Welcome to the second installment in our countdown of the top 50 alt, indie and underground idol MVs of all time as chosen by our readers. The ten music videos featured this week mark the first appearance of some of the genre’s heaviest hitters and features three winners of Homicidols Best MV of the Year honors (and a couple of runner ups).
If you missed the first ten or just want a recap, here’s a convenient link: The Greatest Alt-Idol MVs of All Time #41 – 50. Or you can skip the review and jump right into where we left off in our countdown complete with commentary from our nominating readers and Team.
Let’s go!!
40. NECRONOMIDOL, “STRANGE AEONS”
P. Roberts: Gothic Horror Tokyo Style.
S. Stapleton: NECROMA calls the dark gods and ends the world. What is not to love.
Winner: Homicidols Video of the Year 2018
39. Maison book girl, “cotoeri”
Magnet: The process and method of art, when seen and acknowledged in the work itself, elevates it to a level of new connection and understanding.
38. MIGMA SHELTER, “Compression: Free”
Carrythezero: My first real introduction to MIGMA SHELTER. While the concept is simple, it conveys the drudgery of everyday work and manages to lift you out of it by the end of it’s six minute runtime.
farfromsleep: A fun concept and a perfect showcase for both the human dynamo that is Mimimiyu and the song’s iconic choreo.
37. Yukueshirezutsurezure, “MISS SINS”
Rey Helena: My first idolcore unit MV so I may be biased but this is Tsurezure’s best line-up. The MV has a lot of iconic moments with the screaming of twintail Shidare, and blue strings all over places. It’s kinda artsy. I really like it!
36. Isiliel, “Koumyou Kishi”
Kerrie: Only the second offering from Himari’s solo debut, this song is truly where Himari began to unravel her feelings in a way we’d never truly seen them before. The MV premiering only shortly after NECRONOMIDOL went on indefinite hiatus, Koumyou Kishi felt like a mourning lament towards Himari’s sudden new status as the Schrödinger’s NECROMA (is she an ex-member or current member? No-one can freaking decide). But, at the same time, it also felt like a comforting reassurance to her fans that this wasn’t the end, just a new beginning. I definitely recommend listening to the updated re-recording from her debut album, Genesis, if you haven’t already. Also, Ricky’s daughter making a cameo in this MV was a cute touch.
Winner: Homicidols Best Music Video, 2022
35. HAMIDASYSTEM, “Sonzai Shinai Zonzaina Ai”
Rey Helena: The song is perfect and some of the scenes are super beautiful. I really appreciate how they use the red light to give dramatic effect. What makes this MV so special for me is their expressions and how they really show their emotions. It always gives me chills, looks natural and, dunno why, but it makes me really sad. Maybe this line-up didn’t last long but I wish this MV got more attention. You rarely see an MV as pure as this. Their expressions, body movements, their eyes gazing. It’s priceless. My number one idol MV.
34. BiS, “Are you ready?”
Homing: The sheer length is already staggering enough, but how unhinged the second and fourth verses are really takes it to a different level. The second-to-last part that looks like a post-apocalyptic sci-fi movie is simply stunning, and the instrumental break where the members get up according to the order in which they joined the group makes me want to cry even though I only started listening to them three years after they disbanded.
M. Flores: This video is, in my opinion, the highest point, the pinnacle, the finest and most perfect moment of the entire Alt-Idol, Anti-Idol, Underground scene, or whatever. And forgive me if I write a lot about it, but I love it. It is the most epic video of the genre to date. It captures all the eccentricity and excessiveness of a pivotal moment for BiS and for the genre. I divide it into three acts, all included in a single video that works in its entirety, but if you break it down, each one works as a video for a separate single. First of all, I love Watanabe’s cynicism of portraying himself as an exploitative cacique and taking idols to the field of class struggle where there is always the eternal question of whether they are queens or instruments of production and consumption of the producers. Second comes the great idea to give an old Sony Handycam aspect to the nostalgic transition led by Muropanako in an erotic display as a sign of autonomy and the end of innocence. The third part is the one with the greatest semiotic power and high-level symbolic sub-readings, the Hegelian synthesis, they are suddenly uniformed, appearing with their eyes and body veiled in allusion to initiation (external face and private face). And, if you are a filmmaker, you must request a huge war tank at least once in your life. Finally, they say goodbye to the most epic line-up BiS has ever had. It’s huge, it’s colossal, it’s beautiful.
Winner: Homicidols Best Music Video, 2019
33. MELON BATAKE A GO GO, “SICK IDOLS”
farfromsleep: MELON have a consistently outstanding line on B-movie MVs and this particular combination of their wonderfully grungy, grindhouse aesthetic with one of their very best songs is absolutely irresistible.
32. BELLRING Girls Heart, “Room 24-7″
Daemon: The masters of harmonic post-punk dissonance laid the keystone for the art idol subgenre with this eerie masterpiece of an MV supporting what would become their quintessential album, BEYOND (#2 in our list of Top 50 Albums). This song, this MV, and BELLRING Girls Heart themselves continuously prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that even what is flawed can still be perfect.
31. Minna no Kodomochan, “The Walls”
Maniac: What the ever-lasting fudge is this MV?! I’m sure there’s a point to it; I’m sure that point is lucid and cogent and could easily be explained to a kindergartner with minimal effort with some kind of context, of which we are completely bereft as the entire context seems to be “there are two girls in this group.” It’s so weird and grainy that I almost expected it to turn into a snuff film. Hell, it might actually be a snuff film!
Egor: I think David Lynch himself is giving a standing ovation.
That’s twenty MVs down and there’s thirty more to come even better than this (according to our readers). I know that’s hard to imagine, so drop by next week for the next installment to see if we pull it off.
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