Queen Meets Leiji Matsumoto: Is This Just Fantasy?

Nope, it's 100% real.

By gia manry | April 5, 2010

No, it's not just fantasy: this is the real life. Last fall word came out that Leiji Matsumoto, the master of the anime space opera ( Space Battleship Yamato, Captain Harlock, Galaxy Express 999, etc) was working on an animated music video for Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, and now the video is out! Bask, bask in the glory of this mysterious union. (Via AICN Anime.) It's not the first time he's worked on a western musical project: he also did a full-length film with Daft Punk's album Discovery back in '03, titled Interstella 5555. But on to today's news:

...It really starts getting good about halfway in, but it's all very pretty too. What say you? Does it rank in your top 10 AMVs?

15 Comments

Count_Zeroon April 5, 2010 at 12:42 p.m.

It's pretty good. I got the impression that when Matsumoto was making this he was paying more attention to the melodies of the music and where the vocal harmonies were coming in, and less to the subject matter of the lyrics--which is fine as content wise it's pretty abstract song. This is why we open and close with pretty pastoral scenes (like during the "Mama, I killed a man" part), while it becomes a rollercoaster ride after the guitar parts kick into high gear, and why we get the stereo people bit during the "I See A Little Silhouette-o of a Man" part (which also lead to a really nice shout-out to the original music video).

All in all, I like it.

Krison April 5, 2010 at 12:49 p.m.

Uh great but...It'd never be on my top list as it has really nothing at all to do with what's going on in the song (which is more important to me).
Clearly he's paying more attention to the pacing of the music than the lyrics, which is a bit of a failure in my eyes. So it's more a really fantastic piece of editing than anything, which is fine, but is not what makes a good AMV for me.

There are other things that would fit better with this song...Trigun, Battle Royale, Death Note (which would probably be hilarious, actually). Or, if you want to stay with Leiji, The Galaxy Railways would have worked better.

ThePsychoGameron April 5, 2010 at 1:12 p.m.

Can't say i liked it that much, the video didn't seem to have much to do with the song. On that note it kinda reminded of another music video that the song was good, but the video had nothing to do with the song .

(I would play Wall Street Fighter...)

yuetheguardianon April 5, 2010 at 2:08 p.m.

this is my top anime music video

crusader8463on April 5, 2010 at 2:30 p.m.

Wow... that... was... bad. Maybe i just don't understand something about it, but the video didn't make any sense to me. It just came across as bunch of random unrelated video cuts on top of the song. I like the part where the cat amulet transformed into a hot chick that did something, i think. That's about it.

EDIT: As for one of my favorite i guess i would say this. I found it a few weeks ago and fell in love with it. The song fits perfectly and it's masterfully edited.

EDIT EDIT: Actually i forgot about this one. This one is the best AMV i have ever seen. The song,music and anime it's from fits so perfectly.

ThePsychoGameron April 5, 2010 at 3:25 p.m.

Now where doing favorite amvs?, well i guess these two

And

Killroycantkillon April 5, 2010 at 4:17 p.m.

That was really good, the way the music flowed with the scenes was awesome. Interstella 5555 is in my Top 3 of anime movies, and it's no suprise that I like this AMV as well.

giaon April 5, 2010 at 5:01 p.m.

Wow, quite a mix of opinion here.

@crusader8463 said:

" Wow... that... was... bad. Maybe i just don't understand something about it, but the video didn't make any sense to me. It just came across as bunch of random unrelated video cuts on top of the song. I like the part where the cat amulet transformed into a hot chick that did something, i think. That's about it.

I think the amulets were supposed to have accidentally fused two parallel universes, which is why everyone suddenly started seeing their alter-selves. :o

GodLen staff on April 5, 2010 at 6:04 p.m.

i like seeing someone's else's interpretation to a song most of us have known since our childhood.

ThePsychoGameron April 5, 2010 at 6:24 p.m.

Just thought of what would have made the video better, if at the around the Get out of here part it showed them flying that ship while head banging, that single scene would make the awesome to me

Halberdierv2 is online on April 5, 2010 at 7:21 p.m.

epic.

newaveon April 6, 2010 at 12:11 a.m.

this is amazing....and it makes me wonder....i have always had a theory that queen emeraldas was based on the queen song killer queen...hmmmm

AHoodedFigureon April 6, 2010 at 4:39 p.m.

Oh, cool :)

*watches*

When I was looking at my parents' cool album covers, this is the kind of stuff I would imagine. This is like a music video from my own head. Oh Leiji, don't ever change...

Well, come to think of it, I guess we're in no danger:

Little kid with big head and huge teeth grinning sheepishly, reserved woman with long blond hair, dials embedded into steel walls, form-fitting uniforms for the ladies, spiky brown hair for the plucky boy-protagonist, space warships with archaic turreted weaponry, a superweapon on one of those spaceships, trippy sequences... hehe, I love it.

My favorite AMV was the Theme to Flash Gordon, also by Queen, played to clips of Macross/Robotech gen I (got taken down, for the usual reasons. There's another one with the same song and show, but it's not the same). Perfect matching of music and image.

John_Martoneon April 6, 2010 at 5:18 p.m.

I dunno, this did almost nothing for me. Like, there's such a large disconnect between song and scene. As people stated before, the action seems to match the music's tone, yet... I'm just not getting anything out of it.

Like, Interstella 5555 is so well done, I guess I was expecting something... grander out of this.

gendo7on April 9, 2010 at 12:21 a.m.

@GodLen said:

" i like seeing someone's else's interpretation to a song most of us have known since our childhood. "

Agreed! It's an interpretation, it isn't meant to go along with the lyrics.

It's sorta like an exercise I used to do in English class where we would listen to a song and then either write or draw what we saw or felt.

Pokemon Black and White Looks Delicious in Motion First video of a Pokemon battle in Black and White.
Comment & Win: One Piece Vol. 52, 53 Time for a giveaway folks! Now, act civil, we don't want anyone to get hurt in the mad rush to win.
Beginner's Guide to FLCL Gainax's madcap, surrealist anime, broken down for new viewers.
Ballz Deep Steve gets intimately close to Dragon Ball Z, for science!
Top 3 Awful Anime Dubs Grit your teeth and get your ear plugs ready cause this week we're taking on the three most amazingly bad dubs of all time!

GARGANTIA ON THE VERDUROUS PLANET #2 - - Special Review The spring show that's better than ATTACK ON TITAN.
One Piece Ending SPOILER?! -- THE VICE PIT How will ONE PIECE end? And what's happening in the show RIGHT NOW? Tom gives Sam the shake-down as they cover the high-seas insanity.
FUSHIGI YUGI - - My First Anime Experience Our resident anime novice reminisces on her middle-school love affair with the epic fantasy romance.
ATTACK ON TITAN #2 - - Watch & Learn There you are, TITAN! I like you more from this angle.
An Anime Novice’s Take On… THE ROSE OF VERSAILLES So here’s the thing about THE ROSE OF VERSAILLES: it is just gloriously silly.
ONE PIECE #595 - - Special Review This part was cool... and also kind-of gross.
MAGI #17 - - Watch & Learn Somebody caption this image immediately!
DRAGON BALL Z #17 - - Watch & Learn C'mon guys... I think we get how bad the Saiyans are, now.

AV MOD MATERIAL: NARUTO Ch. 629 Review Obito admits that he truly is a character of little substance and a serious dissociation complex.
AV MOD MATERIAL: Ash Ketchum - - Character Spotlight He's been doing the same thing, over and over again, for over a decade. And he seems to constantly be re-learning lessons. But Ash deserves still deserves your respect!
GARGANTIA ON THE VERDUROUS PLANET #2 - - Special Review The spring show that's better than ATTACK ON TITAN.
Anime Caption Contest! -- 5/13/13 -- AV MOD MATERIAL Are you ready to caption some new images? This week we have big butts, awkward dancing, and... chibi people sentenced to death? Tom must be behind that one!
One Piece Ending SPOILER?! -- THE VICE PIT How will ONE PIECE end? And what's happening in the show RIGHT NOW? Tom gives Sam the shake-down as they cover the high-seas insanity.
TOP FIVE GREATEST ANIME OPENING THEMES (part 2!) That's right, we're back with 5 MORE of the greatest anime intros of all time!
ATTACK ON TITAN #2 - - Watch & Learn There you are, TITAN! I like you more from this angle.
MAGI #17 - - Watch & Learn Somebody caption this image immediately!

Anime Vice News

Queen Meets Leiji Matsumoto: Is This Just Fantasy?

Nope, it's 100% real.

Dig Deeper into Leiji Matsumoto

FUSHIGI YUGI - - My First Anime Experience

FUSHIGI YUGI - - My First Anime Experience

Best Transformations: Majin Buu Edition

Best Transformations: Majin Buu Edition

A Novice Takes On… ROSE OF VERSAILLES

A Novice Takes On… ROSE OF VERSAILLES

One Piece Ending SPOILER?! -- THE VICE PIT

One Piece Ending SPOILER?! -- THE VICE PIT

Anime Vice News

Queen Meets Leiji Matsumoto: Is This Just Fantasy?

Nope, it's 100% real.

Dig Deeper into Leiji Matsumoto

MakerBot Mystery Build: Booster Packs

Homemade Movies: Catching Fire Trailer