VIPER Girl of the Year 2010 Online Poll

[JG]

March Madness is here again - it's time to vote for your favorite VIPER girls and help select the 2010 VIPER Girl of the Year.

Our six week tournament once again features 64 girls, ranked in part on popularity, with last years success (or lack thereof) being the primary factor for seeding.  Matchups already seen in the 2009 tornament have eben purposely avoided, so characters that advanced far this year may get tripped up earlier this year.  61 of last year's competitors are back. Our three drop outs (Afternoons Mutsumi Friday the 18th's Crea, and M5's Meg) received no votes in last year's tournament and have been replaced by three new girls getting thier first shot at glory - VIPER-BTR's Gambling Queen, Demon's Night's succubus, and the Bravan side character from the first stage in VIPER Typing, Kurumi.

For those with short memories, Akira is the defending champion.

Additional notes:
* All polls last 7 days.
* In the event of a tie, the higher seed advances, except in the Semifinal and Final rounds where a sudden death vote will take place if neccesary.
* The first round will be split across 4 days and the second round across 2 so as not to flood the forum with polls.  Beginning with the third round, all matchups will begin on the same day.
* There are four divisions, each seeded 1 through 16.  Last years results are used as the primary determinant for seeding, followed by perceived popularity. Matchups of contenstants seen last year have been purposely avoided this year for as long as possible.  For semifinals, the Red division champion will face the Violet division champion, and Blue's champion will face Green's.
* Feel free to argue for (or against) certain characters, comment on your favorite matchups, which bracket is best (or worst), or rant about who got a lousy seed or matchup.

For the complete brackets of all four divisions and voting results, visit the results page at Sogna Digital Musuem.

Individual poll links and results follow below, so bookmark this page for quick access to each poll.


ROUND 1
RED DIVISION:
* Akira (1) vs Rey (16), Akira advances
* Julietta (2) vs Betty (15), Julietta advances
* Mercedes (3) vs Kumi (14), Mercedes advances
* Natane (4) vs Succubus (13), Natane advances
* Anri (5) vs Nami (12), Anri advances
* Kazumi (6) vs Shine (11), Shine advances [UPSET]
* Yuria (7) vs Miena (10), Yuria advances
* Ryouko (8) vs Silvier (9), Ryouko advances

VIOLET DIVISION:
* Raika (1) vs Ruri (16), Raika advances
* Mika (2) vs Mai (15), Mika advances
* Asuka (3) vs Miho (14), Asuka advances
* Narsha (4) vs Clis (13), Narsha advances
* Karin (5) vs Tomomi (12), Karin advances
* Cyomi (6) vs Haruka (11), Cyomi advances
* Mari (7) vs Mayu (10), Mari advances by tie breaker
* Kate (8) vs Rika (9), Kate advances

BLUE DIVISION:
* Cala (1) vs Annue (16), Cala advances
* Makoto (2) vs Risa (15), Makoto advances
* Lilia (3) vs Kazuyo (14), Lilia advances
* Ratty (4) vs Yuki [Chilren's Play] (13), Ratty advances
* Saki [Rise] (5) vs Gel (12), Saki advances
* Takako (6) vs Leeza (11), Takako advances
* Yuki [M3] (7) vs Soap Girl (10), Soap Girl advances [UPSET]
* Seera (8) vs Daniel (9), Seera advances

GREEN DIVISION:
* Miki (1) vs Komachikawa (16), Miki advances
* Carrera (2) vs Queen (15), Carrera advances
* Saki [F40] (3) vs Kaoru (14), Saki advances
* Jota (4) vs Maki (13), Jota advances
* Irear (5) vs Saki [Rear Under] (12), Irear advances
* Milfy (6) vs Kurumi (11), Milfy advances
* Shiori (7) vs Sayaka (10), Shiori advances
* Saori (8) vs Namiki (9), Namiki advances [UPSET]


ROUND 2
RED DIVISION:
* Akira (1) vs Ryouko (8), Akira advances
* Julietta (2) vs Yuria (7), Julietta advances
* Mercedes (3) vs Shine (11), Mercedes advances by tiebreaker
* Natane (4) vs Anri (5), Anri advances [UPSET]

VIOLET DIVISION:
* Raika (1) vs Kate (8), Raika advances
* Mika (2) vs Mari (7), Mika advances
* Asuka (3) vs Cyomi (6), Asuka advances
* Narsha (4) vs Karin (5), Karin advances [UPSET]

BLUE DIVISION:
* Cala (1) vs Seera (8), Cala advances
* Makoto (2) vs Soap Girl (10), Makoto advances
* Lilia (3) vs Takako (6), Lilia advances
* Ratty (4) vs Saki [Rise] (5), Saki advances [UPSET]

GREEN DIVISION:
* Miki (1) vs Namiki (9), Miki advances
* Carrera (2) vs Shiori (7), Carrera advances by tiebreaker
* Saki [F40] (3) vs Milfy (6), Milfy advances [UPSET]
* Jota (4) vs Irear (5), Irear advances [UPSET]


ROUND 3
RED DIVISION:
* Akira (1) vs Anri (5), Akira advances
* Julietta (2) vs Mercedes (3), Julietta advances by tiebreaker

VIOLET DIVISION:
* Raika (1) vs Karin (5), Raika advances
* Mika (2) vs Asuka (3), Asuka advances [UPSET]

BLUE DIVISION:
* Cala (1) vs Saki [Rise] (5), Cala advances
* Makoto (2) vs Lilia (3), Makoto advances

GREEN DIVISION:
* Miki (1) vs Irear (5), Miki advances
* Carrera (2) vs Milfy (6), Carrera advances


ROUND 4 - DIVISIONAL FINALS
RED DIVISION:
* Akira (1) vs Julietta (2), Akira advances

VIOLET DIVISION:
* Raika (1) vs Asuka (3), Raika advances by tiebreaker

BLUE DIVISION:
* Cala (1) vs Makoto (2), Makoto advances [UPSET]

GREEN DIVISION:
* Miki (1) vs Carrera (2), Miki advances


ROUND 5 - TOURNAMENT SEMIFINALS
RED-VIOLET Semifinal
* Akira (R1) vs Raika (V1), Akira advances by runoff

GREEN-BLUE Semifinal
* Miki (G1) vs Makoto (B2), Makoto advances [UPSET]


ROUND 6 - TOURNAMENT FINAL
* Akira (R1) vs Makoto (B2), Akira crowned VIPER Girl of the Year 2010

[JG]

Now that the entire bracket has been revealed, feel free to give your thouhghts on seeding or particular matchups, specially who's got it easy and who got hosed.  Also feel free to give your thoughts on which division is strongest/weakest.

[Rai]

Seeding seems appropriate. I thought it was odd that two of the newcomers were both in the final bracket though.

I didn't find the choices too hard this early on. I mostly voted for the higher seeds, not out of laziness, just because the weaker opponents are weaker for reason. I showed some love to a few underdogs though. Probably won't care much until the second round, but I'm glad I popped in to catch the first round this time.

[bfg00]

True that.  There will probably be some very good match ups in the next round.

[bfg00]

Wow almost all chalk in the Red Round with one upset.  That's pretty good seeding thus far JG.

[Rai]

I think the seeding on the Kazumi vs. Shine match was a little misleading. Kazumi got an easy first-round win against Yuki last year while Shine was the one that got hosed by Makoto. I guess a rectifying upset like this was inevitable.

Looks like I picked mostly winners in the first round. My main bad bets were the Double Impact girls. I don't think that scenario gets its due appreciation. I gotta admit Asuka and Mercedes are the more appropriate advancers, I still had to vote for Miho and Kumi though.

[bfg00]

Well one does not need to vote for the person that they think will actually make it to the next round.  I know I certainly am not.  Given the boards proclivities I imagine you could make a pretty fair guess as to who will advance and who won't.

[JG]

I think the seeding on the Kazumi vs. Shine match was a little misleading. Kazumi got an easy first-round win against Yuki last year while Shine was the one that got hosed by Makoto. I guess a rectifying upset like this was inevitable.

I generally gave girls who gave upsets an increase of 1 or 2 in seeding, and girls who got upset went down one or two notches.  Once that was done I seeded the remainder based upon what round they got to and by how much a percentage of vote they got last year (and I placed the three new girls where I think they belonged).  Shine may have been up against a beast in Makoto last year but she still got a fair amount of votes (23%) so she actually got a raise up from a 14 to an 11 seed.  Kazumi of course did surprisingly well against Asuka with 35% of the vote and earned herself a raise from a 7 seed to a 6.  Still, I personally think Shine drew the easiest of the 6 seeds for her to beat this year, though that was not the intent.  Shine and Kazumi, as older characters, appeal to some of the same people so they were splitting the vote. Had she been lined up against say, Cyomi, I think Shine would have gotten beat soundly.

However, considering Shine's progress in two years, she's definately going to break into the top half of the seeds next year.

[JG]

Thing's we've learned:

Just like last year, it's good to be from the Rise series. Only Narsha has been knocked out, and that came at the hands of Karin.

Not so good to be from The Devil Came series.  Soap Girl had a round 1 upset but she's out now along with Ratty.  Meanwhile both Mercedes and Carrera needed higher seed tiebreakers to make it out of Round 2.

The RSR fans must not lurk here anymore.  Last year Cala, Julietta, and Jota usually won by huge margins.  This year they're barely scraping by.

It's bad to be a 4 seed but great to be a 5.  All four of the 5 seeds upset the 4s in Round 2.

Hardly anybody has actually played M5 or M3.

Cyomi's out but Milfy's still in it. Wouldn't have put money on that one at the start of the tournament.

Nobody likes the tiebreaker rule.  Next year I think I might have both competitors advance and make it a three-way (or possibly four-way) matchup in the next round.

[bfg00]

Hardly anybody has actually played M5 or M3.

That probably could be rectified.

[cenro]

Cast my votes. I hope one of my favorite gals wins this year.

[Mirai Doft]

Yeah, tiebreaker isn't very cool...

Good thing Rise's girls are doing well ^^

And you forgot to mark [UPSET] in "* Jota (4) vs Irear (5), Irear advances"

[JG]

We have our final four! - Akira, Raika, Miki, and Makoto

[JG]

Akira has won our tournament for the second year in a row.  Thanks to all you members who voted.

And to celebrate, from now until the end of May, all Sogna Digital Museum merchandise for sale that features Akira on the front of the box or cover is 10% off for CoA members* if you mention VIPER Girl of the Year when emailing or private messaging me about a potential purchase. This is a great time to pick up GT1, the Sogna Illustrations II art book, Graf Zeppelin's beautiful VARIABLE VIPERS doujinshi, or any of several other items at a reduced price.  (The shopping bag also qualifies because either side can be interpretted as the front.)



* Offer only applies to registered members of the Congress of Awesome by April 29, 2010, regardless of whether you voted or not.

[bfg00]

Congratulations to Akira for another stunning victory!

[JG]

REMINDER: This is the last weekend for CoA members to get 10% off all Akira merchandise at Sogna Digital Museum