International Saimoe League 2014

[hinakatbklyn]

With Kotori winning her match, I think a good end tiara winner is guaranteed. As for the best end..... I want to see Kotori win it all.

A Nisekoi seasonal final. Both are good, but I would want to see Onodera win more.

[Ithekro]

This also shows that it is reasonable to keep the older contestants in ISML as they will eventually fade away. Haruhi and Shana are waining in power, Saber and Rin have gotten very recent material, so them doing better is logical. With the new Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan next year, there may be an upswing for the old SOS-dan and the KyoAni Empire.

[Ichuki]

ARENA 01: [Shiina Mashiro] Itsuka Kotori
ARENA 02: Aragaki Ayase [Tachibana Kanade]
ARENA 03: Aoyama Nanami [Kuroyukihime]
ARENA 04: Gokō Ruri (Kuroneko) [Aisaka Taiga]
ARENA 05: [Tokisaki Kurumi] Yūki Asuna
ARENA 06: [Shana] Yoshino
ARENA 07: [Kirisaki Chitoge] Onodera Kosaki
ARENA 08: [Aihara Enju] Shiro
ARENA 09: [Senri Akane] Mare S Ephemeral
ARENA 10: [Koshigaya Komari] Alice Cartalet
ARENA 11: [Dōraku Utage] Komurasaki
ARENA 12: [Ototsu Yume] Sakuraba Tamamo

[KanbeKotori]

ARENA 01: 椎名ましろ [Abstained] 五河 琴里
ARENA 02: 新垣あやせ [Abstained] 立華かなで
ARENA 03: 青山七海 [Abstained] 黒雪姫
ARENA 04: 五更瑠璃 (黒猫) [Abstained] 逢坂大河
ARENA 05: 時崎 狂三 [Abstained] 結城明日奈
ARENA 06: シャナ [Abstained] 四糸乃
ARENA 07: 桐崎千棘 [小野寺小咲]
ARENA 08: 藍原 延珠 [白]
ARENA 09: 千里朱音 [メア·S·エフェメラル]
ARENA 10: [越谷 小鞠] アリス・カータレット
ARENA 11: [道楽宴] 小紫
ARENA 12: [乙津夢] 桜庭玉藻

[FlavoryFantasy]

ARENA 01: [Shiina Mashiro] Itsuka Kotori
ARENA 02: [Aragaki Ayase] Tachibana Kanade
ARENA 03: [Aoyama Nanami] Kuroyukihime
ARENA 04: Gokō Ruri (Kuroneko) [Aisaka Taiga]
ARENA 05: Tokisaki Kurumi [Abstained] Yūki Asuna
ARENA 06: [Shana] Yoshino
ARENA 07: Kirisaki Chitoge [Abstained] Onodera Kosaki
ARENA 08: Aihara Enju [Shiro]
ARENA 09: Senri Akane [Mare S Ephemeral]
ARENA 10: Koshigaya Komari [Alice Cartalet]
ARENA 11: Dōraku Utage [Abstained] Komurasaki
ARENA 12: Ototsu Yume [Abstained] Sakuraba Tamamo

[CrowKenobi]

ARENA 01: [Shiina Mashiro] Itsuka Kotori
ARENA 02: [Aragaki Ayase] Tachibana Kanade
ARENA 03: Aoyama Nanami [Kuroyukihime]
ARENA 04: [Gokō Ruri (Kuroneko)] Aisaka Taiga
ARENA 05: Tokisaki Kurumi [Yūki Asuna]
ARENA 06: Shana [Yoshino]
ARENA 07: [Kirisaki Chitoge] Onodera Kosaki
ARENA 08: Aihara Enju [Shiro]
ARENA 09: Senri Akane [Abstained] Mare S Ephemeral
ARENA 10: Koshigaya Komari [Abstained] Alice Cartalet
ARENA 11: Dōraku Utage [Abstained] Komurasaki
ARENA 12: Ototsu Yume [Abstained] Sakuraba Tamamo

[npal]

Team Chitoge here :P

ARENA 01: Shiina Mashiro [Itsuka Kotori]
ARENA 02: Aragaki Ayase [Tachibana Kanade]
ARENA 03: [Aoyama Nanami] Kuroyukihime
ARENA 04: [Gokō Ruri (Kuroneko)] Aisaka Taiga
ARENA 05: [Tokisaki Kurumi] Yūki Asuna
ARENA 06: Shana [Yoshino]
ARENA 07: [Kirisaki Chitoge] Onodera Kosaki
ARENA 08: [Aihara Enju] Shiro
ARENA 09: Senri Akane [Abstained] Mare S Ephemeral
ARENA 10: Koshigaya Komari [Abstained] Alice Cartalet
ARENA 11: Dōraku Utage [Komurasaki]
ARENA 12: Ototsu Yume [Abstained] Sakuraba Tamamo

[Team Rocket Elite]

Spoiler for Votes:

Shiina Mashiro vs Itsuka Kotori
Aragaki Ayase vs Tachibana Kanade
Aoyama Nanami vs Kuroyukihime
Gokō Ruri (Kuroneko) vs Aisaka Taiga
Tokisaki Kurumi vs Yūki Asuna
Shana vs Yoshino
Kirisaki Chitoge vs Onodera Kosaki
Aihara Enju vs Shiro
Senri Akane vs Mare S Ephemeral
Koshigaya Komari vs Alice Cartalet
Dōraku Utage vs Komurasaki
Ototsu Yume vs Sakuraba Tamamo

[exec]

ARENA 01: Shiina Mashiro [Itsuka Kotori]
ARENA 02: [Aragaki Ayase] Tachibana Kanade
ARENA 03: Aoyama Nanami [Kuroyukihime]
ARENA 04: Gokō Ruri (Kuroneko) [Aisaka Taiga]
ARENA 05: [Tokisaki Kurumi] Yūki Asuna
ARENA 06: Shana [Yoshino]
ARENA 07: [Kirisaki Chitoge] Onodera Kosaki
ARENA 08: [Aihara Enju] Shiro
ARENA 09: [Senri Akane] Mare S Ephemeral
ARENA 10: Koshigaya Komari [Alice Cartalet]
ARENA 11: Dōraku Utage [Komurasaki]
ARENA 12: Ototsu Yume [Abstained] Sakuraba Tamamo

[Houreki]

ARENA 01: [Shiina Mashiro] Itsuka Kotori
ARENA 02: [Aragaki Ayase] Tachibana Kanade
ARENA 03: [Aoyama Nanami] Kuroyukihime
ARENA 04: Gokō Ruri (Kuroneko) [Aisaka Taiga]
ARENA 05: [Tokisaki Kurumi] Yūki Asuna
ARENA 06: Shana [Yoshino]
ARENA 07: Kirisaki Chitoge [Onodera Kosaki]
ARENA 08: Aihara Enju [Shiro]
ARENA 09: Senri Akane [Mare S Ephemeral]
ARENA 10: [Koshigaya Komari] Alice Cartalet
ARENA 11: [Dōraku Utage] Komurasaki
ARENA 12: Ototsu Yume [Abstained] Sakuraba Tamamo

Arena 1 was so hard to choose ;-;

[Kotohono]

ARENA 01: [Shiina Mashiro] Itsuka Kotori
ARENA 02: [Aragaki Ayase] Tachibana Kanade
ARENA 03: [Aoyama Nanami] Kuroyukihime
ARENA 04: [Gokō Ruri (Kuroneko)] Aisaka Taiga
ARENA 05: Tokisaki Kurumi [Yūki Asuna]
ARENA 06: [Shana] Yoshino
ARENA 07: Kirisaki Chitoge [Abstained] Onodera Kosaki
ARENA 08: Aihara Enju [Shiro]
ARENA 09: Senri Akane [Abstained] Mare S Ephemeral
ARENA 10: Koshigaya Komari [Alice Cartalet]
ARENA 11: [Dōraku Utage] Komurasaki
ARENA 12: Ototsu Yume [Abstained] Sakuraba Tamamo

Why did Aoyama have to face Kuroyukihime again?

[hinakatbklyn]

- I consider both Mashiro and Kotori a good choice for tiara. But my higher preference is Kotori.

- The seasonal finals were also a tough choice. I ended up picking Onodera and Enju respectively.

ARENA 01: Shiina Mashiro [Itsuka Kotori]
ARENA 02: Aragaki Ayase [Tachibana Kanade]
ARENA 03: [Aoyama Nanami] Kuroyukihime
ARENA 04: [Gokō Ruri (Kuroneko)] Aisaka Taiga
ARENA 05: Tokisaki Kurumi [Yūki Asuna]
ARENA 06: Shana [Yoshino]
ARENA 07: Kirisaki Chitoge [Onodera Kosaki]
ARENA 08: [Aihara Enju] Shiro
ARENA 09: [Senri Akane] Mare S Ephemeral
ARENA 10: [Koshigaya Komari] Alice Cartalet
ARENA 11: Dōraku Utage [Komurasaki]
ARENA 12: [Ototsu Yume] Sakuraba Tamamo

[Team Rocket Elite]

Congrats to Itsuka Kotori on winning the Heavenly Tiara! After a year full of many disappointments, Date A Live manages to take home the big prize. Right to the very end I was questioning whether could pull it off and in the end she gets her act together. After stopping Kanade's attmept, next year Kotori will also find herself in the pursuit of a second win. Will she be able to do it?

Mashiro is probably a "season 2" away from a win. The only person to win a Tiara off a single series was Kanade. Also just about every other winner won fresh off of their second series airing. Unfortunately, it's probably a boost that will never come. In any case, Mashiro ended up doing better than last year where she ended up with a fairly disappointing final rank after a tough loss. Mashiro is still young. With some luck maybe next year or the year after she'll be the one to take the grand prize.

There are many, many characters that would be very happy with a third place finish. Kanade isn't one of them. For a competitor as decorated as Kanade, there can be no position but first that can satisfy her but once against she has failed to achieve that. Time marches on and Kanade's days of being invicible have passed. This may have been her last chance at a repeat win and she wasn't able to do it. By next year, maybe third place will be a rank befitting of Kanade's power level. Maybe she won't be able to manage even that. Personally, I hope for a miracle and one final win for Kanade before she declines into obscurity.

Ayase was done with surprises last year, right? Nope. She improves her rank to reach a top 4 finish and does so despite the Oreimo series looking far weaker this year than last year. Kuroneko definitely look a lot weaker than last year. Same with Kirino who we got to see tank on real time during post season last year. Despite her high rank, Ayase probably doesn't have a shot at the Tiara. Kuroneko's chances at repeating aren't too great either. If Kanade can't do it, Kuroneko probably can't either.

I wonder if Nanami will still be this strong next year. I'm really not sure why she's so much stronger now. While still a step down from Mashiro, it's not really a big step down anymore. Even so, as long as Mashiro is around, Nanami probably can't win the Tiara. Hopefully she will still look this strong next year, though.

Kuroyukihime with a slight improvement from last year. She is also waiting around for a Season 2. Right now I just expect a solid performance from her but Tiara prospects aren't too great.

Taiga gets stronger by doing nothing. After a dip last year, Taiga has gone up again this year. Like Kuroyukihime, I expect strong performances from Taiga and also like Kuroyukihime, Taiga's Tiara prospects are poor. However, unlike Kuroyukihime, there is no possibility of a season 2. I'm just happy to see Taiga do as well as she does and hope she continues to do so in the future.

Kurumi and Yoshino don't quite share Kotori's success. Kurumi just hasn't shown much ability to get the job done when she really needs to. She's great and beating weaker opponents and usually that means she's good against strong opponent but that just hasn't worked out. If Kurumi ever got her act together, chasing the Tiara is something she could do. However, I'm not sure if that will ever happen. Yoshino is mostly just happy to get a good post season rank. She's strong but not really strong enough to aim for the Tiara.

Asuna was once considered the favourite to win the Tiara and now she closes her season in 10th place. Not bad but not what she wanted. Sniping really only gets you so far and if you miss a target it could cost you your life. In Asuna's case it did when the failed to knock of Mashiro early and then failed to win head on. From there Asuna pretty much gave up. Asuna is definitely a potential threat next year. However, I'd like it more if she just stuck to winning head to head instead of relying on cheap tricks to advance her position.

Shana was Taiga before Taiga and is what Taiga will be in the future. Shana manages to hang on to a solid position year after year even long after her chances at winning a Tiara have passed. Keep it up Shana and keep winning for as long as you can!

Before there was Asuna, there was Mikoto as the postergirl for giving up. Mikoto is way stronger than 13th place and even next year will be a threat to the Tiara. However, her fans just stop trying after Mikoto loses which leads to a result like 13th. Better luck next time Mikoto.

Eucliwood is largely just happy to be here. She's strong but aging and losing her power. She'll be happy if she can reach the top 16 against next year.

Tsukiko and Rikka are in a similar situation to Eucliwood. They were never as strong as peak Eucliwood but they probably aren't aging quite as fast either. Both of them would be doing well to make top 16 next year and probably happy if they can make post season at all.

These are my thoughts on everyone for now. Congrats again to Kotori on winning and everyone else for even making it to the top 16!

[Houreki]

Congratulations Kotori for winning the Heavanly Tiara in her first year and Neckleless!!

[~Yami~]

it is quite funny to see Kotori winning the tiara (and Mashiro in the finals)

but well.... congratulations... to Kotori.. this is the victory for all imouto-type and tsundere character

[Team Rocket Elite]

For those interested, here are my final character rankings stats for the year:

Before SE 1:

Spoiler for Character Ranking before SE 1:

Tachibana Kanade - 70.01
Shiina Mashiro - 66.8
Misaka Mikoto - 64.21
Tokisaki Kurumi - 61.46
Gokō Ruri (Kuroneko) - 60.26
Eucliwood Hellscythe - 59.2
Aisaka Taiga - 57.34
Yūki Asuna - 57.33
Itsuka Kotori - 57.11
Yoshino - 56.85
Shana - 56.32
Aragaki Ayase - 55.66
Tsutsukakushi Tsukiko - 53.52
Kuroyukihime - 53.27
Takanashi Rikka - 53.04
Yuzuriha Inori - 52.82
Nakano Azusa - 52.36
Kurousagi - 51.89
Akiyama Mio - 51.39
Aoyama Nanami - 51
Saber - 50.2
Chitanda Eru - 49.72
Nakamura Yuri - 49.42
Yui-nyan - 49.36
Yatogami Tōka - 48.94
Azuki Azusa - 48.75
Hasegawa Kobato - 48.03
Suzumiya Haruhi - 48.02
Nibutani Shinka - 47.14
Yukinoshita Yukino - 46.16
Yaya - 45.44
Momo Belia Deviluke - 41.98

After SE 10:

Spoiler for Character Ranking after SE 10:

Tachibana Kanade - 66.08
Yūki Asuna' - 65.4
Misaka Mikoto' - 64.65
Shiina Mashiro - 61.49
Itsuka Kotori - 61.29
Gokō Ruri (Kuroneko) - 59.03
Misaka Mikoto - 58.78
Aoyama Nanami - 58.71
Yūki Asuna - 58.25
Tokisaki Kurumi - 57.91
Aisaka Taiga - 57.6
Kuroyukihime - 56.07
Aragaki Ayase - 55.29
Eucliwood Hellscythe - 54.77
Yoshino - 54.61
Tsutsukakushi Tsukiko - 54.37
Shana - 54.33
Takanashi Rikka - 53.83
Akiyama Mio - 52.02
Yuzuriha Inori - 51.03
Chitanda Eru - 51.01
Nakano Azusa - 50.56
Nibutani Shinka - 48.92
Saber - 48.85
Nakamura Yuri - 48.73
Kurousagi - 48.3
Yatogami Tōka - 48.29
Azuki Azusa - 46.51
Yui-nyan - 46.32
Hasegawa Kobato - 46
Suzumiya Haruhi - 45.88
Yukinoshita Yukino - 45.64
Yaya - 45.11
Momo Belia Deviluke - 44.77


In general it seems like Stella characters underperformed relative to Nova characters but this is mostly due to the two divisions drifting apart for each other over the year due to a lack of cross division matches. Prior to the playoffs, I had estimated the drift effect to overrated Stella by about 3% andthat mostly seemed to be true in the combined division playoff matches. My statement below that refer to how well Stella characters are doing refer to their performance after adjusting for drift.

This probably doesn't surprise anyone but the character that improved most over their regular season performance was Aoyama Nanami. Nanami actually had a pretty good playoff performance last year as well but this was an even more extreme boost. She really wasn't too much weaker than Mashiro who has typically been much, much stronger than Nanami.

The next biggest boost goes to the ISML 2014 Champion Itsuka Kotori. In my stats she's only a hair under Mashiro. Although Kotori did beat Mashiro, it wasn't by that much or enough to offset her generally weaker performance in her other matches. What about Kotori's win over Kanade? It was a one time power spike and thus mostly disregarded. Her matches around the Kanade win don't reflect the power level of someone on Kanade's level and fall in line with a character on Mashiro's level.

Other characters that seemed to have good post reason results were Kuroyukihime, Taiga, Momo and Mio. However, in Momo and Mio's cases it wasn't a big enough boost to reach phase 2. It's good to see Taiga do well. Taiga's playoff performance last year was a disaster so I'm happy to see that Taiga avoided repeating that.

Kurumi is good at dealing with weaker opponents but really does seem to have issues in important matches. While her performances isn't really terrible, she looks a lot weaker than she did during the regular season.

Kurousagi performs fairly consistantly in the playoffs but it's at a lower level then she looked in the regular season. Making Phase II might have been possible if she was as strong as she used to be.

Two characters I wasn't really sure how to rank were Misaka Mikoto and Yuuki Asuna. These two character had drastically different performances before and after elimination. You may have noticed a Yūki Asuna' and Misaka Mikoto'. Those points represent their strength level before their loss while their regular entry represents their power level after losing. Asuna' was only a little weaker than Kanade in terms of base power level which is a boost second only to Nanami in size. While not as drastic, Mikoto' also looked to be a fair sized step up from normal Mikoto. However, after they lost Asuna more or less returned to her regular season strength level while Mikoto actually fell a bit below her normal level.

Last thing to talk about is Kanade. In terms of base power level, she was still number one. After Asuna and Mikoto tanked, Kanade was even bay far number one. She largely only had one bad match throughout the entire playoff period and it just happened to be bad enough to end her run. However, similar but opposite to Kotori's situation, single instance negative spikes are mostly disregarded. As a result she keep her number one spot.

For the most part everyone else wasn't too far from what their regular season performance would suggest.

[exec]

ARENA 01: [Asada Shino] Urushiba Rinka
ARENA 02: [Kanbaru Suruga] Sekiya Naru
ARENA 03: [Nijino Yurika] Suzuki Ikumi
ARENA 04: Fukami Tōko [Sakurai Aoi]
ARENA 05: [Terminus Est] Mishima Lisa
ARENA 06: Asseylum Vers Allusia [Hana N. Fontainestand]
ARENA 07: [Seo Yuzuki] Doll
ARENA 08: [Kashima Yū] Endō Rino
ARENA 09: [Sento Isuzu] Amira
ARENA 10: Chloe Lemaire [Tsunashi Kaoru]
ARENA 11: [Matsushima Michiru] Kazama Levi
ARENA 12: [Kanzaki Tomoyo] Yasuhara Ema
ARENA 13: [Miyazono Kaori] Angelize Ikaruga Misurugi
ARENA 14: Yona [Suzuki Kana]
ARENA 15: [Himeki Chifuyu] Kisaragi Chihaya
ARENA 16: [Shinohara Erika] Tsunemori Akane

[KanbeKotori]

ARENA 01: 朝田 詩乃 [Abstained] 漆葉 リンカ
ARENA 02: 神原駿河 [関谷なる]
ARENA 03: 虹野 ゆりか [鈴木 いくみ]
ARENA 04: [深水透子] 桜井 あおい
ARENA 05: [テルミヌス・エスト] 三島 リサ
ARENA 06: アセイラム・ヴァース・アリューシア [ハナ・N・フォンテーンスタンド]
ARENA 07: [瀬尾結月] ドール
ARENA 08: 鹿島遊 [遠藤 梨乃]
ARENA 09: [千斗いすず] アーミラ
ARENA 10: [クロエ・ルメール] カオル
ARENA 11: 松嶋みちる [Abstained] 風間 レヴィ
ARENA 12: 神崎灯代 [Abstained] 安原 絵麻
ARENA 13: 宮園 かをり [Abstained] アンジュリーゼ・斑鳩・ミスルギ
ARENA 14: ヨナ [鈴木佳奈]
ARENA 15: [姬木千冬] 如月千早
ARENA 16: [篠原 エリカ] 常守朱

[wontaek]

ARENA 01: [Asada Shino] Urushiba Rinka
ARENA 02: [Kanbaru Suruga] Sekiya Naru
ARENA 03: [Nijino Yurika] Suzuki Ikumi
ARENA 04: [Fukami Tōko] Sakurai Aoi
ARENA 05: Terminus Est [Mishima Lisa]
ARENA 06: Asseylum Vers Allusia [Hana N. Fontainestand]
ARENA 07: [Seo Yuzuki] Doll
ARENA 08: [Kashima Yū] Endō Rino
ARENA 09: [Sento Isuzu] Amira
ARENA 10: Chloe Lemaire [Tsunashi Kaoru]
ARENA 11: Matsushima Michiru [Kazama Levi]
ARENA 12: Kanzaki Tomoyo [Yasuhara Ema]
ARENA 13: [Miyazono Kaori] Angelize Ikaruga Misurugi
ARENA 14: [Yona] Suzuki Kana
ARENA 15: Himeki Chifuyu [Kisaragi Chihaya]
ARENA 16: [Shinohara Erika] Tsunemori Akane

[CrowKenobi]

ARENA 01: [Asada Shino] Urushiba Rinka
ARENA 02: [Kanbaru Suruga] Sekiya Naru
ARENA 03: [Nijino Yurika] Suzuki Ikumi
ARENA 04: Fukami Tōko [Sakurai Aoi]
ARENA 05: [Terminus Est] Mishima Lisa
ARENA 06: Asseylum Vers Allusia [Hana N. Fontainestand]
ARENA 07: Seo Yuzuki [Abstained] Doll
ARENA 08: Kashima Yū [Endō Rino]
ARENA 09: [Sento Isuzu] Amira
ARENA 10: Chloe Lemaire [Abstained] Tsunashi Kaoru
ARENA 11: [Matsushima Michiru] Kazama Levi
ARENA 12: [Kanzaki Tomoyo] Yasuhara Ema
ARENA 13: Miyazono Kaori [Angelize Ikaruga Misurugi]
ARENA 14: Yona [Suzuki Kana]
ARENA 15: Himeki Chifuyu [Kisaragi Chihaya]
ARENA 16: Shinohara Erika [Abstained] Tsunemori Akane