Aniplus Character Tournament 2021

Aniplus Character Tournament 2021 was the 9th edition of the annual mixed-gender character tournament organized by the South Korean anime distributor Aniplus. It began in 2021 December 03 and ended with the final results released on December 30. A total of 309 characters competed from 103 eligible anime installments. The only former champion eligible for this year was Aketo 2016 winner Rem, who appeared in Re:Zero's season 2.

The tournament was won by Yukina Minato, who appeared in season 3 of BanG Dream!'s chibi show (Garupa Pico). In the final match, she defeated Kanna Kamui, a tournament favorite from Dragon Maid season 2. Kanna's loss in the final match earned her the distinction of being the first character to finish runner-up twice in Aketo history.

Schedule
All rounds begin and end at 16:00 KST (UTC+9). (07:00 UTC, 03:00 New York, 15:00 Beijing)


 * Qualifying R1 (All eligible anime): Dec 03-05
 * Qualifying R2 (Top 312) : Dec 06-08
 * Qualifying R3 (Top 96) : Dec 09-12
 * Top 32: Dec 13-15
 * Top 16: Dec 16-19
 * Quarter-finals: Dec 20-22
 * Semi-finals: Dec 23-26
 * Final & 3rd place: Dec 27-30

All group match-ups are decided by lottery (i.e. drawn at random).

Round 1 / Qualified characters
Format:


 * All anime shows  distributed by Aniplus  and released within 2021 will be grouped by season. Theatrical releases, specials, and OVAs are combined together in a separate section.
 * Vote 3 characters from each anime
 * Top 3 from each anime will advance to next round

The following tables will display the list of all eligible anime for this tournament, and its top 3 representatives.


 * For anime shows with multiple cours, they will be listed under their latest broadcast time (example: Mushoku Tensei, having aired separately in Winter and Fall 2021, will be listed under "Fall".)
 * BanG Dream! Girls Band Party! Pico, a chibi spinoff show of BanG Dream! which entered the tournament due to its 3rd season, has 4 representatives after the spot for 3rd was tied between Aya Maruyama and Lisa Imai (199 votes, 5.9%).

Winter

Spring

Summer

Fall

Theatrical films, specials, & OVAs

Round 2
Format:


 * All qualified characters will be split into 24 groups of 12-13 members each (309 players total)
 * Vote 3 characters from each group
 * Top 4 will advance to next round

Part 1

Part 2

Round 3
Format:


 * 16 x 6 groups (96 players)
 * Vote 2 characters per group
 * Top 2 will advance to next round

Part 1

Part 2

Top 32
Format:


 * Contestants are split into 8 groups of 4 members each
 * Vote 2 contestants per group
 * Top 2 advance to next round
 * Although the Namu wiki describes Aketo's finals format as "similar to FIFA World Cup", Aketo does not use single-round robin in its groups, which is an important part in the soccer tournament.

Top 16
Format:


 * 4x4 groups
 * Vote 1 contestant per group
 * Top 2 advance to Elite Eight

Elite Eight
Single-elimination bracket.


 * Bracket order: A1-B2, C1-D2, B1-A2, D1-C2
 * Semi-final losers will play a consolation match to decide who gets third place