It's over! Touhou Seimoe 2011!

[Tamashii Kanjou]

Out of the 2 matches I didn't want to see, one had to happen; if anything, I'm glad it wasn't my main picks.

So yeah, my predictions are all written down... Sorry Nitori; you had to draw against one of them, didn't you. =(

[hourai]

Youmu vs. Yuyuko should be interesting, but I am reluctant on who to vote for in the next match. The Great Unmoving Library or The Youkai Warhead..

[Cadmas]

I'll have to go with Nitori.

Shy yet curious Turtle girl with a ton of silly gadgets is better than an anemic shut-in librarian mage that wears PJs and has a verbal tick.   

[Tsalop]

Even though Patchy is silent moe - personally I like Nitori better...
Shyness gives her extra points.

[BT]

the kappa

[Matt]

Wow i just noticed Youmu vs Yuyuko wow

Yuyuko all the way  :V

[capt. h]

Go SDM voting block!

Maybe we can make the final round Patchouli versus Flandre. :toot:

EDIT: At the time of writing, match 57 has exactly 57 votes for Nitori and 57 votes for Patchouli.

[Reddyne]

Maybe we can make the final round Patchouli versus Flandre. :toot:

NO.

I'm only voting for characters with great, big, giant

Spoiler:

personalities

and those two could never hope to deliver compared to the remaining field or even the majority of the characters in the last round.

[Tsalop]

I am shocked that the embodiment of the true moe lost to that anemic librarian...
Well, I can only hope that Alice will beat Flan.

[Paper Conan]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned that moe pretty much means cute, adorable, kawaii, etc.
...Unless it doesn't and I've been voting for the wrong girl for the past matches. :V

[Pesco]

It actually means whatever you want it to mean.

[Zil]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned that moe pretty much means cute, adorable, kawaii, etc.

I think it's much more than that, which is why Patchy to me is the most moe character of them all. If I just with went the cutest, it would Kisume.

It actually means whatever you want it to mean.

Or pretty much this.

Anyway, I'm glad Patchy won, even if Nitori had to go down.

[capt. h]

I am shocked that the embodiment of the true moe lost to that anemic librarian...
Well, I can only hope that Alice will beat Flan.

Why?

I don't get it. What's moe about Alice? Her fanon personality is hated, and her canon personality is deadpan-snarker with self-esteem issues. Which is why I'm having trouble understanding what she's doing beating Flandre 26 to 9 in a moe contest.

[Kilgamayan]

Her fanon personality is reviled by some, but if it didn't appeal to so many others it never would have become her fanon personality.

She's also probably getting Nue votes too.

[Tsalop]

Why?

I don't get it. What's moe about Alice? Her fanon personality is hated, and her canon personality is deadpan-snarker with self-esteem issues. Which is why I'm having trouble understanding what she's doing beating Flandre 26 to 9 in a moe contest.

Selecting between psychotic freak in a basement or a stalker with a bad self-esteem... Which one you think is closer to moe?

Seriously thinking:
If we would think canonically... Neither Alice nor Flandre can be considered "moe", but fanon-wise... Well, this depends on contex: E.g Flandre paired with motherly Meiling can be considered moe, as well as  tsundere Alice trying to make friends.

Of course there are stories depicting Alice as self-centered bastard and  stories depicting Flandre as homicidal maniac... But as we are talking about fanon here, it is up to you to decide which depiction you want to use, so saying that Alice's fanon personality is hated is bit strange (how can you hate someone who tries hard to make friends?)...

So why did I vote for Alice then:
Well,  I made my decision based on canon appearance...  Even though Flandre is a really tragic character that just needs a hug, I think Alice has more personality and depth. Especially considering how much Alice has developed from PC-98 era appearance... If we would think current Alice as a result of the events that happened in Makai, Alice is more interesting character as Flandre in my opinion...

[BT]

Why?

"This is definitely not a popularity contest."

That's the assumption you're making.

[Gpop]

Yet Reimu, Sakuya, and Marisa have been voted out of the polls

This entire contest is confusing.

[Zil]

I think it's done pretty well as a moe contest, and I don't think Patchy beat Nitori through sheer popularity. People ought to realize that even if she doesn't appeal to you, she is the kind of character who strikes many people, myself included, as being incomparably moe. And even when it does come down to popularity, I think many of the characters who are popular became so because of their moe-ness. Touhou has a cast of almost entirely loli girls. It would make sense that the most popular characters from a group that possesses moe as it's defining characteristic would be the most moe characters in the group. Granted, some are popular just from being bad-ass, but Okuu was the only one of those who really did well. Even Remilia was just lucky to keep facing easy opponents and got steamrolled by Nitori when the time came. And then there's the early eliminations of Reimu and her coevals, so all in all I'd say this has actually been a fairly moe-oriented contest. (From my perspective at least.)

[Kilgamayan]

Flounder and Sakuya split the SDM vote, but Flounder has memetics that Sakuya does not. She also had a body type advantage when it came to a contest where many consider "cute" as a major aspect of "moe". Unfortunately for Flounder, Alice also has a strong memetic background and at least the potential to match body types, as much as giving Alice a womanly figure is also fairly common. (Lolice may help this, even though she was her own character; I'm not sure how much of a factor MS is, but it's there, so it's possible.)

Alice also doesn't have Nue fans out for her blood, and is likely more popular amongst those that prioritize official material because she's been far more prevalent in them.

All Flounder has in this match that Alice doesn't have is younger sister moe, as EoSD backing is arguably canceled out by PCB backing.

Fake edit: I don't consider Patchouli moe at all, she's way too stoic.

Real edit: Though I suppose that doesn't really address the point you were making. I guess I just don't understand how something like stoic moe is possible at all. It feels too much to me like a plain lack of personality.

[iK]

I feel the same way about patchy, Kilga. The only thing I like about her is the hikokomori aspect, but I feel that characters like Kaguya and to a lesser extent, Alice beat her on that. Even just looking at characters who are shut off from the rest of the world, you have at the least off the top of my head Medicine and Flandre, who have more personality than "Don't bother me I'm reading."

I would say Patchouli's colour scheme is nice since lavender is one of my favourite colours, but when a characters entire design is one colour, it's more depressing than anything.

I really can't see Pajamouli making it past the next round and into finals since her competition is going to be extremely stiff with Alice, Kogasa, Yuyu, and Youmu looking at her with sparkly, tear filled, large irised eyes.

Also, I personally like the current results of this match, but ouch Flan. I think I have Flan in my top 20s from the character sort and not Alice, but it's mostly because of the badass aspect than anything. I do think Alice's canon personality is more appealing than Flandre's so I would personally pick Alice if I could (Still in a motel). Still though, tough match for either character, were it not for Nue's fans planting their seeds of... revenge?

[8lue Wizard]

The early matches did an astounding job convincing me that I had absolutely no idea what most people mean when they say "moe." Case in point: Youmu. What's moe about Youmu? This is a serious question. I'm not seeing it. Her visual design is... rather bland. That haircut certainly isn't doing anything for her, (even though I'm a fan of silver hair, almost as much as I'm a fan of green hair). Personality-wise, just about any points I could give her are mooched off of Yuyuko. I'm seriously not even seeing why she's considered one of two favorites here.

For reference, I also dislike Kogasa, but at least I can see why she appeals to people. (I hate that shade of purple, and heterochromia in general annoys me - but these are personal preferences, and without those particular aspects, she'd probably be much higher on my list, too.)

I was rooting for Meiling to win it all, but... oh well. Out of the remaining contenders, I'd most like to see Nitorin Mystia win.

[Kilgamayan]

The early matches did an astounding job convincing me that I had absolutely no idea what most people mean when they say "moe." Case in point: Youmu. What's moe about Youmu? This is a serious question. I'm not seeing it. Her visual design is... rather bland. That haircut certainly isn't doing anything for her, (even though I'm a fan of silver hair, almost as much as I'm a fan of green hair). Personality-wise, just about any points I could give her are mooched off of Yuyuko. I'm seriously not even seeing why she's considered one of two favorites here.

Oriental Sacred Place Chapter 4. (Be sure to read Chapter 3 to set it up even though she only appears in that one at the very end.)

Also swords.

[8lue Wizard]

Also swords.

Yeah, see this doesn't make any sense to me whatsoever, given that Sakuya's knives were presented as one of the main reasons not to vote for her earlier in this very same thread.

...although the whole "'Roukanken can cut anything!' ...except just about everything," bit is rather amusing, and something I'd forgotten about until now.

Also, looking up OSP 3+4 now.

EDIT: Okay, that was amusing, and a little weird, but not moe in the slightest.

[Kilgamayan]

Then I can only imagine you read the wrong things, because a ghost that's afraid of ghosts running around in terror is one of the most moe things I've ever seen. And I do not use that term lightly in reference to my personal preferences. :V

[8lue Wizard]

Well, the fact that Marisa is very up-front about the fact that they're not ghosts, or anything of the sort, but rather people in costumes makes the entire episode rediculous to the extreme. But I still can't see what's considered moe about it. Hence the disconnect.

I... guess the fact that she's still scared, despite Marisa's frankness produces a ditziness aspect? I suppose there would also be potential for the "protective" moe, too, but those both seem like stretches to me, as they're completely dwarfed by the absurdity factor.

[Starxsword]

Well, it kind of depends on what you think moe is. Do you see a half ghost, who has a straightforward personality, is put into situations
that seem awkward moe? Do you see the contrast between what she knows and what the situation is at hand moe?
During Cage in Lunatic Runagate, she was trying to be a stealth detective, but does a horrible job at it.
None of these may be moe, since moe seems highly subjective to me.

[Sophilia]

Moe is not highly subjective, it is entirely subjective.  In fact, my definition is "the irrational possessive urge experienced by a person towards a character."  It is a property of the beholder, not the character, although character-based things can trigger it, and I do tend to go into detail on those.

Re: Youmu in OSP - I feel she is not scared because they are frightening, she is scared because they are supposed to be frightening.  She has no problem with actual ghosts, as we see a number of times, including an earlier Fairies episode.  It's just the thought of them that spooks her, as we see in IN.  As the saying goes, the only thing to fear is fear itself, and in Youmu's case that has a bit of a literal meaning.  To me, of course, that's a very moe quality.  But if you just don't feel it, then explanations are useless.  See also: me with Meiling.

Also I blame the Sakuya people more than the Nue people, mostly because they have a long history of this kinda vindictive shit.

[8lue Wizard]

"the irrational possessive urge experienced by a person towards a character."

This... this explains a lot. See, as a rationalist, I've trained myself to avoid this as much as possible; so I guess it shouldn't come as a surprise that I don't understand people who willingly indulge this kind of thing. Okay, I can accept that.



...does this mean I have to stop voting now? :V

[Reddyne]

Outside of Patchouli, the semis seem to be coming together well. Still, these next couple of matches will be rough since I really enjoy all of these characters. I guess Kogasa and Youmu are both more moe and have a better shot in the end, so they have my support. I may very well hold my vote until near the end of the match and vote for the losing contender though. So many characters that need love...

Considering the nature of this tournament and even oddities like the average number of votes per round, I wonder how much of a disaster a college basketball-esque bracket-related wager would have been.

[iK]

Well hey, good news Kogasa, you're getting my vote this time because Mystia is one of the characters I find less appealing than you! c:

Wow, there is no way for that not to sound horrible. I don't mean to say Kogasa is bad, just that there's a lot of characters I like more than her XD