ISML 2021/Seasonals

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ISML 2021 subpages
Main Page • Preliminary Rounds Regular Season: Female • Male • Consolations & Final Rankings Seasonals • Exhibitions • Fluff

ISML 2021 Seasonals

Prev: 2020

Next: 2022

Participants

Females: 30 (120 total)
Males: 6 (24 total)

Female Results

Winter

Winner:

Miku Nakano
2nd:

Ai Haibara

Spring

Winner:

Miko Iino
2nd:

Vladilena Milize

Summer

Winner:

Keke Tang
2nd:

Siesta

Fall

Winner:

Ran Mouri
2nd:

Tomoyo Sakagami

Overall Year

Winner:

Keke Tang (Divine Circlet)
2nd:

Ai Haibara

Male Results

Winter

Winner:

Tanjiro Kamado
2nd:

Izumi Miyamura

Spring

Winner:

Takashi Natsume
2nd:

Sasuke Uchiha

Summer

Winner:

Kimihiko Kimizuka
2nd:

Kyouya Hashiba

Fall

Winner:

Lugh Tuatha De
2nd:

Takt Asahina

Overall Year

Winner:

Tanjiro Kamado (Divine Crown)
2nd:

Izumi Miyamura

For ISML 2021, the seasonal contest was renamed the "Nova League", and for the first time in ISML history, males will participate in this contest. The organizers wanted to make the seasonals "more important" by expanding the tournament's format and giving them a yearly "grand winner" award contested through a postseason bracket, analogous to winning the Tiara / Scepter in the Main Tournament. These awards were named the Divine Circlet (females) and Divine Crown (males); they were last used from 2015-2020 as a consolation tournament for characters eliminated during the early periods of the regular season.

The female seasonal featured 30+ girls competing for 18 spots, split into three round-robin groups, of which the top two finishers from each group proceed into 6-man range-voting round for the diadem. Top 4 girls will advance to the postseason bracket. On the other hand, the male seasonals consisted only of 6 males in a single round-robin group since male characters are less popular in ISML; top 2 from each group advance to the playoffs.

The poster contest, which was formerly used for the divine awards in 2015-2020, were given to two exhibition contests instead: Virtual YouTubers and the second Visual Novel Girls contest.

Overview[]

Character eligibility[]

Characters who appeared in an anime released within 2021 will be assigned to their respective seasonal contest based on the following release dates:

Winter: January 01 - March 31
Spring: April 01 - June 30
Summer: July 01 - September 30
Fall: October 01 - December 08 (end of Fall nominations)
Anime releases usually refer to TV series broadcast on-air.
For movies, OVA and ONA releases, they are only considered if they are "released to multiple countries" or if "[the company] started selling Blu-rays/DVDs to the public" within the relevant period of time.
Characters appearing in multiple cours / seasons within the same year may be nominated for multiple seasonals, so long as they do not finish within the top 4 in the diadem round beforehand.
- Example: Vladilena Milize from 86 may be nominated for Spring (cour 1) and Fall (cour 2). If she finished within the top 4 in Spring's diadem round however, she will be ineligible for Fall; otherwise she may be nominated again on the latter seasonal.
The following relevant characters who appear in 2021 anime are ineligible:^{[a 1]}
- 2018-2020 necklace and pendant winners: Rem, Emilia, Kanna Kamui, Kaguya Shinomiya ^{[a 2]} Levi Ackerman, Miyuki Shirogane ^{[a 2]}, Tomoya Okazaki ^{[a 3]}
- Appeared in 2018-2020 playoffs: Chika Fujiwara ^{[a 2]}, Ai Hayasaka ^{[a 2]}, Tohru (Dragon Maid), Shouto Todoroki
- Seasonal diadem winners: Platelet, Ochako Uraraka, Kei Shirogane ^{[a 2]}

↑ Some characters may have achieved multiple awards like Rem (seasonal, necklace, and tiara winner); the achievements are arranged in order of importance. Characters who do not appear in 2021 anime but are ineligible for this seasonal anyways (e.g. Mai Sakurajima) are not included.
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 ^2.3 ^2.4 Kaguya-sama OVA release: 2022-05-19. AniDB link. The one with Chika's hanging tits in the bath scene.
↑ Kaginado - a spin-off chibi crossover show consisting of characters from Key properties (e.g. Clannad, Kanon, Little Busters!, etc.) AniDB Link

Female Format[]

Nomination Rules

Nomination dates:
- Winter and Spring: July 01-08
- Summer: Oct 01-08
- Fall: Dec 05-11
For Winter and Spring, only one ballot is used, which is lumped together with Main Tournament nominations.
- Characters were chosen from the main nomination round. Selection for the seasonal tournament will take priority, which means that characters who appeared in past ISML editions may be assigned here, even though some voters intended them to compete the main tournament. According to co-organizer Maglor, this is intentional in order to "increase the level of competition".
- Once all slots are filled, the remaining characters may qualify for the main tournament instead.
Summer and Fall each have their own nomination ballots.
- 12 entries
- Minimum 2 male and 2 female
- Must have at least 3 anime series.
- Max 3 characters per series / franchise.
Top 30+ girls qualify for the elimination round
If last place is tied, they will qualify together.
Maximum of 3 characters per anime can enter the seasonals.

Elimination round

All girls are subject to an approval voting match (vote whoever you like).
Top 18 advance to group stage

Group stage

3x6 groups
Single round-robin
Ranking criteria are: Wins > CVPD > CVP . Head to head is not required.
Top 2 girls from each group will advance to Diadem round

Diadem round

6 players, Range-voting match (vote whoever you like by putting a score on each player)
Top 4 advance to Circlet Playoffs, 5th-6th are eliminated
1st placer wins the seasonal diadem and will directly qualify for ISML 2022 main tournament

Circlet Playoffs

Single elimination bracket
Characters are seeded based on Diadem round position > Group stage Wins > Group stage CVP
Winner claims the divine circlet and the overall seasonal championship. If the circlet winner did not win any of 2021's seasonals, she will also qualify for ISML 2022 main tournament.

Winter[]

The peculiar format of 2021's nomination stage meant that any character who appeared in Winter and Spring 2021 anime are automatically assigned to their respective seasonal, including ISML veterans who have more than enough nominations for the main tournament. As a result, the contests naturally favored these ISML veterans instead of newcomers, creating a power imbalance. The Winter contest was particularly egregious since the lineup was filled with numerous prominent sequels, thus, the majority of girls came from established series. Only seven girls who have made their first-ever animated appearance in Winter were successfully nominated.

The most prominent series in this seasonal was 5-toubun, as they fielded the maximum amount of girls with a decently high number of nomination votes. Miku Nakano scored the most votes and was expected to win. Itsuki and Nino ended up in the same group as Ram from Re:Zero, who topped the group undefeated, forcing the sisters to eliminate each other for the second spot, which Itsuki eventually won. The only newcomers who made it out of groups were Roxy Migurdia from Mushoku Tensei, and Kyouko Hori from Horimiya, who qualified with veteran Ai Haibara out of Group C.

Miku easily won the diadem round, while Haibara placed second with Ram following closely at third. Roxy became the fourth Winter girl to qualify for the playoffs, leaving Hori and Itsuki behind.

Nomination Results[]

Actual 2021 debutants (i.e. first appeared in an anime released within 2021) are labeled in bold and underlined.

Female Winter Nominations (30 players)
#	Name (Votes)	Series	Reason for eligibility
1	Miku Nakano (126)	5-toubun no Hanayome	Season 2
2	Kyouko Hori (85)	Horimiya	Anime debut technically in 2012 (Horimiya OVA) MAL link
3	Ai Haibara (82)	Detective Conan	Long-running series.
4	Ai Ohto (49)	Wonder Egg Priority	Debut anime
5	Mikasa Ackerman (48)	Attack on Titan	Season 4
6	Nino Nakano (47)	5-toubun no Hanayome	Season 2
7.5	Ram (42)	Re:Zero	Season 2, cour 2
7.5	Tokai Teio (42)	Uma Musume	Season 2
9	Itsuki Nakano (39)	5-toubun no Hanayome	Season 2
10	Roxy Migurdia (34)	Mushoku Tensei	Debut anime
11	Kumoko (30)	Kumo desu ga, Nani ka?	Debut anime
12	Echidna (28)	Re:Zero	Season 2, cour 2
13	Nobara Kugisaki (24)	Jujutsu Kaisen	Season 1, cour 2
14	Rika Furude (24)	Higurashi Gou	Sequel series, cour 2
15	Tohru Honda (24)	Fruits Basket	Season 3, Live early screening (Maglor said this on Discord). MAL link
16	Ran Mouri (23)	Detective Conan	Long-running series.
17	Rika Kawai (22)	Wonder Egg Priority	Debut anime
18	Mejiro McQueen (21)	Uma Musume	Season 2
19	Eris Boreas Greyrat (18)	Mushoku Tensei	Debut anime
20	Milim Nava (18)	Tensura	Season 2
21	Rin Shima (17)	Yuru Camp	Season 2
22	Nami (15)	One Piece	Long-running series.
23	Renge Miyauchi (14)	Non Non Biyori	Season 3
24	Sakura Adachi (14)	Adachi and Shimamura	AdaShima Mini Anime ONA shorts (1 min/ep) MAL link
25	Setsuna (12)	Redo of Healer	Debut anime
26	Yukina Himeragi (12)	Strike the Blood	Season 4, OVA series (Episodes 9 & 10)
27	Yumemi Hoshino (10)	Planetarian	Snow Globe OVA (Jan 20) MAL link
28	Fuuka Kikuchi (9)	Jaku-Chara Tomozaki-kun	Debut anime
29	Kagome Higurashi (9)	Inuyasha	Yashahime sequel, cour 2
30	USS Laffey (9)	Azur Lane	Bishoku Zenshin! spinoff TV series (8 min/ep) MAL link
Did Not Qualify
1	Yotsuba Nakano (27, Main)	5-toubun no Hanayome	Season 2
2	Beatrice (24, Main)	Re:Zero	Season 2, cour 2
3	Rice Shower (17)	Uma Musume	Season 2
4	Rena Ryuuguu (13)	Higurashi Gou	Sequel series, cour 2
5	Silence Suzuka (13)	Uma Musume	Season 2
6	Ichika Nakano (11)	5-toubun no Hanayome	Season 2
7	Komari Koshigaya (9)	Non Non Biyori	Season 3
8	Template:Empty dal Hibiki Higoromo (Empty)	Date A Live	Date A Bullet spin-off movie

Elimination round[]

Winter Eliminations (Prelim 1, Approval Voting)
Advanced - 18
1	Ram	2134	10	Mikasa Ackerman	1258
2	Miku Nakano	1956	11	Renge Miyauchi	1154
3	Ai Haibara	1854	12	Eris Greyrat	1000
4	Kyouko Hori	1673	13	Milim Nava	982
5	Roxy Migurdia	1579	14	Setsuna	949
6	Nino Nakano	1346	15	Nobara Kugisaki	886
7	Itsuki Nakano	1330	16	Ai Ohto	860
8	Echidna	1271	17	Kumoko	856
9	Ran Mouri	1265	18	Rin Shima	796
Eliminated - 12
19	Sakura Adachi	692	25	Rika Kawai	553
20	Nami	692	26	Tohru Honda	511
21	Template:Tokai teio Tokai Teio	682	27	Mejiro McQueen	508
22	Yukina Himeragi	663	28	Rika Furude	504
23	Kagome Higurashi	639	29	Template:Fuuka k Fuuka Kikuchi	463
24	USS Laffey	575	30	Yumemi Hoshino	421

Group stage[]

Female Winter Group Stage (Prelims 2-6)
Group A
#	Character	W-L	CVPD	CVP	Match 1	Match 2	Match 3	Match 4	Match 5
1	Ram	5-0	3.201	7.027	3215	2766	2041	2476	2261
2	Itsuki Nakano	4-1	1.105	5.435	2148	2381	1428	1591	2351
3	Nino Nakano	3-2	0.645	5.169	2289	2171	1251	2009	1721
4	Eris Greyrat	2-3	-0.535	4.547	1667	1568	1225	1734	2105
5	Milim Nava	1-4	-1.715	3.987	1501	1408	1441	1559	1284
6	Rin Shima	0-5	-2.701	3.407	1005	1226	1284	1452	1177
Group B
#	Character	W-L	CVPD	CVP	Match 1	Match 2	Match 3	Match 4	Match 5
1	Miku Nakano	5-0	3.257	6.807	2974	2725	1994	2421	2244
2	Roxy Migurdia	4-1	2.193	6.109	2569	2412	1929	2522	1636
3	Renge Miyauchi	3-2	-0.025	4.892	1923	1535	1200	2030	2271
4	Echidna	2-3	-0.321	4.729	1911	2308	1151	1344	1910
5	Setsuna	1-4	-1.838	3.823	1210	1169	1573	1382	1531
6	Kumoko	0-5	-3.267	3.109	1083	1305	1141	978	1089
Group C
#	Character	W-L	CVPD	CVP	Match 1	Match 2	Match 3	Match 4	Match 5
1	Kyouko Hori	5-0	3.204	6.772	2881	2790	2129	2543	2206
2	Ai Haibara	4-1	2.331	6.922	2379	2581	2073	3081	2192
3	Mikasa Ackerman	3-2	-0.522	4.831	2207	1258	1292	2011	2054
4	Ai Ohto	1-4	-1.384	3.963	1725	1851	1421	1114	1362
5	Ran Mouri	1-4	-1.662	4.533	1920	1893	1113	1423	1926
6	Nobara Kugisaki	1-4	-1.967	4.147	1089	1434	1272	1442	1957

Diadem round[]

Winter Finals (Aqua Gem, Range)
#	Character	Score
1	Miku Nakano (Diadem Winner)	38,022.5
2	Ai Haibara (A)	36,640.4
3	Ram (A)	36,541.4
4	Roxy Migurdia (A)	33,263.9
5	Kyouko Hori	32,851.4
6	Itsuki Nakano	30,492.9

Spring[]

Similar to Winter, the Spring contest was led girls from popular series with a sequel: Nezuko Kamado (top favorite), Miko Iino (placed 2nd in Spring 2020), Kobayashi-san (boosted by Dragon Maid S hype), and Shuna from Slime Isekai. Among the newcomers, only 86's Lena and Higehiro's Sayu Ogiwara advanced out of groups.

Surprisingly, Nezuko placed 4th in the diadem round, as ISML voters gave way for Miko to finally win her seasonal award by a decent margin. Lena placed 2nd and Kobayashi finished 3rd, leaving Sayu and Shuna in the dust.