What is a MAD?? o.o"

[Ayano Katagiri]

This is one of the things I don't quite understand. What exactly classifies as a "MAD", and more importantly, what does it even stand for?? And no, I'm not talking about "mad" as in angry, delirious or insane, but instead the term related to anime and videos.

MAD is a term used by the Japanese I think, since it's commonly used on NicoNicoDouga (a video site similar to Youtube) while in comparison AMV (Anime Music Video) is used in English. But the two don't really seem equivalent, especially when you look at some of the more crazy MADs. AMVs are simply music videos with various scenes taken from anime while MADs are... random? Selecting from a few which I've watched...

E.g. [1] [2]

But then some seem equivalent to AMVs.

E.g. [1]

I still don't get it. D:

 

[Zet]

MAD is pretty much AMVs but the music always works to the bits used, like actually lip syncing and the such

 

[Forci Stikane]

Not...exactly, Zetta.

As another YouTube user once posted, think of MADs as sort of the Nico Nico version of the YTP. This can go anywhere from simply adding an unfitting piece of music to complete insanity.

 

[Jack O'Neill]

For a moment there, I thought you were talking about mutual assured destruction.

In any case, "MAD" in the context you're talking about doesn't really stand for anything. It's just an arbitrarily-chosen designator used for any and all Japanese fan-made movies, not just AMVs. Again, it's not an acronym, just a designator.