RESULTS: 2017 Elimination 8

[Tim]

Can someone tell me who is the 3rd place this year? Asuna or Mashiro?

[Chibasa]

Asuna is third. Mashiro 4th. Complete ranking may be known sooner than planned (Today) But up on site only later (48h max).

[RichardJoash]

Please all stay respectful of each other and let's keep suspicions for yourselves or share them with staff. Let's avoid fight over thin air in public, and delation too.

I'll ban next guy posting something I'm not pleased with.

I did not post something bad. I just want also to congratulate Emilia because she will win the Tiara by next year. Maybe I am obsessed too much with Stella Vermillion.

[Tim]

Asuna is third. Mashiro 4th. Complete ranking may be known sooner than planned (Today) But up on site only later (48h max).

Thx

[~Baumkuchen-kun~]

awww, 4th? How did she outdo Mashiro? She didn't fight anyone except Kurumi D:

[Hachiko]

SpeechShow

Megumi Katou: 16th Saimoe Primoe Minister of Japan

Good evening, Japan. Good evening, morning and afternoon, world. And a pleasant greetings to our friends in the American province-I meant, actually, state of Alabama. Our coalition that will be in government next year supports the policy and good deeds that will come from Mr. Senator-elect G. Douglas Jones. We extend our congratulations. *points* Nice work, sir. *laughter*

Anyway, I need to ask a question. How is everyone doing? *crowd roars* Let me try that again but from a more convincing angle. *creeps closer to microphone* How is everyone doing? *crowd roars louder* Sounds consistent, I can't complain. You know, months ago before I began this unique journey outside of my work with Blessing, I talked with my husband and soon to be your new First Saimoe Gentleman Tomoya Aki, or Tomo, as I call him, about platforms, what people stand for, only because I thought platforms were outdated shoes worn by youth of Shibuya Ward. *laughter* Or simply things you stand on to reach for dangerous household items. *laughter*

Then he looked at me and then to an invisible camera as if to say, what am I going to do with this young *laughter*, witty *laughter* innocent *laughter* maiden *laughter*...please, stop laughing this was real serious talk! *laughter* Ahhh, mou, carry on, as you were. *applause* No, as I was saying, he had a race that read, what I am going to do with this young witty innocent maiden that will be my wife to protect and satisfy until we turn to ashes several decades from now? *laughter*

I lifted Tomo's sweaty chin and whispered in his ear, "A lot." *laughter, applause* I seriously meant it, a lot. Fast forward to today in front of over 200,000 at this plaza where Comic Market is held and now the buzzwords, or hashtag—everyone likes to spam those things these days, it's like Pocky nowadays, just being curious—is #IToldYouSo. *crowd roars, applause*

If you guys do not know who I am by now even though I have been on this trail since early of this year and maybe far back, I will introduce myself. I am Megumi Katou of the Saekano Party, a member of the Blessing Software team and your Saimoe Prime Minister, I believe that is the 16th, sweet...*laughter*...for the 2018 Calendar Year, a pleasure to meet you. *applause* I don't do prepared speeches. To speak honest words from the heart is more important, and fairness to everyone and anyone will transform lives forever.

You're seeing this in the world today. Not just here in your own backyard in Japan, but elsewhere. One part of my platform that I will be promoting in addition to my duties of promoting Japanese pop culture and supporting the Imperial household with Korosensei is encouraging all women to take a stand against those who harm you. The #MeToo movement won TIME Person of the Year and therefore, it is an essential part of our agenda.

I am assembling my Cabinet, composed of members of my party, the Ansatsu Kyoushitsu Party and the SukaSuka Party as the Saekano Coalition to embrace and advocate the message that sexual harassment and crimes against women cannot be tolerated in this country or any self-respecting country in this dangerous world. The boys club culture in many trades is dying and we as the Saekano Coalition will ensure that fairness and respect of all genders is the rule. To those of you who challenge the new wave that continues to rise from the West to here in the East, we will defeat you like our Democratic allies in Alabama did to Roy Moore.

Another part of our agenda is supporting our national teams. This is a World Cup year and a Winter Olympics year coming up. I implore the men and women of this great country to support our national teams as they strive for greatness in winter sports and football. Our role as the bulwark of East Asian Strength will be showcased under our leadership and this is an initiative uniting both houses of the Saimoe Diet. We are all in to win, let us begin. I made a rhyme, see what I did there? *laughter* I appreciate you paying attention.

We come from different schools of thought and convictions, we of the Saimoe fold. But we must reach out across party lines to get work done, maybe even share some snacks and long gaming hours when there is nothing else to do. Of course, if it becomes a coed session, we may have problems. *winks* *laughter, applause, men get nosebleeds* Please clean up after yourselves, you whose noses are in poor shape, that's horrible from you! *laughter*

Going on to the point, I talked to Emilia and her right-hand mate Rem. They are two wonderful peers that I have respect for and admire. Their thoughts and platform have some aspect we may find a common ground on. From this, our Diet will have direction and purpose. Chtholly, who is busy doting on her husband Willem Kmetsch and could not be with us since she is enjoying her return from obscurity—spoiler alert, maybe? shhhh—*laughter, applause, cheers* Yeah, we're happy our mate's with us again.

Anyway, as I said, Chtholly Note Seniorious is a very mature peer for her age and believes in our platform and will do whatever is necessary to promote what is in the best interests of us and you. She is selfless and inspiring and is worthy of being your Speaker of the Saimoe Diet. She is also a good public speaker. Willem, a gentlemen in his own right has taught her well. I am excited to work with both of them as part of our coalition.

I don't need a tiara, nor does Korosensei need a scepter. We lead without any fancy jewelry, or thrones. We believes actions speak louder than words and taking the initiative is a whole lot better that being lazy with no job, no hope, and no purpose to live. As your Saimoe Prime Minister, I appeal to my voters, to those who did not vote for me, or anyone that did notice us until I actually spoke and had these words transcribed for archive....*takes a deep breath, speaks* It's Time To Go To Work!

*crowd roars, applaud*

Now I am not talking about, you know, enlisting in the military, going into really tough work like constructions, saving cats from trees or looking for people attacking others and punishing them broad daylight. What I look for are you, the voters, helping your community and making your family, your kin, the people you work for and with proud. You don't have to do too much, but you should never do to little. Make yourself useful. Our world's tough, but if we can do it and be Saimoe representives for one of the greatest nations on Earth, you'll do the same before you even know it.

And to all women out there, if you see something wrong regarding how the boss or co-worker, who may of the opposite gender *crowd goes ooooh!* or not *crowd goes aaaah!, laughter*, give them a nice slap on the face. *laughter* No, actually, be diplomatic and talk it out and remind them that times have changed, and harassing anyone at work or elsewhere is against the ideals of the new Saimoe Diet that will be coming to you in about less than three weeks time, as of this speech, which I didn't really...write, I just spoke because I had a lot off my chest, to be fair. I hope you understand.

In the end, you don't have to be assuming to be successful. You have to ride the tides of time on a platform everyone can believe in. And when I confided this conversation to Tomo before taking the podium, reminding him of this, he had tears in his eyes and said, "You're no longer a boring girlfriend. You're a Saimoe Prime Minister, the Saimoe Leader of the Free World, something no one will ever take from you, and you will make Japan proud...if you haven't already."

That's what he said to me, verbatim. I believe it because I love him. And I love you all. I want to thank our campaign team that helped me win one of the necklaces as well as the Tiara, our support staff across all the continents, the voters for your support of the Saimoe movement, and the anime industry for making fans smile worldwide. But last of all, I want to thank you for making me believe that being boring can make you amazing, so much that I have made them one and the same. This boring girlfriend turned loyal wife and partner dedicates this victory to your solidarity throughout this journey. I want you to enjoy it and come with us as we march into the new year.

*puts on savage sunglasses, crowd roars* I know I can't see anymore, and it's dark, but you know something? The future is so bright... *crowd responds, "we gotta wear shades!" applause* Hey, you took the words out of my mouth, so unfair! *laughter* Anyway, that is all from me. Thank you for your support, we won't let you down, and from all of us at the Saekano Coalition, we hope you have a wondeful week! God Bless America, God Bless The World, and May God Bless Japan! Good night! Thank you all!

-KATOU MEGUMI
LEADER, SAEKANO COALITION
16TH SAIMOE PRIME MINISTER OF JAPAN

[RichardJoash]

SpeechShow

Megumi Katou: 16th Saimoe Primoe Minister of Japan

Good evening, Japan. Good evening, morning and afternoon, world. And a pleasant greetings to our friends in the American province-I meant, actually, state of Alabama. Our coalition that will be in government next year supports the policy and good deeds that will come from Mr. Senator-elect G. Douglas Jones. We extend our congratulations. *points* Nice work, sir. *laughter*

Anyway, I need to ask a question. How is everyone doing? *crowd roars* Let me try that again but from a more convincing angle. *creeps closer to microphone* How is everyone doing? *crowd roars louder* Sounds consistent, I can't complain. You know, months ago before I began this unique journey outside of my work with Blessing, I talked with my husband and soon to be your new First Saimoe Gentleman Tomoya Aki, or Tomo, as I call him, about platforms, what people stand for, only because I thought platforms were outdated shoes worn by youth of Shibuya Ward. *laughter* Or simply things you stand on to reach for dangerous household items. *laughter*

Then he looked at me and then to an invisible camera as if to say, what am I going to do with this young *laughter*, witty *laughter* innocent *laughter* maiden *laughter*...please, stop laughing this was real serious talk! *laughter* Ahhh, mou, carry on, as you were. *applause* No, as I was saying, he had a race that read, what I am going to do with this young witty innocent maiden that will be my wife to protect and satisfy until we turn to ashes several decades from now? *laughter*

I lifted Tomo's sweaty chin and whispered in his ear, "A lot." *laughter, applause* I seriously meant it, a lot. Fast forward to today in front of over 200,000 at this plaza where Comic Market is held and now the buzzwords, or hashtag—everyone likes to spam those things these days, it's like Pocky nowadays, just being curious—is #IToldYouSo. *crowd roars, applause*

If you guys do not know who I am by now even though I have been on this trail since early of this year and maybe far back, I will introduce myself. I am Megumi Katou of the Saekano Party, a member of the Blessing Software team and your Saimoe Prime Minister, I believe that is the 16th, sweet...*laughter*...for the 2018 Calendar Year, a pleasure to meet you. *applause* I don't do prepared speeches. To speak honest words from the heart is more important, and fairness to everyone and anyone will transform lives forever.

You're seeing this in the world today. Not just here in your own backyard in Japan, but elsewhere. One part of my platform that I will be promoting in addition to my duties of promoting Japanese pop culture and supporting the Imperial household with Korosensei is encouraging all women to take a stand against those who harm you. The #MeToo movement won TIME Person of the Year and therefore, it is an essential part of our agenda.

I am assembling my Cabinet, composed of members of my party, the Ansatsu Kyoushitsu Party and the SukaSuka Party as the Saekano Coalition to embrace and advocate the message that sexual harassment and crimes against women cannot be tolerated in this country or any self-respecting country in this dangerous world. The boys club culture in many trades is dying and we as the Saekano Coalition will ensure that fairness and respect of all genders is the rule. To those of you who challenge the new wave that continues to rise from the West to here in the East, we will defeat you like our Democratic allies in Alabama did to Roy Moore.

Another part of our agenda is supporting our national teams. This is a World Cup year and a Winter Olympics year coming up. I implore the men and women of this great country to support our national teams as they strive for greatness in winter sports and football. Our role as the bulwark of East Asian Strength will be showcased under our leadership and this is an initiative uniting both houses of the Saimoe Diet. We are all in to win, let us begin. I made a rhyme, see what I did there? *laughter* I appreciate you paying attention.

We come from different schools of thought and convictions, we of the Saimoe fold. But we must reach out across party lines to get work done, maybe even share some snacks and long gaming hours when there is nothing else to do. Of course, if it becomes a coed session, we may have problems. *winks* *laughter, applause, men get nosebleeds* Please clean up after yourselves, you whose noses are in poor shape, that's horrible from you! *laughter*

Going on to the point, I talked to Emilia and her right-hand mate Rem. They are two wonderful peers that I have respect for and admire. Their thoughts and platform have some aspect we may find a common ground on. From this, our Diet will have direction and purpose. Chtholly, who is busy doting on her husband Willem Kmetsch and could not be with us since she is enjoying her return from obscurity—spoiler alert, maybe? shhhh—*laughter, applause, cheers* Yeah, we're happy our mate's with us again.

Anyway, as I said, Chtholly Note Seniorious is a very mature peer for her age and believes in our platform and will do whatever is necessary to promote what is in the best interests of us and you. She is selfless and inspiring and is worthy of being your Speaker of the Saimoe Diet. She is also a good public speaker. Willem, a gentlemen in his own right has taught her well. I am excited to work with both of them as part of our coalition.

I don't need a tiara, nor does Korosensei need a scepter. We lead without any fancy jewelry, or thrones. We believes actions speak louder than words and taking the initiative is a whole lot better that being lazy with no job, no hope, and no purpose to live. As your Saimoe Prime Minister, I appeal to my voters, to those who did not vote for me, or anyone that did notice us until I actually spoke and had these words transcribed for archive....*takes a deep breath, speaks* It's Time To Go To Work!

*crowd roars, applaud*

Now I am not talking about, you know, enlisting in the military, going into really tough work like constructions, saving cats from trees or looking for people attacking others and punishing them broad daylight. What I look for are you, the voters, helping your community and making your family, your kin, the people you work for and with proud. You don't have to do too much, but you should never do to little. Make yourself useful. Our world's tough, but if we can do it and be Saimoe representives for one of the greatest nations on Earth, you'll do the same before you even know it.

And to all women out there, if you see something wrong regarding how the boss or co-worker, who may of the opposite gender *crowd goes ooooh!* or not *crowd goes aaaah!, laughter*, give them a nice slap on the face. *laughter* No, actually, be diplomatic and talk it out and remind them that times have changed, and harassing anyone at work or elsewhere is against the ideals of the new Saimoe Diet that will be coming to you in about less than three weeks time, as of this speech, which I didn't really...write, I just spoke because I had a lot off my chest, to be fair. I hope you understand.

In the end, you don't have to be assuming to be successful. You have to ride the tides of time on a platform everyone can believe in. And when I confided this conversation to Tomo before taking the podium, reminding him of this, he had tears in his eyes and said, "You're no longer a boring girlfriend. You're a Saimoe Prime Minister, the Saimoe Leader of the Free World, something no one will ever take from you, and you will make Japan proud...if you haven't already."

That's what he said to me, verbatim. I believe it because I love him. And I love you all. I want to thank our campaign team that helped me win one of the necklaces as well as the Tiara, our support staff across all the continents, the voters for your support of the Saimoe movement, and the anime industry for making fans smile worldwide. But last of all, I want to thank you for making me believe that being boring can make you amazing, so much that I have made them one and the same. This boring girlfriend turned loyal wife and partner dedicates this victory to your solidarity throughout this journey. I want you to enjoy it and come with us as we march into the new year.

*puts on savage sunglasses, crowd roars* I know I can't see anymore, and it's dark, but you know something? The future is so bright... *crowd responds, "we gotta wear shades!" applause* Hey, you took the words out of my mouth, so unfair! *laughter* Anyway, that is all from me. Thank you for your support, we won't let you down, and from all of us at the Saekano Coalition, we hope you have a wondeful week! God Bless America, God Bless The World, and May God Bless Japan! Good night! Thank you all!

-KATOU MEGUMI
LEADER, SAEKANO COALITION
16TH SAIMOE PRIME MINISTER OF JAPAN

Do you have any contributions would you like to ask, Ms. Katou?

[Grish]

takosensei!! happy end.
I don't know megumi but she's cute and has the same birthday as me so I am content with this. (same for emilia, really, so I'd have been fine either way.)

[kurogaga]

Congrats to Katou Megumi as Tiara this year. Well, she is the one and only Emerald Necklace who got like this.
And it's too sad that 8man loses over Korosensei. Anyway, instead of his apperace, congrats to Korosensei for Scepter this year too.

For Touhou, finally Reimu had a friend in her side, Marisa. Congrats to her.
Also I hope Cthtolly to bring necklace at next year.

So, Can't wait for ISML Next year. :3

[Reverend]

Oops, wrong national anthem.

SpoilerShow

UctriMuXYS0

[Keima]

Guess I'm OK with the Tiara and scepter results. Congrats Katou -san!

But any universe where Asuna beats Rem is the wrong universe to exist in IMHO.

At least Illyasviel won.

[sirwence]

No real congrats from me since I was never a fan of either girl they were kinda bottom tier characters in their respective series for me likefulness wise; But congrats to everyone on a fun ISML season; I hope you all enjoyed the fun and competition o/

[Toady]

Shit results till the end, haha. Not satisfied with the results of both finals and of Touhou's winner either.

Anyway, congrats to the winners. I guess I should watch Saekano now.

[Homura]

Congrats to Megumi and Korosensei. Surprising that Megumi pulled an Eru there.

Well, Megumi does have a necklace.

Just in case, since I believe many people probably don't know this. It's not just that Chitanda didn't ever win a necklace, she even never entered a necklace match. That can be explained regarding her normal strength level, but is still stunning. Thus, Katou's winning, tho great in its own way, is not comparable to the miracle Chitanda pulled in 2015. Chitanda is the darkest horse in the first 10 years of ISML from my view.

[maglor]

Congrats to Megumi and Korosensei. Surprising that Megumi pulled an Eru there.

Well, Megumi does have a necklace.

Just in case, since I believe many people probably don't know this. It's not just that Chitanda didn't ever win a necklace, she even never entered a necklace match. That can be explained regarding her normal strength level, but is still stunning. Thus, Katou's winning, tho great in its own way, is not comparable to the miracle Chitanda pulled in 2015. Chitanda is the darkest horse in the first 10 years of ISML from my view.

Let's study Chitanda's win a bit. Here is the fictionalized version of faction war finale of 2015.

In 2015, which was the first year after ToC, we initially had mass desertion of voters who preferred Stella division. This helped to lead a surge of Nova division characters and the climate got not so nice as some nova division supporters started taunting Stella division supporters as the inferior division.(This happened more often outside ISML forum) When Nova division characters seemed to dominate the 1st round of the final elimination phase over Stella division, many OLD stella division supporters who were on the side, planning to skip the whole thing as a mean of protest against ToC felt enough was enough. While Nova division supporters aimed hard at the "Only" Stella division character that escaped their "sniping", Shiina Mashiro, they conveniently ignored Chitanda Eru who they thought was an easy pushover against the "mighty" Onodera Kosaki, Stella division supporters concentrated hard on only two champion they had. When Chitanda pulled an "upset", they still thought it was a fluke, and they also were too concerned with the "real final" between Yukino and Mashiro. They won their "real final", but Stella division supporter was able to convince enough voters that Chitanda should also beat Chitoge, who was facing her own crisis from Nisekoi supporters, thus Chitanda won with even more comfortable margin compared to the match against Onodera. Now, at this point, rumor came out about Yukino supporters deliberately choosing Chitanda over Onodera, because other than Mashiro, they perceived Onodera as their only real threat, thus Yukino, with her many wins, kind of painted herself into corner, where she lost support from half of Nova division supporters as well. This with even more Stella division voters coming back, allowed Chitanda to pull off an improbable victory.

It can be argued that Chitanda won through greatest sets of coincidence ever in ISML history, but it can also be a case study of how a faction maneuvers can eventually backfire when a faction asserts its will too much.

You can see the seed of discontent from this map



When that discontent spread more to regions with large concentration of Chinese speaking people, Yukino lost the geographical region that once had been the biggest source of her strength.



We should also see Chitanda's strength solidifying through these maps





So, if you look deep into the matter, Chitanda's win isn't as improbable as it initially seems.

And then you have to see the follow up results. Chitanda lost the first ToC match as severe backlash for her seemingly incredible Tiara run.




But when heads cooled a bit, she almost defeated Misaka Mikoto, the mighty Mikoto, when factions stayed away from the match. Note how close she came despite losing China to Mikoto ( It is extremely hard to get China away from Mikoto. Even Kanade can't do that )





And now, let's think about what she managed to do in the 2nd time she is in ToC. She beats Kuroneko on the first round, which is no small feat



Defending champion Shana in the Semi



And then succumbed to Mikoto, who loses to almost no one in a big name match( well there is that you know who exception, but she always is the exception ), when her power center abandoned her.



It should be noted that Aquamarine Necklace showed very large burst of interest from mainland China, and this helped mostly Mikoto.

I would like to conclude this post with a claim that it could have been the case Chitanda Eru was usually unlucky in her ISML matches. Oreki Hotaro won a scepter, thus Hyouka as a series is already a legit powerhouse in ISML. When she finally had some luck she made best use of it possible.

[shadowhunter]

Character who was eligible to have Tiara won after all.
Re:Zero fanbase in depression LOL

Another question is third sad finish of year for 8man.

[Homura]

So, if you look deep into the matter, Chitanda's win isn't as improbable as it initially seems.

Chitanda is actually a character quite favored by China, I think that is the key. In 2015 RS, she won 29 out of 35 matches in China, ranking as the 3rd in the Stella division (Yukino only had 25W 10L in China). Her popularity in China is further shown by the ToC maps maglor you posted. But Chitanda was seemingly too lackluster in ISML most of the time previously, that made Yukino supporters (actually not just Yukino supporters, but perhaps most voters) fail to notice her popularity in China, and further ignore how dangerous she could potentially become because of that, which was 100% proved in the 2015 female final. Frankly, as a devoted Yukino supporter in 2015, I never really paid attention to Chitanda except at the very end.



I found out I actually didn't antivote Kosaki when she was facing Chitanda. My reason at the time probably was 1. I really don't like Chitanda, 2. Kosaki was gonna win most likely, no need to get my hands dirty there. But after Chitanda pulled an upset, partly like maglor you said, I thought it was a fluke, but more I was thinking was "What a pleasant surprise, Kosaki was gone just like that". The cheerful fact of Kosaki being gone overshadowed it's Chitanda who did it. Anyway, that is an actual example of the mindset Yukino supporters typically possessed at that time.

[uoiea1998]

Shoutout to maglor for his detailed and unique analysis of the 2015 ISML epic champion of Chitanda Eru!

[Reverend]

Congrats to Megumi and Korosensei. Surprising that Megumi pulled an Eru there.

Well, Megumi does have a necklace.

Just in case, since I believe many people probably don't know this. It's not just that Chitanda didn't ever win a necklace, she even never entered a necklace match. That can be explained regarding her normal strength level, but is still stunning. Thus, Katou's winning, tho great in its own way, is not comparable to the miracle Chitanda pulled in 2015. Chitanda is the darkest horse in the first 10 years of ISML from my view.

Let's study Chitanda's win a bit. Here is the fictionalized version of faction war finale of 2015.

In 2015, which was the first year after ToC, we initially had mass desertion of voters who preferred Stella division. This helped to lead a surge of Nova division characters and the climate got not so nice as some nova division supporters started taunting Stella division supporters as the inferior division.(This happened more often outside ISML forum) When Nova division characters seemed to dominate the 1st round of the final elimination phase over Stella division, many OLD stella division supporters who were on the side, planning to skip the whole thing as a mean of protest against ToC felt enough was enough. While Nova division supporters aimed hard at the "Only" Stella division character that escaped their "sniping", Shiina Mashiro, they conveniently ignored Chitanda Eru who they thought was an easy pushover against the "mighty" Onodera Kosaki, Stella division supporters concentrated hard on only two champion they had. When Chitanda pulled an "upset", they still thought it was a fluke, and they also were too concerned with the "real final" between Yukino and Mashiro. They won their "real final", but Stella division supporter was able to convince enough voters that Chitanda should also beat Chitoge, who was facing her own crisis from Nisekoi supporters, thus Chitanda won with even more comfortable margin compared to the match against Onodera. Now, at this point, rumor came out about Yukino supporters deliberately choosing Chitanda over Onodera, because other than Mashiro, they perceived Onodera as their only real threat, thus Yukino, with her many wins, kind of painted herself into corner, where she lost support from half of Nova division supporters as well. This with even more Stella division voters coming back, allowed Chitanda to pull off an improbable victory.

It can be argued that Chitanda won through greatest sets of coincidence ever in ISML history, but it can also be a case study of how a faction maneuvers can eventually backfire when a faction asserts its will too much.

Is this really a backfire from Yukino? or a change of mind from her fans?
At the time ToC was relatively new, and as we all know ToC is indirectly "a retirement", so...

A deeper analysis about vote spread, particularly in China, is required.

[Homura]

Is this really a backfire from Yukino? or a change of mind from her fans?
At the time ToC was relatively new, and as we all know ToC is indirectly "a retirement", so...

A deeper analysis about vote spread, particularly in China, is required.

Even if there were Yukino fans who naively, arrogantly, ridiculously thought Yukino should continue staying in the main tournament, and later she would easily have another chance showing up in the Tiara final, they should be very few.