Something of an upset yesterday as Ayumu from Hayate, "Hamster Girl", pulls just past Teana from Strikers for victory. Meanwhile, Tsukasa from Lucky Star practically lapped the field over Aika from Aria. I'm a bit surprised at the strength of the hamster vote. We'll just have to see how things unfold - if she gets lucky and has more exposure in future episodes, she even has a chance against Shinku.

Well, today's a big voting day. It says something that a match with Ayu from Kanon in it can be considered down-card, but that's more a reflection of her weak opposition than anything else. You can't totally write off Eruru - she did quite well last year - but it's not enough to stop Ayu. Nor is anybody going to bother trying for an upset when the winner is likely to take on Sayuri from Kanon in the next round anyway - easier to let the natural sororicide knock out one, then come in for the block final.

Of course, it's also a reflection of the massive voting expected in H2-1. People have been looking for this one since the brackets were drawn up. Fate T. Harlaown (gawd, we have to do something about the spelling of that last name) versus Suigintou, and it says a lot that Satoko from Higurashi isn't even a possibility for the win. This is, despite my own leanings, a genuinely tough call. Suigintou started off as one of those laughing-evil characters who enjoyed pointless sadism for no real reason and turned into an extremely sympathetic character (helped along by running into a girl who was significantly more emo than she ever was!) And unlike most of the other Rozen characters, who were getting a little stale with no appearance since Traumend, the OAV was all Suigintou all the time, so her fandom is probably as high as it's ever going to get.

Fate, on the other hand, is a bit less moe than her record highs. She spent a lot of Strikers in a background role, playing den mother to the new recruits and keeping Nanoha from going too overboard. She did, at the end, get to shine on her own, though it must be said that she won too quickly and easily. (Or maybe it's just that she had broken out the return to her old outfit style - this time with the attributes to fill it out, yay! - and it would have been nice to see more of it?) Then again, if Rozen characters are still getting their moe cues from a season ago, then Fate has a huge advantage from A's, where she was oh so very moe.

No call for this match. Maximum effort from both sides, of course, and we can expect to see plenty of fake voting involved. I don't expect any tactical voting per se, simply because there's no real advantage to other parties either way - no matter who wins, they're going to be a tough competitor, and knocking out either character would likely galvanize fans that supported her, leading to even stronger performances out of Hayate/Nanoha or Shinku/Suiseiseki. The telling factor may be the Satoko supporters (yes, there are some), because it's difficult to tell whose base they'd tend to draw from more. At any rate, I'd be very surprised if we didn't have the heaviest voting day of round two...
Yesterday's matches:

1位　830 votes Nishizawa Ayumu@Hayate the Combat Butler
2位　767 votes Teana Lanster@Mahou Syoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS
3位　161 votes Shigure Asa@SHUFFLE! MEMORIES

1位　1048 votes Hiiragi Tsukasa@Lucky Star
2位　415 votes Aika S. Granzchesta@ARIA The NATURAL
3位　287 votes Fuyou Kaede@SHUFFLE! MEMORIES

Today's matches:

G2-1 (09/30)
月宮あゆ＠Kanon(Tsukimiya Ayu@Kanon)
坂井千草＠灼眼のシャナ(Sakai Chigusa@Shakugan no Shana)
エルルゥ＠うたわれるもの(Eruruu@Utawarerumono)

H2-1 (09/30)
北条沙都子＠ひぐらしのなく頃に(Houjou Satoko@Higurashi no Naku Koro ni)
水銀燈＠ローゼンメイデン オーベルテューレ(Suigintou@Rozen Maiden Ouverture)
フェイト・T・ハラオウン＠魔法少女リリカルなのはStrikerS(Fate T. Harlaown@Mahou Syoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS)

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