Anyway, I'll stand up and admit that I like a lot of low-effect videos - Engel, if I'm not mistaken, doesn't have that many. Maybe this makes me a newb, but I love an interesting match of song to character or song to series. I'm impressed when someone can take an existing anime - with the same visuals that it already has - and make a video out of it. It's just part of my original reaction to AMVs, I think.
It's just a different breed. As I was babbling this morning elsewhere, some videos use their clips like pieces of a collage, arranging them as they are - and some use their clips like paint, mixing them together with various other ingredients to create a new visual, which they THEN use to put together a video.
Either can be done well, or badly. Independently of which type they are. The reason we have the impression that EFFECTS = GOOD! ALWAYS ALWAYS! might just be because newbs don't attempt them too often. Trust me, crappy effects look worse than none at all. I've caught myself attempting things that were over my head before I smacked some sense into myself. It ain't pretty.
So the thing isn't so much that effects = automatic good, so much as the people that do make videos like this are later in their AMVing learning curve.
I'm probably on crack, but it made sense to me.
They also show the character profile of Rei so well.. I especially think that 2:38 is beautiful. It shows Shinji and his father trying to saving Rei, also showing their feelings for her. This makes me think how Rei has mixed emotions towards two people, as she suffers from frustration. It really moves me.