Interest

2ch Forum's Anime Saimoe Tournament 2012 Quarter Finals

The Anime Saimoe Tournament is an annual poll in which users from Japan's 2channel message board vote on the most moe female anime character of the past year.

The results for Quarter Finals went as follows, with vote counts:

(Quarter Final I) 10/26: * Toki Onjōji - Saki Episode of Side A - 403 (Winner) Louise de la Valliere - Familiar of Zero F - 252 (Quarter Final III) 10/28: * Kuro Matsumi - Saki Episode of Side A - 181 (Winner) Yuu Matsumi - Saki Episode of Side A - 178

(Quarter Final II) 10/27: * Nodoka Haramura - Saki Episode of Side A - 192 (Winner) Saki Miyanagi - Saki Episode of Side A - 178 (Quarter Final IV) 10/29: * Hisa Takei - Saki Episode of Side A - 328 (Winner) Shana - Shakugan no Shana III (Final) - 289

With three more matches left in this year's tournament, four characters remain. The girls of Saki Achiga-hen episode of side-A takes up all four spots in Top 4.

Nodoka Haramura is the most successful veteran left in the tournament. This year marks her third year breaking into Saimoe Top 4 in three attempts. Twice in the past, she has only lost to the eventual champion — Taiga Aisaka of Toradora! in 2009 and Azusa Nakano of K-ON! in 2010. Hisa Takei is the only other veteran and she's surpassed her previous best of advancing past the second round.

Kuro Matsumi and Toki Onjōji are newcomers, who debuted in Saki Achiga-hen episode of side-A. Matsumi is voiced by veteran voice actress Kana Hanazawa. This year marks the first time any of her characters advanced to the Semi Finals round in six years. Debuting with Ryoko Kaminagi of Zegapain in 2006, her previous best are Top 16 showings with Mikan Yuuki of To Love-Ru in 2008 and Ruri "Kuroneko" Gokou of Oreimo in 2011.

Onjōji is currently the No. 1 vote-getter this year. Averaging 418.6 votes a round, she has collected a total of 2,093 over five rounds. By comparison, her closest competitor is Matsumi with 1,593 total votes — a 500 vote different. Takei comes third with 1,515 total votes and Haramura rounds out the Top 4 with 1,348.

The rest of this year's matches will be played out as follows (dates represent local Japanese time):

• 10/31: Nodoka Haramura vs. Toki Onjōji (Match A)
• 11/01: Kuro Matsumi vs. Hisa Takei (Match B)
• 11/03: Winner of Match A vs. Winner of Match B

For a look back at this year's previous results, ANN's reports can be found below:

• Introduction: (Introduction)
• First Round Voting: (Groups A, B), (Groups C, D), (Groups E, F), (Groups G, H)
• Second Round Voting: (Groups A-D), (Groups E-H)
• Third Round Voting: (Groups A-H)
• Group Finals Voting: (Groups A-H)

Almost any female character in a television anime, anime film, original video anime (OVA), or web anime released in Japan between July 1, 2011 and June 30, 2012 is eligible for the tournament. The main exceptions are characters from 18+ anime, who are not eligible.

Foreigners are technically capable of participating in the tournament; English-language instructions on how to vote have been provided by the Anime Saimoe fan site.

ANN's next report will take place some time after a champion is crowned on Saturday, November 3.