I think, if you’ve seen my posts over the last week or two, you know where this is going. So do I. And I ask you, with no regrets:

http://www.internationalsaimoe.com/voting/
Vote Yuuko.

And if you’re not convinced, read to the end of this post. It’s not even 800 words. It’s short, and filled with passion, and if you aren’t filled with enthusiasm too by the end of this, you can have your money back.

I think, if I can take part in one miracle before in International Saimoe League, I can help form another – but this one isn’t for me.

Don’t get me wrong – Yuuko is undoubtedly a fine choice as a moe character. A beautiful character design, an elegant and kindly demeanor, and above all, true characterization. Yuuko, like all ef girls, symbolizes a sort of transcending of the standard moeblob personality of a visual novel girl, to someone who can truly move one’s heart.

Well, maybe I overdramatize a little bit, but I like Yuuko. And I love ef. Absolutely adore it, every little bit of it, from its pretentious-esque art style to its emotion-wreaking characters to the way that it just ties everything together in a grand way in the end.

It’s just something that I feel that you won’t experience very often if ever again – maybe it’s just me but that unique style of ef really made it rise above and beyond. It invoked a passion in me (one that I need to get working on a review post sometime), and I want you to pass on that passion as well.

Sure, maybe a stage like ISML is a small stage, maybe it’s not the stage you were imagining of, but as I was telling my friend, it’s the little victories that count.

ef has been fairly strongly-represented in the preliminaries in ISML, but none of its girls have really fared well in the competition. This might be because often times, fans of ef split their votes between the three girls present – and quite understandably.

But in this last round, a time of desperation for the ef hardcore, I ask you to unite not under the name a girl but under the banner of an anime. Time after time again, if the ef fans had banded behind one girl instead of dividing amongst the three, the vote totals would have easily been enough to push Yuuko, Chihiro, or Miyako through.

Now, I ask for your hand and your vote too. Maybe you’re a Chihiro fan first, or a Miyako supporter – I understand you. I voted Chihiro in previous rounds as well.

But with just one spot left, and at least a dozen companions already allied behind Yuuko, to me, what’s more important than which girl it is, is the support for an outstanding anime full of outstanding characters – and more than that, for the burning passion each and every one of you feels in your hearts.

I swore to myself to push for Yuuko this round, as hard as I did for Shiori, not just out of an attraction to her or ef, but also because my friend was afflicted with a sort of pessimism, that convinced him that the matter was hopeless.

He didn’t want to try campaigning for Yuuko, too afraid of giving it all for a passion, only to fall short. He’s worried about being hurt.

I say to hell with that. I want to prove that you can change the world.

Maybe some say that that is an ambition too grand, that that is too much optimism. But on a small stage like this, where battles are decided by mere dozens of votes, I think that one man – no, one group – can change everything.

This vote isn’t just for Yuuko or for ef, but for the mindset of Manabi Straight and Gurren Lagann. The going straight ahead and piercing the heavens, the kicking reason to the curb. The unbridled enthusiasm and positive energy that, you believe me or not, makes it sunnier outside.

Yuuko says it best herself:
“Because someday you’ll make it.

If something happens, it’s all right.

If you hold out your hands, someone will be there for you.

We will be able to share our warmth.

Just don’t ever give up. On the end of that long road, happiness will be waiting for you.

And then one day, I hope you’ll notice, that on that path you’ve walked, there is a lot of happiness.

Don’t forget, you’re not alone.”

We are not alone either. We hold our hands out to you, asking for just a minute of your time to click a simple checkbox next to “Yuuko Amamiya”. You submit a vote, but more than that, a message. That we together can reach the end of that road.

That Yuuko can make it. That we can make it.

That it’s not worth the effort to give up and distance yourself from feeling. That it’s OK to let passion run away with your life, because then, you’re living.

I’m living right now. Are you?

http://www.internationalsaimoe.com/voting/

-CCY
(Leave a comment to show your support, even if it’s just a few words. Thanks for your time!)