It really warms my heart to see the cast of Aria doing so well in 2ch’s Saimoe Tournament. Athena is a contender in one of today’s contests, and a quick look at the voting thread shows her cruising toward victory. Tomorrow, Aika does battle with Utawarerumono’s Yuzuha and To Heart 2’s Tama-nee. I’d expect the healthy girl to mop the floor with the sick girl, at least… can Aika win in the end, though? It’d make me very happy.
Not as happy as the result of the preliminary Ayumu (Gokujo Seitokai) vs. Belldandy (Ah! My Goddess) vs. Raising Heart (Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha) match, though. Ayumu won in the end, but Raising Heart still beat Belldandy by a couple hundred votes.
That’s right. Belldandy got beaten by a talking stick.
And suckiness of current AMG season compared to loads of Nanoha fans waiting new upcoming episodes have no effect to result I assume…
Don’t forget the general suckiness of the last season of AMG - I had been looking forward to it too.. and well, I didn’t even bother with the new season.
At least Aria had soothing music, and stories which made sense, along with a less boring pace despite being a ’slower’ story in general.
Anyone else here miss the OVA and movie already? Seriously - even having Kikuko Inoue couldn’t save Sorezore no Tsubasa for me. Between the way they mangled the manga storylines, and the way the story was presented… well, the only highlights for me last season were the DVD specials, with the aftereffects of the Lord of Terror arc.
I do like the fact that ARIA is kicking ass and taking lots of names in this tournament. Do one of the undines have what it takes to beat the likes of Nanoha though? :/
>That’s right. Belldandy got beaten by a talking stick.
After all, a talking stick has more personality than a simple brick! :p
As for Saimoe, some of the results make me weep. The Pedo and moe is too strong in this one :/
Suiseiseki all the way, man. All the way.
And as much as I like Ayumu, that match is set up. Raising Heart is definitely the best out of three.
Personally I like Saimoe mainly because they have the most impeccable administration and awesome character selection, despite the somewhat expected, elitistic barrier set up to even participate. That and I think:
>>The Pedo and moe is too strong in this one :/
It’s called “SaiMoe” you know.
I actually appreciate the elitist nature of the whole thing. When we do the Grand Prix on the MT forums, we always have weekend anime fans coming in from the upper forums and posting stuff along the lines of, “Well, I don’t know anything about any of these characters, but I sort of recognize [INSERT WELL-KNOWN POPULAR CHARACTER HERE], so I’ll just vote for her.” Next thing you know, all of the interesting characters are gone after a couple of rounds. Things are a lot more exciting, I think, when the people voting know WHO they’re voting for and WHY they’re voting for them. There’s more LOVE.
And, yeah, GO GO SUISEISEKI!
(sorry I didn’t vote for your sis, though… Natsuki deserves some love every now and then)
Good grief, I totally underestimated the resentment against Belldandy. I had predicted Raising Heart would lose to Belldandy. Time to eat cardboard I suppose…
With regards to ARIA, I have said it once, and I will say it again. ARIA is the show that everybody watches, but nobody talks about. :P Figuratively speaking.
My support in Saimoe goes to Suzumi Tamao, and the Strawberry Panic girls have been doing well in the voting as well. To the surprise of many.
My dream final would be Nagato Yuki vs Suzumi Tamao.
Cheers.
If we’re talking about moe, as opposed to some more general kind of attractiveness, Nana-chan in Bokura ga Ita is world champ. To call Belldandy moe would be desperately weird. To call Raging Heart moe is, of course, just a joke. Ayumu certainly deserved to win that contest. As for sick vs. healthy, I would expect the sick girl to have a big advantage, if it’s really a contest of moeness. Inbuilt need for protection.
I don’t think moe is right word for Belldandy, it does sounds bit weird.
Haesslich: Yeah, I miss OVA and movie. Unlike Aria new AMG seasons don’t have illusion that something actually happens.
>It’s called “SaiMoe” you know.
Oh right. “The Ultimate Moe”. I guess I can’t blame the voters then In that case :p.
>My dream final would be Nagato Yuki vs Suzumi Tamao.
It is voters like you, Good Sir, who make this contest such a *painful* thing to follow ;_;
I actually appreciate the elitist nature of the whole thing. When we do the Grand Prix on the MT forums, we always have weekend anime fans coming in from the upper forums and posting stuff along the lines of, “Well, I don’t know anything about any of these characters, but I sort of recognize [INSERT WELL-KNOWN POPULAR CHARACTER HERE], so I’ll just vote for her.” Next thing you know, all of the interesting characters are gone after a couple of rounds. Things are a lot more exciting, I think, when the people voting know WHO they’re voting for and WHY they’re voting for them. There’s more LOVE.
I think after having done it for three years, it has kind of gotten to the point where I know what kind of organization will give what kind of results. The big thing with SaiMoe is, well, it’s 2ch. They can afford the popularity interest to make strict limits on nomination and eligibility both for contestants and voters alike. OTOH those MT GPs are community events where we mess with each other’s favorites, so ultimately we are catering to those weekend anime fans, the greatest common denominator. SaiMoe actually attempts to bridge that with the more straightforward voting you see at, say, GameFAQs Character Battle. I also get the feeling it’s set up that way just so people can’t bot it, but I think on the larger scale of things botting doesn’t make a whole lot of difference.
Athena lost. Looks kind of suspicious, though. Then again, I’ve noticed a similar pattern with some of the other contests… perhaps there was a heated campaign going on in the background.
It is voters like you, Good Sir, who make this contest such a *painful* thing to follow ;_;
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It’s a democratic election. ^,^ I vote for who I want, when I want. :) That said, I am supporting Kyon’s sister and Aika( from ARIA) in the current round. Kyon’s sister has a high possibility of crushing the opposition due to her overwhelming moe, but Aika is going to need all the support she can get. :)
The coding wizards at 2ch needs to make a graphical bracket for this.
While I’ve not been following this tournament too closely. From what I have gathered Aika has won through against Tama-nee, which is quite a big thing if I’m not mistaken since the latter is supposedly a big favourite amongst otakus. Please correct me if I’m wrong with any of this. My initial reaction is great.
Indeed, Aika won. Unfortunately, so did Kyon’s sister (I voted for Konomi). It was a close race, at least.
In as much as this electorial system is like any other, all that, to me, speaks volumes of the effects of communial interest and rallying. In as much as the Japanese otaku do not associate themselves so much in a larger context, large groups of small groups form the backbone of communities like 2ch, where shared interests connects these small groups.
Which means that one interest group may rally up to the challenge and really give props. Like the Haruhi-tards or the Army of Desu.
I’m not sure how the Aria fans fare.
ARIA does have a strong backing. They were the only group in which ALL the Undine girls made it to the first round( only the cats and Ai failed to qualify). ARIA does not have a very VOCAL fanbase, but they very much exist.
If you have read Anime on My Mind, there was a graph posted way back when it was shown that ARIA was very highly rated, AND highly watched.
Now say it with me, ;)
ARIA is the show that everybody watches, but nobody talks about.
Oh noes.. why did Belldandy do so badly!