It’s finally over, and in the end, Taiga stands alone as the undisputed queen of moe. A feat that has been dubbed impossible since last achieved by Suiseiseki, Aisaka Taiga stands supreme and holds both Korea and Japan’s title of moe. It was close all match, with Hirasawa Yui getting off to a fast start but Taiga catching up and wearing her down as the match progressed. After 7 wins, it is all over now. The predictions, speculation, trolling, and crazed fanboy fanaticism are all at an end, for a champion has been declared. frustra will write about the main story (eventually) and you can read it here. For now, though, here are my 10 ten moments from Saimoe 2009.
10. Lucky Star Collapses
The status of Lucky Star in this year’s Saimoe can be summed up with defending champion Hiiragi Kagami’s first round exit to, of all people, Asahina Mikuru. Other characters fared little better, with Takara Miyuki going down in the second round after barely being able to finish off her weak starting group. Iwasaki Minami lost to cannon fodder and Patricia Martin accumulated only 92 votes in their first round matches. No Lucky Star character managed to get past the second round, and with no new anime material in sight, one may believe that this is it for the once dominant series.
9. Maria Finally Wins a Match
Absolute terrible luck has kept Hayate no Gotoku’s starlet Maria with an 0-2 career Saimoe record. In 2007 she lost for Hiiragi Kagami 1161-1356 in the first round, vote totals worthy of being a Saimoe finals. Bad luck struck again when she was paired with Ryuuguu Rena in 2008 and lost again. This year in her opening group was Ryuumonbuchi Touka, again an opponent from a powerful faction with the ability to go deep in the bracket. However, Maria overcame her curse and moved on to the second round for the first time in her career.
8. Hirasawa Yui def. Katsura Hinagiku 953-935
Katsura Hinagiku was on a mission in 2009. With the airing of an acclaimed sequel for Hayate no Gotoku, characters from the show received a much needed power boost for the tournament. After absolutely slaying all competition in the first two rounds, she matched up to Hirasawa Yui. Yui’s 951-935 win over Hina marked the first important win for the fledgling K-ON! series and the close, exciting match showed the world that Group E is serious business.
7. Two Ties in Group G
In an absolutely bizarre turn of events, two of the four round 2 matches in Group G ended in a tie. Haruhi Suzumiya and Eruru tied their match and two days later, Okazaki Ushio and Tainaka Ritsu finished all square. The tie allowed Eruru to navigate the vote split and move into the top 16 at the expense of Haruhi and Yuki, while Mihoko licked her chops and dispatched Ushio and Ritsu in a 3-way match made considerably easier for her. This kind of statistical oddity never happened before and may never happen again.
6. Haramura Nodoka
Haramura Nodoka stunned the world when she beat Sanzenin Nagi 890-874 to win Group H. The epic upset denied Nagi (the author’s favorite character to win) a chance to beat Saki and Nodoka back to back. Nodoka somehow managed to make it all the way to the top 4, after beating Louise.
5. Akiyama Mio’s First Round Exit
When the brackets were released, everyone expected K-ON!’s Akiyama Mio to eat Group B for breakfast. Yours truly even bet his Saimoe writing career on it. Mio’s loss to Minami Kana sent the entire K-ON! series into a tailspin, as Kotobuki Tsumugi and Hirasawa Ui proceeded to lose their first round matches as well. Nakano Azusa barely got by Index and Tainaka Ritsu had trouble with Kijima Saki. It was an upset no one could see coming, accumulated by backlash from Mio-fagging. Apparently, the people who bought 24 Mio figurines could not vote for her 24 times.
4. Group F
The Group F2 finals was a fiery match between Nakano Azusa and Furukawa Nagisa. Nagisa represented the best hope for Clannad this year and her valiant fight was not enought to get by Azunyan. In Group F1, however, Taiga and Ami were in a pinch. They both faced Asahina Mikuru in a round 2 three way match. The setting was nearly perfect for a devastating votesplit giving Mikuru the win. It didn’t happen. Ami and Taiga each amassed more than twice the number of votes as Mikuru as the Toradora girls devastated Mikuru 1413-297. Taiga came out on top by more than 100 votes and would keep running until the show was over.
3. Saki’s Top 16 Record
Saki smashed the record previously set by Rozen Maiden in 2005 and later tied by Clannad in 2008 of 4 girls in the top 16. Saki sent an incredible six girls into the sweet sixteen as the mahjong crew dominated their groups. The powerful faction advanced four girls into the quarterfinals and eventually two more into the semifinals.
2. K-ON!’s Recovery
After Mio’s collapse, K-ON! slowly but steadily got back on its feet. Azusa managed to get into the top 16, but it was the lead characters, the ever-lovable Hirasawa Yui that drove deep into the bracket. Taking down Hinagiku and Minori, she dispatched Amae Koromo and Fukuji Mihoko, two Saki characters in a row (the only girl to ever do so), to reach the finals. After the first round, many thought K-ON! would be the biggest collapse in Saimoe history. In the end, thanks to Yui’s gritty and gutsy run, the series made a great showing the the contest. K-ON! is back next year, so who knows what will happen then.
1. Aisaka Taiga Makes Saimoe History
To claim her title, Taiga had to overcome a vote split from her own series, then beat Maria, then beat Azusa from a resurrected K-ON! faction, then Isumi from the powerful Hayate no Gotoku, then the completely unpredictable Haramura Nodoka. Finally, on October 17th she defeated K-ON! ace Hirasawa Yui to claim her second major saimoe title of the year.
For those who can't read: Red line is Taiga, blue line is Yui
Kugimiya Rie finally wins her first Saimoe title, as does J.C. Staff. Taiga is the first girl to hold both Korea Best Moe and Saimoe Japan since 2006, when Korea Best Moe was first founded. Suiseiseki’s “Saimoe Slam” might be more feasible as KBM was not considered a huge deal in its inaugural year. Now, Korea Best Moe is undoubtedly a major saimoe title, and for Taiga to carry such prestige into Japan and still win is unprecedented.
That concludes Desu Ex Machina’s coverage of the 2009 Anime Saimoe Tournament. Thanks everybody for reading! I’ll see you all next year.
(fanart courtesy fictional sister and nanakiro)
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