Best Girl 9

Best Girl 9: Salty Girl Senpai is an /r/anime character tournament hosted by moderator mpp00 and began on 2022 June 14.

Rules
All voting rounds begin and end at 18:00 Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4). (15:00 Pacific Daylight, 22:00 UTC, 06:00 Beijing)

Voting policy
 * You must register or login to a reddit account in order to vote.
 * Accounts must be at least 2 months old.
 * NO CROSSPOSTING / BRIGADING / LINKING the contest to other subreddits (whether this rule is actually enforced depends on the host).

Nomination
 * Lasts 2 days
 * Enter name, series, image URL address
 * Image links must come from MyAnimeList or Anilist, otherwise the nomination will be deleted
 * Females only. Sexless characters with feminine appearance are allowed, but males (traps) are not.
 * Characters who have made their animated debut in 2021 Summer or later are NOT allowed. (that's right, No Saki Saki, No  Komi-san, No  Jolyne, No  Marin, No  Yor.)
 * Best Girl champions        and Best Character winners   are also NOT allowed.
 * Check the entrants list first to prevent repeat nominations

Eliminations / Qualifiers
 * Voters will choose the characters they want to participate in the main bracket stage.
 * All nominees are divided into 4-6 groups, depending on number.
 * Each group lasts 1 day
 * Approval voting - Vote whoever you like; there is no limit.
 * 512 players with the highest adjusted votes will advance to the main bracket.
 * Votes are adjusted based on the number of voters from each group.
 * Series Limit: maximum of 5 characters per series can enter the bracket.

Main Bracket
 * 512 players, single-elimination
 * Seeded by results in the previous stage
 * Rounds 1-6 are split into 4 groups per round; each group lasts one day
 * Quarter-finals and beyond will last one day each
 * A consolation match for third-place, if available, will be held in a separate website.
 * If a match is tied, the higher-seeded contestant wins.

Veterans
With Kaguya and Mai gone, Best Girl 9's playing field looks wide open once again, but obviously most of last year's Elite Eight remain contenders because of their show's recognizability and/or tournament histories:
 * Megumin and Aqua has Konosuba season 3 to look forward to.
 * Chika and Hayasaka: Kaguya-sama season 3 is very well-timed - with the climactic final episodes happening in early June - which might be all these girls need to either advance to the final or outright win it
 * Holo is practically guaranteed at least top 16; furthermore some users want to perpetuate the "eternal bridesmaid curse" and possibly a "Holo vs Megumin IV" rematch. On 2022 February 26, she also receives a boost from having a long-awaited anime adaptation being announced after 12 years, which is likely season 3
 * Emilia's performance after Re:Zero season 2 will become stable
 * While Shouko Nishimiya finished 2nd in Best Girl 8, she has no recent anime releases to speak of, which makes her an underdog. Given the extreme competitiveness of waifu tournaments, replicating her previous run is very difficult - if not outright impossible - especially if she runs into an unlucky match-up early on.
 * The odd one out is Yui Yuigahama, who is expected to sit by the wayside because Hachiman Hikigaya has won Best Guy 8, which brought the number of Oregairu winners to two.

Newcomers
A list of notable newcomers with the potential to make a deep run in this event.
 * Chizuru Ichinose @ Kanokari - Waifuism, appealing artstyle, Simps. As the main girl of a very popular and "trashy" manga series, she is expected to reach at least round 4 (last 64).
 * However, the recent events of the manga may negatively affect her reputation among fans because the plot keeps dragging on with no clear romantic resolution . One particular chapter (218) became infamous for showing the male protagonist crying while he fantasizes her having sex with another man. That sex fantasy is overtly depicted in many detailed pages, causing much outrage and mockery by fans due to its netorare theme.
 * Nobara Kugisaki @ Jujutsu Kaisen - Fall 2020 winner, very popular sakuga-fest shonen series, JJK 0 movie hype.
 * Tsukasa Yuzaki @ Tonikawa - Best Girl of 2020 winner, season 2 hype. May reach round 5 (top 32), or even top 16 if her opponents are "easy" enough.
 * Elaina @ Wandering Witch - Much stronger in East Asian countries, but she may reach top 64 here or better if the region's voters catch wind of this contest and coordinate their votes
 * Roxy and Eris @ Mushoku Tensei - praised by many redditors as one of the best isekai anime, and has a very high thread karma to show for it. Unlike the MC Rudy, who is criticized for his pedophilic tendencies, the show's main two waifus Roxy (a flat-chested adult witch with a child-like body) and Eris (a fire-using redhead tsundere) are more favorably received by fans.
 * Nagatoro-san - Season 2 announcement boost; very popular among Western audiences, but may suffer from anti-votes because of her bully / teasing nature.
 * Vladilena Milize @ 86 - her show's episode threads boast a high karma count on r/anime, and is widely praised for its faithfulness to the source material and cinematography. The last two episodes of 86's 2nd cour were delayed to mid-March 2022. The episodes received high praise because of its emotional impact, giving Lena an advantage because of "recency bias".
 * Vivy - the winner of last year's Spring contest, Vivy is a well-loved show on the subreddit for its visuals and animation, although she isn't predicted to make it far compared to other newcomers because it's an anime original with a complete story. However, one of the show's openings won the "Best OP/ED of 2021" during March (where it had a bit of a rivalry with 86's songs).
 * Echidna @ Re:Zero - the famous witch from season 2. She is expected to go at least 4 rounds simply because she's from Re:Zero. If Satella, a background character, did it last year, she can do it as well.

Bracket
Due to the website's limited default horizontal space, the first two rounds (512 and 256) are shown in simple tables, while rounds 3 and beyond will appear as brackets.

Appendices
Media
 * The annual Best Girl Madness prediction bracket will not be held this year. Its organizer, JDefenseAnime, stated that he will not have enough time to prepare the bracket because he "is traveling for half of the contest's duration".

Reddit threads
Sorted by oldest comments first
 * Nomination: Nomination 1 - Nomination 2
 * Qualifiers: Day 1 - Day 2 - Day 3 - Day 4 - Day 5
 * Round 1: Group A - Group B - Group C - Group D
 * Round 2: [Group A] - [Group B] - [Group C] - [Group D]
 * Round 3: [Group A] - [Group B] - [Group C] - [Group D]
 * Round 4: [Group A] - [Group B] - [Group C] - [Group D]
 * Round 5: [Group A] - [Group B] - [Group C] - [Group D]
 * Round 6: [Group A] - [Group B] - [Group C] - [Group D]
 * Elite Eight: [Quarters] - [Semis] - [Final] - [Winner Announcement]

Other
 * "Best Girl 9 - Unofficial Trailer" - posted by grexraxor
 * Prediction Polls - 1st seed & highest seeded newcomer (warning: new reddit) - posted by mpp00

Navigation
Notes

References

External links
 * Shit Taste Bingo - created by Chariotwheel