Shana (Shakugan no Shana) defeats
Nanoha (Nanoha StrikerS) 987-969

-This- was a battle.

A battle with over 600 fake votes, but definitely a battle. Even compared to the ones previous in this round, the margin stayed close the whole way through, Shana and Nanoha trading positions like two Indycars drafting around Indy.

And in the end, it was Shana’s pass in the penultimate segment (21:00 – 22:00) that she made stick, even with Nanoha gaining a bit at the end.

How’d Shana do it? Who knows – StrikerS has been less popular than the previous Nanoha seasons (or at least, less quality), but then again, the first 13-odd episodes of Shana II were almost painful. Maybe Shana’s a bit more distinct in character – although one could never call a Rie Kugimiya tsundere flat-chest loli-type unique.

Maybe it’s just time for a change; Shana gets bonus cool points for being the last of her show, although the ever-strong Nanoha series is beginning to look outnumbered…

Hayate (Nanoha StrikerS) defeats
Aono (sola) 1120-625

Gah, what can I say? I don’t even get to claim ‘at least Aono made it close’ at any point throughout the round. This just sort of ended miserably, or laughably, depending on your point of view.

Eh, I could analyze it, or I could just say ‘Nanoha is popular with the cool kids, while sola is apparently more popular with people who answer Japanese polls’. Seriously, sola -was- voted “#1 anime of 2007″ after all. Not sure in what criteria, but it certainly did have a good balance to it. A bit of a visual novel spin, but without the overbearing love-drama (although some undertones were excellently added), and with added plot twist and action.

Filled with holes, but the kind that makes it tasty like swiss cheese. Sola, the swiss cheese roller coaster. Yup. Totally better than focusing on the fact that Nanoha won here.

Although, it’s really surprising that Nanoha got less votes than her secondary character. I guess some of the Nanoha and Shana audience overlapped and they leaned the other way.

So, Minami-ke. This is it.

Your banchou and boss defeated, your only hope lies in a sarcastic elementary schoolgirl with funny hair and strange classmates.

That’s actually not too bad odds, with a lot of traits that make Chiaki appealing or entertaining, but her opponent will not make this easy at all. Tamaki may not be from a massively popular show but Bamboo Blade is looking to take over Minami-ke’s throne as the assassin underdog of this competition: Kirino has been pulling down massive vote totals, and Tamaki’s surprised more than once as well.

And after all, who doesn’t love a character like Tamaki’s? Cute, anime-loving, always stands up for justice, badass, whatever you want, you’ve got it in Tamaki. Makes me wonder why I stopped watching Bamboo Blade.

For once, I might not root for the upset here because with everyone else falling by the wayside, Tamaki might be the one non-KeyAni hope I have left. Chiaki is great too but … Minami … it might be time to turn over the mantle.

Prediction:
Tamaki should be exceptionally strong here; Chiaki will challenge but fall reasonably short.

Yousei has been a fun character to watch in SaiMoe. Nobody in English-speaking-land really knows who she is, but we do know that she’s won two matches already one way or another, and we’re all baffled why.

Still, she’s got about 8 pages of images on Danbooru, so don’t underestimate her popularity.

Then again, she’s facing Nagisa.

Clannad is king in Saimoe 2008. That’s all I can really say. And I truly do like Nagisa’s character; even if she’s not as explicitly moe as Kotomi or (arguably) Kyou, she’s still a treat to watch, especially with Tomoya.

So yeah. I don’t think Youhei’s going to pull it off a third time.’

Prediction:
If Nagisa does not win, something is wrong with this world.