Favourite AMVs

mnl wrote

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... I think I've found a new favorite AMV. And that I really need to watch Macross.

I had no idea that series featured terrestrial mech combat! I figured it was just jets. Interestingly enough, I'm reminded less so of Gundam, and moreso about the classic BattleTech games I played back in my middle school days. MechWarrior 2, especially. ^^

Backlash wrote
mnl wrote

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... I think I've found a new favorite AMV. And that I really need to watch Macross.

I know, right? I wonder how I could have missed this gem until now. I think the AMV works so well because the song "Information High" is from the Macross Plus soundtrack itself. It's one of the songs "sung" by the main antagonist of the show, the virtual idol Sharon Apple.

A majority of the soundtrack was composed by Yoko Kanno (who is probably most famous for the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack), though I am unsure about that particular song (some fan sites seem to credit it to CMJK). The Macross Plus soundtrack was her break through work though and it was this particular part from an interview with her that made look up the soundtrack and find the AMV:

"When I was first approached about the project, I was immediately drawn to Sharon Apple as a character and a concept. Since she was a virtual idol who used music and singing as mind control weapons I was like, “OK, let’s brainwash some people!” I thought deeply about what kinds of music might be trending in the world during the time she inhabited it, and made music accordingly.

[...]

Now that I look back on it I probably overdid it a little bit. [laughs] Back then I didn’t know how to control myself very well, so I did everything I could to make the music suggestive and hypnotic because in my mind I was really trying to make a sonic weapon. It was only afterwards when I started to receive feedback from fans of the series who said things like, “I heard that song, joined the Air Force and went to Iraq” or “I contemplated suicide while listening to Sharon Apple,” when I noticed the effect music has on people and became afraid of myself and the power of sound."

Backlash wrote

I had no idea that series featured terrestrial mech combat! I figured it was just jets. Interestingly enough, I'm reminded less so of Gundam, and moreso about the classic BattleTech games I played back in my middle school days. MechWarrior 2, especially. ^^

Yeah, Macross is really different from Gundam I think. A staple of the Macross franchise has always been the combination of pop idols and fighter-jet transforming mechs. Every show features a prominent space pop idol that also happens to be the main love interest of the main character guy, who is always a mech fighter pilot. In a way it is the ultimate blend of otaku culture.

Gundam is a lot "deeper" I think, in that it covers more serious topics like politics, terrorism, war, while Macross is about, well... Idols and the "power of love" and cool mech/jet fights. Both franchises have their charm though.

Some of those old Macross shows have seriously stunning animation. E.g. the opening scene (starting at :50) of Macross: Do You Remember Love? is probably one of my favourites. They just don't make anime like that anymore.

EDIT: whoops, this somehow turned out longer than expected. ^_^

a year later

Kinda obsessed with this one lately. It's not spectacular in any way, I think I just rally dig the music. Although Gunsmith Cats is a neat little 90s OVA ^_^

a year later
7 days later

malmon Nice, I'm jealous! There is a "fleamarket" (a quite comercialised one) in the neighbouring district with this one stand selling exlusively city pop vinyls. I've always been much to stingy to buy something (that stuff is expensive!), but I might have to next time I visit.

      mnl Well, it was a recent repress, so not exactly a difficult find, but it is lovely to listen to ^^

      It's amazing how there seem to be dedicated shops to the most niche things in some places. Nothing much like that around here, unfortunately.

      • mnl replied to this.

          malmon Yeah, that's definitely one of the advantages of living in a big city (Berlin)!

            5 days later

            mnl Very comfy and cute AMV. I need to rewatch katanagatari. Good stuff!!

              8 months later
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              Fun fact, you can look up ancient AMV on YouTube by simply typing "AMV before:[YEAR]

              Here is an example. I searched AMV before:2009 and found this