My thoughts on some of the videos of the contest, separated by category:
Trailer/Parody:
I liked both
DBGT: Taken and
Stupid AMV Title. I think that
DBGT: Taken works a little bit better, however. It's more cohesive (which is partially because the original audio isn't quite so varied as the one for
Stupid AMV Title).
Drama/Serious:
There were a lot of good videos in this category, but I prefer
Letting Go,
Mahou Shoujo Requiem and
Ready to Ignite.
Letting Go does a great job of conveying the dramatic nature of
Angel Beats, and
Mahou Shoujo Requiem is just awesome on many levels (editing, thematic presence, etc). Anyway, I had a very difficult time choosing which to vote for among these three, but eventually decided on
Ready to Ignite. It has a rather fantastic flow and the scene choice is ace. Only unfortunate downside would be the slightly anachronistic lyrics ("taking chances in the back of your car" just doesn't seem to jive with what appears to be a feudal era japan setting.)
Action:
My favorite category. (I'm not biased, I swear!) There were some very good entries this year.
Angels Made from Neon is ridiculously fun and catchy, and it's no surprise that it won Action. Kyssifur's
Sleeping Beauty is really well edited, and seems to be really good at getting people interested in the source material. I like that the video has pretty much no effects and instead relies on micro-cuts and beat sync.
Kings Legend... well, I LOVE Kamelot and this video does the song justice. More than that, I picked up Escaflowne the next day in the dealer's room because of it. There's a veritable boatload of great lyric sync and while the video might have been just a touch too long, it was very strong throughout. Neverend's
Guilt was like, friggen awesome. Talk about style! One of the hardest things to do with KnK is take those beautiful single cut fight scenes and somehow edit it. I thought the color scheme was gorgeous, it told a compact little story and had a few moments of great internal sync. Only complaint would be that it was over way too fast!
Romance/Sentimental:
With You Around was my pick. Some great and well suited effects, and a touching recap of the highlights of Toradora.
Maya and Company was rather adorable, but it didn't strike as much of a chord with me because I'm unfamiliar with Azumanga Daioh. My friends who had seen the show loved Kireblue's video though!
Upbeat/Dance:
Always Looking Back was a really beautiful, Magic Pad-esque video that was quite fun to watch. AMV Random had some great transitions, even if it was a bit thematically scattered. The best video was easily
AMV ja nai ka? aka Squid Girl. Lighthearted and fun, fun, fun!
Comedy:
Some of the strongest videos in the entire contest were shuffled into comedy this year. Corsair's Addiction has some breathtaking transitions and effects, in addition to a rather serious subject matter. The grossness at the end of the video never fails to make me twist a little. Veebee deserves multiple accolades for having the funniest moment in any of the videos this year, and building up to it perfectly. Seriously, it makes me laugh so hard I cry. My pick for comedy.
Finally, I picked PixelBlended Studios Eva video as best of show. I'm not in the habit of voting for comedy videos for best of show, as they're usually the de facto choice regardless. But in this case, it legitimately was my favorite video of the contest. Fantastic text effects, great comedic timing and a really fun presentation make this one the winner.