Uploaded March 2021 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
TW: Implied rape
Lately, I've been reading about the Holocaust. Among the literature to cross my path was The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, a book that I never had to read in middle school or high school like so many of my peers; I just finished reading it for the first time at the age of 32. It sits among the most powerful, poignant things I've ever read, and it got under my skin in a way that few books ever have. It's not just that book, though -- although like everyone, I learned about the Holocaust in school growing up, I never fully internalized the magnitude of it. After more intentionally studying it now, I don't think I've come much closer to doing so -- it was a crime designed that way, to be so numbingly huge in scale that it defies any human's ability to fully comprehend its monstrosity.
I have to be careful here, because this video is not "about" the Holocaust at all -- I really don't want to mislead anyone into thinking it speaks about that event specifically. At the same time, I can't ignore that the things I've been reading and ruminating over and trying to internalize heavily feature in this video's creation. Reading about Anne Frank, about Elie Wiesel, about Emmanuel Ringelblum and Elli Friedmann and the millions of nameless, faceless people who were victims in the Holocaust, and trying to make sense of the hatred and cruelty and evil that created it and perpetuated it has left a gaping hole in my heart that I've been trying to cope with these last couple months. This video is an outworking of these feelings and contemplations, and as such is very dark, desolate, and hopeless. None of the imagery or pacing in this video is a mistake, and it's meant to suffocate, to repulse, and to wear the viewer down.
This is one of my more (most?) personal videos, it contains a lot of symbolism and meaning that I don't necessarily want or feel the need to share. I don't know if anyone will take pleasure in this video or see it in the same light that I do, but that's ok. Usually here's where I would tell you "I hope you enjoy!" but I don't know that it would be sincere in this case. But thank you for watching, anyhow.
Technical notes:
Edited in Magix Vegas Pro 15. Total time spent editing was probably around 10 hours.
Song: "Into Dust" by Mazzy Star
Anime: Now and Then, Here and There
TW: Implied rape
Lately, I've been reading about the Holocaust. Among the literature to cross my path was The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, a book that I never had to read in middle school or high school like so many of my peers; I just finished reading it for the first time at the age of 32. It sits among the most powerful, poignant things I've ever read, and it got under my skin in a way that few books ever have. It's not just that book, though -- although like everyone, I learned about the Holocaust in school growing up, I never fully internalized the magnitude of it. After more intentionally studying it now, I don't think I've come much closer to doing so -- it was a crime designed that way, to be so numbingly huge in scale that it defies any human's ability to fully comprehend its monstrosity.
I have to be careful here, because this video is not "about" the Holocaust at all -- I really don't want to mislead anyone into thinking it speaks about that event specifically. At the same time, I can't ignore that the things I've been reading and ruminating over and trying to internalize heavily feature in this video's creation. Reading about Anne Frank, about Elie Wiesel, about Emmanuel Ringelblum and Elli Friedmann and the millions of nameless, faceless people who were victims in the Holocaust, and trying to make sense of the hatred and cruelty and evil that created it and perpetuated it has left a gaping hole in my heart that I've been trying to cope with these last couple months. This video is an outworking of these feelings and contemplations, and as such is very dark, desolate, and hopeless. None of the imagery or pacing in this video is a mistake, and it's meant to suffocate, to repulse, and to wear the viewer down.
This is one of my more (most?) personal videos, it contains a lot of symbolism and meaning that I don't necessarily want or feel the need to share. I don't know if anyone will take pleasure in this video or see it in the same light that I do, but that's ok. Usually here's where I would tell you "I hope you enjoy!" but I don't know that it would be sincere in this case. But thank you for watching, anyhow.
Technical notes:
Edited in Magix Vegas Pro 15. Total time spent editing was probably around 10 hours.
Song: "Into Dust" by Mazzy Star
Anime: Now and Then, Here and There
![Touch the Sky [AMV edited by aerialesque]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/SZcEqByvwPw/mqdefault.jpg "Touch the Sky [AMV edited by aerialesque]
First of all THIS IS NOT MY VIDEO. This video was edited by a friend of mine who goes by the username aerialesque (you can find a link to her channel below). She entered this video into Nan Desu Kans AMV contest in 2016, and it ended up being one of my favorite videos in the contest. She sent me the video file so I could have it myself shortly after, but she never actually released the video publicly. Over the next five years, any time I would see her in person (and several times through Discord and other means) I would hound her to release it, but she never did (per aerialesque, due mainly to wanting to re-edit this using the actual series and not the OVAs...she never got around to it though). Finally, she gave me permission to upload this video to my YouTube channel and give her credit.
I cant tell you how happy it makes me that this video is finally out there, available to the world. Its one of my favorite AMVs from aerialesque, who already has a really strong catalog of videos from over the past 15+ years. I love its simplicity and sincerity, not to mention the editing the lyric sync in this is simply top-notch, the energy is perfect, the visual rhythm as satisfying as anything shes ever done. I really cant praise it enough, and its been a staple video for me these past five years but only me! Now you get to share in it as well, and I hope you love this video as much as I do.
Editor: aerialesque (https://www.youtube.com/user/AerialesqueAMV)
Song: Here I Am Alive by Yellowcard
Anime: Little Witch Academia")
