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Most Improved Character Tournament: Post-Mortem


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getchman
Space Cowboy



Joined: 07 Apr 2012
Posts: 9120
Location: Bedford, NH
PostPosted: Mon May 20, 2013 10:32 pm Reply with quote
Group A/B Semifinal
Fakir, Princess Tutu
vs.
Scar, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

seeing some very compelling arguments for Fakir, but im going what what I have seen, so my vote goes to Scar. I like his transformation from angry, vengeful murderer to helping save the nation he despises and becoming a holy man for his people.

Group C/D Semifinal
Youko Nakajima, The Twelve Kingdoms
vs.
Simon, Gurren Lagann[/quote]

still watching 12 Kingdoms, but I'm far enough to see that Youko has gone thought far better improvement than Simon and its clear her improvement goes further than what I have currently seen. So my vote goes to Youko
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Keichitsu0305





PostPosted: Mon May 20, 2013 10:38 pm Reply with quote
Group A/B Semifinal
Fakir, Princess Tutu
This is rather lazy for me but I'm referring to classicalzawa's post on May 14, 2013 at 12:14 am. Fakir had the most difficult time to change both his outlook on life as well as his personality. Scar's development was no where near as dynamic compared to Fakir.

Group C/D Semifinal
Youko Nakajima, The Twelve Kingdoms
In the end, I have to vote for Youko mainly because she was, also, quite unlikable in the beginning and went through many ordeals. Simon also went through a few emotional trials but, for the final, Youko stands a better chance against Fakir.
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Key
Moderator


Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18187
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Mon May 20, 2013 11:38 pm Reply with quote
Round 6: Semifinals is now closed.

With 18 votes in, the results:

Group A/B Semifinal: Fakir has plastic surgery to remove a Scar, 11-7.
Group C/D Semifinal: Youko overwhelms Simon, 16-2.

The first one ended up being a lot closer than I would have expected, as Scar had a real chance until very late. Fakir finished with a 5-1 surge to establish the victory margin, however. Youko, comparatively, was never threatened, but she also arguably had a weaker opponent.

And so we're down to only two left: the two who were the top vote-getters in the Nominations phase and have always, in my mind, been the legitimate favorites. While this pair-up, to me, was predictable, it's still been a fun ride seeing how all of the individual matches played out.

One more week. Final pairing up soon.
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Key
Moderator


Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18187
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Mon May 20, 2013 11:48 pm Reply with quote
Round 7: Tournament Final is now open!

One last battle to decide it all! Is Youko fated to win, or will Fakir have enough pull to be a worthy foe? Let’s find out!

Final

Fakir, Princess Tutu

vs.


Youko Nakajima, The Twelve Kingdoms
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zawa113



Joined: 19 Jan 2008
Posts: 7357
PostPosted: Tue May 21, 2013 1:55 am Reply with quote
Final: Fakir-Thought about this last week, wrote most of this last week (on the power ranking assumption, I was right, yay!). Youko changes from shy to powerful queen, certainly awesome, but Fakir starts off as a complete jerk with a power complex. To me, that seems a lot harder to change from, he was pretty damn set in his way and it had clearly been going on for years. As a direct result of how he was at the start of the series, he was easily everyone's least favorite character. By the end, he was no longer a dominating jerk and he genuinely cared about other people, not his previous "I think this is how people care for people" bs. I think a philosophy change is a lot more severe a change and difficult change than the mostly personality change that Youko goes through, so it's gotta be Fakir for me. A lot of characters in this tourney went from shy to outgoing, or dealt with new circumstances in life, but few went through changes that affected the very way they had thought for years, and none so extraordinary as Fakir. I just don't think Youko had to change her entire philosophy as much, she had a vague idea of how she wanted to govern and the third arc was her seeing how it could best be done while becoming more badass, she didn't really go from a bad ruler to a good one as hard as Fakir went from a bad person to a good person, I just think his improvement stood out as more difficult to attain and thus more impressive
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Vaisaga



Joined: 07 Oct 2011
Posts: 13227
PostPosted: Tue May 21, 2013 5:35 am Reply with quote
Admittedly this outcome is kind of boring. An upset would have been far more interesting but the way it is the previous rounds do feel kind of pointless since so many people were determined to get these two this far.

As I've said before I based my mini-game on general popularity, expecting more people to vote in this. Honestly on the numerous anime sites I frequent, ANN is the only one I've seen even mention Princess Tutu and 12 Kingdoms, let alone hold them so highly. Both series barely have any hentai too and that's a sure sign of low popularity (this statement is half serious). I did have them advance fairly far because I knew this community liked them but eventually had them beaten out by Piccolo and Saber since their franchises are far more popular.

I actually had Scar winning it all because of how [rightfully] huge FMA is. He certainly deserved to, but I can be content that he made it this far and didn't lose by a total blow out.

Final

Fakir - Youko sounds like she was a pleasent enough person to be around at first. At least not to the point where I wonder why no one hadn't beaten the crap out of her. Can't say the same about Fakir. I guess beastiality really worked out for him in the end Wink
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marie-antoinette



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 4136
Location: Ottawa, Canada
PostPosted: Tue May 21, 2013 6:23 am Reply with quote
Princess Tutu at least is definitely more fondly thought of at ANN than most other places out there. It's because of Duck winning Best Hero that I checked the show out myself.

And while it is the predicted final match-up, I honestly don't know who is going to win. Though Fakir is off to a good start.

And on that note ...

Final
Both characters I think change as much as was possible, given the scope of their shows. But only one of them really gets me involved in their story and so the vote goes to Fakir

I have finally been watching that third arc of The Twelve Kingdoms and I have been enjoying it, particularly Shoukei's story. However, it has reminded me of one important thing: Youko's journey is amazing but I don't have any emotional attachment to her. Which is probably the biggest reason that I have owned the second half of the series for several years but never got around to actually watching it.

Fakir on the other hand is a character who I did really dislike at the beginning but completely love by the end. And all this is done without me feeling emotionally manipulated because every action has a reason to it. So yes, after lots and lots of thought, it's all coming up Fakir for me.
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Ggultra2764
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Joined: 21 Jan 2004
Posts: 3876
Location: New York state.
PostPosted: Tue May 21, 2013 10:30 am Reply with quote
Hmmm, do I really have to play underdog vote here?

Final Round Vote

Well to be fair, I've seen both shows so I have familiarity with the trials and tribulations that Fakir and Youko underwent in both their shows, and do think both deserve to have made it as far as they have (though I had Fakir set to lose earlier on in my mini-game to Eva Heinemann who I picked to win the Group A bracket).

With Fakir, he was a complete jerk for much of Princess Tutu's first half thanks to his obsessive and over-protective interest in Mytho's well-being. He's a changed man in the show's second half thanks to Duck and serves as a major ally to her in the second half when Drosselmeyer continues his manipulations and spoiler[the Raven] starts to become a threat. I did forget about Fakir's second stage of development in the series (which was likely my biggest mini-game screwup and because it's been years since I last seen Tutu) when he got over his feelings of inferiority as a knight and regained his confidence to be a hero in using the abilities he had from being a descendant of Drosselmeyer. But still, I didn't really see him as an unlikeable character at first glance since it was only his thinking regarding Mytho's well-being that was significantly flawed when I first seen Tutu.

On the other end of the spectrum, I found Youko to be quite the unlikeable character in her earlier appearances thanks to her weak-willed personality and desire to conform to everyone's expectations at the cost of her own needs and any meaningful relationships she could develop with others. Her "good girl" attitude had me drop Twelve Kingdoms for well over a year when I first seen it because I couldn't stand how her character was portrayed for the show's earlier episodes. Thankfully, I chose to resume the series and seen that Youko realized rather quickly that the facade wasn't gonna get her anywhere at adapting to life in the new world she was warped to and that she had to set out to know more about it and why she was sent there. This completely changed her personality and beliefs for the better as it led her to know of her origins and rise up to become Kei's new ruler.

This also led to her second stage of development in Twelve Kingdoms' third arc that she had to learn more about her kingdom and the needs of her people. Her limited understanding of the politics of Kei led her to be manipulated by some of her advisers to make some bad decisions early on that led to a corrupt official gaining the authority for a position he sought to exploit for his personal gain. Realizing her lack of understanding on her kingdom's affairs, Youko made the decision to travel the land to better know of the issues effecting Kei and came to realize the suffering of the common folk and the corruption committed by some of her officials. This led her to better understand the affairs of her kingdom, stage an uprising against the mentioned official and make her mentioned decree that was implied to significantly change the status of Kei for the better.

Overall, I still believe Youko to be worthy of being the winner of this tournament considering she completely epitomizes what it means to improve as a character in anime, her status as Kei's queen has her take on the responsibility of ensuring the well-being of a complete country that she had to learn more about (making her improvements and the scale of her adventure more epic) and her transformation from a completely weak and irritating character to a strong-willed, intelligent leader made for one of the most satisfying experiences I seen from my 11 years of being an anime fan.


Last edited by Ggultra2764 on Wed May 22, 2013 12:55 am; edited 1 time in total
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Dorcas_Aurelia



Joined: 23 Jul 2006
Posts: 5344
Location: Philly
PostPosted: Tue May 21, 2013 6:59 pm Reply with quote
Vaisaga wrote:
Admittedly this outcome is kind of boring. An upset would have been far more interesting but the way it is the previous rounds do feel kind of pointless since so many people were determined to get these two this far.

I will reiterate the statements from last week that this is the first time we've ever had the final round end up as the #1 vs #2 seed.

Quote:
As I've said before I based my mini-game on general popularity, expecting more people to vote in this. Honestly on the numerous anime sites I frequent, ANN is the only one I've seen even mention Princess Tutu and 12 Kingdoms, let alone hold them so highly. Both series barely have any hentai too and that's a sure sign of low popularity (this statement is half serious). I did have them advance fairly far because I knew this community liked them but eventually had them beaten out by Piccolo and Saber since their franchises are far more popular.

And now you know better for the next one. That's a big part of why I enjoy these tournaments: the characters are judged on merit, rather than simple popularity. Granted, with the smaller voting pool, it's easier for a bias in favor of certain favorite shows to form, but I've seen overestimation of that bias ruin people's minigames as well.

Anyway, minigame results.

Given that are two finalists are the top two seeds of this tournament, it's not much of a surprise that this was, on average, the best scoring semifinal round we've ever had. Out of 22 participants, 10 people picked Fakir to win his half of the bracket, and 15 went with Youko. The only other characters who had received more than one vote at this stage were Shoukei and Vegeta, both with 2 picks.

Also, regardless of how this final round turns out, this will be the second highest scoring champion in minigame history.
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Maidenoftheredhand



Joined: 21 Jun 2007
Posts: 2633
PostPosted: Tue May 21, 2013 7:29 pm Reply with quote
Princess Tutu and Juuni Kokki are definitely popular outside ANN. Princess Tutu especially had a very active Live Journal community for a long time and it's still pretty active on Tumblr.

Both of the above series might be more popular with female fans but that's not to say they aren't popular.

After not voting every round I do want to vote in this round but I am having a tough time choosing between Fakir and Youko. Both are two of my absolute favorite characters and I think they both go through amazing character growth. I will have to really think hard on it.
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One-Eye



Joined: 08 Mar 2011
Posts: 2261
PostPosted: Tue May 21, 2013 8:21 pm Reply with quote
I just got home a little while ago, I'm a little tired so I think I will wait until tomorrow evening to vote.

Vaisaga wrote:
Admittedly this outcome is kind of boring. An upset would have been far more interesting but the way it is the previous rounds do feel kind of pointless since so many people were determined to get these two this far.
The tournaments aren't that predictable as others have pointed out highly seeded characters don't always end up in the final. There was also plenty of passionate arguments put forth for various characters throughout the tournament, which I found exciting. I'm sure for most of us there were also disappointments with characters we felt should have advanced further and some we felt should not have advanced at all. Its all a normal part of these tournaments. Also a blowout at the end is kind of boring too, at least with these two there should be (hopefully) some energetic debate. Hey, Scar didn't do so bad 11-7 is not a blow out.
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marie-antoinette



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 4136
Location: Ottawa, Canada
PostPosted: Tue May 21, 2013 8:48 pm Reply with quote
So, if I'm reading the Best/Worst chart in the mini-game scoring right, it looks like the top three places are actually decided upon now? Guess that means we all picked the same winner.
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Vaisaga



Joined: 07 Oct 2011
Posts: 13227
PostPosted: Tue May 21, 2013 9:22 pm Reply with quote
Dorcas_Aurelia wrote:
Granted, with the smaller voting pool, it's easier for a bias in favor of certain favorite shows to form


The unfortunate side effect of this is that those without those biases can feel alienated when it comes down to two characters they have absolutely no connection with. It can feel like, after everything, their voices were pointless.

Well that just comes with the territory.

One-Eye wrote:
There was also plenty of passionate arguments put forth for various characters throughout the tournament, which I found exciting.


True, but in hindsight I do feel pretty foolish for going on at length only for it to have no impact on anything at all.

And yeah, you don't need to say it. "Get over it." Don't worry, I'll deal, but it's still healthier to get it off my chest first.
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Olliff



Joined: 28 Feb 2008
Posts: 550
PostPosted: Tue May 21, 2013 9:45 pm Reply with quote
marie-antoinette wrote:
So, if I'm reading the Best/Worst chart in the mini-game scoring right, it looks like the top three places are actually decided upon now? Guess that means we all picked the same winner.


Very strange. The minigame spreadsheet from last week suggested that OneEye picked a different winner than myself or marie-antoinette. Was this a mistake that was corrected this week? The score analysis should not have changed from last week for the top 3 since all of us correctly picked both finalists.

Here's the spreadsheet from a week ago as a reference: 5-15 Minigame results.

Can someone else who saved off this spreadsheet or Dorcas_Aurelia confirm this?
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Aylinn



Joined: 18 Nov 2006
Posts: 1684
PostPosted: Wed May 22, 2013 3:49 am Reply with quote
Vaisaga wrote:
One-Eye wrote:
There was also plenty of passionate arguments put forth for various characters throughout the tournament, which I found exciting.


True, but in hindsight I do feel pretty foolish for going on at length only for it to have no impact on anything at all.

These passionate arguments may convince people to watch the show, for which you argue and feel strongly, or make them change their mind. It happened in the previous tournaments and that’s why Princess Tutu is so popular here. If you read the posts from Most Evil or even Best Hero, you will see that Princess Tutu wasn’t so popular among ANN users back then, but people watched it, because they got interested by the arguments made in its favour.



As for the finals, this is the outcome I have anticipated, so I am not disappointed, but I wish Eva Heinemann hadn’t lost out to Sawako. I thought that she would do better and make things interesting. Well, even if she hadn’t won, it would have been nice if she had at least been defeated by a worthy opponent.
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