International Saimoe League 2008 - The Best of the Best

[KholdStare]

Meh, they should really not count the On-Hold and Dropped anime. It's not really fair to give the first four episodes of Lucky Star a 4/10 and say it's for the whole anime. Of course, if you people see my Death Note rating I'll get flamed more.

My compatibility with her is Medium-High, 63.3%.
Mean Values: 8.5 NC 6.8 KS 1.83 Diff.

Yeah I have no clue how it works since we should have like 95% compatibility or something.

By the way, here's something funny. If I change my Lucky Star rating to 9 or 10, then our compatibility is 83.2% from 80.0%. Win.

---

Once again we stole someone else's thread. Sorry minhtam2448! And to be somewhat on-topic, I really must show some interest in Rozen Maiden for me to watch it, so... At least I'm showing more interest in Code Gayass.

[Ithekro]

Looking on the list....very far down the list anyway, you will find a few pre-2002 characters. You will find one or two 1970s characters with very few votes: Yuki Mori (Nova) from Space Battleship Yamato/Star Blazers and Crystal Claire from Galaxy Express 999. Figuring out if an older character is moe is really hard I found out as the "rules" don't fit them very well due to the more life-like character designs and the lack of female characters in anime in general at the time. You would generally find only one or two in the main cast. Usually the main character's love interest or sister. Then you might find some with the enemies. (Or in Captain Harlock's case, all of the alien enemies are "female" the first time around).

It is just hard to define a "moe mode" on some of these older females, as they were not designed with them in mind. Maetel would have been a top choice, but what moe mode is she? I picked Claire because she has a strong blushing thing going for her, and you want to protect her (she is made of glass after all). And even as a "mechanical" she wants her old body back and wants to feel like she use to. Maetel...she's very much a mystery...at least least for the older Galaxy Express 999 series and movies. I wanted to add Emeraldas, but again couldn't think of a real moe trait. (is thin godesses with long necks a moe type, or is that just Matsumoto style).

[Psieye]

Originally Posted by minhtam2448

When it comes to old characters, somebody recently left me a post over at the ISML forum making a reasonable but extremely excrutiating request:

<etc etc>

Tangential note: it is much less work for you and much more educating to them if you reply with a series of questions instead of spelling it out for them. Questions that serve to highlight the areas an idealist hasn't thought of.

[w00tness]

Originally Posted by qtipbrit92

Actually, don't watch Rozen Maiden and vote against Suiseiseki.
Yay.

Suiseiseki would be hurt desu. Though she wouldnt admit it, she would just run away and try to convince herself that you are not worth her time desu.

Im not too impressed with the list of girls in the nomination list. Clannad... Not my kind of moe. All five girls I vote for are not breaking par (Chihiro just got kicked down ), so I figure ill just vote for my favs that already pre qualified. Tbh the only way Sui wouldnt win is because people have forgotten her (or have not watched Rozen Maiden) . Which reminds me of Rainbow Girl.. T_T

Anyways...

[qtipbrit]

Originally Posted by w00tness

Suiseiseki would be hurt desu. Though she wouldnt admit it, she would just run away and try to convince herself that you are not worth her time desu.

Im not too impressed with the list of girls in the nomination list. Clannad... Not my kind of moe. All five girls I vote for are not breaking par (Chihiro just got kicked down ), so I figure ill just vote for my favs that already pre qualified. Tbh the only way Sui wouldnt win is because people have forgotten her (or have not watched Rozen Maiden) . Which reminds me of Rainbow Girl.. T_T

Anyways...

Ah, I gave Chihiro a 3 or something back when I voted.
And the only way that Suiseiseki won't win is if I convince everyone I know who watches anime to watch Shakugan no Shana, hate vote against Suiseiseki, and vote Shana.
Anyways, I'm quite sure that the Desu meme was officially declared dead, but apparently, it's not. Gah. The Desu meme dying would mean Suiseiseki losing.

[Marina]

Originally Posted by w00tness

Im not too impressed with the list of girls in the nomination list. Clannad... Not my kind of moe. All five girls I vote for are not breaking par (Chihiro just got kicked down ), so I figure ill just vote for my favs that already pre qualified. Tbh the only way Sui wouldnt win is because people have forgotten her (or have not watched Rozen Maiden) . Which reminds me of Rainbow Girl.. T_T

Anyways...

I'm pretty satisfied with the nomination list so far, since I adore the girls in Clannad (preferably Tomoyo). My favorite, Horo, is still holding strong at #5, yes?

[FlareKnight]

Do like a good few of the Clannad girls. Though admitting that I didn't vote for any of them. Glad that Horo is holding strong in the middle of it all.

[qtipbrit]

Eh, I'm thinking of making a Saimoe banner just to contribute.
I was actually going to include the Nanoha girls, the Rozen Maiden (or at least just the twins), and Shana, but I guess Shana, Suiseiseki, Hinagiku, and Rika are probably better.

Also, I think if we brought this to /a/, we would get a lot of involvement (That one SaiGAR match had over 1600 votes, with Kamina taking over 1000 of them.), but it would also greatly increase troll votes, proxy votes, and support for Suiseiseki, three things that killed SaiGAR. (Yes, the third one, too.)

[minhtam1638]

Been out all night, and I'm technically still out, but I guess I'll post my input before I do some things.

By Psieye's request, I'm redoing the biographies from top to bottom. The contestant profiles will now have three sections - Biography (credit to Psieye), Saimoe history, and Schedule.

A lot of talk involves Suiseiseki right now.

Originally Posted by qtipbrit92

Eh, I'm thinking of making a Saimoe banner just to contribute.
I was actually going to include the Nanoha girls, the Rozen Maiden (or at least just the twins), and Shana, but I guess Shana, Suiseiseki, Hinagiku, and Rika are probably better.

Also, I think if we brought this to /a/, we would get a lot of involvement (That one SaiGAR match had over 1600 votes, with Kamina taking over 1000 of them.), but it would also greatly increase troll votes, proxy votes, and support for Suiseiseki, three things that killed SaiGAR. (Yes, the third one, too.)

The Nanoha vs. Rozen Maiden rivalry is another good pick. That's something that definitely catches my attention, since their rivalry was pretty much the main story of '05-'07, save the Suiseiseki vs. Shana rivalry, until the Hayate and Higurashi girls stole the show. But if there were any characters at all involved in the banner, I'd prefer the champions.

The /a/ thing - I'm pretty sure I am at the point where I can handle troll and proxy votes (heck, I think I might need some inflation as well). I would like /a/ to participate, but it would be best to hold off on them until after the nominations, since the Kaiji, hentai votes, and the word "Penis" is something I definitely don't want to see. But they can vote. I know about the proxy situation, and if it does get out of hand, I do have an alternate way to handle the situation - include the E-mail slot in the nominations and discount votes that either have no e-mail or a non-matching e-mail. If they go one-sided, I'm expecting Suiseiseki to see some domination, but hopefully this will give other matchups a good turnout and we can have a Hinagiku vs. Shana season opener worth watching.

If it's Suiseiseki and abstain from the rest, then I'll definitely say it's proxy voting. But if they decide to hide it by voting other characters, then as long as it's not blatant through my inspection, I won't say anything.

And as for Suiseiseki, I have her in my predictions falling out of the top 32 by the time she has her rematch with Shana in the season finale. A boost from /a/ could really save her from falling in this competition.

I'm not going to hate vote unless there is a character that really irks me while lurking around the top 16. Suiseiseki comes close to that category, but in the end, I would like to see an eventual top 8 matchup to close out the season, and I'd prefer Suiseiseki vs. Shana over Yuki vs. Kyou because of the history they have.

And the order I provided - Rika, Hinagiku, Suiseiseki, and Shana - That's the order I decided to use via the following tiebreakers - Japan over Korea, '07 over '06, Super Best Moe under regular multi-field Saimoe tournaments.

[Fynal_Fyre]

Originally Posted by w00tness

Suiseiseki would be hurt desu. Though she wouldnt admit it, she would just run away and try to convince herself that you are not worth her time desu.

Im not too impressed with the list of girls in the nomination list. Clannad... Not my kind of moe. All five girls I vote for are not breaking par (Chihiro just got kicked down ), so I figure ill just vote for my favs that already pre qualified. Tbh the only way Sui wouldnt win is because people have forgotten her (or have not watched Rozen Maiden) . Which reminds me of Rainbow Girl.. T_T

Anyways...

Personally, I'm rather satisfied with the nomination list so far, 'cause I for one adore the Clannad girls, (Kyou and Tomoyo).

@qtipbrit92, the banner sounds like an awesome idea, Nanoha vs. RM sounds like a good idea to get it started off, although the Hayate vs. Higurashi lineup IMO would be a great idea, (I would HAVE NEVER predicted that matchup in SaiMoe '07).

[minhtam1638]

Yeah, the thing is, when I wrote the schedule like before I started up the league, the first draft was sort of geared toward Shana, so potential feature team matchups: all except SOS vs. Kugimiya, were pretty much split, and Hayate vs. Rozen Maiden in two days was just a luck glitch in the schedule. The second draft swapped dates so that all the huge name matchups took place on Thursday and Saturday, but the matches stayed in the same set to avoid conflict. The schedule will be improved next year, assuming I know the entries, and hopefully we can have better feature matchups.

As far as voting goes, I'm voting for Suiseiseki because of her rivalry with Shana, although other characters will take priority when she's too far ahead.

And obviously, I'm going Shana all the way.

[KholdStare]

Wow, Nanoha and Fate are win. Why have I never heard of this anime?

[Psieye]

Originally Posted by qtipbrit92

And the only way that Suiseiseki won't win is if I convince everyone I know who watches anime to watch Shakugan no Shana, hate vote against Suiseiseki, and vote Shana.

Get them to read Shana - Vol 1 should be available in English at stores. S1 of the anime fails very hard in my view so you'd need them to stick around until they get to S2. Either that, or fill them in after showing the movie, then get to S2.


As for 4chan? Be glad none of Cirno, Alice Margatroid and Hatsune Miku are elligible for this contest. Or any of Touhou for that matter. These days you need to pay attention to /jp/ as well as /a/.

[qtipbrit]

Originally Posted by minhtam2448

And obviously, I'm going Shana all the way.

Yes, this is becoming a habit.

Originally Posted by KholdStare

Wow, Nanoha and Fate are win. Why have I never heard of this anime?

Wow, that was bloody fast.
But yes, they are win, both moe-wise, and Divine/Thunder Buster-wise.
And it's a mildly niche anime franchise. Most of the members on these forums will have probably heard of it, but I doubt that a majority of the members have seen it.

Originally Posted by Psieye

Get them to read Shana - Vol 1 should be available in English at stores. S1 of the anime fails very hard in my view so you'd need them to stick around until they get to S2. Either that, or fill them in after showing the movie, then get to S2.

Shana vol. 1?
The Light Novel or the Manga?
I've read the Light Novel, and I agree that J.C. Staff decided to be a bit "liberal" when they produced the anime, but if you hadn't read the source, there was less to complain about.
The movie did follow the first light novel more closely, but overall, it wasn't as enjoyable as the TV series. Also, most of these anime friends are those who aren't as well-versed as we are, somewhere between the level of casual American anime watcher and a fledgeling otaku.
Though I haven't read the manga, I've heard some very mixed reviews.

Originally Posted by Psieye

As for 4chan? Be glad none of Cirno, Alice Margatroid and Hatsune Miku are elligible for this contest. Or any of Touhou for that matter. These days you need to pay attention to /jp/ as well as /a/.

Ah yes, /jp/ is quite the rising power, I hear.
Apparently, were Hatsune Miku a contestant in SaiGAR, she would have won based on 4chan votes (I'm not sure /jp/ had been opened around the time SaiGAR was most active, though.)

[Psieye]

Shana Novel of course. Ah but you is dealing with lowbies - ok I guess you'll have to stick with the movie (and Shana-tan Movie version - though I only ever saw that raw).

/jp/ is the non-anime section of /a/ finally given its own board. It is described as "all the win of /a/ but without the Fail". Average intelligence of a thread is higher.

[w00tness]

I hope you guys are not really hating poor Sui... sure if you honestly think her competitor is more moe, vote against her, but to just say "Oh! Look! Its desu. Shes gonna get a whole ton of votes anyway, thats super annoying, *vote against*" is.. sad

And Hatsune Miku is . And so are the touhou girls. Ahhhh!!! But they arent on the list, while like 5+ girls from Clannad are already in the top 20. Right.

[Psieye]

Well, the line had to be drawn somewhere and a convenient definition was "girls who have had an anime". Ill-defined rules create far greater headaches than potential awesomeness when the audience is anyone from the Internet. You stick Touhou in and the contest would generate a whole lot more RAGE than a mere 5 Clannad girls qualifying. 60+ girls (ok only a fraction would really be supported but it's a large fraction) and one of the strongest doujin communities out there (tell me how many anime shows have their own Comiket-esque convention every year, or get tens of music remixes) who ARE aware of Foreign fan dabblings (Walfas.org has been parodied in doujin now and Seimoe was getting covered by Korean and Japanese blogs).

[Mushi]

I would like to jump in here and offer my appreciation to minhtam2448 for putting this together and giving all the time and energy to it. As a slightly-higher-than-fledgling-level otaku (I think), I've never been involved in anything like this and I'm looking forward to participating in it. Hell, I had fun voting in the exhibition the other day and only knew 3 of the 8 girls.

Yes, yes, I'm working on that. Been looking into the other series featuring many of the other girls. So, I'm also grateful for this tournament in giving me some direction in what to watch next.

Originally Posted by Psieye

Get them to read Shana - Vol 1 should be available in English at stores. S1 of the anime fails very hard in my view so you'd need them to stick around until they get to S2.

Never underestimate the power of Shana. I bought the Max Factory figure, both of Ito Noizi's artbooks featuring her and the first two volumes of the Japanese manga (slowly learning the language) based on the impression she made from watching season one. Going to be jumping into season two very soon.

Shana ranks very high on my list just from the anime.

Thank you, minhtam2448. Just try to get some decent rest here and there... sounds like you burn the candle at both ends quite a bit. I wish this league the best of success and will do what I can to stick with it for the duration.

[KholdStare]

Even though Shana isn't top on my list of people to vote for, the truth is I will vote for her at almost every matchup not vs. the 5 I nominated, which means in the end when my favorite characters are out, I will end up voting for Shana (since she will probably still be there) until she drops out/wins. Tough luck if she comes up during a match with my Hinagiku though.

Originally Posted by qtipbrit92

Wow, that was bloody fast.
But yes, they are win, both moe-wise, and Divine/Thunder Buster-wise.
And it's a mildly niche anime franchise. Most of the members on these forums will have probably heard of it, but I doubt that a majority of the members have seen it.

Well when an anime interests me, it's pretty easy to breeze through it, especially with only 13 episodes. Now I'm going to have to force myself to watch Code Geass though, which I'm not really looking for. Then again, I wasn't looking forward to watching Claymore and Seirei no Moribito either, and they both turned out better than I expected. Perhaps my low expectations will work out.

And really, half of Nanoha character-wise was so similar to CCS that it was close to being weird. One specific line was said at the end of both shows also, and it was so sad.

[minhtam1638]

I have to do a 7-minute presentation on anime today to help my friend on his filming project. I did promise another one not to mention Saimoe, but I'm pretty sure I have no room for that anyway. (that won't mean Shana won't get a shoutout).

Afterwards, the agenda today is that I count up the nominations and get them ready. Then I will come to the decision whether I will end the nomination stage or if I let them continue.


Just a reminder that the full schedule is already released, so you can actually figure out who's going against who in advance.