Anime Saimoe Tournament 2006: October Finals! [READ THE RULES]

[Catgirls]

Please read and follow these simple thread rules.

No Campaign Posts.

• Absolutely no campaign posts allowed.
  
  This includes posts containing ANY campaign verbiage whether in whole or in part. Contributing to the debate is encouraged, provided you do NOT add "VOTE ABCD!!!" (or similar to the post itself). Simply rebutting another's post or opinion with "XYZ sucks" is totally unacceptable.

To be clear:

• Please do not create a post with the sole purpose to campaign for a character!
• Do not add “VOTE FOR XYZ CHARACTER!!” anywhere in your post even if the intent isn't to purely campaign.

We want intelligent, decent and fun discussions about the weekly Rounds and the subsequent winners & losers.

• No Image campaigning.
  Do not create a post with an image or collage representation of a campaign poster. In other words: a PhotoShopped image of the character you want people to vote for with “vote for” text added to it.

Posting Etiquette:

• Please do not cross post information about this tournament in other AnimeSuki threads.
  Keep all Anime Saimoe Tournament posts, campaigns, character information, voting links, etc., within this thread only or in your signature (signature size limits still apply).
  
  
• No "meta-posting".
  Meaning: posting about another poster, the thread or about another post itself, is forbidden and will be deleted on-the-spot, regardless of intention. If you want to comment about another poster that’s off-topic and/or personal, send them a PM. If you have a comment about the thread, then PM Kinny Riddle or post it to your blog.
  
  
• Any flame-baiting will be deleted and those people banned.
  Please keep the thread positive, fun and clean. If your choice doesn’t win the Round and you can’t discuss the fact without complaining, swearing and baiting people into arguments, then don’t post.
  
  
• Do not create image only posts.
  You can, however, include an image with your discussion. If you want to visually support the character you’re voting for then please do so in the context of your original discussion and use only one or two images. We would encourage the use of “thumbnails” if possible (and please, no large images). PM me (Catgirls) if you need help with posting thumbnail images.

[Catgirls]

Originally Posted by Kinny Riddle.

------

Official website

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

There's already a thread below in the Mai Otome/HiME section, but it is just too interesting to limit discussion of that tournament there.

http://forums.animesuki.com/showthre...471#post627471

As that thread was more focused towards the Mai Otome/HiME fandom, Catgirls and I have discussed and I have decided to start a new separate thread in this section aimed at greater exposure to the A-Suki community, and bring this interesting tournament for discussion here.

Q. What is the Anime Saimoe Tournament?

A. It's pretty much the anime equivalent of GameFAQs' annual Popular Video Character contests, where through daily online polls, the most "moe" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo%C3%A9) anime character.

Q. How is it held?

A. All (female) anime characters that appeared in anime series, OVA and animated movies airing and/or released in Japan between July 1st 2005 and June 30th 2006 can be nominated. (Even animals are included, it seems, as long as they're not males. )

First there are two qualifying rounds.

The 1st qualifying round is held between July 5th and 13th, and has 18 groups. Of these 18 groups, the top 8 characters of each group would enter the tournament proper directly. (A total of 8 x 18 = 144 characters)

While those ranked 9th to 32nd of each group will enter the 2nd qualifying round. (A total of 24 x 18 = 432 characters)

The 2nd qualifying round would be held between July 26th (today according to Japan Standard Time) and July 31st. The 432 characters would be divided into 6 groups of 72. The top 24 of each group will qualify for the tournament proper. (A total of 24 x 6 = 144 characters)

In total, the tournament proper will have 288 characters = 144 (from 1st Qual. ) + 144 (from 2nd Qual. )

The tournament proper will commence on August 3rd all the way to the final on October 28th.

The 1st round proper (August 3rd - 10th, August 15th - 22nd, August 24th - 31st and September 2nd to 9th) will be divided into 4 pools of 16 groups, each group having 3 characters. With 3 groups being contested per match day. In total, there are 96 groups. (96 x 3 = 288 characters)
The 96 group winners will qualify for the 2nd round.

The 2nd round would be in the same format as the 1st round, where 1 character is chosen from a list of 3. In total, there are 32 groups. (Divided into 4 pools of 8 groups. 1 group contested per day. ) The 32 group winners will qualify for the 3rd round.

From the 3rd round onwards, two characters will face off with each other on simple knockout format until the winner is decided.

Spoiler for timetable:

07月02日　　　　エントリー締め切り
July 2nd Nominations End

07月03～04日　休み
July 3rd - 4th Rest

07月05～13日　1次予選前半戦
July 5th - 13th 1st Qualifying Round Part 1

07月14日　　　　休み
July 14th Rest

07月15～23日　1次予選後半戦
July 15th - 23rd 1st Qualifying Round Part 2

07月24～25日　休み
July 24th - 25th Rest

07月26～31日　2次予選
July 26th - 31st Second Qualifying Round

08月01～02日　休み
August 1st - 2nd Rest

08月03～10日　1回戦第1部
August 3rd - 10th 1st Round Pool 1 (Groups 1 - 8)

08月11～14日　お盆休み
August 11th - 14th Rest (Obon Festival)

08月15～22日　1回戦第2部
August 15th - 22nd 1st Round Pool 2 (Groups 9 - 16)

08月23日　　　　休み
August 23rd Rest

08月24～31日　1回戦第3部
August 24th - 31st 1st Round Pool 3 (Groups 17 - 24)

09月01日　　　　休み
September 1st Rest

09月02～09日　1回戦第4部
September 2nd - 9th 1st Round Pool 4 (Groups 25 - 32)

09月10日　　　　休み
September 10th Rest

09月11～18日　2回戦前半戦
September 11th - 18th 2nd Round Part 1

09月19日　　　　休み
September 19th Rest

09月20～27日　2回戦後半戦
September 20th - 27th 2nd Round Part 2

09月28～29日　休み
September 28th - 29th Rest

09月30～07日　3回戦
September 30th - October 7th 3rd Round

10月08～09日　休み
October 8th - 9th Rest

10月10～17日　4回戦
October 10th - 17th 4th Round

10月18～19日　休み
October 18th - 19th Rest

10月20～23日　準々決勝
October 20th - 23rd Quarter Finals

10月24日　　　　休み
October 24th Rest

10月25～26日　準決勝
October 25th - 26th Semi Finals

10月27日　　　　休み
October 27th Rest

10月28日　　　　決勝
October 28th Final

Users outside of Japan are welcome to vote, however, please remember YOU CAN ONLY VOTE ONCE PER SESSION. If the organizers even suspect some vote rigging, they can ban a whole range of foreign ISPs outside Japan. So please don't ruin it for the other fans. Voting time is between 0100 - 2300 Japan time. (http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/city.html?n=248)

Since it's just very complicated, here's the all-image voting instructions so you can follow step-by-step:

Spoiler for picture tutorial on how to vote:

1. Once you enter the voting thread (make sure it's the latest), go to the link marked by a red circle near the top of the thread.



2. Next follow this link to get to the next page. (Please do not be distracted by the 2ch "mature" links below the circled link, of course, this screenshot has been censored for obvious purposes. )



3. Once inside, click the circled link to enter another page.



4. The first circle refers to the current Japan time (in this example, it's 23.55), this corresponds to the clock in my computer (my local time is one hour behind Japan, i.e. ~22.55). The second circle refers to the date the code is valid for. In this example, it is valid for the 15th of August (or to be more precise 0100 to 2300 15th August Japan Standard Time). The third circle refers to the time when the code will become available (0.58 JST would correspond to ~23.58 my time). The code would be available from 2330 the previous day to 2304. e.g. The code for the 15th would be available from 2330 of the 14th to 2304 of the 15th. That 26 minute gap is for the organizers to count the votes and prepare for the next day's code generator.



5. Once you've reached the stated time listed above (see circled times). Click the "Refresh" button.



6. After clicking "Refresh", the code would appear at the bottom of the page. Alongside with the link for that day's entry list.



7. This is the page for the day's entry list. Simply copy and paste the characters (alongside your code) you want to vote for into the Saimoe thread in 2ch.



8. Always make sure that the voting thread is the latest one before you post. Simply refresh the thread page. If it's not full (i.e. up to 1000 posts), then you can still post. Normally I would recommend you wait for the new thread to come up once the current one reaches 900 and above, as many posts can be uploaded in quick succession. Now copy and paste your code, group number (usually not necessary, but listed here as an example), and character name. And then click "Send".



9. After clicking send, you'll see this screen asking you to wait while it confirms your post. Do not click anything and wait for the page to load. Normally it would load. If it doesn't, then something must be wrong with your IP range. i.e. blacklisted - Then I'm really gutted for you if you happen to be the unlucky one.



10. Voila. You're done. Now sit back and wait for the results.

For more info on how to vote, please refer to Arimfe's post below.

[Catgirls]

Originally Posted by Arimfe

----

Remember the link above for the group 1 voting thread Kinny Riddle linked to is only valid for group 1 and only valid today. The other groups gets their own threads at later dates.

So, "How do I vote?"


Scroll back to to the first post, Kinny Riddle put up pictures that are much easier to read than these instructions. In case you still have unanswered questions or want a new headache go ahead and read below.



It's not difficult to vote once you know the steps. You need to reserve a voting code which takes about 2 hours, and each thread gets 22 hours before voting closes (Sometimes they also close when the thread gets too big).
And some of you might not be able to vote because some areas has already been banned I think (But you can still post pictures or ascii art to influence the poll and support your character).

NOTE that before voting, make sure your browser can read Japanese characters properly. Go here: http://info.2ch.net/before.html

Look for some of the Japanese characters, if your browser shows something like this: http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/2963/correctsv1.png
Then you are good and ready to vote. Your browser can read Japanese characters properly.

But if you get something like this: http://img489.imageshack.us/img489/2...correctkr3.png
Then it means you don't have the browser set properly for the characters.

Instructions for how to fix this are here (Thanks to Vexx for the link): http://forums.animesuki.com/showthre...0&page=64#1279

Here are the instructions I mixed together from ando's posts in the original thread:

Originally Posted by ando

1. Go to http://banana236.maido3.com/~bs5114/a06/ and get a code. The code will take 1-2 hours to generate.

When you visit http://banana236.maido3.com/~bs5114/a06/, you'll see:

Click the link in that page, and reservation of the code is done. Then reload the page at the time shown in the page, and get the code. The time is Japan Standard Time.

(The time shown is hidden down at the bottom. There are 2 numbers at the bottom, the first is hour digits, then next to it is some funny symbol, and next to that symbol is the minutes digits. It may be difficult to spot but it can look like this: 14時58 or this 2時58 or this 20時58 etc. Remember to convert it to your own timezone)


In short, go to code webpage, wait 2-3 hours, reload webpage, and your code should appear somewhere in the bottom.
(This is the lazy method, if you are in a hurry then it's best to calculate the time shown at the bottom via Kinny Riddle's link: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/city.html?n=248)


Yet another way to calculate the time before reloading, this is probably the easiest since all you need to do is a bit of subtraction math (Thanks to Kinny Riddle): http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost...postcount=1233



2. Take the code (like [[A0000-animemoe-06]]) and post it with your moe character parenthesized with "<<" ">>". You have to wite a character's name in exact Japanese spelling. You are recommended to copy and paste Japanese spelling from the lists of participants in Kinny Riddle's recent posts. He will usually post who is who in both English and Japanese. For example:

Spoiler:

[[A0000-animemoe-06]]
<<アリカ・ユメミヤ＠舞-乙HiME>>

"Where to post?"
Look for the most recent posts in this thread, Kinny Riddle or someone else may have linked to the most recent voting threads.
If not then you can go to the original thread and look for ando's most recent links to the voting threads:http://forums.animesuki.com/showthre...stpost&t=33798

Alternatively you can find the threads yourself, instructions are at the NOTE below outside this quote.


The voting threads can look a bit messy but just scroll down to the bottom and you can post your message.
There's an OK button, a box to write name, a box to write email (both are just above the big white message input box).
First time you post, it might redirect you to another page, but there should be a big button there too, just click that and you are done.


3. It's recommended that you also post ascii art or link to pictures, wallpapers etc. under your votes, but it isn't necessary.

Now that we are in the finals, you can only vote 1 character per group each day!
This means if there are 3 groups up for voting on a certain date, then you can vote 3 characters. But remember, ONLY 1 character per group!

Another example where you vote 3 characters:

You must use your single code for all the characters you intend to vote.
The code expires after 1 use so you have to generate new code if you participate in new voting the next days.

Maybe they have bots scanning, maybe they don't, so its best to write just EXACTLY like in the examples to make it easier for them.


How to find newest voting threads yourself:


NOTE: Sometimes the voting threads get locked. This is when the whole thread reach above 500 KB in size (they might also possibly close when thread has reached 1000 posts). You can check how many (KB) Kilobytes the thread has reached by looking for the red number at the bottom in each voting thread.

Unfortunately you might bump into this problem once in a while. There's not much we can do about it since we can't always be around to update the links and instructions.

So if you can't vote because the thread is locked, look for a link to a new thread.

Go here: http://etc4.2ch.net/vote/subback.html
There will be a bunch of links.
Press ctrl+F
Search with the keyword "Round"

You will find links named like:
2: アニメ最萌トーナメント2006　投票スレRound82 (277)
or
23: アニメ最萌トーナメント2006　投票スレRound80 (1001
or
something similar. But always choose the one with highest round number. That way you can always find the latest voting threads.



ps.
I have edited ando's posts a bit, if any of this is wrong it's my fault, so if someone wants this post edited, just let me know and I'll fix it.

[Kinny Riddle]

It seems common sense have prevailed. Yes, sometimes forum rules have to be enforced, but when it gets in the way of "positive passion" for what is good about anime, then discretion ought to be taken. - That's my view, anyway. Thanks to everyone for their support during this unexpected turn of events.

I have no problems with the new rules above, but I won't let my thread die so easily without a good reason.

If you want to engage in campaigning, then I redirect you to this site.
http://synchroom.wikispaces.com/SaiMoe2006
This thread will now deal solely with coverage of the entries, results, and their subsequent discussion.


Anyway, without much further ado, here are the results.

Kyon's Sister's run has been ended by Eri, she actually had more votes total, but lost eventually due to an equally higher amount of invalid votes.

Nanoha also managed to see off the challenge from Aika to set up an all Nanoha clash in Block B.

Spoiler for Oct 1st results:

Block A2 - Oct 1st
Sawachika Eri - School Rumble Series - 1221
Kyon's Sister - Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu - 1087

Block B2 - Oct 1st
Takamachi Nanoha - Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's - 1154
Aika S. Granzchesta - ARIA Series - 1035

Spoiler for Round 4 Blocks A and B:

Block A - Oct 10th
Sonozaki Mion - Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
Sawachika Eri - School Rumble Series

Block B - Oct 11th
Fate Testarossa - Magical Girl Lyrica Nanoha A's
Takamachi Nanoha - Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's

http://saimoe2006.hp.infoseek.co.jp/cd3.txt

Spoiler for Oct 2nd entries:

Block C1 - Oct 2nd
Yoshida Kazumi - Shakugan no Shana
<<吉田一美＠灼眼のシャナ>>,<<吉田一美>>
Minamoto Chikaru - Strawberry Panic!
<<源千華留＠ストロベリー・パニック>>,<<源千華留>>

Block D1 - Oct 2nd

Suiseiseki - Rozen Maiden ~Traumend~
<<翠星石＠ローゼンメイデン トロイメント>>,<<翠星石>>
Suigintou - Rozen Maiden ~Traumend~
<<水銀燈＠ローゼンメイデン トロイメント>>,<<水銀燈>>

Two interesting clashes today, with the all Rozen clash between Suigintou and Suiseiseki today, and Kazumi from Shakugan no Shana will face off with Chikaru from Strawberry Panic, both series with serious "mojo", as a poster to this thread would put it.

Code generator
http://banana236.maido3.com/~bs5114/a06/

Current voting thread
http://etc4.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/vote/1159719204/

[Daniel E.]

Originally Posted by Catgirls

No Image campaigning.
Do not create a post with an image or collage representation of a campaign poster. In other words: a PhotoShopped image of the character you want people to vote for with “vote for” text added to it.

I never included the words "vote for" in my kitty strip, and yet, I no longer fell like posting them anymore.

You can, however, include an image with your discussion. If you want to visually support the character you’re voting for then please do so in the context of your original discussion

Hmmmm.......



Anyway, shame to see Kyon's sister go. Thats another one of my favorites that gets kicked out of the tournament.

She still had a great performance though, and I am sure that more than one person were surprised to see her get this far.

[Agent86]

I think Eri>Imouto is the 2nd contest this tournament where the imbalance of invalid codes was enough to reverse the outcome. Nanoha was going to win anyway, but she won by less than I expected.

Eri 1293 - 72 invalid = 1221
Imouto 1325 - 238 invalid = 1293

Nanoha: 1427 - 273 invalid = 1154
Aika: 1100 - 65 invalid = 1035

Congratulations to the winners. I'm really looking forward to Nanoha-Fate. Nanoha will win, but at least Fate gets her shot, as opposed to last year's close 1st round loss. And of course I'll be rooting for the green-haired girl in the other contest.

Today I'll just be a front-runner and vote for the ones I think will win: Suiseiseki and Chikaru. Desu-meme is bigger than Junk-meme. And there's always room for a yuri loving army

[Psieye]

A possible place for campaigning would be the discussion page on my Wiki (you only need an account in Wikispaces to post comments, no need to get membership to the Wiki itself). Alternatively, we can set up an LJcommunity with public write/access and dump all campaigning there (in essence, this neatly sets up a 'thread' for each day's matchups). There may be other solutions too.

If we do use my Wiki: I can tolerate simple "vote this chara!" posts and (externally linked) image floods (would be easier on the eyes if they were all links instead), but flamebait and degrading comments will be wiped without trace or warning.



As for the latest results: mmm impressive that everyone again broke the 1000+ barrier even with fake votes. Does anyone have the exact number of invalid votes? I think Imouto had 300+ invalids.

Edit: Ah, thanks Agent86 - Nanoha got even more invalids I see. I presume there was an ASCII flood to bring that about then.

Btw, Chikaru never got involved in Yuri (at least in the anime) - what she did was set up the equivalent of a non-molesting SOS-dan over there ^^;; Chikaru, whom the StoPani legion can unite with Discipline under... I wonder what Kazumi will bring to the fight to face this medium-sized Elite army.

[Agent86]

The climb in invalid votes yesterday for Imouto and Nanoha is so slow and steady that it looks like it was just one or two people doing it. The graphs even plateau at the same time - did he/they go to lunch then?

I'll just amend my prediction to say that "There's always room for a yuri-loving army."

[Pastel]

Are the results posted in the vote thread itself (or some other unspecified place) before it goes onto the charts of the '06 page? Without Kinny's great daily post for the first time, I'd been camping 2ch and the tourney chart since 0:00 but couldn't find scrap -- even now.

I'll vote for Chikaru today. She's easily my favorite Strawberry Panic character going by personality; you can't deny she resembles a certain brigade leader, only except with common sense and a level head. For the other, it's Suiseiseki ~です

(This thread is like a patch of landmines. I think I just stepped on one in this postscript itself.)

[Deathkillz]

Originally Posted by Agent86

Eri 1293 - 72 invalid = 1221
Imouto 1325 - 238 invalid = 1087

Nanoha: 1427 - 273 invalid = 1154
Aika: 1100 - 65 invalid = 1035

whow i guess imouto fans were really desprite but it is also surprising to see how many fake votes nanoha got as well...

as for today...not much interest in block C1 but D1 is the big bomb
junk vs desu...sparks as gona fly...my bet would be on gin (yea im a gin lover) but its gona be really close imo...gambatte!!

[Agent86]

The results get posted first in the voting thread, 5-10 minutes after the voting deadline.

[Pastel]

Originally Posted by Agent86

The results get posted first in the voting thread, 5-10 minutes after the voting deadline.

OH, alright I wrongly assumed that those things were locked and gone after a thousand.

[otacu]

Again massive fake votes to scare away the opponents... this time didn't work.

[Shinoto]

Aww, there goes my great upset for the tournement. I would have loved to see Kyon's Sister advance just because for the sole fact she didnt even have name listed lol...Just Kyon's sister

[[tCi]]

Yo! Here are the new posters following yesterdays battles:




Both matches should be quite exciting! As for today's matches, may the best woman win. See ya next time!


Edit: Approval Given.

[Sheba]

First, about the Eri vs Kyon's sister. It was interesting to see how the upperhand often changed: for one time it was Eri, then it was imouto. To be honest it was quite exciting to follow, about as much as Mikuru vs Yakumo or Mion vs Souseiseki.
I was fine with whoever win it. With the defeat of Kyon's sister, there goes the chances of the MoHS fanbase to see at most two characters making it to the best of 8.
I congratulate both Eri and Kyon's sister to have fought a harsh battle until the end.

As for Nanoha vs Aika, I personally never doubted the Nanoha's chances, while Aika is very "moé" on her own, it just cannot beat the burning emotion that made me shake when Yukari Tamura delivered the famous White Devil lines. It was that heart blowing.

Now about today, let me tell you, I've seen little of Rozen Maiden, I just caught on the wagon because I had free time, free hd space and there were a nice french subs torrent. So I cannot comment that much about Suigin Tou and Suiseiseki. I'll still feel bad for their next opponent (Alice or Becky).

On to Kazumi versus Chikaru. Kazumi have shown some bits of courage, especially against Shana when she told her she'll never give up on Yuuji. That's plus points for me, she have the "short busty girl moè" going on her, her out of character acts in Shanatan are superb.
Now, I'll just talk about Chikaru. Chikaru is awesome. She is just like a mix of Haruhi Suzumiya with a presence that could be compared to Freddie from Cromartie Highschool. She could just stand still, have her own theme while she is on-screen, ans she'll be still awesome. But Chikaru is one of those characters we wish she have more screentime or her own spin-off series. I love a lot of her antics, her costume club, her underlings, her presence as Carmen, her playing with puppets and her big sister aura. She look like she is doing something behind the scenes, but she doesn't come as bothersome as Shion. I just love Chikaru.

[panzerfan]

today's match is definitely going to be intense. The RM faction deciding on who to advance to division final afterall...

[Aaeru]

Originally Posted by Agent86

Nanoha was going to win anyway, but she won by less than I expected.

I agree. Much as I like "Suteki na Nakimushi-san" and the undines from Aria in general, I was convinced that Nanoha was going walk all over Aika. Perhaps this is the beginning of a reactionary trend? It would not be surprising that some of the voters reject having an incumbent winner on non-specific grounds, and they're starting to see Nanoha as a threat.

[Agent86]

As I stared into the air towards Japan these numbers came to me in a vision, along with some names.

327 Chikaru
243 Kazumi

351 Suiseiseki
301 Suigintou

I told myself that it would be nonsensical to trust in numbers from a vision.

[Bloodseeker]

Originally Posted by Agent86

I think Eri>Imouto is the 2nd contest this tournament where the imbalance of invalid codes was enough to reverse the outcome. Nanoha was going to win anyway, but she won by less than I expected.

Eri 1293 - 72 invalid = 1221
Imouto 1325 - 238 invalid = 1293

Nanoha: 1427 - 273 invalid = 1154
Aika: 1100 - 65 invalid = 1035

Congratulations to the winners. I'm really looking forward to Nanoha-Fate. Nanoha will win, but at least Fate gets her shot, as opposed to last year's close 1st round loss. And of course I'll be rooting for the green-haired girl in the other contest.

Today I'll just be a front-runner and vote for the ones I think will win: Suiseiseki and Chikaru. Desu-meme is bigger than Junk-meme. And there's always room for a yuri loving army

Yay! Kyon's sister is out! *serves various kinds of alcohol, chips, and dip in celebration*

I hope that Fate beats Nanoha this year... her attacks are infinitely cooler, and both her character design and attitude are cuter. (and her grown up form is hotter)

I'll obviously be voting for Mion, since she's my favorite Higurashi character overall, but I won't be too upset if she looses, seeing as how she'll be losing to a hot character at least.

I don't have any real interest in today's matches...