Tournament Format
The tournament format has been the same for the past 7 years and this year is no different. So, here it is… This is from Wikipedia.
- Initial nominations: 2channel users were prompted to submit candidates for entry. The eligible characters were all female characters that had appeared in an anime series, OVA or anime movie broadcast or released between July 1, 2007 and June 30, 2008.
- Preliminary round I: the 3000-odd initial nominees are divided in 20 groups. You can vote for up to 9 characters in each group. The top 9 characters of each group in vote count could advance to the tournament directly. Characters ranked 10 to 30 qualified for the second preliminary round.
- Preliminary round II: the 420 (21×20) characters qualified tor this round were again divided in 9 groups, in which voters could pick up to 8 characters. The top 16 characters of each group qualified for the tournament proper.
- Main tournament: the 288 qualified characters (144 top-tier characters from preliminary round I and 144 more from preliminary round II) went through a 7-round knock-off tournament with groups of three in the first two rounds, and one-on-one face-offs in round 3 onward.
