Airborne":nngwwss1 said:
Moe roughly translates to "charming" and sai to "ultimate." Saimoe is a tournament that runs for several months in summer and autumn that involves the most "charming" female characters from Japanese animated broadcast television in the prior twelve month. There's also a male version, "Otoko Saimoe" which runs in winter, but it's hard to find English-language coverage of that. I'll leave it to the readers to speculate as to why that's so.
One particular quality of Japanese television series, whether cartoons or soap operas, is their limited runs. Unlike US television, where shows always aim for multiple seasons, and either succeed or get canceled, Japanese fiction programs run for one or two three-month-long seasons, and their ultimate length is often known in advance. There are of course well-known exceptions, shows that have run for years or even decades, but they are far less common. Otherwise, if a show is popular, then instead of continuing outright it may have a sequel made after a short hiatus; or the same creative team may simply adapt a completely new story. How this applies to a diversion like Saimoe is that the tournament is always composed of a mix of new and returning contestants.
Harlock999":nngwwss1 said:
Had to look it up.
That's a hobby I never would have dreamed existed. Hope your "team"or person "wins"!
Thank you! So, it's a little esoteric to be sure, and I did have to scratch my head and blink repeatedly when I first heard of it, but I suppose it appeals to the sports fan in my blood. Like a sports match when I'm not one of the players, I find the prior months of Japanese television to constitute the "season," and this to be the "championship." It's interesting for me to see the ups and downs of my picks.
Now many would argue that a sports match is about on the striving and skill of the players. That is a given. Where is the striving and skill in a "game" such as this? I would say that it comes from the efforts of the creators of these characters and the enthusiasm of the supporters, the ones who score points for the characters. In either case, none of the striving or skill comes from me; I'm just the viewer. Sometimes the "skills" demonstrated, especially among the supporters, are rather frustrating to me, such as the strategic factionalism or the timed, tactical votes. I like the former about as much as bodyline cricket. Still, just like sports, there are always ways found to exploit the system.
As to what I'm following in it, there are definitely two trends I'm looking at this year:
- Characters from a series called Puella Magi Madoka Magica, that aired in winter, outperformed all others during the preliminary qualifying rounds. Some of them, though, have already been defeated while the tournament is still in round one.
- The number-one novel series in Japan right now is arguably "A Certain Magical Index." Characters from the animated adaptation of that series, even minor characters, seem to be doing very well. One of them already defeated the top-scorer from the preliminaries, a popular Madoka Magica character.
Finally, it's just not the same if there isn't a "team" to cheer for, so the character I've selected to follow is named Gokou Ruri, from the lengthily-entitled series "Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai." She placed 1st in Group 11 of the First Preliminaries, which means she has a decent chance of making it into the quarterfinals. We'll see. I make it a practice not to select alternates until my first choice gets eliminated, because it's easier to go through the shrunken pool of candidates than to try and guess who will still be around at the time. Her first match in the tournament is on September 18th, and it seems like her initial competition is relatively weak.
I'm also the sort of person who looks for a reason to support one team or another in any game, so I usually force myself to form an opinion for every match. Today is a little unusual in that the composition of the three matches is so uninteresting, I can't bring myself to pick anyone. I think that's a first for this year's tournament.
mark":nngwwss1 said:
Hell, I looked it up and still don't get it,,,,best stick to what I know,,,frog jumpin and worm drowning,,,
Now frog jumping and worm drowning...I wouldn't mind hearing more about that. Worm drowning is fishing, perhaps? What's frog jumping, though?
