Well, been busy for abit but I have a bit of time now to finish out this round's predictions on Saimoe 2007. First though, a quick update:

Winners in the bracket so far:
A1: Shana of Shakugan no Shana
A2: Negi Sanzenin of Hayate no Gotoku
B1: Konata Izumi of Lucky Star
B2: Konoka Konoe of Negima!?
C1: Nanoha Takamachi of Magical Lyrical Girl Nanoha StrikerS
D2: Rena Ryuguu of Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Kai

So far with the winners, no true surprises. I predicted 3 of the 4, with the B2 match really just being formality to setup whoever Konata will beat down next round. The biggest match actually has been yesterday's Rena Ryuguu vs. Kagami Hiragi of Lucky Star. Kagami actually led in total votes at the end of the day, but had far too many fake votes to actually win and lost by 200 votes. Rena's win is not surprising though, since KyoAni's track record with it's girls in Saimoe has not been that great (their best shot was last year's Yuki "Battleship" Nagato who lost to eventual champion Suiseisuki.) Well, on to the rest of the matches:

Match C2&D1: Miyako and Yuno (Hidamari Sketch) vs. Vita and Hayate (MLG Nanoha StrikerS)
You might be wondering, why am I putting these two matches together? Aside from being today's two matchups, they are are pair matches between Miyako and Vita, and Yuno and Hayate. To be quite honest though, as much as I love Yuno and Miyako, they have little to no chance against Hayate and her chibi-knight, Vita. I expect a Nanoha sweep and a good matchup of Nanoha vs. Vita next round. Hayate vs. Rena would be pretty epic too.

Match E1: Shinku (Rozen Maiden) vs. Takako Itsukushima (Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru)
Shinku will easily slaughter Takako like the Patriots is slaughtering the NFL right now. Shinku will move on to the next round.

Match E2: Tamao Suzumi (Strawberry Panic) vs. Ayumu Nishizawa (Hayate no Gotoku)
This matchup will be much like the B2 matchup in that there isn't easily a clear-cut favorite here. I would be inclined to say Tamao could win since Tamao is the only character from StoPani to get this far while the Hayate girls still have Nagi in division A. However, I actually expect Ayumu to pull through here, since the Hayate fans will push to vote her in as a possible replacement to Nagi should Nagi go down in the next round (as she will face Shana of Shakugan no Shana [see last post]).

Match F1: Aruruu (Utawarerumono) vs. Suiseisuki (Rozen Maiden)
I expect last year's champion, Suiseisuki, to steamroll on to the next round over the loli Aruruu. Aruruu has had a good run this year; actually, quite surprisingly so but she finally faces one of the big favorites to win this year's Saimoe and I really don't see how she can possibly pull the upset.

Match F2: San Seto (Seto no Hanayome) vs. Tsukasa Hiragi (Lucky Star)
With the loss of older sister, Kagami in her bout with Rena, I expect a big showdown this round. San Seto has quite a number of fans, and all the Lucky Star fans will rally around Tsukasa with the loss of Kagami. It's tough to predict a winner easily in this, but I think the sheer willpower of the Lucky Star fanbase will push Tsukasa through this round. Barely.

Match G1: Eruruu (Utawarerumono) vs. Sayuri Kurata (Kanon)
This match is very much a revenge match of last rounds 3 way battle between Eruruu, Ayu Tsukimiya (the main girl of Kanon), and Chigusa Sekai (Shakugan no Shana). In that round, Eruruu managed second biggest upset of this year in her narrow 1156-1117 victory over long-time otaku favorite Ayu Tsukimiya. Since Sayuri is also from Kanon, expect a epic battle between Eruruu lovers and Ayu lovers in this matchup. I think this match will end in a Eruruu win, probably with a lesser degree of gap then last round since I think both sets of fans really voted their girls out. Then again, this could be a case where Eruruu may win because many of the KyoAni fans are locked out at the moment (most major cable providers in the U.S. like Cox and Comcast are blocked by 2ch, who runs the contest.)

Match G2: Mion Sonozaki (Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Kai) vs. Rika Furude (Higurashi no Naku Ni Kai)
The only match this round featuring two girls from the same series, this should be quite a battle. In the series, the two girls are good friends. I expect however for Mion to barely pull the victory over her younger opponent Rika. Mion just has enough womanly charm with just enough killer loli in her to get the brutal win. Though, personally, I wouldn't mind seeing Rika win so I can see another Yukari Tamura voiced character reach next round.

Match H1: Sugintou (Rozen Maiden) vs. Alicia Flourence (ARIA the Animation)
Fresh off the biggest surprise of this year's Saimoe over last year's runner-up, Fate of MLG Nanoha StrikerS, I expect Sugintou to steamroll poor Alicia into the next round. I don't think there will be much revenge voting by the Nanoha fans this round, as I expect it to come next round when Sugintou faces off with Louise or Eri.

Match H2: Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière (Zero no Tsukaima) vs. Eri Sawachika (School Rumble)
Probably one of the best matches of this round, I would expect the tsundere Louise to barely pull the upset over Eri. I would believe, with the Battle of Kugimiya coming next round, many of the Kugimiya fans will unite to back Louise to face off against Sugintou next round. I just don't think Eri has the fanbase to face off against a Kugimiya-voiced tsundere character, and while this will be a close fight, I think there will at least be a 100 vote gap between Louise and Eri in this fight.


Well, that is my predictions for this round. I probably will be watching more Hayate no Gotoku so I can be less biased to go against the girls of that series. I expect at least 2 or 3 great fan battles in the coming days.