Perennial Heartbreak
Being Nodocchi is suffering
有効コードがある票の順位
1位 362票 園城寺怜＠咲-Saki- 阿知賀編 episode of side-A
2位 195票 原村和＠咲-Saki- 阿知賀編 episode of side-A
This result is confirmed.
***
Toki took another big step towards the crown as she totally crushed Nodoka, seizing away the ace status from her in the process. Toki supporters played a strategical game too, piling in fakes for Nodoka – but it wasn’t really needed in the end.
So Nodocchi has now lost in three semi-final matches, and to add salt to her wounds, her amazing streak of never losing out to anyone in a final rush since her debut back in 2009 has come to an end too. Cruel on her, especially since her powers will wane at an increased rate after this tourney, but still, three consecutive SF appearances is a record that will probably not be broken for a very long time – something to be proud of.
For Toki, this is her biggest win yet, obtaining 65% of the votes. That is a scary statistic to have at this stage of the competition, and on the evidence of this performance, many would think that the Saimoe crown’s already as good as hers. After all, whoever who beats Nodocchi in the semis will win it all, right? Will there be one final twist in the tale by either of the two remaining semi-finalists?
Kuro vs Hisa. Both are characters in the Saki series who are very dedicated to their mahjong clubs. Kuro has had the tougher route to this stage, having had to deal with five prelim group winners. For Hisa, she finally did get some luck after bad draws in the previous years, having the easiest route amongst the four semi-finalists. Kuro has recorded strong results against all of her opponents (with the exception of her sister), so she is definitely the favorite here. Tactically speaking, Toki fans might want to side with Hisa over here as Kuro’s the greater threat, but I think they’ll be feeling confident enough to opt for the rematch vs Kuro subplot instead.
tl;dr Pick: Kuro // Prediction: Kuro
Congratulation to Toki.
Hell yeah!
YES!
Congratulations Toki!
Go for the championship!
FUCK YES.
Difference between picks and predictions is really big this time…
Bah… I thought she’d at least be able to do well against others from her own series, albeit she was dealing with the newer spin-off. Well, I guess Nodoka can be satisfied with winning Manga Saimoe (a tied victory with Ika-Musume, but whatever), and if nothing else, her records and Kugimiya Killer status has ensured her a fairly solid position in Anime Saimoe history.
I gotta wonder if she’ll really wane that badly in coming years, though. I mean, when this tournament first started, I suspected that she’d become an old hat and displaced by the newer characters. Much to my surprise, however, she still put on a pretty decent performance: 1st place in a preliminary group (and with one of the highest prelim vote totals, no less), managing to fend off one of the aforementioned new spin-off’s powerhouses, and ultimately getting in the Best 4 for the third time. Her match against Hitagi also seems somewhat noteworthy. It’s true that the Saki series already scoring a win this year might put a damper on her future performances, but I wouldn’t count her out just yet. After all, Nanoha won the championship before, and her faction’s still fairly lethal close to a decade later. Nodoka being one of Saimoe’s strongest-performing busty characters could also work in her favor (believe it or not, Saimoe does have a fairly active oppai faction). At any rate, I just hope she doesn’t get this far for the 4th time only to lose at the same damn spot for the 4th time (seriously, if she manages to perform such a feat for a 4th time, everyone voting might as well just give her the crown already).