YEAR OF THE TAIGA

Congratulations to Taiga - 2009 Anime Saimoe!

First of all, I’d like to thank the people in my Credits section of this blog, and more for a successful Saimoe season, and so you don’t have to bother clicking that link, I’ll outline them here-

chaosprophet – translation work for Anime Saimoe AND Manga Saimoe, every freakin’ day (thank God for Linux), and for also making it possible for me to cover Manga Saimoe. and yeah, he also took care of the tournament brackets for MS.

overfunk – the mean guy whose (mean) girl won it all. *clap clap* seriously though, the third guy in the MS trio, if he didn’t made me aware of it, I couldn’t have covered MS. as for AS, he provided great entertainment, and i’m quite sure you did too, unless you were on the other side of the (trolling) spectrum

Micchi – ah, the Saimoe material collector, one of my inspirations to ACTUALLY try to make a Saimoe site. mine’s still at its bare bones, i’ll try to improve the coverage soon as I can and the site as well.

Seishi, kevo, uis, Kholdstare and Teiran – the Lunatic Antics crew. nice bunch of people we have here. good times talking about Saimoe EVERY day in #anime@lucidchat.net. Their blog posts have been an amazing team effort, so they were a nice read, everytime. Also thanks to Teiran for the Saki sigs and others. He may not post much in AS, but hope to see more of your sigs the next year. Seishi, congrats for your number one girl winning. That remains to happen to me, but yeah, every year is Hina’s year, rite?

SilentOb/Zaon47 – for the interim scores, interesting Saimoe insights and the nice blog. hopefully we can improve on next year’s coverage, man. *brofists*

Anon poster guy/stat guy and animesaimoe.org – although his/their efforts remain/s anonymous, high5 to him/them. another one of my inspirations for the Saimoe coverage, I tried to fill in the holes of what he couldn’t cover, and I think it worked off wonderfully. Hope to see you next year too, man.

Liddo-kun and my fellow Hinafags – every year will be our year! I’m proud to say that without our votes, Hina wouldn’t have made it to finals. *wink wink*

AS community and the rest of the #anime crew – for discussions Saimoe and non-Saimoe related and inspirations for something, somewhat, somehow. and yeah, prelim translations from early on.

ando – the one who introduced Animesuki to Saimoe and to me. his previous stellar job of covering Saimoe provided an example on how it should be done.

2ch.net – for hosting both Anime Saimoe and Manga Saimoe. And thanks to that, I have something I can occupy myself with, so yeah. and…

the readers of this blog – hope you have a nice time following my (not-so-biased) coverage. as I’ve said, I’ll continue to try to improve, and right now I’m preparing for the 2010 coverage.

As for the actual Year of the Taiga post, I’ll follow it up as soon as I can. For now, you can read the insights of my other fellow bloggers for the Anime Saimoe Tournament as a whole.

***

Okay, so I have been a few days removed from Saimoe, but somewhat it felt like time flew so quickly and just like that ’twas over. Time to wrap-up this year’s Saimoe tournament, and time to look forward to 2010, which looks to be epic. More on that, later.

For now, here’s a rundown of the top stories for this year’s moe season:

"Don't mind me, heading to the Hall of Fame"

Year of the Taiga – Looking back, I’m still amazed on how Taiga managed to pull off what I call an improbable victory if the early signs were to be considered. Nobody actually predicted her to win it all in the beginning, doomed with the split-vote and all, but then slowly but surely, she managed a wonderful run to take it all. She took a shot at history and clinched it. “Don’t mind me, on my way to Saimoe Hall of Fame.” More or less, something like that.

Although I’m not that much of a Taiga fan, it can’t be denied that her win is one for the (Saimoe) ages. I don’t think it’s a feat that cannot  be duplicated again, winning on the first and only try, both Japan’s Anime Saimoe and Korea’s Best Moe. Again, these were two completely different “metagames” so it’s very difficult to win both. I say that she was in the right places at the right time – sneaking through the bracket in Saimoe when all the attention was at the series wars between Saki, Hayate and K-On, and by the time she was winning, it was too late for her to be stopped. But that’s the bit of luck needed to win Saimoe, and Rika’s 2007 run is a testament to that.

I don’t think I have to delve to the specifics of Taiga’s amazing win, but here’s again a rundown of her victories. Lynette Bishop, Kawashima Ami and Asahina Mikuru, Maria, Nakano Azusa, Saginomiya Isumi, Haramura Nodoka and finally Yui. And what makes the victory even more amazing is that none of them managed to get near the Palmtop Tiger. All of the latter’s wins were at least more than 54 votes and that closest margin was courtesy of Yui herself. Although nothing can be more dominant that Kagami’s win in 2008, Taiga’s championship run is certainly up there. As for her Best Moe win, I’d say she was destined to win both – winning by three votes is just epic.

Anime Saimoe 2009 and Manga Saimoe Finals 2009 Preview

So a quick semifinal fallout first- I’m not really surprised that Aisaka Taiga and Hirasawa Yui won their respective matches, but I still find it hard to believe how a series like Saki, who posted records after records as the tournament progressed, came out flat in the end, and couldn’t win when it mattered the most. Gotta feel for Saki fans for this heartbreak exit. 2ch proved me wrong about their trolling intents of a Kyoutarou Harem End, and thus i’m 0-2 at predictions this round while 2-0′ing Manga Saimoe, which is a completely opposite of the previous round. But enough of that, and moving on with my thoughts for both the AS and MS finale.

Anime Saimoe Tournament 2009 Championship Match:

We’re at the finish line, time to cap it off with a bang. Aisaka Taiga vs. Hirasawa Yui. For me, both these girls deserve to win the crown based on their previous accomplishments. Much has been said in the Saimoe community on how these girls got here on the biggest stage of moe tournaments. Still, I’ve got my own take of the matter.

Anime Saimoe 2009 and Manga Saimoe 2009 Semifinals Preview

Saimoe’s at the homestretch, and the remaining matches are guaranteed to be epic. After coming close for many rounds, for the first time, I actually aced all my predictions, but that doesn’t really make me happy because I went 1-3 in picks as Isumi and Koromo (and Louise) crashed out. We’re now down to four, and I can say that these four deserved to make it far based on objective merits.

First off, we have Taiga vs. Nodoka. I thought both performed well in their previous matches, as Nodoka was back in her routine 200-plus point thrashings, and Taiga is consistent as usual. In fact, nobody’s come really close to Taiga in all her matches, while Nagi gave Nodoka a hard time in Round 4.

Anime Saimoe 2009 and Manga Saimoe 2009 Quarterfinals Preview

Well, that was quite an entertaining fourth round, capping off with an epic clash between Sanzen’in Nagi and Haramura Nodoka to set up Saki vs. the Coalition in the final rounds of Saimoe. Before moving on though, here are my notes on the previously-concluded round:

• Saki sets another record, with 4 contestants in the Quarterfinals, breaking Clannad’s performance last year, and at the same time denying the Kugimiya Rie end. The draw also didn’t yield the possibility of Mahjong end, thankfully.
• Nodoka is for real. The Girl on the Internet proved that she can also win tight matches after cruising for the past three rounds.
• HnG falls short again, but sends the most unlikely girl in the quarterfinals, Saginomiya Isumi. So for the third straight year, a character from Hayate reaches at least the top 8 – a testament to their consistency. But the quest for the actual crown gets stalled again as Isumi faces tall odds against Taiga in the first tiff of the final rounds.

Saimoe Quarterfinals Preview

Isumi vs. Taiga – Taiga is the overwhelming favorite here. The only chance Isumi can win is if both the Yui supporters and Saki supporters pool all their votes to the former, but that is not going to happen. This is the most predictable match of the round.

Who Can Already See the Ending?

One more match to go before the Elite Eight is officially confirmed for Saimoe ’09. As we await the for such outcome, I will be outlining the remaining possible “endings” for this year’s tournament.

East Wind End: Kataoka Yuuki

Since Prelim 1, Yuuki has been eating her opponents alive each and every match. Chances are, as long as the matchups remain in the East, Tacos cannot be stopped and win it all, fittingly earning her the title “Undefeated of the East.” In all intents and purposes, as long as Yuuki keeps posting monster numbers, it’s very much possible be this year’s Saimoe.

Odds of getting this ending: Very High

Moe Picks: Summer Season

Fall Season is now upon us, which means more shows for HNGGGH-ing purposes for moe enthusiasts like me, but before truly moving on, I’m going to recap my Summer Season moe picks, and speculate on how they will stack up against future competition in 2010. In no particular order, here we go:

Baseball has never been so moe.

Suzukawa Koume  (Taishou Yakyuu Musume a.k.a. Moe Baseball)

She got me at episode one. Those who have watched this show, will know why. Man, Koume is so adorable. Plays catcher against boys and doesn’t afraid of anything. In addition, auto-blush is nice.  Having the same VA (Itou Kanae) as Amu is just gravy.

Saimoe potential? Summer anime are always in a handicap when it comes to Saimoe, because of the unreliable memory of man, so I’m not expecting the moe baseball girls to go deep into the tournament. But considering that it’s one of the more beloved shows by 2ch this summer, maybe Koume and crew will make a splash in to the Saimoe scene.

Catching Up with Manga Saimoe Part II: Block Finals E-H

By the way, for easy reference, here’s the translated bracket courtesy of chaosprophet.

Now, continuing from where I left off ^^,

Block E: Eve [Black Cat] vs. Misaka Mikoto [To Aru Majutsu no Index]

It’s kinda hard to call this match, because both have the habit of squeaking by their opponents throughout the tournament. Let’s see: Eve defeated Horo by two votes, then won over Mizunashi Akari and Alice Carroll because of the Aria split votes, then edged Kotegawa Yui by a single vote to get to this point of the tourney. On the other hand, Mikoto won by a hairline against CCS’Daidouji Tomoyo, then by four against Psyren’s Amamiya Sakurako, and then by five against Hayate’s Nishizawa Ayumu.

Ultimately I’m leaning towards a Biribiri win, basing on the quality of the opponents they defeated. But then again, like their previous matches, it should be close.

Catching Up with Manga Saimoe Part I: Block Finals A-D

The 3rd Manga Saimoe is now on its Block Finals stage, and I figured that since the competition is now heating up, it’s time for updates and some commentary.

Block A: Suigintou [Rozen Maiden] vs. Yami (Golden Darkness) [ToLoveRu]

Rozen Maiden has won this tilt before, and looks like they’re set to repeat Kanaria’s feat. Suigintou has been on a tear, beating Mikan Yuuki and Ayanami Rei on her route to a Top 16 berth, receiving relatively high total of votes. On the other side of the bracket lies Yami of ToLoveRu. She has beaten the first Manga Saimoe Champion (Kukuri of Mahoujin Guru Guru series), as well as Bamboo Blade’s Miyamiya.

Still, unpredictable as MS has been, I’m expecting Suigintou to lead the charge for yet another Top 8 for the dolls.