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(tl;dr Still hoping for votes for Minori Kushieda, to help make a miracle perfect-run to .500, the magic number for ISML. Please help, voting only takes a minute! But I really like this article today…)

“It’s called a miracle, because it has a chance of happening!”

One-third of the way there, everyone.

For those of you not already up-to-date, the International Saimoe regular season is winding down (coincidentally just as the J-Saimoe tournament kicks into gear), with the battles for the top 16 girls (out of 64) heating up; these are the girls who will head on to the playoff round of ISML and compete in a cut-throat battle to determine Miss Moe or whatever you want to call it.

Of course, there are other battles going on under that surface though (although it is a fantastic battle so far, with many big-name girls in a battle which even I can’t gauge); devout fans will always continue fighting for their favorite girls no matter the odds, and one of my favorite fights is the fight for .500.

It’s that perfect mix of relevancy and obscurity, for someone like me that likes fighting for the underdogs. The battles that are still possible to win, and are definitely worth winning; this is the underground of ISML, not the big stage where the giants play for fame, but the streets where each battle is a fight for survival, just trying to stay afloat above that line.

.500. That line. The magic number which grants a ISML contestant a golden ticket straight to next year’s competition (or at least next year’s preliminaries, according to rule changes for ISML 2010). It’s almost a sign of redemption, something that can be accomplished for the girls who just don’t have the backing to make that challenge for the necklace and the big time.

And that, is the stage set for Minori Kushieda. A great girl, from a great series, making one last great challenge here at the end of ISML 2009.

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She is the one of the few girls remaining whose fate that has not been decided. Of those gunning for 32 wins and the .500 marker, Hanyuu, Sakura, Ami, and Rena have not cleared the bar yet but only require a trivial amount of wins (less than 3). Misuzu and Louise will need to pull off miracles beyond the scope of even the most hardened deux-ex-machina believer (100% win records required).

This leaves Mai, Mei, and Minori as those who are still walking the tightrope. Mai and Mei must win 5 rounds (a 50-50 record exactly), while Minori must win 7 out of the 10 matches remaining to clear the .500 mark.

In fact, none of their roads are easy; Mai and Mei have more room for error but have a much more difficult schedule; a rough estimate of their schedule says they have room for being upset once, but not more than that. So certainly, fans of those two Key characters may want to push a bit harder as well.

Minori has the toughest job though; 7 out of 10 is daunting enough as it is, and it gets more difficult with the fact that she faces Mikuru, Kagami, and Nagisa in the final period – three girls that are all top 16 contenders, and three that will certainly defeat her unless she hits the lottery.

Therefore, this leaves the reality that she must be perfect in the other seven matches.

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Luckily, there is one ray of hope – or rather, five – in that five of her opponents-to-come are significantly weaker than her, and thus should be extremely likely victories for her.

This leaves two pivot matches. One against Misuzu this round, and one against Sakura in the third-to-last round of the season.

Minori has already claimed a surprising upset over Rena (P.S. thanks to everyone for help in that match, you guys are incredible) two rounds ago in what was the first pivotal round of her charge for .500; certainly it was one that I was feeling a bit troubled on myself, especially because Rena is a favorite of mine as well, as well as a girl who seemed stronger than Minori.

However, our softball-playing, MAD-starring, hyperactive-genki-girling favorite Minori managed to turn a brilliant close victory – either because Rena is already set for .500, so fans decided to give Minori a hand – or maybe she’s more popular than I thought! I can’t even say.

Certainly this round will be a hard one for many fans as well. I’m a card-carrying (Memorial-Box-wielding) Key fan myself, and I’ll be hurting for not voting for Misuzu, someone who I’ve spilled much emotion for in my early anime days.

But, with Minori’s chances at stake here, with Misuzu’s looking like a distant dream, I feel it’s more important to vote for the miracle that definitely has a chance of happening, the miracle that everyone can have a part in and bring to reality. Minori is deserving as well. I feel Misuzu could understand.

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Am I overblowing this Saimoe thing? Of course I am. But that’s what’s beautiful about the competition. It is the one thing that drives people like me to the edge of insanity and beyond, dancing on the stage of numbers, statistics, and burning passion.

There are the ugly bits like tactical voting, hate voting, the conspiracy theories and the drama and the whole thing where I always end up having to pick between Shiori and Hanyuu which just hurts, but, this doesn’t matter in the end to the truly devout.

For us, this is love in action.

You know love.
Minori knows love.
I think it’s fair to express that, just a little, isn’t it, for someone’s sake?

-CCY

(P.S. My Wordpress fails at displaying Japanese so I can’t credit the artist’s name, but the links to the original images are provided.)