Coverage is up to speed now with the conclusion of the race for the Topaz Necklace! While the necklaces themselves are but mere trophies for the best record in the last 9 rounds, they do provide … I guess political significance in the scope of the entire tournament. Basically these are the girls that should be looked out for in future rounds. But even the runners up are just as dangerous; and it is indeed possible for a necklace winner not to make the Sweet Sixteen…

After eight rounds, four contestants remain undefeated in the division and therefore most eligible for the Topaz Necklace: Tomoyo, Kyou, Evangeline, and Setsuna (some bios are unavailable right now). Tomoyo and Kyou are repeat finalists, but we get two girls from Negima?! this time around. Voting was fierce; Topaz Round 9 had 400-600 votes in each match, a huge increase in voter turnout since the Aquamarine period.

Many have started to drift to the night, but for these four, the sun has not yet set, and should things come full circle, one will be able to hold its radiance in their hands. The Topaz Necklace is there, waiting to be touched, and for these four, it is theirs to lose. Which of the three will have the sun set in front of them, and which one will be able to carry the daylight forever?

Notable battles include Kagami’s loss to Fate (220-302) in Round 1, Nanoha losing by 9 votes to Konoka in Round 2, the fierce Tomoyo-Shana battle (263-254) and Kotomi-Kyou bout (235-238) and Tsukasa-Horo overtime match (160-142) in Round 3, and Tomoyo’s undefeated streak broken by Kotomi (235-340) in Round 9.

And so the winner ends up being Setsuna from Negima?!. Congratulations! It was really close and could have gone Evangeline’s way, too, if it weren’t for 11 favorable votes in the mix.

Additional statistics (credit to KholdStare from the AnimeSuki forums):

• The winner with the most votes is Kagami (396).
• The loser with the most votes is Konata (293).
• The winner with the least votes is Vita (222).
• The loser with the least votes is Yurie (95).
• The most popular arena is Haruhi > Konoka (618).
• The least popular arena is Sakura-hime (TC) > Yurie (376).
• No contestant is undefeated.

Cumulative standings will be available later today (Sunday), and the Amethyst schedule will be released as well. This tournament is getting more and more known as time goes on; let’s hope for some high voting numbers in this upcoming third division! Amethyst 1 starts Tuesday.

~Crisu

• Tournament homepage
• Voting page
• AnimeSuki discussion thread
• Tournament forum
• Other Saimoe League posts on Borderline Hikikomori

Here are overall statistics for the Topaz division.