Anime Saimoe Tournament 2013 (Japan)

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Team Rocket Elite

Easy wins for Akari and Sayaka. Asuna wasn't able to keep up with Akari at all. The Puella Magi have still got it. With Saki characters falling off a cliff after the new voting restrictions, is there any one who can challenge them? For those who don't want a Madoka winner, it might be more important than ever for Ayase to lose next round. Despite her early loss, Madoka is likely even stronger than the Puella Magi who are currently in the contest.

Why? Mami defeated Madoka in a J-SaiMoe 2011 semi-final match.

Vote totals are now a bit dubious due to the rule changes, but given that Mami defeated Madoka the one and only time they went head-to-head, I don't see much reason to think that Madoka is stronger than Mami.

[Aya Reiko]

If Akari wins...
Kuroneko, Asuna, Mako Someya, and Index gets another chance.
If Kuroneko wins...
Akari, Tsukiko, Chiho Sasaki, and Azusa Miura gets another chance.
If Sayaka wins...
Eru, Kuroko, Teru Miyanaga, and Haruka Minami gets another chance.
If Eru wins...
Sayaka, Misaka Imouto, Muromi-san, and Miki Hoshii gets another chance.

Spoiler for The Big Board:

Tomorrow's Guesses...
Mami and Kyouko

[iamadooddood]

@Coldlight: Lol at the Sayaka art.

Twintails Sayaka is awesome. 8D

@Triple_R: Thanks!

Originally Posted by Subayai

Oh, I see. Well, do you have a counter/tracker? If not, look some pages back where Hachiko (I think) posted a link for one. Then set the counter's date on the day of the match you want to see, and you will get the vote graph for that day.

I followed the instructions, but I couldn't get it to show me how many fake votes they got as well. Any way to do so?

Also, I just realised I got the dates wrong. I took round 1's dates instead of round 2's. -_-

So if my suspicions are right, the rule was probably implemented between September 23 (Rikka's round 2 match) and 26 (Sanae's match).

Just posting all the dates I need to check just in case (and for easier reference):
Sep 20, 23, 26
Oct 7, 8

Originally Posted by Ichuki

I think that's Tanaka Rie, not Kugimiya Rie.

LOL.

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Why? Mami defeated Madoka in a J-SaiMoe 2011 semi-final match.

Like I said before, Madoka is stronger than Mami now because Mami already won AST before. Therefore, Madoka will be preferred over Mami to win.

EDIT: Just read this:

Originally Posted by Subayai

The reason why some days (like today) no votes are removed is the following:

According to the new rules, if removing the multivotes does not change the results of any of the matches, the suspicious codes are not released and so no votes are eliminated. In other words, the final results contain the multivotes but removing them wouldn't change the winners anyway.

So Sayaka could have been winning by 1 vote after removing the multivotes and no one would be any the wiser...?

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by iamadooddood

Like I said before, Madoka is stronger than Mami now because Mami already won AST before. Therefore, Madoka will be preferred over Mami to win.

Well, you're talking about the Madoka faction wanting to pass around the J-SaiMoe championship to as many of their girls as possible. And sure, that makes sense, and may well be the case. I wouldn't be surprised if it isn't, though.

But in any event, I don't see that as making Mami weaker than Madoka in any absolute sense, which is how I took TRE's point.

[hinakatbklyn]

Group finals:

(A) Mami > Toki (No change in prediction)
- Supporting Mami to bring back Yu Matsumi
- Supporting Toki to bring back Yuigahama and Frenda (alittle)

(B) Ayase > Miho (didn't predict either one originally)
- Supporting Miho to bring back Ako and Kuro

(C) Azuki < Kyouko (Didn't really have a prediction this group)
- Sincerely supporting Azuki, and to bring back Nibutani

(D) Tomoka > Ryuuka (Very surprised that my original prediction is still active
- Sincerely supporting Tomoka, and to bring back Arata, Toshino Kyouko

(E) Kobato = Yoshino (Competitive choices but not my original predictions)
- SIncerely supporting Kobato, and to bring back Uiharu, and Katyusha alittle
- Yoshino only to bring back Shizuno

(F) Maho < Watashi (Not my original prediction)
- Supporting Maho both the character and to bring back Hinagiku

(G) Ruri < Akari (No original prediction)
- Sincerely supporting Kuroneko, and to bring back Tsukiko, and Chiho
- Akari only to bring back Ruiko

(H) Sayaka > Eru (No change in prediction)

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by hinakatbklyn

Group finals:

(A) Mami > Toki (No change in prediction)
- Supporting Mami to bring back Yu Matsumi
- Supporting Toki to bring back Yuigahama and Frenda (alittle)

(E) Kobato = Yoshino (Competitive choices but not my original predictions)
- SIncerely supporting Kobato, and to bring back Uiharu, and Katyusha alittle
- Yoshino only to bring back Shizuno

(G) Ruri < Akari (No original prediction)
- Sincerely supporting Kuroneko, and to bring back Tsukiko, and Chiho
- Akari only to bring back Ruiko

So who do you want to win these matches? Particularly with Mami vs. Toki, it's not clear.

[hinakatbklyn]

Mami > Toki / Kobato = Yoshino / Ruri < Akari
Hmmm..... I should of indicated those were my current predictions.

As for who I want to win.....
(A) I don't have a real preference for either side (Both having won already is one clear reason not to pick either side, so it's more of a tactical support. Although I want to see Yui back alittle more than Yu Matsumi, so I may be leaning toward Toki).

(D & E) All three Hanazawa reps Tomoka, Kobato and Ruri I have bolded since I Sincerely support all three and want to win, no tactical support.

(G) As for my overall #3 favorite Ruri (Kuroneko), I still haven't changed my avatar yet.

Edit: Now I see the reason only those three matches were indicated. I indicated both sides because they each have one of my mid or high level favorite who I want to see back in the tournament.

[Ichuki]

Prediction- Mami, Azusa
Pick- Toki because my #2 Saimoe girl Yayoi's repcharge, Azusa for Niko repcharge

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by hinakatbklyn

Edit: Now I see the reason only those three matches were indicated. I indicated both sides because they each have one of my mid or high level favorite who I want to see back in the tournament.

Right. I was mostly curious on Mami vs. Toki because your support for both was tactical in nature. With the other 2 of the 3, I figured that your sincere support trumps your tactical support, but I threw them in anyway just to be sure.


I haven't really done a lot of predictions for this tournament, but I'm going to make an exception for the block finals. Predictions in bold, picks in italics.

Block A - Pick/Prediction: Mami My appreciation for Mami has grown since the end of the PMMM anime, helped a bit by various spin-off works (especially Oriko Magica). I love Mami's cool, calm, and silky smooth, but also flashy, style. I love how she's a blonde drill-hair ojou-sama that's actually a very nice person, and doesn't do the classic "~Ohohohoh!" laugh so common for her character type. On the prediction side, I was leaning towards Mami over Toki even before the rule change, but with it, I think Saki in general is in big trouble.

Block B - Pick/Prediction: Ayase I don't particularly care who wins this match, but I would like to see Madoka return. I think that Ayase vs. Miho is pretty close to even under normal circumstances, but I think Ayase boosted by Madoka voters will probably put her over the top.

Block C - Pick: Kyouko, Prediction: Azusa I really like Kyouko's character design, and her versatility as a character (being able to make a great antagonist/villain, as well as a compelling protagonist/hero). Somewhat ironically, red is also my favorite color, so that helps. I'm not all that familiar with Azusa, but her performance against Shinka was a bit more impressive than Kyouko's performance against Rikka. I also think that anti-Madoka voters are going to try hard to stop at least one of Kyouko, Mami, and Sayaka. Given Saki's decline, I think they'll consider Azusa their best hope at achieving that.

Block D - Pick: Ryuuka, Prediction: Tomoka Ryuuka's relationship with Toki is truly beautiful to me as a big yuri fan. Saki Miyanaga coming back might also continue a nice Cinderella story that she had going on for awhile. At the same time, RKB squicked me out a bit, to be perfectly honest, so... However, Tomoka is either extremely strong, or getting boosted heavily by TOSHINO KYOUKO, or some combination thereof. Either way, I can't even imagine Tomoka losing this match.

Block E - Pick: No strong preference Prediction: Yoshino I never really got into either Haganai or Date A Live, so I have no strong preference here. I get the impression that Date A Live is one of the hot new shows in the anime world, though. While Haganai is still strong, I think the freshness of Date A Live will lead Yoshino to victory.

Block F - Pick/Prediction: Watashi Watashi is an excellent character, and was a humorous treat to watch in Jinrui. I think Nodoka was cheated, but I also like Sawa, so the repechage factor is a wash for me here. I think that Watashi has at least 300 firm votes, and I don't think she'll need much more than that to win this block.

Block G - Pick/Prediction: Kuroneko I think I might have overestimated YuruYuri before. And Kuroneko is a very strong standby in moe competitions. And Kuroneko is one of those "One Special Characters" that makes a show watchable just by her presence alone.

Block H - Pick/Prediction: Sayaka Sayaka is a genki girl paladin. The spirit of a sentai warrior, a smile both warm and enticing. She has a character design that so perfectly fuses superhero with shimmering swordsman with moe. However, I will say that in most other Block Final matches, I'd be rooting for Eru. But even Chitana's glorious mystic eyes can not entrance me to go against the best tragic anime heroine I've ever seen. I think the margin of victory will be as thin as a sword-blade. I think that Eru will satisfy everybody's curiosity about her strength. But I think Sayaka will win.

[spirits having flown]

Once again, Sayaka has won her penultimate Group H match. I am actually looking forward to this since two of my favorite characters from this group are facing each other in the group finals...:3

I saved these images just for this:

Spoiler for Sayaka and Mami!:

Spoiler for Erutaso Maji-tenshi~!:

It's difficult to choose who...but I'm rooting for Sayaka all the way!

[Gohan78]

Originally Posted by iamadooddood

So if my suspicions are right, the rule was probably implemented between September 23 (Rikka's round 2 match) and 26 (Sanae's match).

Hmm... Care to explain your reasoning? Because I don't think that it's possible to conclude anything by looking at the total votes graphs vs valid votes graphs.
The problem is that only the mods know the list of valid vote codes for the day, so there is no way to tell which votes are truly fake (excluding the obvious ones - duplicated IDs or incorrect IDs).

I don't think that the mods were cheating before the new rule was announced. If anything, because when the new system was implemented there was a significant delay in the publication of the results.
I certainly wish that the mods would be more transparent about this and tell us why they are removing certain votes. If they have concrete evidence that certain IPs are proxies then by all means publish them. Otherwise Saimoe 2013 will leave a bad taste in my mouth even if one of my favourites win.

[uis]

New rules not bad though. They now posting all legal codes and the codes they removed. Some gaijin codes passed it. That mean the admin removed proxy so far and i hope my instinct is right.

Anyway congrats for Akarin and Sayaka.

[iamadooddood]

Originally Posted by Gohan78

Hmm... Care to explain your reasoning? Because I don't think that it's possible to conclude anything by looking at the total votes graphs vs valid votes graphs.
The problem is that only the mods know the list of valid vote codes for the day, so there is no way to tell which votes are truly fake (excluding the obvious ones - duplicated IDs or incorrect IDs).

I don't think that the mods were cheating before the new rule was announced. If anything, because when the new system was implemented there was a significant delay in the publication of the results.
I certainly wish that the mods would be more transparent about this and tell us why they are removing certain votes. If they have concrete evidence that certain IPs are proxies then by all means publish them. Otherwise Saimoe 2013 will leave a bad taste in my mouth even if one of my favourites win.

There must have been something to have caused the strength of the Chuu2 girls to have fallen like that. And I can't think of anything else that could have caused it.

It was merely a suspicion, or as science says, a "hypothesis". I don't have 100% confidence in it, but something's definitely up with the votes.


Anyway, something must be off with how I use the vote counter, because I'm getting results that totally don't tally with the scores. A little help here...

[Triple_R]

Well, to be fair to the admins, the only result I've been surprised by since the rule change was the Nodoka loss we've talked about a lot. The other results have all been more or less what I expected even before the rule change. That certainly doesn't definitely rule out cheating, but if we had seen something really surprising since the rule change (such as, say, Sayaka losing by 50 or more to Kuroko) then I'd find it more eyebrow-raising.

Originally Posted by spirits having flown

Once again, Sayaka has won her penultimate Group H match. I am actually looking forward to this since two of my favorite characters from this group are facing each other in the group finals...:3

I saved these images just for this:

Spoiler for Sayaka and Mami!:

Spoiler for Erutaso Maji-tenshi~!:

It's difficult to choose who...but I'm rooting for Sayaka all the way!

Those are two simply gorgeous pictures. I love the angelic motif for both pictures. That commission work definitely looks worth it. Thanks a lot for sharing!

[spirits having flown]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Those are two simply gorgeous pictures. I love the angelic motif for both pictures. That commission work definitely looks worth it. Thanks a lot for sharing!

The angel motif is a personal favorite of mine because it gives the characters a moe factor through its innocence. I may not be posting as often, but this is a way of service to support our favorite Puella Magi as well as being with the other fans as well. Here's to see her win the group finals 2 times in a row and hopefully win it all.

[Hachiko]

Mami and Kyouko, ready for action tomorrow.

Spoiler:

[Team Rocket Elite]

Matches: Af Cf

Time for Block finals! When the bracket first came out, I was hyped up at the possibility of a Mami vs Toki Block final match. I was happy to see both of them actually reach the Block finals to make the match a reality. However, while Toki used to look competitive, Saki characters have taken a large hit from the new voting restrictions. Winning normally would be hard enough but now it doesn't seem like she has much of a chance. Hopefully she'll prove me wrong. Kyouko is tough to beat on any day but facing her on a day she shares with a fellow Puella Magi is even worse. Azusa has done quite well but her best result was a big win over Shinka was matched by Kyouko doing the same to Rikka. Azusa losing is far from a guarantee but siding with the Puella Magi has shown to almost always be the right choice.

Votes:
Onjouji Toki
Sakura Kyouko

Predictions:
Tomoe Mami
Sakura Kyouko

[spirits having flown]

For today's match...I bring back a pic from two years ago...

Spoiler for Whose side are you on? Oh wait...I CHOOSE BOTH! :p:

And...for Group H...

Spoiler for Sayaka Maji-tenshi!~:

[Coldlight]

The long-awaited Saimoe Champions match has finally begun to start off the Group Finals round! The new restrictions and the decline of the powerful Saki faction casts a pall over the otherwise exciting match, though. The clash of champions seems less competitive early on, but we'll see when the last hour rushes come in. Will Toki triumph with a MIRACLE RUSH or will Mami shine and be Luminous above the rest of block A?

Kyouko clashes with the rising Azusa in the other match. This is apparently a more competitive fight with Azusa slowly closing the gap between her and Kyouko; I can only imagine how much more exciting this match would be without the threat of legit votes getting thrown out after every match.

Picks:
Mami Tomoe @ Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Kyouko Sakura @ Puella Magi Madoka Magica

I do love Azusa a fair bit, but I simply like Kyouko even more. I support the 2011 champion in today's "Ghosts of Saimoe Past" match. 2011 was a year that brings me fond memories with my #1 girl going deep into the tournament.

@spirits having flown
I love those images you posted. Especially the angel Sayaka ones.

The Mami and Kyouko halloween one is just perfect for the month.

[iamadooddood]

Originally Posted by Coldlight

The long-awaited Saimoe Champions match has finally begun to start off the Group Finals round! The new restrictions and the decline of the powerful Saki faction casts a pall over the otherwise exciting match, though. The clash of champions seems less competitive early on, but we'll see when the last hour rushes come in. Will Toki triumph with a MIRACLE RUSH or will Mami shine and be Luminous above the rest of block A?

Kyouko clashes with the rising Azusa in the other match. This is apparently a more competitive fight with Azusa slowly closing the gap between her and Kyouko; I can only imagine how much more exciting this match would be without the threat of legit votes getting thrown out after every match.

Picks:
Mami Tomoe @ Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Kyouko Sakura @ Puella Magi Madoka Magica

I do love Azusa a fair bit, but I simply like Kyouko even more. I support the 2011 champion in today's "Ghosts of Saimoe Past" match. 2011 was a year that brings me fond memories with my #1 girl going deep into the tournament.

@spirits having flown
I love those images you posted. Especially the angel Sayaka ones.

The Mami and Kyouko halloween one is just perfect for the month.

I still think Saki's decline is very much caused by the voting restrictions. Which also brought down other factions that were regarded to be strong (such as Chuu2).

Anyone going to try and snipe Mami? Or not?