Liminality: Saimoe 2007

26/10
<<竜宮レナ＠ひぐらしのなく頃に>>
(Ryuuguu Rena@Higurashi no Naku Koro ni)

1474 vs 1436

<<高町なのは＠魔法少女リリカルなのはStrikerS>>
(Takamachi Nanoha@Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS)

Very tough match for Rena, she is up against the '05 winner and the only survivor from Nanoha series. I expect that the Nanoha-legion would run amok to support their last character! But don't get intimidated, Rena WILL take Nanoha home ;)

Amazingly close call for for Rena - only 38 votes difference! Coupled with another false victory due to large influx of fakes, this match almost gave me a heart attack. But in the end Nanoha was taken home!

27/10
<<三千院ナギ＠ハヤテのごとく！>>
(Sanzenin Nagi@Hayate the Combat Butler)

1334 vs 1272

<<泉こなた＠らき☆すた>>
(Izumi Konata@Lucky Star)

The otaku showdown! Konata has a very dangerous low profile, compared to the Hiragii sisters (Tsukasa and Kagami). If a Sucky*Star character is going to win (doubtful, since japanese hate KyoAni - producer of Lucky Star) it is going to be Konata.

As I both hoped and expected the NEET with character development won against the otaku without ;P

28/10
<<古手梨花＠ひぐらしのなく頃に>>
(Furude Rika@Higurashi no Naku Koro ni)

1473 vs 1191

<<ルイズ・フランソワーズ・ル・ブラン・ド・ラ・ヴァリエール＠ゼロの使い魔>>
(Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière@Zero no Tsukaima)

Louise group victory was a surprise! hell, dominating her group wing was even a surprise! I expect that Rika's moe'ness will be boosted by hate for Louise.

This match was much easier then most people thought (not including myself). Rika won by almost 300 votes!

29/10
<<真紅＠ローゼンメイデンオーベルテューレ>>
(Shinku@Rozen Maiden Ouverture)

1697 vs 1639

<<柊つかさ＠らき☆すた>>
(Hiiragi Tsukasa@Lucky Star)

How can I put it, I couldn't care less, until I joined the AnimeSuki discussion. Now Mad Dog has done a pretty deceant job in persuading me that my vote to Tsukasa was a huge mistake!

Very marginal victory for Shiku. Anyway the bad news is that she is going to be a very tough opponent for Rika!

Read more!

For the group finals, look here!

Since 2002, members of the 2chan host a fan voting tournament, called the Saimoe Tournament. From 2006 and on, 2chan users obliged foreign otaku by putting up an english version of their rules page. Here you can find these instruction. Schedule and the results so far are at the end of the article. I didn't even bother with the first two rounds since I didn't new even half the characters, but now things are becoming interesting, with only 32 girls left (unfortunately, Jun -the only boy- lost pretty early). I will present the contestants by series. Remember you can click the images to enlarge them.

Moe (萌え) is a Japanese slang word originally referring to love for characters in video games or anime and manga. It is also used within anime fandom, and even in some anime itself, as an interjection referring to a character the speaker considers to be a moekko. As with most aspects of fandom, manga and anime itself can be critical or supportive of moe otaku depending on a specific writer's opinion.

From Hayate no Gotoku we have Nagi, Isumi, Izumi and Ayumu. The first two were no surprise, but I was quite puzzled to see the other two and not Maria. In any case Nagi passed very easily, not only because of her moeness, but probably because her opponents were pretty much worthless. Partially, this is the case with Isumi, she had two easy rounds, but with stronger opponents (Siesta@Zero & Natsuki@Mai).

Izumi also passed easily, which was a surprise for me, Izumi never impressed me throughout the series. The biggest surprise was Ayumu, who took out Teana@Nanoha in the second round, but in any case she deserved it. Unfortunately Hinagiku didn't make despite her overwhelming victory on round one, because she was facing Runa@Seto. Finally, Maria was taken out early by Kagami@LuckyStar, in a very hard match, while Saki the other maid came last in the second round facing Henrietta@Zero and Tamao@Str.Panic.

The dolls of Rozen Maiden prove one more time how many fans they have. With only an OVA out this year to keep viewers interested they managed to also to put four characters in the third round, including a human! Suiseiseiki (winner of '06 and finalist of '05) and her obnoxious personality had two easy rounds. The spoiled Shinku (3rd in '05) also passed with easy victories. The trash called Suigintou took out in a breathtaking second round match Fate@Nahona (1790 vs 1624 votes) !!! The surprise came from Tomoe, who very lucky in being in an easy group.

The "killer lolis" from Higurashi no Naku Koro ni didn't fare that well, Satoko was crushed between the epic clash of Suigintou@Rozen Maiden and Fate@Nahoha, see above. Rena made it after a couple of easy rounds. Not following the fate of her sister, Mion passed. Finally, the ultra-cute after defying death more than a hundred times (watch the latest episode to understand) goes on strong.

I shouldn't state for a third time how much I was disappointed that Fate lost to Suigintou, because I am becoming boring and repetative ;) So after the best character of this crossbreed between shounen and mahou shoujo with the seamless use of engirishu, who passed from Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha? First of all the winner of '05, Nanoha, now 19-years old with clear towards her own sex, became a foster parent of Vivio (who was also her opponent in the second round), etc. Next is Vita (the goth loli of the series, since Fate grew up), the former knight and now trainer of the recruits that was bleeding to death for 4-5 episodes straight, only to recover for the happy ending and finally her ex-master and commander of the special "something" unit, Hayate, who was supposed to sacrifice herself for the good of the world, but the scriptwriters changed their mind and she passed the second half of the series blowing up stuff or commanding nameless hordes of techno-mages to do so. Vita was the only one who had a hard match in the second round against Matsuri@sola. Notice that none of the new characters, in which this season was focusing, made it.

With Lucky Star there were no surprises the three leads passed. Konata (the female otaku), had a slightly difficult second round against Nayuki@Kannon, which by the way is way cuter. Kagami (the tsundere) had an epic first match against Maria@Hayate (1356 vs 1161) and again I would prefer to see maid pass, but that's life. Finally, Tsukasa (sloppy, absent-minded, kind, etc) crushed, stomped, massacred all opposition, actually in both rounds her opponents together were getting less votes then she alone!

Seto no Hanayome was missing Shiranui to begin with, then Maki and Iinchou/Amazones split the fans votes so their opponent Rain@Futago Hime won and Mawari had also a tough battle, but finally lost to Mai@Kannon. This left only the two leads, who nevertheless took out very popular characters. San took out Shion@Higurashi, Miyuki@Kanon and Souseiseki@Rozen Maiden. Luna won against Subaru@Nanoha and Hinagiku@Hayate.

Utawarerumono characters in my opinion have some of the best designs, as well as very interesting background stories. Unfortunately, the anime failed to show both aspects, the animation was cheap (killing the character design) and the plot pacing was weird, really at some points it tested my patience. Taking these factors into acount, I didn't expect for the the character to go well and they didn't, only the dog-sisters made it, since they are the most stereotypical of Utawarerumono's characters. Aruru (the younger sister) is the typical loli and Eruru (the senior sister) is the Yamato Nadeshiko of the series. Very unimpressive results and they really do not do justice to the game ... piety.

For the end I left the tsundere Eri, Shana and her clone Louise. Shana had to face Evangeline@Negima twice, since they came to a draw in the first round and even the second the result was still close. In both match the other two characters were totally non-existance, the got together half the votes one of two first achieved! Now on the other hand, Louise suffered from a very bad season of Zero no Tsukaima and she barely made it when in the second round she won by only two votes (797 vs 795) against Mai@Kanon! Finaly, Eri from School Rumble had easy matches and still her popularity is high, probably because the manga still goes on strong in Japan.

With the rest I won't even bother, because I either find the characters or the series painfully boring to watch/talk about, but for complicity's sake here they are:
Yuno@Hidamari Sketch
Miyako@Hidamari Sketch
Alicia@Aria
C.C.@Code Geass
Sayuri@Kannon
Kanoe@Nehima!?
Takako@Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru
Tamao@Strawberry Panic

2007/10/06, Group A1
Shana @ Shakugan no Shana
vs
Segawa Izumi @ Hayate no Gotoku

Shana won easily with 1152 votes against 644

2007/10/06, Group B2
Kanoe Konoka @ Negima!?
vs
C.C. @ Code Geass

Konoka won marginally with 837 aginst 819 that CC got.
CC got a lot of ecchi publicity, but wasn't enough.

2007/10/07, Group B1
Saginomiya Isumi @ Hayate no Gotoku
vs
Izumi Konata @ Lucky Star

Konata had a hard match (937 vs 802),
but her otaku-ness won against the innocent charms of Isumi

2007/10/07, Group A2
Kashiwaba Tomoe @ Rozen Maiden
vs
Sanzenin Nagi @ Hayate no Gotoku

Nagi easily won (1072 vs 553) against the only non-doll of Rozen Maiden

2007/10/08, Group C1
Edomae Luna @ Seto no Hanayome
vs
Takamachi Nanoha @ Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha

This was really a close call (1746 vs 1702),
but the ex-ferret loving, now lesbian won by 44 votes
the adorable idol-mermaid Runa!

2007/10/08, Group D2
Ryuguu Rena @ Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
vs
Hiragi Kagami @ Lucky Star

Even 600 fake votes, Kagami didn't dodge Rena's hatchet (1901 vs 1768)!
Before removing the fake votes the result was 2347 vs 2006, in Kagami's favor

2007/10/09, Group D1
Yuno @ Hidamari Sketch
vs
Yagami Hayate @ Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha

Hayate fought valiantly (1155 vs 1104),
but with so few screen time stood no chance against Yuno.

2007/10/09, Group C2
Miyako @ Hidamari Sketch
vs
Vita @ Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha

Vita pulled it off though (1121 vs 1096),
I guess there's too much resentment to Nanoha-cast,
probably because of this seasons rip-off.

2007/10/10, Group E1
Shinku @ Rozen Maiden
vs
Takako Itsukushima @ Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru

"desu" won relatively easy again (1461 vs 1085)

2007/10/10, Group F2
Seto San @ Seto no Hanayome
vs
Hiragi Tsukasa @ Lucky Star

damn! close call (1519 vs 1448),
thus the last character from from Seto no Hanayome lost!

2007/10/11, Group F1
Aruru @ Utawarerumono
vs
Suiseiseki @ Rozen Maiden

A relatively easy win for the last years champion (1154 vs 876).

2007/10/11, Group E2
Tamao Suzumi @ Strawberry Panic
vs
Nishizawa Ayumu @ Hayate no Gotoku

At last another Hayate girl made it,
close call though (931 vs 888).

2007/10/12, Group G1
Eruruu @ Utawarerumono
vs
Kurata Sayuri @ Kannon

I expected Sayuri's victory (827 vs 757),
though I preferred the older dog-girl

2007/10/12, Group H2
Louise @ Zero no Tsukaima
vs
Sawachika Eri @ School Rumble

OMG! Louise won against Eri,
actually she crushed her (1013 vs 630)!!!

2007/10/13, Group H1
Suigintou @ Rozen Maiden
vs
Alicia Florence @ Aria

Well, after beating Fate, Alicia was an easy job (1226 vs 736)

2007/10/13, Group G2
Sonozaki Mion @ Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
vs
Furude Rika @ Higurashi no Naku Koro ni

I was expecting this (932 vs 571),
Rika is the main character of the new season.

For the next round, look here!

Past Results (click on the image to enlarge):

2007/10/24

Quarter-finals

2007/10/18

Saimoe 2007, Group Finals

2007/10/04

Saimoe 2007, Round 3

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