MADs

This is an introductory article to the Japanese video-editing culture known as MAD movies. To browse MAD-related meme entries, please refer to the sub-meme section.

About

MAD is a modern Japanese term referring to parody/remix videos and audio clips that have been edited and re-arranged by “creative-secondary” authors. A typical MAD movie is put together by combining visual fragments of anime/manga with edited anime/j-pop soundtrack; it varies in length from a few seconds to several minutes and may not even include any music at all, mainly for comical effect. Because MAD movies are created in parodical nature with their own unique narrative plots, they should be distinguished from fan-made videos and artworks that are still based on the original canons. Thanks to popular video-sharing communities like Nico Nico Douga, MAD artworks have become an essential base of Japanese internet culture.

Origins

The earliest form of MAD culture can be traced back to personal exchanges of MAD tapes--cassette tapes containing re-edited, mash-up footage of various newsclips--among Japanese university students in the 1980s. According to this MAD FAQ page, a couple of alumni students from Osaka University of Arts & Music are cited as the original pioneers of audio MADs as well as anime MADS. The term “MAD” stems from one of the early cassette tapes originally titled “Kichigai Tape” (Tape of Madness), but for some reason, it became more commonly known by the English equivalent.

Types of MADs

While most MAD contents in circulations are anime-related, non-anime MADs do exist.

Audio MAD (in Japanese)

Pioneered by Imai during the early days of MAD tapes, Audio MADS consist of stringing together dialogue from popular anime to editing news broadcasts straight from the television, ultimately resulting in a new dialogue made of various sound-bites.

MAD news #1:

MAD news #2:

MAD news #3:

Visual MAD

• Touhou visual MAD feat. Inaba Tewi:

• Touhou visual MAD feat. Flandre Scarlet

Video MAD

Spiderman MAD Video:

Yu-Gi-Oh MAD Video:

Lucky Star MAD Video: