It’s fairly common knowledge among those who regularly create AMVs that to make a DBZ AMV is just about the easiest way for you to lose any and all brownie points and/or respect within the AMV community. It’s no wonder, either, since so many people (circa 2000-2002) made them, but very few made them right (or well, if you want to be picky).

Back in the day we didn’t have these fancy DVD rips or high definition remastered source video. We had shit quality VHS rips and sometimes worse – shit quality recorded-off-of-television VHS rips chock full of Cartoon Network and YTV logos. We didn’t have these newfangled 3ghz processors or Sir Adobe Premier. We were (or in some cases still are . . . ) rockin’ the 933mhz Pentium 3 and Windows Movie Maker. We had no Youtube or Megaupload or Bittorrent. If we wanted to spread our video around we had to shell out large amounts of money for a website or find someone willing to host our work and hang out in IRC channels and hope people would leech from us. And yet a select few, using what was available at the time, managed to make some pretty badass videos and managed to get them around.

I have somewhere in the vicinity of 400 DBZ AMVs from what I’ll call the “early years” – the time when DBZ was airing on Cartoon Network. Of these, roughly 80% are crappily put together (please note that “crappily” does not necessarily pertain to video quality. It’s how the video was put together/how well the song works for the scenes selected, etc.). Most of them are to Linkin Park, and of those, they mostly use the same 3* songs. Of the remaining 20%, 3/4 of them are relatively well made – some would work better using a different song, some could use different effects or scenes in certain places, and other minor issues. The remaining 1/4 of those (or 5% of the total, and I’m being generous here) stuck out as some of The Best AMVs Ever Made.

*exaggeration

I’m talking, of course, mostly about the following two videos:

First we have undoubtedly the greatest DBZ AMV in existence: a lovely video telling the tale of just how fucking badass Gohan is, to Kryptonite by 3 Doors Down. It flows well, the scene selections are perfect for the song, and the creator was smart enough not to use >9000 stupid filters and transitions. It also contains possibly one of the hottest Gohan/Saiyaman scenes ever, from the opening of movie 13 (Ryuu-ken Bakuhatsu!! Goku ga Yaraneba Dare ga Yaru/Exploding Dragonfist!! If Goku Can’t Do It, Who Will?, also known as Wrath of the Dragon in the FUNimation release). This will probably always be my favourite AMV for anything.

Download this fucker » Gohan – Kryptonite [3 Doors Down] (158)

While poking around Youtube for something to stream here, I was terribly disappointed by the handful of other DBZ videos to this song lying around. No. No one can do any better on an AMV using this song, or this series. Leave it the fuck alone. :3

The next video comes in at a close second, simply because it amuses the shit out of me.

All-cast to The Dust Brothers’ This is Your Life. This was one of those guys that managed to do what few people do: make a good DBZ video in a short amount of time. The effects actually made the video better for the most part, and the scene selections for certain parts of the song are just hilarious (o hai Vegeta).

Download this bitch » DBZ Cast – This Is Your Life [The Dust Brothers] (141)

Okay, admittedly there wasn’t any real point to this particular post other than the fact that most DBZ AMVs suck and these two are either The Most Badass or Really Damn Close To Badass.

Remember kids! Just because you can make a DBZ AMV to Linkin Park doesn’t mean you should. It’s been done to death. Ten years ago. As stated in the above video, your DBZ AMV is not a beautiful and unique snowflake.

Thank you,
a fan who is probably at least a decade older than you.