ISML 2018

ISML 2018 was the 12th edition of International Saimoe League, an online anime character popularity contest.

This edition was marked by a dramatic increase in vote numbers. In fact, this contest possesses the highest voting counts in the history of ISML, with the playoffs having around 30,000 voters per match, a stark contrast to last year's playoffs which had voters as low as 2500's.

The Tiara was won by Rem, her second major championship within 6 months after she won r/anime's Best Girl 5. In the male division, Hachiman Hikigaya becomes just the second contestant in ISML history to complete a perfect season, winning all of his matches and the Scepter without a single draw or defeat.

This year's returning champion, 2009 winner Hinagiku Katsura, became the first ISML champion to not qualify into the Main Tournament in their returning year, after she failed to make it past the nomination stage.

Rules & Tournament Format
i have nothing to talk to send help

also mods are asleep, i can do whatever the hell i want

Qualified
Female division

Male division For male characters, appearances from male exhibition tournaments (2011-2014) will be counted for continuity purposes. RD - This year will be their Regular season debut (first appearance). OLD (Old Debutant) - Character's anime series is at least two years old at the time of their qualification. This means that the character has had chances to get past ISML nominations, but failed. [Note 1] The gems from Houseki no Kuni (Phos, Diamond, Antarcticite) are genderless, yet they are placed in the female division due to their predominantly feminine physical characteristics. [Note 2] The ISML name of Saber (Fate/EXTRA) uses the name "Nero Claudius", after the real-life Roman emperor. She is considered an old debutant because she made her first animated appearance in the Fate spin-off show Carnival Phantasm, which was aired in 2011. [Note 3] The ISML name of Joker (Persona 5) uses his anime-original name "Ren Amamiya". [Note 4] The ISML name of Shirou Kotomine (Fate/Apocrypha) uses "Shirou Amakusa Tokisada", the historical Japanese figure from which his true identity is based on.

Did Not Qualify
Female division

Male division

Regular Season Matches
Too many matches. Regular season link TBD

Regular season table TBD

Diamond
Modified Range Voting:

Each contestant has a slider in which voters put how many points they want. At the end of the matchday, their scores will be multiplied by cumulative votes for  (indicated by sqrt, whatever the hell THAT means) to produce the final score that is used to rank the contestants.

The main website only displays the initial slider score, which is MISLEADING, because the TRUE calculated value used for ranking is hidden. Therefore, this wiki will display ALL values  for transparency purposes.

Playoffs
Seedings: Sixteen surviving contestants of each gender are seeded by cumulative vote percentage (CVP) earned throughout the regular season.

Tiara Playoffs
''In this wiki, the bracket order is displayed as 1-16 / 8-9 / 4-13 / 5-12 / 2-15 / 7-10 / 3-14 / 6-11. In the ISML website, it's arranged as 1-16 / 8-9 / 4-13 / 5-12 / 6-11 / 3-14 / 7-10 / 2-15 instead.''

Winner's Gallery
Necklace & Tiara