International Saimoe League 2008 - The Best of the Best

[minhtam1638]

Okay, the test poll date has finally been announced officially:

Monday, March 10 @ 6:00 PM EST
#1 Suiseiseki (RM) vs. #5 Fate Testarossa (NA)
Souseiseki (RM) vs. Nanoha Takamachi (NA)

I'll continue to make updates as much as I possibly can.

[Gotank]

Ahh, how did Kyou get a bigger fanbase than Nagisa? Ahh.. the horror...
Darn, I wish I reserved my nominations until after I saw Clannad.

[qtipbrit]

Originally Posted by Gotank

Ahh, how did Kyou get a bigger fanbase than Nagisa? Ahh.. the horror...
Darn, I wish I reserved my nominations until after I saw Clannad.

Because everyone likes a tsunderekko.
Notice how nine of the top ten of the preseason qualifying contestants are tsunderekkos or have been compared to tsunderekkos.
I personally wouldn't say Haruhi is a tsunderekko, though I've heard it thrown around a lot. Suiseiseki and Shinku are maybes, as they both many more tsuntsun moments than deredere, and it's only very arguable that either are deredere towards Jun. Shana, Nagi, and Eri are clearly tsundere in the new sense of the word (with Shana being both), while Rin and Fate are tsunderekkos by its older meaning, though I'm a Fate/Nanoha fanboy, so I may be biased, and Hinagiku is mildly tsundere by both of its definitions.

Of course, many people now group characters as "tsundere" even if they don't really resemble the archetype, as stated above. Personally, I would only name about 5-6 of the top ten characters as tsundere: Shana, Hinagiku, Eri, Nagi, Rin, and maybe Fate.

Continuing: You can change your nominations, too. Just re-fill out the nomination form and it will process your latest request, replacing your older one. (get Matsuri on the top 17! She's one of my favourites.)

[Gotank]

Hmm, I think you're right about the whole Tsundere trend... I'd say Suiseiseki is more than just 'maybe' though, especially judging from a few episodes in Traumend. I fail to see in what way Fate fits the description though, unless you're suggesting yuri, which I noticed no hint of while watching the first two seasons. Even Rin's classification is questionable as well in my opinion, since I noticed very little romantic feelings between her and Shiro actually... Maybe the visual novel had more going on between them. I'm not sure about Shinku either.

On another note... how is Ayu not on the automatic qualified list while like the rest of Kanon is? And how did Kyon's sister get on there lol... She hardly has any screen time...

[minhtam1638]

You can change your nominations. If I detect that an IP address nominated twice, but it doesn't feel like a multi-vote, I usually discard your first nomination for the second.

As to the top 10 (which reminds me, I have to get back to doing profiles eventually), Yuki seems to be the oddball out of the group. It seems as if lately Saimoe is turning to be a Sai-tsundere, and after watching Clannad, how Kyou fares against Shana on April 5 will most likely determine her outcome of the whole tourney, and if so, a Clannad character could win her first Saimoe championship before Saimoe Japan and Korea Best Moe hit the knockout stages. I have her listed as a dark horse in winning this tournament, and though it is possible that all 6 Clannad characters could finish in the top 32 and auto-qualify for 2009, unless something really happens where I catch a group that says otherwise, no other Clannad character will have a chance at winning unless someone gives Kyou an upset. And it will have to happen twice due to the post-season double elimination format.

And it's always the later-aired characters that have the advantage, so Shana and the HnG girls are probably Clannad's biggest competition, with the Haruhi bunch pretty close to being there. Of course, unless China participates and takes the pro-KyoAni route it's likely to say that none of the Kanon characters will finish top 32. Lucky Star, maybe.

I also have in my predictions the older factions of Rozen Maiden and Nanoha to decline a bit, although they may still have some fan-power to make next year's cut. With a lack of Japanese support that I'm desperately trying to fix, it looks like only Suigintou and Suiseiseki have a legitimate shot at the top 16.

And one clear thing: this format may or may not be volatile to team voting, which I should highly expect. Any oddballs out (Yuno, Yurie, Alice, etc.) may or may not have a slim chance at making top 32. Remember that the bottom 32 are out unless they top 16 a Japan or Korea tournament, or else they'll have to resort to the nomination polls, which may have less than 17 entries due to possible competition from premiering anime from this season. Also, it's not as if 17-32 are guaranteed a spot in next year, as Japan and Korea have priority over ISML in terms of qualifiers.

Originally Posted by Gotank

On another note... how is Ayu not on the automatic qualified list while like the rest of Kanon is? And how did Kyon's sister get on there lol... She hardly has any screen time...

To be fair, I was only able to take top 16 from each of the 2006 and 2007 tournaments, hence names such as Kyon's Sister, Alice Carroll, etc are on the pre-qualified list. Ayu Tsukimiya, the storefront character of Kanon, was snubbed by Suiseiseki in the round of 32. If you read Suiseiseki's profile, I did give Ayu a honorary mention, and she's one of the characters I'm pushing for to get into this tournament, since she truly deserves to be in. Heck, anybody who can give the Desu-queen a run for her money should be automatically qualified.

For the rest of the Kanon characters, Makoto is the forgotten one, unable to upkeep her top 16 finish in China. Shiori is on the bubble to get in.

I agree, some characters shouldn't be on there due to limited screentime, as I had trouble looking up some of their background info. However, they are qualified, and according to the voters, they are moe enough to get themselves pre-qualified. I expect some of them to be just free wins for the rest of the crowd, but you never know - a crowd may help them out and give an upset.


And even though the test poll is meant just to be a true test, it's fun to predict the winner. Obviously, we know who the winner for #1 vs. #5 will be. And since I did talk about team voting, it's likely Souseiseki will be able to beat Nanoha in her rematch as well.

[qtipbrit]

Originally Posted by Gotank

Hmm, I think you're right about the whole Tsundere trend... I'd say Suiseiseki is more than just 'maybe' though, especially judging from a few episodes in Traumend. I fail to see in what way Fate fits the description though, unless you're suggesting yuri, which I noticed no hint of while watching the first two seasons. Even Rin's classification is questionable as well in my opinion, since I noticed very little romantic feelings between her and Shiro actually... Maybe the visual novel had more going on between them. I'm not sure about Shinku either.

On another note... how is Ayu not on the automatic qualified list while like the rest of Kanon is? And how did Kyon's sister get on there lol... She hardly has any screen time...

Again, people have forgotten that "tsundere" originally refers to characters who dislike another, usually the lead (Nanoha, Shiro), and over time, begin to open and maybe developing feelings for him or her. Tsuntsun -> deredere as opposed to tsuntsun, tsuntsun, tsuntsun, deredere, tsuntsun, tsuntsun, tsuntsun, deredere, rinse, and repeat.
Shinku's there because she fits more into tsunderekko than anything else except loligoth.

Nayuki, Mai, and Sayuri are on there, but Ayu, Shiori, and Makoto are not. Ayu will probably get in through fanvote nomination, though.
About Kyon's sister: Amazing popularity of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya both in Japan and overseas + loli in a bag = SaiMoe eligibility.

While I'm here, I'd like to point out that Shana won SaiLoli '07, beating out Fate, Nanoha, and Kyon no Imouto in the final rounds, with Suiseiseki not even reaching top 8 status, so I think she deserves to have that added onto her resume so as to take the top spot in the preseason rankings.

[minhtam1638]

Originally Posted by qtipbrit92

While I'm here, I'd like to point out that Shana won SaiLoli '07, beating out Fate, Nanoha, and Kyon no Imouto in the final rounds, with Suiseiseki not even reaching top 8 status, so I think she deserves to have that added onto her resume so as to take the top spot in the preseason rankings.

There were so many ways to manipulate the rankings so Shana could be #1 over Suiseiseki, the most common being adding point totals over their past finishes. Even though Shana would beat Suiseiseki by 1 point, the rankings will tilt toward those who participated more often than not, so Rozen Maiden and Nanoha would ultimately dominate the rankings, and Haruhi would be underrated. As much as I would like to see Shana #1, the only way to make it fair was to take the top 2 performances from each character, as each should have participated in at least two qualified contests.

I did receive an e-mail from somebody who wants China's Saimoe added to contestant's profile information. I haven't touched the profiles since the postponement, but I may consider adding a footnote here and there about other contests.

[minhtam1638]

The exhibition match hath started. Now let's see if I can get as much stuff done as possible.

EDIT: And just when I put it up, the fire alarms have rung in my dorm room. Be back ASAP.

[CrowKenobi]

Originally Posted by minhtam2448

The exhibition match hath started. Now let's see if I can get as much stuff done as possible.

That's good to hear!

btw, on the news page, the text doesn't line up with the background (it's off to the right) (just in case, I'm using Firefox 2)

EDIT: And just when I put it up, the fire alarms have rung in my dorm room. Be back ASAP.

Let's hope that it's a false alarm!

[Gotank]

Haha, the lolitron... I was sorely disappointed that Ilya didn't make it further, but alot of my favorite characters were reasonably eliminated... I mean, you can't exactly consider Suiseiseki a loli anyways I think.

[FlareKnight]

Originally Posted by minhtam2448

The exhibition match hath started. Now let's see if I can get as much stuff done as possible.

EDIT: And just when I put it up, the fire alarms have rung in my dorm room. Be back ASAP.

Know how that is. First year in University had a fire alarm go off in the morning. Was pretty bad for those who were heading out without grabbing a coat or anything . Think it was a prank so took even longer to get back inside.

[qtipbrit]

Originally Posted by Gotank

Haha, the lolitron... I was sorely disappointed that Ilya didn't make it further, but alot of my favorite characters were reasonably eliminated... I mean, you can't exactly consider Suiseiseki a loli anyways I think.

Yeah, Ilya had to go up against the epic nameless imouto, though, and in all honesty, Haruhi is much more popular than Fate/Stay Night.
I wouldn't classify all of the Rozen Maiden as lolis even though they're all rather small, but I would say Suiseiseki is. It seems there was a lot of hate voting against the Rozen Maiden, though; of the five in the tournament, only the one that had started a 4chan meme advanced.

Speaking of which, expect a lot of hate-voting against Rozen Maiden from me.
Actually, probably just Suiseiseki, and maybe Souseiseki. I'd vote for Shinku or Suigintou depending on who their competitors are.

[minhtam1638]

Okay, random thoughts while I mull over all the possible things that I need to get done.

1. We're definitely going to have another test poll. I'm trying to figure out how to incorporate a special variable that receives the actual IP address of specific proxy servers, and I ended up distorting the first hour of votes (though it was only 4 to zip in favor of Nanoha and Fate). Once I get that figured out, we will have another test poll. Two matches for sure, and I may think about adding two more.

2. We may have another schedule change for the league itself. I'm looking through some potentially important dates, and it looks like for some of them, I will definitely need off. This could possibly push the actual post-season up to just about the time Japan and Korea decide their champions, so all three will be running contests parallel to each other. Start date for the Aquamarine period will still be April 1st, and I may or may not just have week-long breaks in between periods or so. Once I look at my schedule, I'll let you know if there will be a schedule change.

3. I got the international message almost ready, but I would like non-English speaking participants who haven't participated to have a chance at the nominations. Not to mention that I will probably NOT be available on the 20th and beyond since it's Easter weekend for me, and as a Roman Catholic, that will be pretty eventful. It may be just an extension, but it may turn out to be a 3rd period of nominations. It could end on either the 25th or the 27th, depending on how much work I think I can get done to get ourselves ready for April 1st. We'll see.

4. I'm also thinking about a banner contest. The header is just... bland.

[minhtam1638]

Test Poll is now closed, but the fire alarm went off again. I have a club meeting right at this moment, so I'll be back in a flash.

[alphastickmania]

Banner Contest~~~!

What's the prize? XD

Alright. Let's see. Next batch I am to do. Not done. Current management of time, none (I have no extra time that I need to manage. It is all taken up by something else.) So basically no one has time to spare for now. Maybe we can have that above mentioned banner contest slightly after this week. Err... I will put up a topic about this in the ISML forum later.

[Ithekro]

Can we expect an update to the nominaton standing before the 20th? While I've made my vote already, I kind of wanted to see how things were doing after all this time.

(I'm half expecting people to start voting for Kyonko, but that would be about as bad as Bruce Ironstunch in Saigar (or possibly worse).)

[minhtam1638]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

Can we expect an update to the nominaton standing before the 20th? While I've made my vote already, I kind of wanted to see how things were doing after all this time.

(I'm half expecting people to start voting for Kyonko, but that would be about as bad as Bruce Ironstunch in Saigar (or possibly worse).)

It may be before instead of on, since the 20th is Passover Thursday.

In fact, I'm supposedly updating them now, but I got to balance that out with a Research Paper about naturalism. And a four-match test poll is to be slated to take place in about two and a half hours. We'll see how things work out.

Originally Posted by alphastickmania

Banner Contest~~~!

What's the prize? XD

Alright. Let's see. Next batch I am to do. Not done. Current management of time, none (I have no extra time that I need to manage. It is all taken up by something else.) So basically no one has time to spare for now. Maybe we can have that above mentioned banner contest slightly after this week. Err... I will put up a topic about this in the ISML forum later.

20 bucks maybe?

No, the prize will just be having the banner as the header on the website itself. Weebly doesn't give me a rotation option, and I've been making suggestions that they say they will probably work on. Supposedly, I'll just pick the best one and we'll go with it. Maybe we'll change it every period or something.


The second test poll has begun:

Thursday, March 13 @ 10:00 EST
#14 C.C. (CG) vs. #7 Eri Sawachika (SR)
#9 Rin Tosaka (FSN) vs. #11 Teletha Testarossa (FMP)
Louise Francoise (ZnT) vs. Touka (U)
Yurie Hitotsubashi (KM) vs. Yuno (HS)

[minhtam1638]

I'm tallying the nominations right now, and I don't like what I'm seeing. There was a recline in nominations, possibly due in part to voters waiting for the last update before the deadline in order to nominate, but because of the recline, I caught something that I cannot believe I overlooked for the past two months.

It looks like somebody from Monterrey, Mexico has been actually multi-voting for Nia Teppelin, nominating at about 8-12 hour intervals, and I didn't catch it until now. A range of IPs from two service providers - 131.178.xxx.xxx and 189.153.xxx.xxx were used. Although countries like Vietnam, Indonesia, and Singapore were having a similar situation, their IPs involved a number of different nominations, and I ruled it as a simple dynamic IP case. However, a single city using multiple IPs to vote for Nia and only Nia is quite different.

I will be watching closely at nominations and votes with dynamic IPs. And it also looks like I will have to make an announcement regarding penalties and probations.

[qtipbrit]

Originally Posted by minhtam2448

I'm tallying the nominations right now, and I don't like what I'm seeing. There was a recline in nominations, possibly due in part to voters waiting for the last update before the deadline in order to nominate, but because of the recline, I caught something that I cannot believe I overlooked for the past two months.

It looks like somebody from Monterrey, Mexico has been actually multi-voting for Nia Teppelin, nominating at about 8-12 hour intervals, and I didn't catch it until now. A range of IPs from two service providers - 131.178.xxx.xxx and 189.153.xxx.xxx were used. Although countries like Vietnam, Indonesia, and Singapore were having a similar situation, their IPs involved a number of different nominations, and I ruled it as a dynamic IP case. However, a single city using multiple IPs to vote for Nia and only Nia is quite different.

I will be watching closely at nominations and votes with dynamic IPs. And it also looks like I will have to make an announcement regarding penalties and probations.

Gah, I knew someone was multi-voting Nia. When I had began my involvement, she was low on top 17, dropped past 20 or so, then came way up.
It makes me sad that Nia gets multi-voted in while Matsuri is left out. My friend and I have been voting for Matsuri for both nomination rounds, though we also supported other characters (Sakura! First Saimoe champion!). I guess 18-20 of Matsuri's points are ours, so I really shouldn't be complaining about multi-voting.

Hoping now that people have been voting more for Matsuri since the last nomination results were posted so she gets in. I need another vote.

[KholdStare]

I would like to nominate, but seriously, all of the girls I would nominate are in the "Do not nominate" list, so I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong here...