Ah, gotta love the Portal ending. I'm so expecting a Hatsune Miku cover of the song in the coming months.

Well, Saimoe is now moving to the Quarterfinals. Last round, I went 10-5-1 in the sixteen matches of the last round. Here are my late predictions (no, I didn't cheat. Seriously.)

Meh, this is a bit late, but Saimoe 2007 Quarterfinal predictions:

Block A - Shana (Shakugan no Shana) vs. Nagi (Hayate no Gotoku):
As I noted in my last round predictions, the fans wished for a Shana vs. Nagi matchup, and they got it. When we come down to the characters, they're split right down the middle in practically every catergory. Only their circumstances are their only tiebreaker. I don't think it'll be the characters that will determine this match though. I think Shana will win, only because she technically has seniority over Nagi in terms of anime screen time.

Block B - Konata (Lucky☆Star) vs. Konoka (Negima!?):
Konoka is the last Negima character still in Saimoe, and unfortunately for her, she gets to face "Legendary Girl A", Konata Izumi. I expect Konata to roll into the semis.

Block C - Nanoha (MLGN StrikerS) vs. Vita (MLGN StrikerS):
The last two characters left from Magical Lyrical Girl Nanoha StrikerS get to face each other in this matchup. I really think they may be a close match, but I believe the voters will go with former champ Nanoha in this match. Though, the Japanese have voted the other way before (last year's match between Haruhi vs. Yuki, where Yuki knocked out Haruhi.) but I don't think we'll see that here.

Block D - Yuno (Hidamari Sketch) vs. Rena (Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Kai):
Yuno has been the dark horse of this entire tournament so far, even beating out Hayate of MLGN StrikerS. However, this time, she faces Saimoe favorite Rena Ryuguu. This time, I think she's done. However, it's been said that Yuno was going to get bounced two rounds ago. With that said though, Rena has a lot behind her. Still, I think this may be a closer match then many people may think.

Block E - Shinku (Rozen Maiden: Ouverture) vs. Ayumu (Hayate no Gotoku):
If there were pundits for this tournament, they would be saying that Shinku will cruise to the next round. However, that's completely wrong. Shinku's history in Saimoe has been that she has been upset in the Quarterfinal matches by dark horses. What better dark horse we have here then Ayumu of Hayate the Combat Butler. I think Ayumu will advance over a yet another disappointing year for Shinku.

Block F- Suiseisuki (Rozen Maiden: Ouverture) vs. Tsukasa (Lucky☆Star):
This is probably going to be the best match of the round, with two heavyweights going at it. My pick will be for last year's champion though, and that would be Suiseisuki. Though, I would hope that Tsukasa advances. So yea, I'm wishing that I'm wrong on this one, but I don't think I will.

Block G- Sayuri (Kanon) vs. Rika (Higurashi no Naka Koro Ni Kai):
This should be a interesting match, with the last of the Kanon characters facing the Yukarin voiced Rika. I have Rika winning this match in a close battle. This wont get as many votes as the other matches, but it should be a fun one to watch.

Block H- Suigintou (Rozen Maiden: Ouverture) vs. Louise (Zero no Tsukaima S2):
I predicted Suigintou's last match to be a rollover, and for the most part it was. This match is no rollover though, as she faces a Kugimiya voiced Louise. If you recall from above, two Kugimiya characters face each other in Block A. I think Gin goes down this round in a upset by Louise. It'll be a tightly contested and heated battle, but I think the combination of the united Kugimiya fans along with the revenge votes from Fate two rounds ago will just be too much for Suigintou to overcome. Not to mention, Louise in my opinion had a better year then Suigintou in their respective projects.


Well, there are my predictions. I leave you with this big long image of all the matches. ^_^

This is probably the most epic song I have ever come out of Japan for a long time. This song's evolution started with just the music put together. Then, random members of the Nico Nico Douga community put their own voices to the song. It all culminated with the release of the rising popularity of Hatsune Miku. In short, this song is the project of various members of the Nico Nico Douga community that put together 14 amateur singers together with 1 computerized voice singing 33 of the most popular songs on Nico Nico (and the web, somewhat).

This list was put together in another YouTube of the song:

01. THE iDOLM@STER - EEJENTO yoru o ?
02. Suzumiya Harui no Yutsu - Hare Hare Yukai
03. IOSYS - Kanbu de tomatte sugu tokeru ?
04. COOL & CREATE - Help me, ERINNNNNN!!
05. MADLAX - Nowhere
06. Yugioh Scene
07. JAM Project - GONG
08. Super Mario RPG - VIP Teacher
09. Digimon - Butter-Fly
10. Buso Renkin - Makka na chikai
11. SERA - Airman ga taose nai
12. Prince of Tennis Live Action - Yuuki VS Iji
13. Bokurano - Aninsutooru
14. Air - Tori no shi
15. Higurashi no naku koro ni - You
16. IOSYS - Marisa wa taihen na mono o nusun de iki mashita
17. J - Omoide wa Okkusenman
18. Suzumiya Harui no Yutsu - God knows...
19. Lucky Star - Motteke ! Sailor Fuku
20. Figyu@Mate - Gachacha Gyu
21. Sousei no Aquarion - Sohiji no Aquarion
22. Suzumiya Harui no Yutsu - Futari mono ji pittan
23. Silver Forest - Suru Pettan
24. Super Mario World - Here we go !
25. Ave;new feat. - True my heart
26. Ave;new feat. - Kiss my lips
27. HALFBY - RODEOMACHINE
28. Dragon Quest - Overture March
29. Final Fantasy - Final Fantasy
30. Figyu@Mate - Gachagacha Gyu
31. Prince of Tennis Live Action - Aitsu koso ga Tennis no Ouji-sama
32. Gouketsuji Ichizoku - Let's go ! Inyou shi
33. Yamada Kosaku feat. Foo San - Sakura

EDIT - I have a link to a mp3 of the song, should you want to hear it over and over without the video.

http://www1.axfc.net/uploader/13/so/N_28716.zip.html
Password: Kumikyoku

Well, been busy for abit but I have a bit of time now to finish out this round's predictions on Saimoe 2007. First though, a quick update:

Winners in the bracket so far:
A1: Shana of Shakugan no Shana
A2: Negi Sanzenin of Hayate no Gotoku
B1: Konata Izumi of Lucky Star
B2: Konoka Konoe of Negima!?
C1: Nanoha Takamachi of Magical Lyrical Girl Nanoha StrikerS
D2: Rena Ryuguu of Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Kai

So far with the winners, no true surprises. I predicted 3 of the 4, with the B2 match really just being formality to setup whoever Konata will beat down next round. The biggest match actually has been yesterday's Rena Ryuguu vs. Kagami Hiragi of Lucky Star. Kagami actually led in total votes at the end of the day, but had far too many fake votes to actually win and lost by 200 votes. Rena's win is not surprising though, since KyoAni's track record with it's girls in Saimoe has not been that great (their best shot was last year's Yuki "Battleship" Nagato who lost to eventual champion Suiseisuki.) Well, on to the rest of the matches:

Match C2&D1: Miyako and Yuno (Hidamari Sketch) vs. Vita and Hayate (MLG Nanoha StrikerS)
You might be wondering, why am I putting these two matches together? Aside from being today's two matchups, they are are pair matches between Miyako and Vita, and Yuno and Hayate. To be quite honest though, as much as I love Yuno and Miyako, they have little to no chance against Hayate and her chibi-knight, Vita. I expect a Nanoha sweep and a good matchup of Nanoha vs. Vita next round. Hayate vs. Rena would be pretty epic too.

Match E1: Shinku (Rozen Maiden) vs. Takako Itsukushima (Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru)
Shinku will easily slaughter Takako like the Patriots is slaughtering the NFL right now. Shinku will move on to the next round.

Match E2: Tamao Suzumi (Strawberry Panic) vs. Ayumu Nishizawa (Hayate no Gotoku)
This matchup will be much like the B2 matchup in that there isn't easily a clear-cut favorite here. I would be inclined to say Tamao could win since Tamao is the only character from StoPani to get this far while the Hayate girls still have Nagi in division A. However, I actually expect Ayumu to pull through here, since the Hayate fans will push to vote her in as a possible replacement to Nagi should Nagi go down in the next round (as she will face Shana of Shakugan no Shana [see last post]).

Match F1: Aruruu (Utawarerumono) vs. Suiseisuki (Rozen Maiden)
I expect last year's champion, Suiseisuki, to steamroll on to the next round over the loli Aruruu. Aruruu has had a good run this year; actually, quite surprisingly so but she finally faces one of the big favorites to win this year's Saimoe and I really don't see how she can possibly pull the upset.

Match F2: San Seto (Seto no Hanayome) vs. Tsukasa Hiragi (Lucky Star)
With the loss of older sister, Kagami in her bout with Rena, I expect a big showdown this round. San Seto has quite a number of fans, and all the Lucky Star fans will rally around Tsukasa with the loss of Kagami. It's tough to predict a winner easily in this, but I think the sheer willpower of the Lucky Star fanbase will push Tsukasa through this round. Barely.

Match G1: Eruruu (Utawarerumono) vs. Sayuri Kurata (Kanon)
This match is very much a revenge match of last rounds 3 way battle between Eruruu, Ayu Tsukimiya (the main girl of Kanon), and Chigusa Sekai (Shakugan no Shana). In that round, Eruruu managed second biggest upset of this year in her narrow 1156-1117 victory over long-time otaku favorite Ayu Tsukimiya. Since Sayuri is also from Kanon, expect a epic battle between Eruruu lovers and Ayu lovers in this matchup. I think this match will end in a Eruruu win, probably with a lesser degree of gap then last round since I think both sets of fans really voted their girls out. Then again, this could be a case where Eruruu may win because many of the KyoAni fans are locked out at the moment (most major cable providers in the U.S. like Cox and Comcast are blocked by 2ch, who runs the contest.)

Match G2: Mion Sonozaki (Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Kai) vs. Rika Furude (Higurashi no Naku Ni Kai)
The only match this round featuring two girls from the same series, this should be quite a battle. In the series, the two girls are good friends. I expect however for Mion to barely pull the victory over her younger opponent Rika. Mion just has enough womanly charm with just enough killer loli in her to get the brutal win. Though, personally, I wouldn't mind seeing Rika win so I can see another Yukari Tamura voiced character reach next round.

Match H1: Sugintou (Rozen Maiden) vs. Alicia Flourence (ARIA the Animation)
Fresh off the biggest surprise of this year's Saimoe over last year's runner-up, Fate of MLG Nanoha StrikerS, I expect Sugintou to steamroll poor Alicia into the next round. I don't think there will be much revenge voting by the Nanoha fans this round, as I expect it to come next round when Sugintou faces off with Louise or Eri.

Match H2: Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière (Zero no Tsukaima) vs. Eri Sawachika (School Rumble)
Probably one of the best matches of this round, I would expect the tsundere Louise to barely pull the upset over Eri. I would believe, with the Battle of Kugimiya coming next round, many of the Kugimiya fans will unite to back Louise to face off against Sugintou next round. I just don't think Eri has the fanbase to face off against a Kugimiya-voiced tsundere character, and while this will be a close fight, I think there will at least be a 100 vote gap between Louise and Eri in this fight.


Well, that is my predictions for this round. I probably will be watching more Hayate no Gotoku so I can be less biased to go against the girls of that series. I expect at least 2 or 3 great fan battles in the coming days.

So, it's down to the dual matches now in SaiMoe 2007, the annual Top-anime female competition of the world. So, in general stupid and blogtisic fashion, here is my predictions and comments on the first two days of 3rd round of SaiMoe:

Match A1: Shana (Shakugan no Shana) vs. Izumi Segawa (Hayate no Gotoku)
Izumi Segawa is a minor character in Hayate no Gotoku, while Shana obviously is the flagship character of her respective series. As such, I expect Shana to get by this match.

Match A2: Tomoe Kashiwaba (Rozen Maiden) vs. Nagi Sanzenn (Hayate no Gotoku)
This is a very easy match for Nagi Sanzenn, the lead female of Hayate no Gotoku. I expect her to roll easily in this match to face Shana (and thus, setup the "Battle of Kugimiya", since both characters share the same voice actress, Rie Kugimiya.)

Match B1: Isumi Saginomiya (Hayate no Gotoku) vs. Konota Izumi (Lucky Star)
This actually may be a tough fight for Konota, since the voting day for this match is the same voting day for match A2 that features Nagi. So the Hayate fans will be out in force, but I would believe Vegas would say that Konota squeezes out the win in this match, probably by 10-15 votes.

Match: B2: Konoka Konoe (Negima!?) vs. C.C. (Code Geass)
Both characters aren't really that great in terms of favorites to win it all, but since we are forced to choose between the two, I would expect C.C. to get on through. Besides, it would be interesting to see Pizza-tan vs. Legendary Girl A.


Well, that's my analysis for now: more match analysis in the coming days.