitkat uses a lot of clips where the Bebop crew are chilling and doing silly things together, bringing attention to the joy that can be found in the mundane everyday life things shared with others.
“Wild Love” is super comfy and uplifting and it makes my heart happy.
VPR: Fades to white, flickering, motion
47
Video title: You! Me! Dancing!
Editor: Jose AMV
Anime: Sk8 The Infinity
Song: You! Me! Dancing!
Artist: Los Campesinos
Comments: I watched a lot of Sk8 AMV’s in 2021 (I even made one myself!). I found “You! Me! Dancing!” quite late in the year (despite it being uploaded in April, I only found it due to a related video), and it’s clawed it’s way into being the only Sk8 AMV in my top 50.
What I enjoy most about “You! Me! Dancing!” is how incredibly well it communicates an absolute love for skateboarding, it captures this so purely in a way I’m not sure even the anime did. The song is about dancing, but Jose AMV manages to translate that into skateboarding effortlessly. The whole video radiates such feel good energy, and does so for 6+ minutes!
VPR: Quick cuts, fades to white, flickering
46
Video title: Starstruck
Editor: TheLazyDaze
Anime: Bishounen Tanteidan
Song: Blinding Lights
Artist: The Weeknd
Comments: I will confess I’m biased towards this song. That’s not a bad thing though, it helps me continuously appreciate all the different ways people have edited with it. With “Starstruck” TheLazyDaze has gone the shiny/sparkly route, and it’s glorious!
Bishounen Tanteidan is an anime that naturally has a lot of stars and sparkles and TheLazyDaze takes full advantage of these scenes to match the theming of the song, along with some effective tweaking of brightness levels. The movement in the AMV constantly flows from one clip to the next creating an addictive unstoppable energy.
The whole video is really cute and it’s such a fun ride. I particularly enjoy the dance breakdown near the end.
VPR: Fades to white, flickering, motion
45
Video title: Whiplash
Editor: Opner
Anime: Jujutsu Kaisen
Song: Whiplash
Artist: Black Math
Comments: “Whiplash” is smooth like butter. It’s also one of those AMV’s that continues to get better with every re-watch. The first few times I watched it, I was all consumed by the experience. Upon later watches, I finally started to notice different aspects and would think things like, “damn that was a cool transition”. It’s been quite a journey to watch!
I adore this style of action AMV. Opner uses a lot of intense sequences from the anime, giving each time to play out and room to breath whilst simultaneously editing incredibly tightly. The excellent internal sync helps blend the visuals seamlessly with the music, the result is a video that demands all of my attention.
VPR: Flashes to white, motion, flickering, fire/red emphasis
44
Video title: Unwarranted Optimism
Editor: Honou Productions
Anime: Neon Genesis Evangelion
Song: When I Am Older (from Frozen 2)
Artist: Josh Gad
Comments: I was surprised to realise that this is the only comedy AMV to make it into my top 50. I enjoy comedy AMV’s, but it seems they don’t often tip over into my “love” side of the scale.
What’s so brilliant about “Unwarranted Optimism”, is the song could almost match in a serious way rather than a silly one, which I think helps make the comedy that much sharper.
The comedic timing in this is incredible, and no matter how many times I watch it I still get caught out by Shinji screaming.
VPR: Fades to black, flashes to white, red emphasis scenes
43
Video title: Circle, Grow and Grow
Editor: Rowan Oake
Anime: Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Song: The Circle
Artist: Taylor Smith
Comments: Folk/Country, is not really the type of music genre most people would associate with Madoka Magica. Rowan Oake obviously decided to give it a go, and has succeeded wonderfully. It definitely won’t be to everyone’s tastes, I wasn’t even sure if it was to my taste when I first watched it, but a bit like the song it uses, it grew on me.
“Circle, Grow and Grow” focuses on Madoka and her relationships with family and friends. As far as I can see, it’s purely that, there’s no following the story line of the anime, only the story of characters within it. Though I have not watched Madoka Magica so I can’t be 100% sure on that.
Overall it’s a very soft unassuming experience, which makes a nice change for a Madoka Magica AMV.
VPR: Motion/patterns, flashes to white, flickering
42
Video title: Deep Wild
Editor: vivafringe
Anime: Various
Song: Deep and Wild
Artist: Sweeplings
Comments: “Deep Wild” is equal parts beautiful and adorable. Vivafringe captures such an appreciative atmosphere for nature in this, using clips from several different anime to great effect.
The music and visuals combined are endlessly soothing, watching the first half of the video feels like being wrapped up in a big warm blanket; the second half then explodes with life, showing a boundless sense of adventure and wonder for the world we live in.
VPR: Water ripples, flickering
41
Video title: My Everyday Vibes
Editor: Synæsthesia Productions
Anime: Nichijou
Song: Vivid Green
Artist: Snail’s House
Comments: I will stand by my YouTube comment on this and reiterate that I don’t think I’ve ever seen any other AMV quite like “My Everyday Vibes”. There is so much going on in here, so much unique sync, and so many different elements that I’ve not seen used in these ways before. I have watched this many times, and I think it will take many more watches before everything sinks in properly, Synæsthesia really hit the creativity ball out of the park with this one! Adding to this, Synæsthesia absolutely nails the mood of tranquility, despite the slightly chaotic visuals.
I feel like “My Everyday Vibes” is a loving tribute and reflection of the anime of Nichijou; there’s chaos all around, but sometimes there’s moments of peace throughout.
VPR: RGB glitch effect at the beginning, quick cuts, flickering, motion
A pocketful of AMV's 
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