Anime Expo 2016: Here Are This Year’s AMV Contest Winners!

Every year, one of my favorite Anime Expo events is the Anime Music Video contests. Sometimes, you’ll come across the perfect song to go with your favorite anime, but you don’t have anywhere near the amount of talent it takes to put the two together. And by you, I mean me.

Thankfully, people who do have the talent come together to make us laugh, cry and pump our fists in the air, as the best of the best are pit against each other in six different categories. Divided among action, drama, fun, dance, comedy and sentiment categories, one of the light hearted “trailers” that played in between categories won the fan vote, while a real tear jerker captured the judge’s attention.

First up, “Seven Years” by YouTube user Sakoda15 brought together the reminiscent Lukas Graham hit of the same name with the time traveling anime, Erased. The tragic nature of the series coupled with the lyrics symbolizing days gone by created a deeply emotional video that captured our attention, even if we had never heard the song or watched the show before this point. Between the two meshing so well together, the terribly sad scenes depicted, or the masterful editing, it’s easy to figure out why this was well deserved. Seeing as this was the video that I picked for my video of the show, I was thrilled to see that it won one of the two big awards by the time all the votes were counted. Watch it yourself below, and make sure to keep a box of tissues nearby.

On the more humorous side, the fans voted not for one of the main categories, but rather one of the mock trailers that combined anime with our favorite commercials and movie previews. As a match made in heaven, it’s no wonder why the One Punch Man and Deadpool mash-up produced by Otaku Lounge Productions, Deadpunch, walked away with the popular vote. The funny thing was I didn’t even know you could vote for a trailer when it came to video of the show! Not that it would’ve changed my vote, but I’ll keep it in mind for next year.

What do you think of the winners, and if you were there, which videos did you vote for? Sound off in the comments and let us know, assuming you’re emotionally stable enough to type after that first video.