Web Video / AMV Hell

AMV Hell was a collection of works and a website for Anime Music Videos (AMVs) which parody whatever anime/songs/sound clips are used within the individual clip. The AMVs usually do this in one of two ways: a fairly normal (often pop) song with metaphorical lyrics set to a clip that suggests a more literal interpretation of the lyrics (often creating extreme Lyrical Dissonance), or a song/sound clip that is already weird/funny/obscene set to a corresponding weird/funny/obscene anime. The clips are rapid-fire and use flipping channels on television as a framing device. AMV Hell influenced imitators who have often described their videos as "AMV Hell style". Originally the videos were created by Zarxrax and SSGWNBTD before AMV Hell became a host of content created and contributed by other creators.

Releases by the original AMV Hell creators:

• "AMV Hell" and "AMV Hell 2: Son of AMV Hell": Simultaneously released in May 2004, the first was a fun little experiment that could be (and often was) shown at conventions without fear of inappropriate content, and the second filled with less family-friendly content.
• AMV Hell 3: The Motion Picture: Released in September 2005 and roughly an hour long, by creators Zarxrax and SSGWNBTD plus dozens of contributors.
• AMV Hell 0: Simultaneously released with AMV Hell 3, it used a series of clips from hentai which were submitted but excluded from the other video, making this one unsuitable for convention showings.
• AMV Hell Divided By 0 (stylized AMV Hell /0): By SSGWNBTD and released in 2008, it was in the same style as AMV Hell 0 but used more fetishistic hentai.

In 2006, AMV Hell Championship Edition was produced by multiple creators via a weekly contest; contestants were given specified songs and told to make the funniest video they could, then the winning entries became a compilation. AMV Hell 3: The Motion Picture II: AMV Hell 4: The Last One featured over 250 videos from numerous creators and ran for an hour and a half. After July 2009, AMV Hell became a host for curated submissions by many other creators, rather than works by the original AMV Hell team. These included AMV Hell 5: Dedicated to Dio (dedicated both to Ronnie James Dio as well as an AMV creator whose works had graced previous AMV Hells), AMV Hell 6: The End Of The Universe, AMV Hell 6.66: This is (Not) The End, AMV Hell 7: Attack on 10 Year Anniversary, and AMV Hell 8: The Deepest Point. The AMV Minis had a "first season" containing submissions 5-10 minutes long, a "second season" capped at 7 seconds, a "third season" that challenged creators to stick with a certain theme (for instance, creating videos based around mondegreens) with winning entries compiled into a "Final Destination" episode, and an AMV Minis Challenge.

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The AMV Hell series, including the AMV Hell Minis entries, contain the following tropes:

• Affectionate Parody:
  • 2 contains a parody of the "Evangelion Opus" AMV; 3 contains parodies of the "Danger: Low Brow Humor", "Euphoria", and "Shounen Bushidou" AMVs. For good measure, 0 does a second parody of "Euphoria" by mixing RahXephon with Mindless Self Indulgence's "Faggot".
  • 3 also has a parody of Kevin Caldwell's "Believe".
  • 3 contains an edited version of the Neon Genesis Evangelion end credits (mixed with Azumanga Daioh), and 4 contains a version of the second season Death Note opening mixed with Lucky Star.
  • AMV editor Vic Bond 007 is infamous for his use of the lens-flare special effect. 3 features a clip attributed to "Vic Bond 008" that consists of nothing but lens flares set to "Blinded by the Light".

• Ascended Meme: Media Blasters has used signs that only say "Gentlemen, behold! CORN!!" (referencing an infamous clip from 0) to advertise Boku no Sexual Harassment at conventions.

• Black Comedy: The team took this to its literal extreme in 0 and Divided by 0; you will be offended by these two videos, guaranteed. 0's disclaimer even says that "this stuff is so bad we never should have even made it".
  • 5 has a clip where dead babies crawl out of the ground; the anime is Detroit Metal City, and the song is Tragedy's metal cover of "You Should Be Dancing".

• Book Ends:
  • 0 starts and ends with the above-mentioned "Corn" scenes.
  • An AMV Minis episode devoted to Internet memes begins and ends with segments set to the "Fabulous Secret Powers" video.

• Brick Joke:
  • AMV Minis S1 E2 started off with a clip using Monty Python's "Argument" sketch... then a few clips later comes back to another clip by the same contributor using a different part of the same sketch.
  • At the start of AMV Hell 6.66 Gendou plans to bring the end of the universe by building a Starbucks across from another Starbucks. The second-last clip before the credits has Shinji screaming after seeing a NERV-branded Starbucks. The last clip is full of Stuff Blowing Up (set to the 1812 Overture).
• B-Roll Rebus: A lot of humor in the series comes from visually representing metaphorical lyrics in a literal sense. Probably the most notable examples are the credit sequences to 4 onwards, all of which are synced up with the credit songs' lyrics.

• Colon Cancer: 4's full title is "AMV Hell 3: The Motion Picture II: AMV Hell 4: The Last One".
  • While 5 was eventually released under the more manageable title of "AMV Hell 5: Dedicated to Dio", during its development phase, it was advertised on the animemusicvideos.org website as "AMV Hell 3: The Motion Picture III: AMV Hell 5: Your Banner Is Too Big". For at least one con appearance, the last bit was instead noted as "Your Subtitle Is Too Big".

• Creator's Apathy: Zarxrax ^note (though the voiceover was actually performed by izumiyagami) does this in-universe in the opening of 6.66. Displeased with the submissions he's received (and following a Big "NO!"), he decides to "just throw some random videos in and hope there are some good ones." (All the "rejected" clips shown are ultimately credited at the end.)
• Creator Thumbprint: Some of the more prolific editors have source materials that they use repeatedly, but other editors tend to avoid. N.P.C.C.'s notable use of Jem clips became blatant enough to reach Running Gag status over the course of the third season of AMV Minis.
• Deconstruction: Of all entries, 0 does this to the famous "Euphoria" AMV. Both use clips from RahXephon and a specific set of visual effects, but where "Euphoria" presents a gentle world by using calm clips from the show and the song "Must Be Dreaming", AMV Hell 0 uses "Faggot" by Mindless Self Indulgence and far more violent clips to send a simple message: "Okay, 'Euphoria', here's what the show was really like."
  • Both "Euphoria" and the 0 version were by the same guy, meaning he essentially deconstructed his own work.
• Double-Meaning Title: In addition to being a reference to Rebuild of Evangelion, 6.66's title is also alludes to the Number of the Beast, as well as to how only a third of the rough cut's content survived to the final version.
• Escalating Punchline: The EVA skits in 2 certainly qualify. The first two have the original somber orchestral music from the original scene, the third has Chirping Crickets, and the fourth has Adam Sandler's song from The Wedding Singer ("WON'T SOMEBODY KILL ME PLEASE? KILL ME! I WANT TO DIE!") The final one has the EVA crushing and dropping its victim, except it's Unit-01's head that falls into the LCL rather than Kaworu's. Save for the last clip, every one of these shows the same exact image.

• Formula-Breaking Episode: The second season of AMV Minis featured episodes comprised entirely of Western Animation (inspired by the earthquake/tsunami in Japan) and live-action clips. The latter can be jarring, but still finds itself well within the AMV Hell spirit.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus:
  • Tay Zonday's head shows up in the Barefoot Gen Hiroshima nuclear blast clip from Divided by 0.
  • Several such bonuses show up in the Rozen Maiden "Master of Puppets" clip from 5.
  • Ceiling Cat appears in the School Days clip from Divided by 0.

• Grand Finale: 7 serves as this for the main series, while the "Final Destination" entry for the AMV Minis' third season closes that part of the series off.

• In-Joke: One such example is the "Pretty Fly for a Rabbi" clip from 3 where Nicholas D. Wolfwood is carrying around a massive Star of David instead of a cross. This is at least partially inspired by a Jewish cosplayer calling himself "Rabbi Wolfowitz" who would go to conventions doing exactly that.

• Never Trust a Trailer: Parodied at the end of 1, which ends with a trailer for 2 showing clips from titles such as Nausicaa, AKIRA, Princess Mononoke, Read or Die, and Cowboy Bebop, interspersed with text like a fake "Triumphant!" quote from Roger Ebert and "Featuring none of the scenes shown here!"
• Once an Episode: Each of the mainline AMV Hells start with a clip featuring boobs, set to some kind of hard rock/metal.
  • Though the original cut of 6 had one, 6.66 lacks one.
  • Each entry from 3 onward also has an opening quote (initially inspired by Kill Bill, but has since become a Running Gag in its own right).
• Pun: This crops up from time to time with things like Shonen Batman or Microsoft Excel.
• Rapid-Fire Comedy: Most clips last no more than thirty seconds at most, and far more run far shorter.
  • The first episode of AMV Minis' second season forced contributors to make clips that lasted no longer than seven seconds.
• Redundant Parody: One clip from 4 features Sol Badguy to the tune of the song he is named after.
  • AMV Minis X4 set a scene from Young Frankenstein to "Walk This Way" by Aerosmith. The scene was the "Walk this way" scene — which is what the song was named after.
• Running Gag:
  • AMV Hell 2 had one spoofing the the long shot of EVA-01 grasping Kaworu from Neon Genesis Evangelion.
  • AMV Hell 3 has a series of variations of the "Ellen Fleiss" parody segment from 1. (The credits for 3 refer to them as "Osaka Cutaways".)
  • A visual example is found in the deleted scenes from 3, beginning at the 7:24 mark.
  • 4 has repeated clips to Imogen Heap's "Hide and Seek".
    • AMV Minis' Western Animation special (S2 X1) had three such jokes in one clip; after the third, the video editor crashes, stating that "the Dear Sister quota for this video has been exceeded".
  • In a case of either a Running Gag or everyone going to the same well, 5 had several clips set to "Always".
    • 5 also features about three clips set to "Halo".
  • 6.66 features a series of bits involving a nature show parody featuring Urd from Ah! My Goddess as the "sake badger".
    • A running gag carried over from its rough cut involves setting Terry Crews's Old Spice ads to Tentai Senshi Sunred. ^note One bit spoofs the "Always" running gag from 5.
    • The use of songs by Duane and BrandO may count as well. Though seemingly unrelated, there are seven such clips in 6.66.^note All by the same contributor, HaarTheDragonLord.
    • The original cut of 6 had "Fus roh DAH!" from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim's trailer. Only one such clip survived in 6.66. ^note Guess which one.
  • One of them did so many variations of the end of Cowboy Bebop that it really turned into an Overly Long Running Gag.
  • 7 uses different clips of Malcom McDowell and James Earl Jones' dramatic readings of Facebook posts in Sprint commercials (featuring Tamaki and Armstrong as McDowell and Jones, respectively), and a trio of clips feautring Fat Buu as Zulway, God of Mercy.
  • The AMV Minis Challenge season has multiple appearances of the main character from Jem, usually as a cameo in a different series or as a framing device for said series.
    • The trailer for 7 has a Jem gag right at the end, too. Can't stem the Jem!
• Scooby-Dooby Doors: One clip does this with the cast of One Piece, with Fred and Daphne fly by on a carpet in the background.
• Shock Site: 0 contains a scene of Sakaki opening a Last Measure link.
• Shout-Out: Griffith's fondness for singing show tunes in the earlier videos is a reference to the Berserk English dub outtakes, where Griffith's VA was a former Broadway singer. He started to sing sometimes if he forgot or flubbed a line (or just felt like doing so).
• Soundtrack Dissonance: Much of the humor comes from such juxtapositions.
  • Quite possibly the ultimate example: in 5, we get a clip of Unicron eating a planet set to Parry Gripp's "Nom Nom Nom Nom Nom Nom Nom".
  • The third season of AMV Minis had challenges based around Heavy Metal and Sickeningly Sweet music. In the latter case, some entries were genuine Sugar Bowl, while others were Sugar Apocalypse.
• Spoiler: Hoo boy. If you don't want Death Note, Cowboy Bebop, Code Geass, and possibly Berserk, Perfect Blue, One Piece, and Higurashi: When They Cry spoiled, you should approach with caution. And don't even start on Neon Genesis Evangelion... In fairness, though, spoilericity is definitely hampered by a severe lack of context in almost all cases, the only real exceptions being the pretty blatant deaths.
• Take That, Critics!: The frequent appearance of Jem in AMV Minis' third season earned a great deal of negative feedback, partly due to the argument that a Western-produced cartoon didn't belong in an anime compilation. In the 19th episode of that season, OutrageousChaz assembled a video that mocked the naysayers; voting for that episode saw that specific clip tie for the first place spot.
• Visual Pun: The series loves to sprinkle these about, like the sketch in AMV Hell 5 with a Raichu synced to the lyric "I'm not gonna write you a love song".
• Vulgar Humor: 0 and Divided by 0 thrive on this at times. At least a quarter of Divided by 0 is dedicated to coprophilia jokes.

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