AMVs in Japan?

[BwanaKuu]

Are AMVs popular in Japan? Are there many Japanese AMV makers? It seems like most editors are either from the US or Europe.

[Kionon]

The simple answer is, no. There aren't.

The more complex answer is that the Japanese don't make AMVs, they make MADs. The philosophies behind the two are very different. Are there videos that cross into both genres? Sure, there are. But as an overall movement, no.

Other than Japanese residents like myself who are Americans, I have not met any AMV editors here. I do have a coworker who makes MADs, however.

[Willen]

There is some overlap, but generally, an AMV in Japan would be considered a MAD (and vice-versa for a MAD in the western world). There are some AMVs created by some members here that could fall into the category of a MAD (and certain ones that are by definition and purposeful design, MADs). And I've seen some Japanese MADs that are for all intents and purposes AMVs.

Wikipedia's definition (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAD_Movie) of a MAD doesn't full explain the differences between one and an AMV (I suspect because it's hard to pin down the specifics). It's a generally broader category of videos and if we include fan-made non-anime music videos (aka. Songvids) like those that some of our members also create here, we'd have a collection of non-Japanese MADs. But, as Kionon mentioned, the philosophies behind MADs and AMVs are usually fairly different.

Generally, MADs tend to parody the anime used. By this I mean that they try to duplicate the style of the opening/ending animation in the MAD. Many Douga MADs also utilize the anime's title in the video making them seem like alternate OPs or EDs or unofficial PVs. One of my favorite MADs in the site's database is RELEASE by Pianos which uses Cardcaptor Sakura footage to parody the 1st Bleach opening. Another video that combines the opening song of one anime and footage from another anime is Gyakuten MAHOROSAN by Chack'n which uses Mahoromatic over the theme from Gyakuten Ippatsu-man.

Don't AMV editors also do this? Yes. Are those videos MADs? Technically, yes.

And AMVs that are basically MADs? Try searching for videos from JCD or Decoy to start. Not knowing who created Princess Bride! or Bleach Technique Beat, I'd swear they were MADs.

[Yoshikee]

From what I've been able to gather from friends who live in japan and my niconico sprees, MADs are pretty anything that uses anime or related footage with any sort of additions be it dubs, music, crossovers or anything else. Really crosses allot of genres, for example, a 3D animation of hatsune miku dancing to a song would be considered a MAD, even though it was created from scratch and so doesn't use any anime footage. I've noticed that these days AMVs also tend to be pretty loose about the whole, "Music video" thing, as I've seen many a video that are audio swaps and the like, but MADs are pretty much the same thing as I'm pretty sure MAD stands for Music Animation Douga. Douga meaning video. So as far as I can tell it's pretty much AMV swapped and reordered XD.

Many people in Japan make MADs, it's just that they mostly stay online and don't really go to anywhere after that, contray to America's glorified AMV tournaments at various Anime cons and related events. I'm sure theres a host of reasons for this stark difference, I'll leave that to the analytically inclined minds and also for myself as a small topic to muse over during my boredom sessions on the bus or in the bathroom.......

[Castor Troy]

MADs are pretty much the same thing as I'm pretty sure MAD stands for Music Animation Douga. Douga meaning video. So as far as I can tell it's pretty much AMV swapped and reordered XD..

AMD?

[Nya-chan Production]

From what I've been able to gather from friends who live in japan and my niconico sprees, MADs are pretty anything that uses anime or related footage with any sort of additions be it dubs, music, crossovers or anything else. Really crosses allot of genres, for example, a 3D animation of hatsune miku dancing to a song would be considered a MAD, even though it was created from scratch and so doesn't use any anime footage. I've noticed that these days AMVs also tend to be pretty loose about the whole, "Music video" thing, as I've seen many a video that are audio swaps and the like, but MADs are pretty much the same thing as I'm pretty sure MAD stands for Music Animation Douga. Douga meaning video. So as far as I can tell it's pretty much AMV swapped and reordered XD.

Many people in Japan make MADs, it's just that they mostly stay online and don't really go to anywhere after that, contray to America's glorified AMV tournaments at various Anime cons and related events. I'm sure theres a host of reasons for this stark difference, I'll leave that to the analytically inclined minds and also for myself as a small topic to muse over during my boredom sessions on the bus or in the bathroom.......

You're wrong about the MAD term being abbreviation. I suggest you reading the Wiki post about MADs (I think the link was mentioned above), provides some (even though not much) insight.

[Yoshikee]

What they have on the wiki is what is thought to be the meaning, really it can be anything considering it's blurry roots. I'm just saying from a Japanese speaking standpoint, seeing that acronym and the videos associated with it, the first possible definition I thought up was Music Animation Douga, which other Japanese have thought of too. another possiblity is MAd Douga, which is....redundant(?) but still possible, like XNA(Xna's Not an Acronym). There's not real answer so the only "solution" would be popular opinion, which I'm not too sure what would be at the moment either....might go dig around 2chan later to uncover this mystery.

[CrackTheSky]

XNA(Xna's Not an Acronym)

Oh man, that's hurting my head.

[Zarxrax]

To figure out if your guess at an acronym is correct, then a quick google search would reveal the answer. If you get 0 results, then you are wrong.

[Nya-chan Production]

I got 1 result.

From this thread.

"Music Anime Douga" was a little more succesfull and it gave me three results from NicoNico.

Yoshikee, I have two thing against your theory, both about redundancy.

The first is, there isn't such thing as "MAD" in Japan. It's "MAD Movie", which would made D as Douga redundant.
The second are cathegories, which determine the style - these would make the word Animation redundant (as they specify the animation style).

Don't know, but I really see it fitting more as a hommage to one of the original videos. Maybe the original creator intended it as an acronym, but when people take it and treat like not an acronym, it stops being an acronym :<