Do you remember the first AMV you ever watched?

[the Black Monarch]

I remember my first two, both set to "Larger than Life" by the Backstreet Boys (for which I was trying to find the official music video). One used clips from Evangelion, the other used clips from Cowboy Bebop. That was how I became an Evangelion fan. I was probably using Limewire at the time.

It was a Sailor Moon video. I saw it by downloading it from a random Sailor Moon fan site back in the day that I fell onto through the turnpike. We're talking 95/96 here.

Holy shit. AMVs were on the Internet BEFORE file-sharing networks existed? What foul sorcery is this?

[Makoto Academy (HR)]

It's really hard for me to remember what was the first AMV I watched, but the toonami promos that aired on Cartoon Network in 2005 were some of the first videos that stuck with me in terms of content that combined anime footage with music. I don't think that I started editing because of them, but they definitely got me excited about what you could do with video editing.

I remember those - sort of. I was really young at the time but my dad describes the building excitement in the whole family before Naruto premiered with all the promos and trailers. I remember some of the tail end ones in a little bit of detail though.



This was probably the first AMV type thing I watched. When Death Note was airing, my sister looked online for more of the story and that was how she discovered fan fiction (which she would go on to write and read often) and AMVs. Actually, my sister introduced me to a lot of the AMVs early on that would be foundational in shaping how I thought of AMVs. These included Life is Beautiful, This is Halloween, the aforementioned Beyond Birthday one, Shattered Memories Studio's Up in the Air, and Uninstall - Madoka. It would take a while for me to eventually start seeking out AMVs wholly on my own, even though each one she showed me had a huge impact on me and I deeply loved and would watch again and again.

[x_rex30]

I was fascinated waay before amvs about video editing to make a music video. I had vhs tapes I made Full of music videos I recorded from MTV. The first non fan made amv I saw was a Manga Video Trailer/Promotion... and the different editing styles in it made me interested in anime editing. ADV "Do it now" ads also gave me a need to edit something on my own... but I was already pumped to do so after I saw the Manga video.

[seasons]

I love that Manga Video Trailer. KMFDM had soooooo much appeal to anime fans back in the late 90s. I wasn't quite "into" anime yet at the time but there was something about their music and aesthetic that, in hindsight, seemed like a doorway into dark and foreign and weird stuff. I would poke my head in but was never brave enough to step through it.

If you like that Manga Video Trailer but wish it was 700% more lame, check this out.

[Kokoro Hane]

I honestly wish I remembered the first AMV I watched. I've watched so many AMVs.... but it most likely was something Cardcaptor Sakura or Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle related. One of the earliest AMVs I recall watching all the time (back when YT had the glorious HQ button--which meant you could watch in 480p! lol) was all Tsubasa clips, up to the (at the time) unreleased Tokyo Revelations OVA, using a song from the anime's OST "ship of fools" by Yuki Kajiura. I sadly do not think that AMV is online anymore, as I have tried searching but could never find it. Either way, it was an AMV still burned in my mind and would probably remain fairly fond of I were to see it again.

[Kionon]

Honestly, no.

The first AMV I remember that I remember, if that makes sense, is C-Ko's Fields of Gold. Date on it is May 14, 1994, but there is no way I saw it that early. I would probably have seen it a few years later. Probably more like 1996 or 1997.

I feel like I should add a bit more context. I got internet access in 96, and I was able to find a few anime music videos online then. Of those, I think Fields of Gold was one of the first, but probably not the actual first.

I believe 1998 was my first anime convention... Whatever year it was that A-Kon had the Big Black Out, and I remember watching whatever was in the anime music video contest there. Definitely some Caldwell. That year for my birthday I got Ulead MediaStudio and a Sony Vaio with the full Trinitron and TV capture card set up, so I could start working on my own AMVs. So I went from only having three or four of the things in 1996 to dozens and more very rapidly after 1998.

I just watched Fields of Gold, the original .mpg. On my 4K monitor it is so small it's smaller than the size of a postage stamp. My God.