The tournament works by first having people nominate the characters they would like to see in the tournament. The rules for nominating a character are that she has to be female, and she has to have come from an anime that has aired on Japanese television or released on DVD in the year since the previous saimoe tournament. All of the nominees then go through a preliminary round to decide on which ones are actually worth putting in the tournament. This involves first splitting them into 16 groups and having people vote for their favourite characters and entering the top 12 into the tournament. Characters that place between 13^th and 36^th are placed into 6 groups and voting begins again. The top 16 characters in the second set of groups also get to enter the main tournament.

While voting for the first set of 16 groups in the preliminaries is still under way, it’s still interesting to see the results for the groups that have finished voting.

Looking at the rankings in the first 14 groups, it seems that the girls from Puella Magi Madoka Magica are dominating the others.  Of the four main girls that have appeared so far, all of them have placed 1^st in their respective groups. I would be surprised if the title character doesn’t rank 1^st in group 16 once voting ends. Other series that seem to have a strong following are Ore no Imouto and Hanasaku Iroha, both with two characters placing first.

Former heavyweights like the K-ON girls and the girls from Index/Railgun seem to have fallen to the side, but still have a strong showing. I guess it might be time for new girls to take the spotlight. If Madoka does rank first in her group, it might foreshadow a sweep of the top spots in the tournament by puella magi. While minor characters like the girl with the teddy bear didn’t make it past the preliminaries, when you consider that another minor character, Charlotte, has made it into the tournament, it’s not that hard to believe.

First there was the Ladies of Sci-Fi Burlesque show. Now there’s cosplay – or something like that. I have to admit that while I am not totally averse to cosplay, I will not be the first one to queue for tickets for cosplay events.

The guys at Devil’s Playground have done it again, though. Instead of sci-fi,  it’s all about Anime Babes this time. Our very own Nopy is the anime expert, so if you need more information on anime, check out his posts. In the meantime, here is some eye candy.

This is Trixie from Speed Racer.

Meet Lust from Fullmetal Alchemist. I have to be honest that I didn’t know this character but the costume is definitely eye-catching. Oh, and according to what I have read, Lust is a homunculus with the Ultimate Spear. Gotta love that noun! (Homunculus, not the spear.)

This is Ichigo Momomiya from Tokyo Mew Mew.

The next two photos are undoubtedly recognizable. Who does not know about Pikachu? This Pickachu may not be the likes that you would have your little brother play with, though.

It must be my age, but I do remember a time when Sailor Moon was THE cool thing. This Sailor Moon definitely got a lot of attention that night.

I told you it’s not just cosplay. It’s burlesque too, although I am pretty certain Dita von Teese fans will have something to say about this!

I leave you with a not unexpected question: Which anime character would you feature if you had your own Anime Babes (or Anime Dudes for that matter) show?

For more of these photos, check out Shannon Cottrell’s gallery. Some may not be totally safe for work – depending on where you work! ;)

Every year the people over at 2ch, a Japanese discussion board, hold a contest called the Anime Saimoe Tournament. The purpose of this tournament is to choose the most moe (pronounced mo-eh) female anime character of the past year. What is “moe” you ask? The term is commonly used in describing cute young girls, sort of like a replacement for “kawaii”, but it could be used to refer to any character that anyone has an interest in. So simply put, Saimoe is a contest to find the most popular anime girl in Japan.

Saimoe works by first allowing people to nominate characters, and a few hundred are chosen to participate in the tournament based on the number of votes they obtain in preliminary rounds. The characters that make it to the tournament are placed in groups of three or four, and one is chosen to advance to the next round, again based on votes. This year’s tournament began at the end of July and they’re finally getting to the semi-finals this week. Currently, Nagi Sanzenin of Hayate the Combat Butler, Koromo Amae of Saki, and Nodoka Haramura of Saki have made it to the semi-finals with Aoi Yamada of Working and Azusa Nakano of K-ON battling it out for the last spot.

Some people may think that having two characters from an average show like Saki appear in the semi-finals is weird, but you have to take into consideration the people who are allowed to vote in Saimoe. Originally, the tournament was open to anyone on the internet to vote for their favourite characters, but in recent years there has been an effort to restrict votes coming from outside of Japan skewing the results. As much as anime fans and otaku in the west might not like to think so, the anime they like isn’t necessarily the same as the anime that the Japanese like.

The differences between western and Japanese preferences can be seen by comparing the Anime Saimoe Tournament results with that of the International Saimoe League, an English language knock-off. Of the top 8 characters of 2010, only two of them (Shana from Shakugan no Shana, and Azusa Nakano from K-ON) are found in both contests.

While Mio Akiyama from K-ON won the ISL, she was knocked out of the AST. Of the remaining contestants, I’d like to see Koromo take the top spot, but it could be anyone’s game. The semi-final rounds will take place on October 13 and 14, with the final round of the tournament taking place on the 16^th. The winner will join the ranks of characters such as Taiga Aisaka, Kagami Hiiragi, and Rika Furude as the most moe anime girl in Japan.

Image via saimoe.wordpress.com

Girls

Anime with lots of pretty girls, or one super-pretty girl, have been around for ages and there’s always at least a few in every season. With five titles (Amagami SS, Asobi ni Iku Yo, Ookami-san to Shichi-nin no Nakama-tachi, Seitokai Yakuindomo, and Shukufuku no Campanella) this summer is no exception. While this type of anime is usually described as romantic comedies or just romance, many people refer to them as bishoujo (literally, pretty girl) anime mainly because that is their selling point, along with lots of fanservice. If you’re not interested in fanservice, Amagami SS might be the way to go as it leans more heavily on romance. On the other hand, if fanservice is what you’re looking for, Shukufuku no Campanella and Asobi ni Iku Yo look like good titles to pick up. The other two titles look like a good balance of fanservice, comedy, and romance.

Battles

There seems to be a lack of new action anime lately, but thankfully there are two titles this summer with some potential. The first is Nurarihyon no Mago, a coming-of-age anime about a part-human, part-demon boy who must one day take over as head of a demon clan. The other title is The Legend of The Legendary Heroes. I know the name sounds dumb, but I think it has a lot of potential. The anime is about a young magician who must go on a journey to find some legendary items.

Supernatural

Like most things, anime goes through different phases, and recently it looks like more dark, supernatural-themed anime are starting to pop up. Looking at the summer 2009 season, the only anime of this type was Umineko no Naku Koro Ni. This summer, there are three new titles: High School of The Dead, Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin, and Shiki. Everyone loves zombies, and if you like seeing zombies get killed by the masses, then High School of The Dead is the perfect anime for you. Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin has less killing and more mystery, while Shiki is a horror mystery you don’t want to watch if you get scared easily.

What’s Missing?

A noticeable difference between this season and other seasons is the lack of all-girl no-plot anime, and the lack of giant robots. A few years ago, anime fans were all raving over anime like Lucky Star and K-ON, and they spawned dozens of lesser-known anime that tried to draw in audiences by depicting the lives of 4 or 5 regular schoolgirls. It looks like that craze is finally over now that there’s a whole season without any all-girl no-plot anime. As for the lack of giant robots, I actually find that surprising since they’ve been popular forever. I wouldn’t worry about it though, as I’m sure Bandai will come out with something soon.

Those of you who have been following this year’s International Saimoe League (ISML) will know that we are now entering the final week of the regular season. If you aren’t familiar with the ISML, it’s an annual competition where people from around the world can vote on which anime girl they think it the most “moe” (pronounced mo-e). The word “moe” is defined on Anime News Network as follows:

Moe is a Japanese term used in connection with manga or anime to describe something precious, usually (but not always) the ideal of youthful and innocent femininity. Written with the kanji for “to bud or sprout” (萌), the concept covers a range of ideal behaviour for youthful female characters in manga or anime. To be moe, a character can be eager or perky, not overly independent, and call forth a desire in the viewer to protect them and nurture them. The term is also used to describe any preciously cute item; there is an animal mascot character store in Tokyo called Moe.

Each year the ISML has 64 contestants battle it out in a number of voting rounds. Each contestant will have the chance to go up against the other 63, and the top 16 go on to the post season where the Saimoe champion is determined. A number of contestants have already been eliminated, but there is still a chance for some characters to make it into the top 16. Currently, Saber from Fate Stay Night sits at 16th place with 126 pts, but Holo from Spice and Wolf at 17th place also has 126 pts, not to mention Furude Rika (Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni), Izumi Konata (Lucky Star), Furukawa Nagisa (Clannad), and Ichinose Kotomi (Clannad) who are all possibly 1 win away from making it into the post season.

Personally, I’m rooting for Kotomi, but there’s going to be stiff competition from the like of Shana (1 loss), Sakagami Tomoyo (3 losses), and Suzumiya Haruhi (3 losses) if she makes it into the post season. There’s still time to vote for your favourite moe anime girl on Aug. 24, 26, and 28 before the regular season ends so head on over to the ISML website now.