The Korea Best Moe Tournament (최고모에토너먼트), abbreviated as KBM (최모토), was an annual online popularity tournament for anime characters organized by the Korean online anime community Anizone. It was inspired by the Anime Saimoe Tournament held on the Japanese textboard 2channel, but unlike AST this contest supports multiple languages as well as actively recruit foreign voters, thereby enabling it to have a wide international reach. A unique feature of KBM is that all surviving characters were randomly drawn after every round, making it harder for fans to plan out their voting strategies in advance (like sniping out a stronger opponent early on).
Korea Best Moe was founded in 2006 and lasted for 8 years, with the female tournaments officially becoming defunct after the 2012 edition, and the males following suit after 2013. During its heyday, it was one of the premier saimoe tournaments alongside 2channel's Saimoe and the International Saimoe League founded by AnimeSuki forum members; together they formed the so-called "Saimoe Triple Crown" achievement. However, unlike the other two tournaments, KBM was the only one where male characters have their own official tournament.[note 1]
A spin-off tournament named Super Best Moe was also held in Anizone.[citation needed]
Nowadays, KBM has become a forgotten event because the original website has become inaccessible. Furthermore, the tendency of Korean websites to be restricted only to its citizens makes accessing the tournament's results very difficult for many users. Nevertheless, the Korean saimoe tournament fandom lives on in the form of Aniplus Character Tournament, which coincidentally started in 2013 and is now seen as the spiritual successor to KBM.
History[]
The trial run of the tournament took place From February to March 2006 with Rin Tohsaka winning the test tournament.[citation needed] With this experience the full official tournament took place on July 2006.
During the middle rounds of KBM 2011, the tournament was forced to start over from the Top 96 Round due to the admins' discovery of improper voting having taken place following a series of suspicious upsets and a growing trend of shock results.
Rules[]
Korea Best Moe is split into two separate tournaments: Female and Male. The character eligibility rules has shifted throughout its history, but in general the following rules were observed:
- Characters must appear in Japanese or Korean-produced TV anime, Films, Original video animation (OVA), and other animation recognized by the KBM Staff that debuted in the corresponding eligible period for the division.
- Like AST, the eligibility period encompasses one year before each tournament's start date. (June 30-July 1 for females; January 1-December 31 for males)
- Character must be capable of making decisions.
Voting policy
- The voting site offers pictures and character information when the mouse cursor is above character's name. As of September 2010, the name and other information are offered in Korean and English.
- The voting site is not optimized for Internet Explorer 6 and 7, thus some error may occur when using these old browsers. Internet Explorer 8 is fully supported.
- In order to prevent multiple votes from computer rooms and such, there is a wait time to enter the voting booth. The wait time is initially set at 15 minutes. The IP address is recorded when you vote; every day you vote, the wait time is reduced by 2 minutes until there is no wait time.
- Each voter is supposed to submit their vote for a match group only once in a voting period.
- While voters are encouraged to register and say what they want in the Anizone's English Thread devoted to them, negative comments about other users and posts that can be viewed as offensive to large number of people are strictly prohibited and can result in being banned from the forum board. Insults against "factions" is also prohibited.
- The word "faction" is used to describe a group of people who supports multiple characters from a certain anime series. Notable factions include "Time and Space Administration" (Lyrical Nanoha supporters), "Rozen Federation" (Rozen Maiden), "SOS Brigade" (Haruhi Suzumiya series), "Kugimin Squadron" (characters voiced by Rie Kugimiya), and "Kyo-Ani Empire" (anime produced by the studio Kyoto Animation).
Results[]
Female[]
Male[]
| Year | Winner | Runner-up | 3rd-4th (by total votes) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 |  Kyon
|
 Toushirou Hijikata
|
 Gintoki Sakata L Lawliet
|
| 2008 |  Lelouch vi Britannia
|
Toushirou Hijikata
|
 Light Yagami Mukuro Rokudo
|
| 2009 | Mukuro Rokudo
|
 Ciel Phantomhive
|
 Sougo Okita Sebastian Michaelis
|
| 2010 |  Tsunayoshi Sawada
|
 Monkey D. Luffy
|
Sougo Okita Toushirou Hijikata
|
| 2011 |  Kanglim
|
 Masaomi Kida
|
 Shirou Fubuki Roy Mustang
|
| 2012 | Cancelled due to controversy. Article on NamuWiki (Korean). | ||
| 2013 | Sougo Okita
|
 Conan Edogawa
|
Gintoki Sakata Sebastian Michaelis
|
Winner Posters(2010-11)[]
[]
Notes
- ↑ ISML would go on to establish their first official male tournament in 2015, three years after KBM's demise
Useful links
- "Korean Best Moe - ranking 2006 - 2012" - ISML Forum, Thread created by Shmion84 (2017-05-22). Retrieved 2022-05-18
- Directory of KBM 2006-2007 Results - Blog post on moeyoso.egloos.com (Korean). Retrieved 2022-05-18
- "(2007) Anizone Moe Tournament Men's Final Draw" - Blog post on chelsea.egloos.com (Korean). Retrieved 2022-05-18
- Namuwiki Article (Korean)
| Character Tournament Series with Wiki Articles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bold indicates a currently active competition (had a tournament since January 2021). | ||
| 2000's | Anime Saimoe Tournament • Korea Best Moe Tournament • International Saimoe League • GameFAQs Character Battles | |
| 2010's | /r/anime (Best Girl • Best Guy • Best Character • Seasonal Salt) • Aniplus Character Tournament • Bilibili Moe • SenpuuSociety European Saimoe • The Great Awwnime Bracket • Mr. and Ms. /co/ • King and Queen of /v/ • | |
| Korean Tournaments | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Korea Best Moe (2006-2012, organized by Anizone.net) | |||
| Tournaments | 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • 2009 • 2010 • 2011 • 2012 | ||
| Female Champions |  Suiseiseki •  Hinagiku Katsura •  Holo •  Taiga Aisaka •  Mio Akiyama •  Homura Akemi •  Hitagi Senjougahara
| ||
| Male Champions | Kyon • Lelouch • Mukuro Rokudo • Tsunayoshi Sawada • Kanglim (Ghost Messenger) • Sougo Okita
| ||
| Aniplus Character Tournament (Active since 2013, organized by Aniplustv.com) | |||
| Tournaments | 2013 • 2014 • 2015 • 2016 • 2017 • 2018 • 2019 • 2020 • 2021 • | ||
| Champions |  Houtarou Oreki •  Chiyo Sakura •  Producer (Imas CG) •  Rem •  Chino Kafuu •  Megumi Katou •  Mai Sakurajima •  Elaina •  Yukina Minato •
| ||
| Other | Aketo Records & Curses | ||