Anime Saimoe Tournament 2013 (Japan)
 

Welcome to the official AnimeSuki thread for the 12th annual Anime Saimoe Tournament, one that has become somewhat of a favored pastime for some people here. Nominations for the 2013 tournament is apparently scheduled for the second week of June. More information on the tournament will be added to this post and the supplementary websites as it becomes available.

Anything in strikeout is presently unavailable. Links, info, etc. will be provided when available.

The Anime Saimoe Tournament (Saimoe or AST for short) is a tournament held annually on the 2channel Japanese forums. People all around the world participate in the tournament to vote for the most moe anime character of the past year. (Though if last year was any indication, odds on you'll be blocked out from voting unless you're in Japan.) The tournament page is currently here and a wiki for organizing this year's entries is here, in Japanese only. However, a plethora of information in English can also be found at this site which does live tracking of the tournament as well. For those IRC-savvy, you can try chatting with some of us here: #saimoe @ irc.rizon.net

The rules of how to properly participate in this thread:

To vote for characters, they must first be elected to participate in the tournament.

Character Nomination

Any female characters (including female characters without names, gyroids, and guys who become girls at least once in a series) who have appeared in any anime which has aired, is airing, or will air in Japan between July 1, 2012 and June 30, 2013; appearances on these dates also make a girl eligible. For OVAs, the release date must be between or on these dates. For films, the premiere date in Japan must fall between or on these dates.

Girls are nominated by the first kana letter of their family name, if it's a Japanese name (foreign names use the first letter of the first name, which will usually be the given name). The letters are grouped in the traditional Japanese way, by grouping letters by the starting letter of the letter row. All starting letters have あ sounds. If you're not familiar with this aspect of the Japanese language, go here or ask about it in this thread.

Nominations are ordered by the first Japanese letter of anime. This also applies to anime with non-Japanese titles. Different letters enter nominations on designated days. In order to nominate this year, you need a code.

Each date and time listed is in JST (Japan Standard Time). To find out how your computer's internal clock compares with JST, here's an international clock.

Saimoe 2013 Schedule: (tentative)

6/9 (Sunday): Series beginning with A, E, I, O, U or V
6/10 (Monday): Series beginning with G, K or Q
6/11 (Tuesday): Series beginning with J, S or Z
6/12 (Wednesday): Series beginning with C, D, N or T
6/13 (Thursday): Series beginning with B, F, H, P or V
6/14 (Friday): Series beginning with L, M, R, W or Y
6/15 (Saturday): Additional entries
6/22 (Saturday): Additional entries
6/29 (Saturday): Additional entries
7/1 (Monday): Additional entries
7/21: 1st Prelim Draw (in 15 mins)
7/22-23: Break
7/24-31: 1st Prelim, Group 1-8
8/1: Break
8/2-9: 1st Prelim, Group 9-16
8/10: Break
8/11: 2nd Prelim Draw
8/12: Break
8/13-16: 2nd Prelim, Group 1-4
8/17: Break
8/18: Main Battle Draw
8/19-22: Break
8/23-25: Group A 1st Round (1-4-7-10, 2-5-8-11, 3-6-9-12)
8/26-28: Group B 1st Round (1-4-7-10, 2-5-8-11, 3-6-9-12)
8/29: Break
8/30-9/1: Group C 1st Round (1-4-7-10, 2-5-8-11, 3-6-9-12)
9/2-4: Group D 1st Round (1-4-7-10, 2-5-8-11, 3-6-9-12)
9/5: Break
9/6-8: Group E 1st Round (1-4-7-10, 2-5-8-11, 3-6-9-12)
9/9-11: Group F 1st Round (1-4-7-10, 2-5-8-11, 3-6-9-12)
9/12: Break
9/13-15: Group G 1st Round (1-4-7-10, 2-5-8-11, 3-6-9-12)
9/16-18: Group H 1st Round (1-4-7-10, 2-5-8-11, 3-6-9-12)
9/19: Break
9/20-23 Group A-C 2nd Round (A1-B1-C1, A2-B2-C2, A3-B3-C3, A4-B4-C4)
9/24: Break
9/25-28: Group D-F 2nd Round (D1-E1-F1, D2-E2-F2, D3-E3-F3, D4-E4-F4)
9/29: Group G-H 2nd Round (G1-H1)
9/30: Break
10/1-3: Group G-H 2nd Round (G2-H2, G3-H3, G4-H4)
10/4: Break
10/5-12: 3rd Round (A1-B2, A2-B1, etc.)
10/13: Break
10/14-17: Group Final (A-C, B-D, E-G, F-H)
10/18: Break
10/19: Loser Bracket Draw
10/20-23: Loser Bracket 1st Round
10/24: Break
10/25-28: Loser Bracket 2nd Round
10/29: Break
10/30-11/2: Loser Bracket Final
11/3: Break
11/4: Final Tournament Draw
11/5: Break
11/6-11/13: Round of 16
11/14: Break
11/15-18: Quarterfinal
11/19: Break
11/20-21: Semifinal
11/22: Break
11/23: Final

It's that time of the year again!

...well, almost.
Time to slowly make a list of characters I'd like to root for.

I'll try (and most likely fail :heh:) to get more "involved" (read: vote) than last year.

If I'm not mistaken, certain characters from 2011 are once again eligible this year...

Oh dear. Is it almost July already?

Welcome back SaiMoe fans, old and new. Welcome back girls you are all champions in the making, that is true. Welcome back all past champions and past finalists that are eligible again this year as well. I look forward to how you fare. A special welcome to our returning champion Toki, you set a tough act to follow, but follow we shall. A special mention to Ai Haibara as always I wish you well (at least until Round One, Round Two being your own private Arnhem mostly). So fight the good fight and cheer the hardiest all you folks out there.

Now back to the nervous tension.

Oh hi there again. Didn't watch too many series this year, but I'll keep tabs here for the usual ^^

Guess we'll be seeing Love Live and Idolmaster going against each other most likely, even though I feel like Love Live is the stronger one. Well to be honest I think Love Live is a potential threat to Saki/Madoka along with GaruPan and Tsukiko possibly (well for Tsukiko I see her around Akarin's 2012 Saimoe strength at the weakest). Precure wise I see 4+ cures making it in, due to I feel like Smile will barely lose their strength and Doki Doki seems like they are stronger than Heartcatch and Suite at this point. Can't wait to see how Doki Doki and Smile Precure and Zettai Bouei Leviathan does, of course same goes with the shows/characters I love that are eligible. I knew it MLP would be eligible.

Come on, we all know GuP is this year's Saki...

Madoka? That's so 2011.
Saki? That's so 2012.

Panzer vor!

Lovelive I see them as similar strength to IM last year. Of course, IM is still around if I'm correct.

There's the Kyoani army also, triple the size. Hyouka, Chuunikoi, and Tamako are somewhere in there. Yes, Tamako would go nowhere (They'll be Nichijou strength), but Chitanda and Rikka can beat anyone all day (Including most of the IM/LL girls)

SAO is there also. Asuna is Biribiri strength if not stronger (Mainly due to possible Biribiri hate for her fake vote performance back in 2011).
LB is also in. Anime is not that popular but Key fan is a strong faction.
Henneko, well, if that Korean stealth marketing "scandal" does not exist I would call Tsukiko the winner before anything happen. But since this is 2ch...Same can be said of Sakurasou, although Sakurasou starts off much weaker anyway.

There are other lower tier shows (Nyaruko, Oregairu, Oreshura, even Yuruyuri) that may surprise but not winning anything.

To be honest I always felt like GaruPan is going to be this year's Saki ever since it started airing :p. Personally I thought Love Live maybe minus Nozomi and Rin would be slightly stronger than IM@S at the weakest and Hokago Tea Time's peak strength at the strongest, maybe it is because of lack of antis from what I saw for Love Live compared to IM@S on 2ch. Henneko wise oops forgot about that Korean scandal thing. Speaking of scandals won't be surprising Kokoro Connect will end up low or very low tier or only have Inaban/Iori making it. Agreed with Asuna and Rikka but I feel like Chitanda might be weakened but not severely. For YuruYuri minus Akarin I think the Akarin faction might be hellbent on what happened last year. Which won't be surprising at all, maybe same goes for the faction that supported Peace. IM@S is still there, thanks to Shiny Festa.

MLP is eligible.

Here's hoping the voters have learned their lesson after the very disappointing results of the last two tournaments.

As for shows I'm rooting, while I've been out of the loop this past year, I'd still likely support Hidamari Sketch, Busou Shinki (I've been collecting the figures since late 2010/early 2011), and Tamako Market (those DVD/BD bonus shorts with Choi will definitely increase her moe value).

Also, it will be interesting to see if My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is eligible for the tournament this year, since in terms of moe, it's hard to beat Fluttershy. :D

I didn't remember Ijime Kokoro Connect either. But even without that "scandal" Inaban would have been the only one that would have gone somewhere anyway.

YRYR will falls off. Season 2 was airing right when AST2012 was going on.

But at least we all agree that GuP will be this year's Saki. Akiyama-dono FTW (Not that she's my favorite, Mako is, but she's by far the most popular)

Updated info on the nomination phase. Turns out it's just begun.

BTW, I need a new image host as Photobucket made a site re-design and got kinda... stupid. It's like they went from being Facebook to MySpace. So I'll need someplace else to host the brackets that won't resize my images on upload.

Strike Witches 2 aired and ended right when AST2010 was going on yet Erica managed to be in the Final 8 of AST2011. Unless that case was MadoMagi faction wanting a easier time. I think it really depends on the strength of the girl. Akarin and maybe Kyouko doesn't seem like the types who'll lose a significant amount strength that fast given that it seems like everyone only cares about those two.

Come on, it's so clear of a snipe attempt by MadoMagi fan that it's not even funny (Mainly b/c my waifu Kanade is on the receiving end)

I mean, that year you also have Rotte beating Biribiri to reach Final 8 (Although Biribiri fake voting is the cause of that one. Damn Biribiri for knocking out two of my favorite in Homuhomu and Victorique on fakes).

P.S. As far as YRYR goes, I just don't see them being as strong as they were compare to last year without an ongoing show.

Even though I'm a MadoMagi fan myself, I wasn't pleased with Kanade's elimination by Erica (mainly because I support Kanade too :heh:).

Besides, all Homuhomu fans are getting a second chance this year. Very possible that the other Puella Magi won't be as strong as they used to be, but I don't think Homura's fans will let her be denied early yet again.

I thought Kanade had fake votes like Biri Biri did but unlike her Tenshi's fakes was less obvious, since I heard that somewhere around AST 2011. Won't be surprising if it was since AB was getting really weak at that point and getting 323 votes all the sudden from 527 at round 1 seemed so off (seems like if the character is not a Puella Magi then it seems like 200-450 was natural for them).So it seems like Tenshi "got sniped (which I highly doubt I don't think the MadoMagis cared unless a Puella magi popped up)" when the fakes got removed. Even if they did it has to be a pretty low amount of them.Plus Erica can go 380ish at maximum power without the help of fakes. At least Homura has a chance at top 8. For the another Magical Girl that's eligible other than Precure and Madoka, hope Nanoha doesn't end up like 2012 Higurashi level given their past performances.

I'm looking forward to seeing how well Homura does she she got robbed in her only main tournament match. She's getting in off a recap movie but I wonder how many voters will vote as if Homura was getting in off new material. It'll also interesting to see if the Misaka scandal was a career ending event. Misaka was probably pretty strong even without the cheating but she may attract a lot of anti-votes now.

It's that time of the year once again :heh:
Too bad, I don't think the Rozen Maiden dolls will be able to participate this year. If they have to wait until next year, I wonder if the hype will die off quite a bit over such a long time. Still, I am looking forward to saimoe 2013. Last year was lackluster in the voting number department (was it because of a certain show having so many dominant characters?). I think the new comer contestants this year will give the tournament some needed fresh air.

I think it was mostly due to the lackluster quality of shows in the past year. Excluding Madoka, there hasn't been a God-tier show in what seems like ages.

Oh boy here we go again.

Once again Japan has take extra care in making sure that Hina's eligible again so she can have her dreams crushed. Someone update that picture (you know which one) while I get out the popcorn.

That reminds me that there's a high chance poor Hina (Nagi to an extent) is going be like Shana until she is ineligible.

I went to check the list of anime series with nominated characters, and Date A Live was one of them.

Having watched episodes 6 and 8, I'm going to support Yoshino all the way. I'll be terribly disappointed if she doesn't win. Actually, I just want her to do well.

Disappointment is a trend in Saimoe judging by past interactions with people on this board.

Something tells me this is just going to be another year of Saki ballot stuffing.

I wonder if Sword Art Online will put up a strong fight?

I think the opposite for Saki I think they garnered enough antis because they do that last year. I think SAO wise Asuna would be the only one putting up a strong fight.

The Kugyuu testimonial year was last year, so I expect a little 'underperformance' this year. Sniping and disappointment is part and parcel of any Saimoe, so keep those tissues handy folks ok.

Like I said way earlier, Saki? Seriously, that's so 2012.

Yoshino? She's like #4 in her series LOL...(It's Touka ~= Kurumi > Kotori ~= Yoshino...who cares about Origami)

P.S. My personal (New girl) Top 10...
10. Katyusha (Girls und Panzer)
9. Nomi Kudryavka (Little Busters!)
8. Amatsuka Mao (GJ-bu)
7. Yui (Sword Art Online)
6. Inaba Himeko (Kokoro Connect)
5. Yukinoshita Yukino (Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru)
4. Fuyuumi Ai (Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru)
3. Takanashi Rikka (Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai!)
2. Aoba Kokona (Yama no Susume)
1. Tsutsukakushi Tsukiko (Hentai Ouji to Warawanai Neko.)

Honorable Mention: Sakai Wakana (Tari Tari), Reizei Mako (GuP), Takenaka Hanbee (Oda Nobuna no Yabo), Itsuka Kotori (Date A Live), Maeda Kanon (Photokano), Morishita Michiru (Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate), Kannagi Miyabi (Kono Naka ni Hitori, Imouto ga Iru!), Sasha Blaus (Shingeki no Kyojin), Kitashirakawa Anko (Tamako Market)

For returning...
10. Sugiura Ayano (Yuruyuri)
9. Shirai Kuroko (Railgun S)
8. Kuuko (Nyaruko W)
7. Chitanda Eru (Hyouka)
6. Shirakiin Ririchiyo (Inu x Boku SS)
5. Kuroyukihime (Accel World)
2a/2b/2c: Hakamada Hinata (RKB), Minato Tomoka (RKB), Hasegawa Kobato (Hanagai NEXT)
1. Gokou Ruri/Kuroneko (Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wakeganai.)

Honorable: Miniwa Tsumiki (Acchi Kocchi OVA), Hagimura Suzu (Seitokai Yakuindomo), Aragaki Ayase/Gokou Hinata/Gokou Tamaki (Oreimo), Chika (Hidamari Sketch Honeycomb), Araragi Tsukihi/Araragi Karen (Nekomonogatari Kuro)

Meh. Saimoe's losing the point of moe. Ah well.

Guess I'll just support whichever Date A Live girl can go the farthest, then.

But then, shouldn't that mean Kurumi will go far? :heh:

Top 10 for this year's (well top 11 since my top 1sts are tied :heh: )

1. Kenzaki Makoto/ Regina (Doki Doki Precure)
2. Kise Yayoi (Smile Precure)
3. Yazawa Niko (Love Live)
4. Mifune Yuriko (Kotoura-san)
5. Syrup (Zettai Bouei Leviathan)
6. Nomi Kudryavka (Little Busters)
7. Tokisaki Kurumi (Date A Live)
8. Nekonya (GaruPan)
9. Bahamut (Zettai Bouei Leviathan)
10. A-Tan/Athena Tennousu (Hayate no Gotoku)

Too many honorable mentions for me.

I think so if match ups doesn't screw her over. Well unless Date A Live itself ends up like Milky Holmes of 2011 where they are several times stronger than expected (to be honest I'm not going to be surprised if that happens AST have cases where low tier looking shows ending up being one of the stronger ones or vice versa.)

When was the Saki fanbase caught cheating?

Oh wow I completely forgot that Athena became eligible this year. This'll be good.

Assuming that there'll be no single faction dominating this year, yes - it's gonna be good.

Especially after I remembered that the many moe girls of the recently concluded Spring 2013 anime season are also eligible. :D

Too bad she comes in WAY too late to be a factor anyway. Hayate is not even half of what it was.

Well, you've a possible dominating faction (GuP), the dominating faction from 2012 (and 2009 and 2010) in Saki, and the dominating faction of 2011 (MadoMagi). Popular LN series like Oreimo, Haganai, SAO, Toaru (Railgun/Index) are around. IM and LL represent the "idol anime" group (Okay, and AKB0048, but who cares about that), Kyoani has Hyouka, Chuunikoi, and Tamako Market. LB is around but since it's J.C. Staff instead of Kyoani, they won't be anywhere near Clannad level...

On paper, it should be good. The dominating factions will probably fight each other at the minimum.

P.S. GuP lead with 64 entries, Saki with 44. Of course, half of GuP entries are basically "who"...

For LB *sigh* I feel like they would be Clannad level if people doesn't care which studio it was from. In way makes me wonder why people care about which studio LB is coming from so much anyways. I don't think A-Tan came too late to be a "factor" since her popularity is close to Hina and Nagi's. So I don't think time matters for her much compared to like Maria. I see A-tan being like Nagi and Hina where she's first in prelims perpetually but gets screwed over.

Since this is Japan AST I should think we should look at the popularity in Japan to get a clearer picture. I think the reason Milky Holmes did well was because it was really popular in Japan. DAL being the 4th best selling light novel for the 1st half of 2013 should go rather far too.

I agree on this very much since looking at the show's and character's popularity in Japan makes me not wanting to underestimate series like Precure (personally I think they did bad because there were international voters mixed in until recently well 2011 Suite was unpopular and Heartcatch was losing popularity), DAL, and even Joshiraku. I even think that's the reason why Haibara Ai of Conan is going to stay in AST for an eternity. Oops almost forgot that Milky Holmes was very popular in Japan during 2011. About DAL LN sales makes me very optimistic about Kurumi's performance even more.

I do question the part about "4th best selling LN" somehow...where does that come from anyway (I can see, at a minimum, SAO, AW, Retto-sei, and Oreimo outselling it).

DAL is at best QF-ist to me and that's with a lucky draw...you just can't underestimate the power of series fanatics in AST (In another word, the like of Saki and MadoMagi and possibly GuP will just kick everyone off anyway, unless they have to fight each other, of course).

As you wish. Yes, SAO and Mahouka outsold it (as did Hataraku Maou-sama), but nothing else. Oreimo isn't even in the top 20. :heh: (Note: this is up till May 2013, before Oreimo's last volume came out, so there may be some changes since then, but these were the most accurate figures I could find.)

Other than the light novel originals, of course there's manga originals like Saki and K-On! and anime originals like Madoka (any heavyweights that are visual novel originals?), otherwise Asuna Yuuki would be hogging #1, which obviously isn't happening.

The thing is, that rank seems to count only light novels that had a release between 2/03/2012~27/05/2013. Oreimo vol 11 was released before that period and 12 was released after. As of 23/06 vol 12 sold 190K.

Something's wrong with the dates. If that was the case, it should be 2/03/2013, not 2012.

In any case, rank 20 sold less than 100k volumes. DAL sold 378+k volumes. 190k volumes would get Oreimo straight into the top 10, but top 5? I doubt it. Unless you count volume 11 too, of course, but that wouldn't be fair right. :heh:

Meanwhile, I shall keep track of how DAL's characters fare in Saimoe '13. Particularly Kurumi and Yoshino. :D

On a side note, if other series' fans can do ballot stuffing, so can DAL. While not having as large a fanbase as heavyweights like SAO, it certainly has a sizable one. :heh:

I never insinuated that. They literally stuffed the "ballots" with their votes with the 20+ Saki characters that were in the tournament. It wasn't hard for a Saki character to get far.