Kumoricon 2025 AMV Contest - Winners Up!

[MinetChan]

Calling all editors! Entries for the Kumoricon 2025 AMV Contest are NOW OPEN!
We look forward to seeing your creations!

To see past winners and official rules, please visit: https://www.kumoricon.org/amv-contest

Thank you to all the editors who participated in our AMV Contest and attended our livestreams in 2024. We appreciate all the support — we seriously cannot do this without you. Our audience is as excited as ever to see the new edits you've created, and we’re looking forward to hosting again soon!



New Theme Award


This year, we are proud to announce a new "Nekomancy" theme award to commemorate Kumoricon taking place on Halloween weekend. Whether you create a classic horror AMV or something fun, spooky, and filled with cats, as long as you celebrate the spirit of Halloween, your AMV will be in the running for this award.


AMV Contest

Here are this year’s important rules to follow. All additional rules can be found on the Kumoricon AMV Contest submission page.

We only allow 2 entries per person, with no more than 1 entry per Category. An editor may submit an additional entry if it is submitted to Melting Pot, Trailer, or Guilty Pleasures.

Our freshness rule now includes all entries that have premiered or been created no earlier than October 1, 2024.

HOW TO SUBMIT:

To submit, you MUST UPLOAD your file to the Kumoricon AMV Contest page.

DEADLINES:

Entries MUST be submitted by 11:59pm Pacific Time on August 2, 2025 (UTC 6:59am on August 3, 2025).

A panel of judges will convene to review all entries and select up to six AMVs per category. The judges' decisions on the playlist are final.
Entries that have been finalists in previous Kumoricon/DigiKumo contests are excluded from the 2025 contest.

PRIZES:

Prize options are remaining largely the same, with the addition of requesting a comped badge for the Kumoricon weekend (if you plan to attend and your entry is selected as a finalist).



*Small prizes are either an anime DVD/Blu-ray, a manga/art book, and/or a small figure.
**Large prizes are a premium merchandise item or a large figure.

Email questions to: amv@kumoricon.org.

[twist58]

Submitted 2 (intensity and drama).

[MinetChan]

Hey everyone! Our deadline is fast approaching! Please send in whatever you have, but keep in mind that we are currently low on Trailer, Melting Pot, Fan Fiction, and Guilty Pleasures AMVs, so please keep them coming! Don't forget that we also have a brand-new theme award this year to celebrate Kumoricon taking place on Halloween weekend.

[MinetChan]

There's one week remaining before our deadline. Get those videos in!

[MinetChan]

Last call for videos! Entries must be submitted tonight by 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time.

[MinetChan]

We want to extend a huge thank you to everyone who submitted their videos to this year's Kumoricon AMV Contest. The level of talent and passion on display is truly inspiring, and our judges had an incredibly tough time narrowing down the entries, especially considering that we received 191 submissions—a new record!

All editors, regardless of your finalist status, are in the running for the Nekomancy theme award and will be granted priority seating for the AMV Contest (please either visit the AMV Theater in the morning before the Contest or come to the front of the line and let us know the editor name you submitted under for verification). If you are a finalist and plan to attend Kumoricon, please email us so we can ensure that your badge is comped. For those of you who mentioned that you plan to attend the convention, we will follow up regarding editor-centric events like AMV Show and Tell (where editors get to share their work with the audience) and an AMV Dinner to connect editors with other community members.

To those whose entries did not place as finalists: Please know that your work left a lasting impression on the judges. The competition was fierce, and many submissions were standout pieces that showcased incredible editing, storytelling, and love for fandom. We encourage you to keep creating and consider entering future contests—we'd love to see more from you!

Please stay tuned for the AMV Contest livestream to watch the top non-finalists in our Preshow and Aftershow. Like in previous years, we will select one of these videos for our Best Non-Finalist award. More information regarding the event will be sent out 1-2 weeks before the contest date (October 31st).

And now, without further delay, here are this year’s finalists!

Kumoricon AMV Contest - 2025 Finalists

AngelicDaze
BecauseImBored1 (x2)
Complicated Muse
E_01
flo55
hotterhatter2211
Ileia (x3)
Iren S.S.
JocoBesT
K Squared Edits
Legato2400 / Lightning Bear Studio
Link187
MarikoAMV
MentalFate
Nekokitkat
Obsidian Zero (x2)
PantsAMV (x2)
ResyAMV / Lightning Bear Studios
Rider4Z (x2)
ShadowCore89 AMVs
ShinRyu
shorisquared
Silent Hero (x2)
SilkAMV (x2)
Soup
Synæsthesia Productions
TehPhoenix
thefanvideoer2
Twister / Hurricane Squad
Violet Skies (x2)
Vivifx (x2)
Xophilarus (x2)
ZeonicFreak

Thank you again for sharing your art and talent with us—and soon with our audience. We could not do this without your creativity and passion. We hope to see you in person or on the livestream!

[MinetChan]

Hi Editors!

The Kumoricon 2025 AMV Contest stream goes live this Friday!
Watch the stream here: youtu.be/rCa-_-chVfA


Join us on Friday, October 31 @ 1:30 PM PT (4:30 PM ET / 20:30 UTC).
Set a reminder by clicking the bell icon on the video page.

If you miss it, the full video will be archived on KumoriTV for later viewing.

Timeline:

0:00 – 0:30: Preshow (non-finalists)
0:30 – 3:08: Main Contest
3:08 – 4:09: Aftershow (non-finalists)

All featured non-finalist videos are eligible for our Best Non-Finalist award.
Check the full list and play order of non-finalists here.

There will be no live voting; however, please join the YouTube chat for real-time feedback and an editor hangout.

Due to music licensing, the stream is unavailable in Russia and Belarus. All other regions will have full audio.

The Contest Winners stream will take place on Sunday, Nov. 2 @ 4:00 PM PT (7:00 PM ET / 23:00 UTC). The stream link drops Saturday afternoon — stay tuned!

If you have any questions, feedback, or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out.

We're really excited to kick off another incredible show! Thank you for submitting your videos — we couldn't do this without your participation and support!

[MinetChan]

We had another stellar show this past weekend—the audience was spellbound by your submissions! We featured 58 editors and their art across the AMV Contest (including Preshow and Aftershow). With over 190 entries to judge, this was the most demanding judging process our AMV crew has ever faced. The sheer quality and creativity you poured in left us speechless. Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts.





The AMV Theater also grew in a big way, welcoming over 750 attendees across the weekend and 12 editors.
It was a joy for us in the AMV crew to showcase so many great edits and to provide a platform for editors to share their work. If you're curious about the lineup, the full Theater schedule archive is here.



We’ll reach out to winners soon to confirm shipping details. Physical and digital prizes should land by February 2026 at the latest—message us if they don’t.

None of this growth would happen without you. Every year you raise the bar, and every year the audience leaves inspired. Your dedication is the heartbeat of Kumoricon’s AMV Contest—we’re endlessly grateful. Here’s to 2026!

And now, here are the winners of Kumoricon's 2025 AMV Contest!

A huge shout out to Troubleclef for our nostalgic Cascada contest intro!

INTENSITY
New Eridu Bounce! - ShadowCore89 AMVs
PRECUR/Z - Ileia
BADDEST U(A)P - shorisquared
Play off - flo55 (BEST INTENSITY)
Falling Towards Infinity - Violet Skies

DRAMA
Fallacy - BecauseImBored1
Finding the Center - TehPhoenix
Violets are Blue - Soup (BEST DRAMA)
To a Kinder World - MarikoAMV (MOST IMPACTFUL)
Left Me Feeling Hollow - hotterhatter2211
Aim for the Sky - AngelicDaze (ON BROADWAY!)

UPBEAT / FUN
Dance The Night - E_01
Magic Bones - Obsidian Zero
SUPA PUNCH - Ileia (BEST UPBEAT / FUN)
Pretty Girl Mantra - MentalFate
Catch and Release - BecauseImBored1
Triple Crown - PantsAMV

FAN FICTION
Death Note, AU, freeform - Vivifx (BEST FAN FICTION & BEST IN SHOW)
Mob's Tea Party - SilkAMV
Uprising - ShinRyu (EXCELLENCE IN TECHNICAL EFFECTS)
The Shadow Leaves - Twister / Hurricane Squad (TOUR DE FORCE)
Astringent Aftertaste - Complicated Muse

MELTING POT
KDH. - Rider4Z
Road to Nowhere - Violet Skies
Rapid Unplanned Disassembly - Xophilarus (JUDGES' CHOICE)
Take Flight - thefanvideoer2
Git God - Iren S.S.
The Monkie Limit - SilkAMV (BEST MELTING POT)

TRAILER / PARODY
Top Gundam: Burning - ZeonicFreak
DANDADANNY PHANTOM - Silent Hero
Mifune Nights: The Ballad of Speed Racer - Ileia (BEST TRAILER / PARODY)
Anya: The Musical - K Squared Edits
The Pepperbox - Rider4Z

ROMANCE / SENTIMENTS
En Vogue - Vivifx
Embers to Ashes - PantsAMV
Chasing Cats - Silent Hero (BEST ROMANCE / SENTIMENTS)
Find Your Colors - Synæsthesia Productions (COORDINATOR'S CHOICE)
Lady. Queen. Goddess. - Obsidian Zero

GUILTY PLEASURES
Check Anime Mix - JocoBesT
Every Anime has a Monster - Nekokitkat
Door Openin' Time - Link187
Party In The SXF - Legato2400 / Lightning Bear Studios
Gyrographia - Obsidian Zero & Xophilarus (BEST GUILTY PLEASURES)
Dance Dance 7 Rebirth - ResyAMV / Lightning Bear Studios


ADDITIONAL AWARDS
Dollhouse - AngelicDaze (NEKOMANCY THEME AWARD)
Imposter Syndrome - SpuddStaaa (BEST NON-FINALIST)


You can watch our AMV Contest and Winners streams on KumoriTV!

AMV Contest Stream


AMV Contest Winners Stream

[Soup]

Thank you so much for hosting this AMV contest! Although I wish I could’ve gone in person, I am forever grateful to those that could attend and for those that made this event possible. Congratulations to everyone!!