So we're down to 32! (Finally.) And we've already had two matches worthy of a final. So how's the remaining lineup?

Hayate characters are in an excellent position. Nagi is almost sure to make it to her block final, where it will be a fairly even match against Shana (or a total blowout against Izumi from Hayate, but not likely.) Isumi, on the other hand, has a tough match against Konata right away and then not much competition for the final. Finally, Hamster Girl Ayumu is likely to end up facing off with Shinku for her block final, which is more or less an even match. Overall, I'd be surprised if none of them made it - Ayumu is least likely, but if Shana takes out Nagi, it wouldn't take too much to put one of the others over the top.

Lucky Star isn't in quite so good of a position. Konata has been polling under Isumi, and even if she gets through that round, she'll have a rougher time taking on Konoka or CC for the final. Tsukasa is matched up with San and then (probably) Suiseiseki, so she'll need her game on full power for both rounds to advance. Even Kagami might have it rough, faced first with Rena and then with Hayate from Strikers...

The Rozen Maidens aren't doing too shabby either. Shinku and Suiseiseki have tough finals to overcome - Shinku's a slight favorite, but Suiseiseki would need every dirty trick in the book to advance again (and doing that would just mean the mother of all revenge votes later.) Tomoe is still in, but dead meat against Nagi. Suigintou... well, if she can do that again, there's nobody she can't beat, but even she can't take Louise lightly.

The Nanoha faction took a hell of a beating last round, losing practically all of its secondary characters plus its overwhelming favorite. Nanoha's still kicking, and up for a real brawl versus Luna from Seto; Vita has an advantage in the other side of that block, but if Nanoha goes down, Vita probably can't stop Luna either. Nor is Vita likely to beat Nanoha straight up, even with malicious voters in the mix. Hayate will make it to her block final at this rate, but beating Kagami would take a massive assassination effort by disinterested parties, and I don't think Hayate's quite moe enough to inspire the support needed to push it through. But you never know...

Higurashi may have the worst positioning relative to its strength at this point. The winner between Rika and Mion will have a tough time taking down Eluluu, and Rena is right up against one of the favorites in Kagami. Sure, they can't lose everything short of the block finals, but I don't really expect any of the three remaining to advance.

Hidamari Sketch is toast. Very likely to suffer a double loss on the same day, as both of their characters are up against a Strikers character who outpolls them, and we know there are a lot more Strikers fans who could potentially vote.

The dark horse of the year may be Seto no Hanayome; they're down to two, but both of them are strong competitors and one upset victory away from an easy ride to the quarterfinals. I still find Luna loathsome (even if she wasn't up against Nanoha, heh), but San vs. Tsukasa is a round in which I win no matter which way the voting goes.

Finally, the underdog is... how appropriate... Utawarerumono. Aruruu isn't going to make it, but Eluluu has a good shot at demonstrating that her trip to the quarterfinal last year wasn't a fluke after all. Kanon and/or Higurashi fans will have to show strength they haven't really been displaying in order to stop her...

Of the loners still in the tourney, the only one with a real chance is Louise, and that's a pretty slim chance. Sui's support would have to stay in bed that day for Louise to have a fighting chance at it. Then again, Sui beat Fate, so she'll be in for a big load of revenge votes... and even if she loses, I mean, she beat Fate already, what's left to do? ;p Shana might make a run for it, but it would take a really weird chain of events (or an absolutely amazing first episode of Shana season 2) to put her up over Nagi.

Posted by: Avatar_exADV at 08:13 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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