The Anime Saimoe Tournament 2006

[Maximum Burst]

Man, I really don't understand the power of Kyon's sister. Sure she plays the loli card, but...she didn't really do anything else! Perhaps that bag scene? Bah I don't know. I'm just...so confused. She even beat Mashiro who is also loli and is actually a main character (I wanted her to win ><; ). I really want Ichijou to beat her, but things look bleak

[rooboy]

Originally Posted by Maximum Burst

Man, I really don't understand the power of Kyon's sister. Sure she plays the loli card, but...she didn't really do anything else! Perhaps that bag scene? Bah I don't know. I'm just...so confused. She even beat Mashiro who is also loli and is actually a main character (I wanted her to win ><; ). I really want Ichijou to beat her, but things look bleak

It's all about her loli power in a bag.

Normally I'm the anti loli, but even I like Kyon's sister.

[Muir Woods]

Originally Posted by Maximum Burst

Man, I really don't understand the power of Kyon's sister. Sure she plays the loli card, but...she didn't really do anything else! Perhaps that bag scene? Bah I don't know. I'm just...so confused. She even beat Mashiro who is also loli and is actually a main character (I wanted her to win ><; ). I really want Ichijou to beat her, but things look bleak

With public voting competitions like these, the likelihood of winning depends significantly, if not heavily, on the exposure and eminence of the entities (in this case, female anime characters). Which is why I contend this is more of a favorite/popularity contest, and judging from the responses here and elsewhere, the supposedly priority trait of "moe" is merely a bonus in consideration. It is unfortunate that there is no direct consistent proportional relationship between the worthiness of a character and its recognition (eg. Tanyuu). To think that a trivial character like Kyon's sister beating out the exquisiteness of Tanyuu...does anyone else understand/feel my disgust regarding this? So to add on the general female contest idea I mentioned before, I would prefer that selection of the characters be done by a respectable body, much like how The Modern Library or Times chose the greatest hundred (English) novels of the 20th century, with clear reasons backing each character selection and position. This way, with less dependence on general population's awareness, there is a greater chance that lesser known characters may get the recognition they deserve. Of course, such results may be balanced out by reader's comments and public contests akin to this. The problem is, finding such "respectable body" within the realm of anime. *Sigh*...I apologize for my rant, I just needed to get this displeasure off my chest.

[panzerfan]

Well this would make the situation with Raging Heart all the more interesting. The anime behind it has gain some degree of notority/fame but Belldandy, which has been around for a decade by now should win.

[Anime Online]

That aside, I'm still dumbfounded how Raging Heart actually found itself in a "Most Moe Tournament".

[panzerfan]

I posted it as soon as I found out (that was a few pages ago). 4ch mentions about this every now and then. It's rather a good question... according to a poster, Donna Burke also does the voice for ATM and bullet train (which sounds the same as RH from the mp3 samples).
I mean... how do you make RH moe? Eruru although a male still looks human and quite adorable while RH... no mode of RH looks remotely like a human. (Now if you count the fanarts though there's some personification but the majority's RH as a device or as MP5, M16, Steyr Aug or other WMD.)
I agree with you totally on this. I love Nanoha series but this still baffles me.

[Furudanuki]

Originally Posted by Sorrow-K

You've been browsing 4chan, haven't you

No, I only do that when I have been extremely bad and deserve to be punished in a cruel and unusual manner. It's for those special occasions when I can't simply drive a few ten-penny nails into my forehead and consider myself forgiven.

Originally Posted by Anime Online

That aside, I'm still dumbfounded how Raging Heart actually found itself in a "Most Moe Tournament".

You and me both. Starbride, Mukkuru and Maa almost seem to make sense by comparison....

[rooboy]

Originally Posted by Furudanuki

You and me both. Starbride, Mukkuru and Maa almost seem to make sense by comparison....

I actually think Mukkuru was kind of moe when she (he?) was a kitten - cute, loveable, wanted to pick it up and give it a great big hug.

[Arimfe]

Originally Posted by niwasatou

You mentioned Shizuru and 556 votes she got - to make that clear: Her group wasn't any competition
I'm pretty sure that's the reason she didn't get uber amounts of votes.

Are you sure it was no competiton? Sure it wasn't anywhere near the group of death but still, she was up against Mai from her own series and Rika from Higurashi nearly beat her too.
Also just look at group 13. Weak competition never hindered Tsuruya from slaughtering everybody with 945 votes, halfway down we see number 2 with 528 votes.

But I agree with you that Shizuru should definitely NOT be underestimated. A little interesting statistic:

Nao increased from 346 votes in the qualification to ４34 in round 1.
Natsuki "exploded" from 453 votes in the qualification to ８４０ in round 1.
Mashiro "exploded" from 400 votes in the qualification to ７０３ in round 1.
Midori increased from 361 votes in the qualification to ４87 in round 1.
Nina increased from 359 votes in the qualification to ４６９ in round 1.
Mai increased from 485 votes in the qualification to ６２８ in round 1.
Shiho increased from 180 votes in the qualification to 311 in round 1.
Tomoe increased from 305 votes in the qualification to 330 in round 1.
Chie increased from 159 votes in the qualification to 170 in round 1.

We certainly can't accuse the My Otome fans for having slacked off. Of all the Otome characters ONLY miss Maria so far has decreased in votes.
Everything indicates that Shizuru will increase her votes. Besides she is also popular so she might even super increase just like Mashiro and Natsuki. At the very least I'm guessing she will reach at least Mai's level since she did beat Mai, so there's alot potential in her...

But then Alicia is one of the most popular Aria girls it seems, 626 is what the qualification gave her.
So far all the main Aria girls also only increased...
Athena 433 -> ６４８
Aika 433 -> 680
Alice 511 -> 544
Akira 475 -> ５１３

Alicia 626 -> ??????????

Which is why I was unsure who will win and reach round 3. I don't feel like underestimating any of these two.

Originally Posted by rooboy666

Well, you also have to figure that Eri is one of the two most popular figures in School Rumble - whereas Tsuruya couldn't be any higher than fourth in MoSH. I think the swing vote more likely comes down to people like me - I liked both shows, but there's no way in heck I would vote for Tsuruya before Sawachika. Mikuru? Maybe (that'd be a 50/50 split). Yuki? Maybe (that'd be a 50/50 split), but Tsuruya? No way.

Well, I agree with Furudanuki. Your reason isn't quite satisfactory enough for me in its explaining of how the heck Eri got +305 vote suddenly. But then again you may also simply be right about this because if Natsuki can get +387, Mashiro +303 and Rena +462 it can happen for Eri too.

Originally Posted by Rin-Sama

Hey what would happen if Kyon's Sisiter and Primula went up against each other? BATTLE OF THE LOLIS!

Loli-in-a-bag vs. loli-with-a-stuffed cat doll

Primula would lose.

Originally Posted by Rin-Sama

BTW what do you guys think of Asa's odds are winning her next round?

Sakurada Nori - Rozen Maiden ~Traumend~
Itou Nobue - Strawberry Marshmallow
Shigure Asa - SHUFFLE!

Very low, she needs all the support she can get.
Just by looking at the stats alone, it looks bad for Asa.
Nori 512
Nobue 424
Asa ３６０

Originally Posted by rooboy666

It's all about her loli power in a bag.

Normally I'm the anti loli, but even I like Kyon's sister.

I personally suspect there was some hundreds of Haruhi fanatics who where bored and decided to help out one of the cutest characters from their favourite series.

But seriously you guys have to remember Kyon's littlesister and Rena where both in the early part of the qualification. I also personally think this plays a huge factor and shouldn't be underestimated.
Kyon's littlesister WON group 1
Rena did well in group 2.
loli-in-bag increased from 366 to ８５０
Rena increased from 388 to 850

....this resemblance scares me....

[Bloodseeker]

Bye, Orihime...

Gogo Mion! Mion >>>>>>>>>>>> Rena
Gogo Natsuki!
Gogo Midori! (even though I know she's screwed...)
Gogo Rena! (if only for her pissed mode)
Gogo Mai!
Gogo Tessa!
Gogo Asa!
Gogo Saber!

Die Die Kyon's sister!

[panzerfan]

Since Bloodseeker said that...
Gogo Fate! Show Rena why Bardiche is better than Billhook!

[Bloodseeker]

Edit: Nevermind me, just had a dull moment...

[Arimfe]

Originally Posted by Muir Woods

To think that a trivial character like Kyon's sister beating out the exquisiteness of Tanyuu...does anyone else understand/feel my disgust regarding this?

It's exactly what you said, popularity contest, despite its name "moe".
It's merely to measure which characters/series are "in" and which characters/series are "out". Kinda like fashion for the masses of anime otaku i'd guess.

While I see where you come from, I personally don't feel disgusted at all.

[Sorrow-K]

Originally Posted by Muir Woods

With public voting competitions like these, the likelihood of winning depends significantly, if not heavily, on the exposure and eminence of the entities (in this case, female anime characters). Which is why I contend this is more of a favorite/popularity contest, and judging from the responses here and elsewhere, the supposedly priority trait of "moe" is merely a bonus in consideration. It is unfortunate that there is no direct consistent proportional relationship between the worthiness of a character and its recognition (eg. Tanyuu). To think that a trivial character like Kyon's sister beating out the exquisiteness of Tanyuu...does anyone else understand/feel my disgust regarding this? So to add on the general female contest idea I mentioned before, I would prefer that selection of the characters be done by a respectable body, much like how The Modern Library or Times chose the greatest hundred (English) novels of the 20th century, with clear reasons backing each character selection and position. This way, with less dependence on general population's awareness, there is a greater chance that lesser known characters may get the recognition they deserve. Of course, such results may be balanced out by reader's comments and public contests akin to this. The problem is, finding such "respectable body" within the realm of anime. *Sigh*...I apologize for my rant, I just needed to get this displeasure off my chest.

The difference is that anime is such a fan-driven medium, arguably moreso than literature and film, that no such body could establish itself overnight and expect to have the respect of the fan-base as a whole. And, also (from our point of view, anyway) anime is a medium with an international fanbase that has, over the years transcended the language barrier (in part thanks to fansubs), making it even harder for such a body to expect the respect of the entire anime fan-base.

Personally, I think this is actually one of the better popularity contests going around since the criteria to qualify is fairly stringent. But, I'm willing to admit that, at the end of the day, that's all it is: a popularity contest. And because of that, obviously there are some characters that are inevitably going to be overlooked by the population at large, even if you think they're more deserving. That's just the way it is.

And anyway, even if Tanyuu won't do this well in this tournament, Shinku should expect to get reasonably far. You can't have your cake and eat it too

[Arimfe]

Originally Posted by Arimfe

Well, I agree with Furudanuki. Your reason isn't quite satisfactory enough for me in its explaining of how the heck Eri got +305 vote suddenly. But then again you may also simply be right about this because if Natsuki can get +387, Mashiro +303 and Rena +462 it can happen for Eri too.

One more thing,
If we look back at the statistics again
Tsuruya 945 -> ８２３
Eri 665 -> ９７０
Back to your argument that many people like you simply preferred Eri over Tsuruya, there can be reason to believe you are at least partially right. But.... if this was the whole truth, then how do we explain that Tsuruya "only" lost 122 voters while Eri gained 305? The math doesn't add up.

This just reinforces what I feared, there is a great anti-Haruhi factor at play here...
Tsuruya is gone, Asakura is gone, Mori and Emiri are gone...
And now that Mikuru, Haruhi and Yuki are all in block E1/E2 it means we will lose at least two more Haruhi girls..... >_<

[IchiKyo]

That is just Japenese Fantasm :/

[Rin-Sama]

Damn. and i never heard of the other 2..

Very low, she needs all the support she can get.
Just by looking at the stats alone, it looks bad for Asa.
Nori 512
Nobue 424
Asa ３６０

[Kinny Riddle]

The tournament resumes today. Starting with Block E of which all Haruhi-ists (and anti-Haruhi-ists) will be getting excited about.

http://saimoe2006.hp.infoseek.co.jp/e.txt

Spoiler for Aug 24th entries:

Group 49 - Aug 24th
Tsukamoto Yakumo - School Rumble Series
Osaragi Hazumu - Kashimashi ~Girl Meets Girl~
Kamiizumi Yasuna - Kashimashi ~Girl Meets Girl~

Group 50 - Aug 24th
Morinas - Simoun
Fine - Fushigiboshi no Futagohime Series
Alicia Florence - ARIA Series

Group 51 - Aug 24th
Reinforce II - Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's
Suzumiya Haruhi - Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu
Zashiki Warashi - xxxHOLiC

Current voting thread
http://etc4.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/vote/1156255372/

Now I'd certainly like to see the so-called "anti-Haruhi-ists" topple THE Haruhi with two characters that can be considered minor. Tsuruya and Ryoko were beaten because they were in the same group as popular characters with established fanbases (Eri from School Rumble over Tsuruya, and Tamaki from ToHeart2 over Ryoko).

Which leads me to ask: if there are "anti-Haruhi-ists", where are the "anti-School Rumble" and "anti-TH2" people? The backlash may be huge for Haruhi, but there wouldn't be a backlash if there wasn't an equal amount of support, if not greater, out there. So I wouldn't be too pessimistic for the SuzuHaru girls just yet.

[IchiKyo]

Ok Time to vote!
Morinas from Simoun
Yakumo from School Rumble
and... SUZUMIYA HARUHI !

[rooboy]

Originally Posted by Arimfe

One more thing,
If we look back at the statistics again
Tsuruya 945 -> ８２３
Eri 665 -> ９７０
Back to your argument that many people like you simply preferred Eri over Tsuruya, there can be reason to believe you are at least partially right. But.... if this was the whole truth, then how do we explain that Tsuruya "only" lost 122 voters while Eri gained 305? The math doesn't add up.

I would like to start off by saying that I actually like MoSH quite a lot. I'd vote for Haruhi, Mikuru-Beam, Yuki, imouto-in-a-bag, and even Tsuruya in some situations. But it's silly to expect that I'd vote for them in all situations. The beauty of single-elimination style voting tournaments is that it is supposed to force you to make tough choices.
Voting is not going to be a zero sum game. Votes should increase somewhat over time as people (like me) who didn't vote in initial rounds start to drift in and vote in later ones. Technically I'm not part of the 122 voters Tsuruya "lost". I never voted for her in the first place. I probably would have (I don't know how many qualifying votes you are allowed or who she was up against that day - it would have depended on the draw), but I didn't vote in any of the qualifying rounds. So that's at least one vote that Sawachika picked up not because anyone "hates Haruhi" but just because she picked up a vote.

Originally Posted by Arimfe

This just reinforces what I feared, there is a great anti-Haruhi factor at play here...
Tsuruya is gone, Asakura is gone, Mori and Emiri are gone...
And now that Mikuru, Haruhi and Yuki are all in block E1/E2 it means we will lose at least two more Haruhi girls..... >_<

I think the notion of this is sort of silly. As Furudanuki said, negative voting is a part of every poll - is MoSH attracting more of it because it was a more popular series? Yes, without a question. However, I have a hard time believing it outweighs the people who are voting for these characters purely because they were in MoSH. Since they're probably coming out ahead in the "blind voting" game, I don't really feel like it's much of a reason to complain. Again, it would be different if we were talking about Suzumiya Haruhi herself (or, probably more importantly, Mikuru) - but these are all minor characters who would have been mostly ignored if they had been in other series. The reason they got as far as they did was because they were in MoSH - an awesome testament to the power of the series.
And as for some anti-Haruhi bias - every series I like has had characters eliminated, not just MoSH. Many of those characters were far more important and/or moe parts of their series than the characters we're discussing here. Are their conspiracies against them as well? All three of the remaining PPD girls are in the same bracket - is there an anti PPD bias?