I was listening to NPR on my way to work this morning when they suddenly started talking about anime music videos, recorded during Otakon. I was like “WHAAAAA???” It was pretty cool, yet funny because of the reporter’s serious tone. The two quotes that cracked me up were “The practice is especially popular with fans of Japanese animation, otherwise known as ‘anime’…” and this one “Anime is a fantastical form that comes in full-length movies or episodic TV shows…” It was great to hear anime get a five-minute segment on NPR though and kinda got me a little more interested in AMVs.
Morning Edition, August 2, 2007: Do-it-yourself music videos are all over the Internet. They’ve been especially embraced by fans of anime — Japanese animated cartoons. Amateur video editors recently battled in an “Iron Chef” style competition at a Baltimore anime convention.
Listen To It!
Listen to “‘Iron Editors’ Test Anime Music-Video Skills”, by by Neda Ulaby – Streaming download
Here are a few other great mentions of anime on NPR:
TV’s ‘Afro Samurai’ Fuses Martial Arts, Hip-Hop by Charles Solomon
Giving the Gift of Anime by Charles Solomon
AND…in honor of AMVs getting such high-profile coverage on the radio, I’m posting a pretty cool anime music video I found on YouTube. It mixes two pretty cool things – clips from Cowboy Bebop and the song ‘Only In Dreams’ by ‘old school’ Weezer:
(if you haven’t seen Cowboy Bebop, beware of possible spoilers in the video)
Only In Dreams by Kwasek
That “Cowboy Bebop – Only In Dreams” video has been my favorite AMV since the day I found it 5 years ago. It’s not only an amazing song and a great anime, but whoever put it together made it all fit together SO well. I remember this video inspiring me to make AMVs… until I realized I sucked at it, and Windows Movie Maker isn’t a very fun program.
Ronnie the Band Midget – Cool – I guess that was a good one to pick! I agree…amazing song/anime.
yeah its an amazing song