After a few inconveniences, we’re back to normal operations! As you can tell, it’s been awhile since I’ve posted real updates, and that I’m totally behind on many (for the 9,000th time). Getting older, I’ve found more time to do other things that benefit my well being…and to support my habits. There’s also the recent issue of the blog being offline for a week…

Over the past month and a half or so, I’ve found work in producing content to help pay for the little bills, such as for the hosting and a domain for another year, adding having to have food at and away from cons. You could say that I finally haz a job–sort of. Though it pays enough for a DVD or CD or two until I can find a real job–or find an energy drink that literally gives me wings. But it’s better than nothing, right? ^_^

Billing Fail

As for the downtime, there was an unfortunate billing issue with the web host. The usual amount of “$9.95″ was billed the other day for the services. However, the account was suspended because $60 was owed. It’s because I misunderstood the billing terms: instead of looking for an “up-front” payment text, I selected the yearly billing plan ($120) without realizing the fact, and that there was a separate monthly billing plan a dollar more than what I’m “paying”…

It wasn’t until Friday (the 25th) that I could afford it. I’m a little upset about it, but there’s a silver lining to this: I don’t have to pay until the end of the year, and I have $60 to spend ($10 saved monthly) until then! How was it possible that I got away with the first six months of service if the $120 was needed up-front?!

To be honest, I’ve wanted a web host that allowed payments every, let’s say, three months. But yearly is the only option I know of right now with the leading companies. I also had trouble understanding the “language” such as this of web hosts, which was what I was afraid of–of this event happening, that is: if “yearly” meant as a contract to keep the hosting for that long without a penalty, as if I was paying a cell phone bill. Oh, well….

Convention Reports and a Makeover

In other news, there are a few con reports to work on as part of the content backlog: Anime Weekend Atlanta 17, Anime Blast Chattanooga, ConNooga, MomoCon (finally went after years of trying!), and MTAC Omega (which is now readable). And of course, more interviews. My plan is to focus on these before getting back to our regularly scheduled programming. I might throw in a post or two as a self-reward between catchups.

Lastly, there will be more changes around here. I’m not happy with the current layout. I wanted to work on it some more, until the blog suffered a minor setback from a code injection, thanks to an exploit in ZenPhoto for the now-temporarily scrapped gallery. Since content is a priority at this time, I’m going to use a pre-created theme until I find the time to fully customize my own.

As part of the changes coming up, I will be posting a reader survey soon. It will be the first in the 5 years of running the blog! Stay tuned and thank you for sticking around through these troubled times! ^_^

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After a month of waiting, the recap of the 12th Middle Tennessee Anime Convention is here! I had quite a time at the con, being my third MTAC as a survivor of SwiMTAC. It was also a challenge having to travel between two conventions in a span of three weeks–both cons being in the heart of the city. MTAC is one of those conventions with a huge upgrade from the quiet Nashville business district to the being right next to the Bridgestone Arena.

Before we start a recap, I have taken the time to organize the report in sections under Venue, Guests, Events, and Concerts, to make things easier to understand (so it won’t sound like I’m rambling on, and to be more productive in future–and previous–con reports).

Venue: After four years at the Music City Sheraton from their previous stay at Cool Spring Conference Center ending in 2007, MTAC’s new home is now at the Nashville Convention Center, with with Renaissance Nashville Hotel as the main hotel. There is no need to tell you that it’s a lot bigger than the Sheraton (which is a relief from the hallway crowding on Saturdays). The thing I miss was the freedom to hang out outside. They do have a garden area, which is perfect for photoshoots, but not big enough for those seeking solitude. The alternative is the Starbucks in the hotel lobby, which has free Wi-Fi. Nothing to complain about that!

The journeying to find where everything is held was easier than MomoCon, if you’re talking about moving (from the previous location) conventions. It’s not as tiring since there are elevators and stairs almost everywhere you look.

Artist Alley is stretched along a walkway above from the exhibitor’s hall area, which is similar to the setup at the Sheraton. The area is larger, though still inconvenient walking through during rush hour. AA is also near the Off-Main Stage area where mini-concerts are held. This is something I would give a thought to whether this would help artists attract attention during and after the event is over, or not help them by driving buyers away from the sound.

Guests: MTAC’s lineup of guests does not disappoint. MTAC Goes to 11 had a packed lineup of musical artists, and Odyssey had many returning guests from previous events (a benefit for a then-first time MTAKU who missed out on all the fun). This year saw Jason David Frank, Kyle Hebert, Richard Epcar, Ellyn Stern, Eric Stuart, Jason Miller, and bands such as Tennessee’s very own The Man Power, PINN PANELLE all the way from Boston, Notorious MSG, and Head Phones President straight from Japan. Whew! But it feels like I’m missing a few more…

Participants of The Man Power's Cosplay Contest

Events: Not much to report on the event side of MTAC, except for a part of the MTAC Cosplay Contest that I am always not prepared for (as a writer). I did manage to check out the Halftime event where contest attendees were treated to trailers of the upcoming GMX in October and next year’s theme for MTAC, Devil’s Dozen. Next year, I will make sure to attend the contest in full.

One complaint about the events is that too many of them started late, especially the Risque Cosplay Contest. I could not attend it because this writer needed sleep by the time everyone was allowed in. Sorry…sleep after staying up for almost a whole day is more important than seeing characters in awkward situations.

Concerts: If I haven’t said this before, MTAC is now my favorite convention when it comes to music that I can relate to. Well, it is in Nashville, after all (*cough*Music City*cough* ).

The Man Power gave a performance as part of their costume contest–not a part of the official MTAC Costume Contest, but for fun…and hosted by The Man Power. I had three conventions to check them out…until now. And what a way to incorporate it into an event! ^_^

The PINN PANELLE concert was really, really enjoyable. If you haven’t heard of them (which I haven’t until this concert), their music is a mix of Trance and Rock. In the current age of dance music, be prepared for some Dub Step, as in their cover of Skrillex’s [...], which was a part of their encore performance.

The Head Phones President

Head Phones President is another band I haven’t heard of, which have made a comeback after a decade long hiatus. To describe their style as a J-Alternative Rock band , they would sound a bit like MUCC and the earlier works of BUCK-TICK, but very different. Anza, the lead singer, narrates their songs using a mechanical inner-voice, talking about pain and suffering.

Ah, the joys of discovering new bands through concerts! Unfortunately, I missed the Notorious MSG concert. I took many pictures of the HPP concert, but I have none of the previous band. I decided to sit the PINN PANELLE concert out. It’s a good thing I did because my ears were still ringing until Tuesday evening!

Final Comments: I did not attend any panels this year, which is a shock seeing that I make it an effort to attend every Gundam panel, which I missed in favor of getting ready for the Final Fantasy photoshoot. Concluding the new venue, I do like the idea that the MegaBus‘ Nashville stop is at Nashville Convention Center. This is great if you’re coming from Chattanooga and don’t have immediate transportation. (By the way, this recap of MTAC would not be possible if it wasn’t for the MegaBus! ^_^)

This is the second year of the event being held on Easter Weekend, which is an inconvenience to many people, especially with Nashville in the center of the “bible belt”. With MTAC being held on the weekend of Easter again, with Devil’s Dozen–the 13th year of MTAC, it’s a question as to whether MTAC is now a (religious) holiday weekend convention, or just a temporary change of pace.

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It’s a little overdue for me to post the list of new anime series happening this Spring! This season sees yet and yet more returning favorites, including a few new series that are replacing the long reigned slot of a long running series.

This season we see a new Saint Seiya series, Saint Seiya Omega, a second seasons of Fate/Zero and Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? (now with “OF THE DEAD” added), and a new Eureka Seven series, Eureka Seven AO. Brand new series coming up is the most talked about Sankarea and Jormungand. But the serious discussion is all about the new Naruto SD Rock Lee special, which will run in the same slot as Bleach, which is ending this week as it concludes the recent Fullbring arc from the manga.

Another anime ending soon is Gintama, which previously restarted not too long ago. It’s a clue to whether if these series, with Bleach in mind, is ending for good, or is it simply a smart way of avoiding filler arcs until the manga provides enough material to be animated again.

What are you looking forward to this season? Check out the chart below!

Source: @animucharts

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Who is ready for another year of MTAC! With less than a month away, the Middle Tennessee Anime Convention‘s 12th year returns at a new location. Being held at it’s previous home at the Music City Sheraton since 2009, MTAC’s new home is at the newly built Nashville Convention Center with plenty of room for growth and more events, making MTAC the next major convention to attend in the South.

MTAC’s theme for this year is Omega, celebrating the (possible) end of the world with the best guests ever announced. Did I say that a Power Ranger will stop by for the biggest battle in the universe? It will be held April 6-8 (weekend of Easter), 2012. Check out the press release below for more details!

MTAC Guests Include Voice Actors, Artists, Giant Kaiju Monsters and a Power Ranger

NASHVILLE, TN – MTAC Omega (April 6-8, 2012) – the 12th Middle Tennessee Anime Convention – features a variety of guests for all fandom to enjoy at this year’s post-apocalyptic themed convention.

JASON DAVID FRANK – Best known for his role as Tommy Oliver in the long-running TV show Power Rangers, Jason morphed into a series of different rangers over the years: Mighty Morphin Green and White, Red Zeo, Red Turbo, and then returned in 2004 as the Black Dino Thunder Ranger. All in all, ‘Tommy’ appeared in more episodes than any other character, 225 in total, and appeared in both full-length movies, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (1995) and Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie (1997). A highly accomplished and respected martial artist with 33 years experience, Kyoshi Frank currently holds a seventh degree black belt in American Karate and a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

KAIJU BIG BATTEL – Kaiju Big Battel is a modern conflict of epic proportions. Planet Earth is under threat: scattered throughout the galaxy is a monstrous mob of maniacal villains, menacing alien beasts, and giant, city-crushing monsters that are waging war against one another. Presiding over this mayhem is the Kaiju Commissioner, an enigmatic human-arbiter appointed by a clandestine cadre of world leaders to regulate Kaiju rage. If the Kaiju Commissioner doesn’t do his job perfectly the entire world could get caught in the crossfire.

RICHARD EPCAR – Richard Epcar – one of the hardest working men in show business – has voiced over 300 characters and is well known to Animation, Game and Anime fans starting with Robotech (as Ben Dixon, Lunk, Grel and Capt Grant). He is Batou in Ghost in the Shell and he’s in a new series from Nickelodeon, Avatar: The Legend of Korra. Some of you know him from anime titles like Bleach, Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, X-Men, Naruto, Monster, Outlaw Star, Macross Plus, Rurouni Kenshin, Lupin the III, Digimon, Samurai Champloo, GTO, Cyborg 009, and Ninja Scroll. Richard can even be heard as several monsters throughout the Power Rangers franchise.

ELLYN STERN – Ellyn is a classically-trained actress, whose career spans from film, to television, to stage. Ellyn is also widely known for her voice work and the wide range of characters she has played. She has done hundreds of characters. She started in anime with the original Robotech series, in which she played numerous characters. Most recently she can be heard as Dorothy in True Crimes: Hong Kong and is a series regular on Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn, playing Martha.

KYLE HEBERT – Kyle Hebert is a Los Angeles-based anime and video game voice actor whose credits include Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3 (Ryu), Naruto (Kiba), Bleach (Aizen, Ganju), X Men Arcade (all male voices) and Gurren Lagann (Kamina). He is best known as the Narrator and Teen Gohan from the Funimation dub of Dragonball Z. Other notable roles include Soul Eater (Masamune), Ouran High School Host Club (Kazukiyo Soga), Fullmetal Alchemist (Vato Falman), Tales of Symphonia (Richter Abend) and Star Ocean (Dias, Arumat, Crow). Kyle also provides voices in numerous video games including Final Fantasy XIII, World of Warcraft, Devil May Cry 4, Dynasty Warriors, and Resident Evil 5.

ERIC STUART – As a singer/songwriter, Eric Stuart has toured the country with such rock legends as Peter Frampton, Ringo Starr, and Lynyrd Skynyrd. He’s also opened for such acts as Jethro Tull, Julian Cope, Hall and Oates, and Chicago. All this while continuing a successful voice acting/directing career, starring in hit shows including Pokemon (original Brock & James), Yu-Gi-Oh! (Seto Kaiba), Viva Pinata, Ultimate Muscle (DikDik Van Dik, Mac Metaphor,), Dinosaur King (Dr. Z), Kirby, Slayers (Gourry), Chaotic, Sonic X, TMNT (Gen, Yoshi), GoGoRiki, in addition to voicing many national radio and TV commercials and audiobook narrations. Eric has also provided voice direction in Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh!

JASON CHARLES MILLER – Jason Charles Miller is an accomplished and multi-faceted performer, with more than a decade of professional experience as a musician, songwriter, actor and voice personality. Some career highlights include Avatar: The Last Airbender (the Dai Li Commander and 5 episodes of various villains), Batman: The Brave and the Bold (Dollman and Black Condor), Moribito, Guardian of the Spirit (Shinji), Code Geass (Urabe), World of Warcraft (Prince Valanar, Commander Stoutbeard, Terrath the Steady, Hagrim Hopebreaker), Super Street Fighter 4 (Guy), Resident Evil 5 (Robert Kendo), and Star Craft 2.

YAD MUI – MTAC Omega’s Guest of Honor and the designer of the post-apocalpytic theme for MTAC’s mascot Conkitty is Yad Mui. Yad Mui has been a professional illustrator/comic artist since 2002, after graduating from Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids, MI. Formerly of Imbrium Studios, Yad worked on many projects including Steel Rain: Tactical, Bad Moon, and Hardwired Fanboys. During that time, he also interned at Studio Ironcat, cleaning pages and inking in sound effects. Recently he has been doing consulting work with conventions such as Anime Crossroads and Izumicon, creating their mascots. Yad also drew the illustrations for the Fantasy Games Unlimited’s Villains and Vigilanties books Power of One and Centerville Incident.

To learn more about these and other guests at this year’s MTAC Omega, read the MTAC Guest page (http://mtac.net/?n=guests).

ABOUT MTAC:
Based in Nashville, Tennessee, the Middle Tennessee Anime Convention is a non-profit organization currently producing its twelfth annual convention. MTAC produces events related to Anime, Manga & relevant Popular Arts, providing enthusiasts and the public at large with a forum for patronage and education thereof.

MTAC Omega is themed around surviving the end of the world, as per the popular myth of its occurrence in 2012, and how post-apocalyptic settings are prevalent in anime, manga and Japanese popular culture.

MTAC Omega
April 6-8, 2012
Nashville Convention Center and Renaissance Nashville Hotel – Nashville, TN
http://mtac.net

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The Scenic City’s newest anime convention, Anime Blast Chattanooga is returning to the Chattanooga Convention Center this Fall! After a successful first year with little over 450 attendees, this year’s Anime Blast is sure to be a repeat success with many improvements. Last year’s guests included Todd Haberkorn, Colleen Clinkenbeard, and Eric Stuart, and with musical guests The Man Power and My Parents Favorite Music. This year’s guests have yet to be announced, which is a thing to look forward to every year as the con draws closer… especially for a second time!

What does does 2012 have in store? Stay tuned to the official website and Facebook page for details and special events. Check out the Press Release below for more information.

ANIME BLAST CHATTANOOGA RETURNS NOV. 9-11, 2012

CHATTANOOGA, TN, U.S.A. – February 16, 2012 – Anime Blast Chattanooga makes its return this year on the weekend of Nov. 9-11, 2012 at the Chattanooga Convention Center in Chattanooga, TN. Pre-registration for the entire weekend is $25 until April 22nd. After that attendees can pre-register for $30. A VIP package is also offered in limited quantities for $50. Details on the VIP package, as well as the registration form, can be found at www.animeblastchattanooga.com.

Guest announcements, event details, and hotel information will be posted on the site as they become available. Forms are currently online for those interested in hosting panels or volunteering for the event.

ABOUT ANIME BLAST CHATTANOOGA: Anime Blast Chattanooga is a three-day convention that aims to entertain, educate, and encourage a diverse group to band together and grow in their fandom. By hosting interesting guests and holding engaging panels and events, Anime Blast Chattanooga hopes to leave its mark on the anime community.

www.AnimeBlastChattanooga.com
Facebook.com/AnimeBlast

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A belated February edition of The CEN.TAKU.ME Journal is here! This edition is also a catch-up of the happenings from the months missed at the end of 2011. However, since February was a short month–and as an excuse to break my writer’s block and catch up–this will only have two highlights for the time being. In this issue: a local movement begins to spread awareness of K-Pop in North America around the globe, and a brief opinion piece on the next installment of the Metal Gear franchise.

America Supports K-Pop

A lot of us tried hard to bring J-Pop to the United States. We’ve asked, asked, and asked to have our favorite band perform… and we get responses. It has been done with the introduction of X-Japan, L’arc~en~ciel, the pillows, and Asian Kung-Fu Generation to the mainstream. It’s becoming a part of everyday life of fans everywhere getting to see our favorite artist perform at conventions, and even general concerts. It’s now time for K-Pop. It gets as much credit as J-Pop, but there is still a lot to be done to get it recognized.

Enter America Supports K-Pop. It is a Facebook page started by friend of CEN.TAKU.ME, Zippy from Tokyo Tower FM. It all started by sharing a story from Soompi of Girls’ Generation’s (So Nyeo Shi Dae/SNSD/소녀시대 in Korea or Shoujo Dijai/SJDJ/少女時代 in Japan) latest release, The Boys, discussed on KIIS-FM in Los Angeles. While it’s a campaign to spread the word of getting the song played on major radio stations, it’s also the place to check for the latest trends of K-Pop’s emergence in North America.

An example would be of Girls’ Generation’s recent performance on The Late Show with David Letterman and Live with Kelly linked below. And don’t forget the recent airing of the Wonder Girls‘ debut movie on Teen Nick. It’s only a matter of time before the Hallyu takes over the States with concerts, already fueled thanks to SMTOWN New York in 2011 and the Wonder Girls / 2PM concert in 2010. Next up for 2012: Big Bang’s ALIVE World Tour.

David Letterman Performance

Live with Kelly Performance

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

If I kept up with the journal back in December, one of them would have been about the next game in the Metal Gear series. Metal Gear Solid: Rising was announced some time ago and it has been just as long since when Metal Gear Solid 4 was announced in 2006, with a finalized release in 2008. After a secret cancellation due to creative differences, or so the story goes, the game gets another chance–with a new name: Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. The trailer was shown at the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards, with a leaked version released a few hours before it aired on TV.

This is probably just as bad as the “surprise” in Metal Gear Solid 2… And with that it would be hard to explain without spoiling it. If you’ve miraculously followed the epic story of the series, then you probably know about the few questions that have yet to be answered, though Kojima doesn’t have to make Metal Gear, anymore… [/bad meme plug] Originally, MGSR was going to take place before MGS 4. Yes, you read right: “originally”. This is no longer the case due to the new direction of the game.

The star of the game is supposedly Raiden, in his cyborg form from MGS 4. According to fan lore, this would have been the true prequel to Guns of the Patriots. If you’re feeling adventurous, here is the explanation of “surprise”: [censored due to spoilers]. But this ruins the potential backstory of [censored due to spoilers]. Non-Spoiler translation: obvious surprise ending has an obvious surprise.

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Sorry for the long wait, everyone. I’ve been meaning to post this a lot sooner after Anime Blast Chattanooga, but with the contents and being events in the same city as ConNooga, I’ve combined them into one post! It’s a way to make up for being so late for posting something from Anime Blast. ^^;

(Keep on the lookout for an editorial special that includes a recap of Anime Blast sometime in March!)

Anime Blast Chattanooga 2011 AMV Winners

Drama / Romance: BobbyP – Colors (K-on!)

Action/Adventure (Tied): Morgan White – Game On and djanime – Cloud’s Pain (FFVII: AC)

[Note: "Game On" video unavailable at this time.]

Cloud’s Pain

Misc/Comedy/Parody: Galia & Kitty – SuperS

ConNooga 2012 AMV Winners

Action/Adventure: biblegirl4eternity – Hero (Kingdom Hearts)

Drama/Romance: BobbyP – Colors (K-on!)

[Note: Won same category at Anime Blast Chattanooga]

Comedy/Other (Tied): BobbyP – Sexi Nikki (Future Diary) and Mistress C – Funny Bleach (Bleach)

[Note: Videos unavailable at this time.]

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Good news: AniBroad is now open for testing! But with myself being a rookie coder, there will be a few imperfections. All the important features will be implemented at a later time until AniBroad is worn out a bit from the initial launch. Of course, the site will be in beta for a while (but not as long as Gmail, that’s for sure ).

As I mentioned before, AniBroad is a social bookmarking/voting application made with Ruby on Rails. I built the site in mind of the basic features that makes the site work as it should as an social voting site for Otaku, with the intent of adding other goodies in the future. But for now, the theme of the site is “Broadcasting”. For example: Articles are called “Broadcasts”, which are submitted by “Broadcasters”, the users, who submit the content. Note that the “Articles” model is saved from the earlier versions of the application. It does not mean that it should be text articles: it can be an article of multimedia instead of text.

After signing up, the Broadcaster can submit a Broadcast to be seen by the entire world. When a user submits a Broadcast, a vote is automatically appended to the Broadcast (note: a Broadcast can only be voted on once). If other Broadcasters like the Broadcast, it can be voted on. The highest voted submission goes to the Popular Broadcasts page, whereas the recently submitted Broadcasts are shown on the Upcoming Broadcasts and are eventually promoted to the Popular page when enough votes are cast. If the user wants to see all Broadcasts including Upcoming ones, there is a section for All Broadcasts.

With AniBroad running in beta mode, there will be limited registrations. Right now, registrations are open to everyone. Simply register and submit as many Broadcasts as you want. But depending on how many users sign up or if something goes awry, new registrations will be discontinued until further notice. This is to prevent things from getting out of hand and to get initial feedback from the first batch of testers. As I said before, this is the first time being serious about coding a site from scratch that I will want to see how things turn out. I’m very anxious of how this will go.

If you’re ready, become a test Broadcaster right now and submit a Broadcast! Stay tuned for further updates!

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Here is another series that our anime club, S.C.A.M., is watching at the moment from the Fall 2011 lineup, and it’s a series that has been deeply recommended to me for my manga reading comeback. It’s Future Diary, which has been said it’s a lot like Death Note, but more complicated–or more fun to watch than Death Note. The second comment is holding true already.

Warning: This post contains spoilers and may be censored for your safety. To view the censored text, please view the full post.

Impressions

A student, Yukiteru, finds that his cell phone acts as a diary of the future: a “Future Diary”, where events written it actually occur. Him and 11 others have the same diaries, which drags Yukiteru into a game of survival. The losers run into a DEAD END, while the winner is elected as a god.

Thoughts

Yukiteru's victorious life is about to get interesting...

Going back to when I watched–or rather read–Death Note for the first time, I was sceptical of how it would go. The first chapter got me hooked from beginning to end. This is how I felt about Future Diary. But with Future Diary, the pace is a little faster, because there are more characters than the previous series in question. And I have to admit that it made more sense.

Deus Ex Machina oversees the events of the diary holders.

Yukiteru is picked on for keeping to himself. Maybe that's a good thing, in his opinion...

The first episode matches the first chapter very well, but with some changes being set in place for the second episode. Having read only one chapter of the manga (yes, I need to change that), it would be fun to see what happens here and there. With Death Note, I read the manga from beginning to end, and the anime slowed it down for me. Watching the anime for Future Diary first, it’s a challenge of stomaching both changes from anime and manga changes. It’s for the better, of course. But there is one thing that sets Future Diary apart from Death Note at all: humor.

Yukiteru meets Yuno, another diary holder and an obsessed fan of his. This familiar to another series...

In the second episode, things get crazy when another user of the diary is revealed. I’ll only give you this–spoilers, obviously: [censored due to spoilers] Who will it be? In the third episode, we find out more about Yukiteru’s new friend, Yuno, and the other diary keepers with their impending demise. I wish I could have read the manga first, but let’s see how this goes before I decide to finish reading.

- Future Diary is currently streaming on FUNimation and Hulu.

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S.C.A.M.’s Greatest Anime Character Ever Tournament has come to an end. A little over a few weeks ago, 22 characters were nominated: one character has been selected. A returning champion from the Off-Season Saimoe Tournament in December met head-to-head with three characters from three popular series, with two of them favorites to win during the S.C.A.M. Tournament. Below is the full report from the Quarter and Semifinal rounds, along with Sunday’s winner of the first Anime Character Tournament. To view the preliminary rounds report, check out Update #1.

Quarterfinal: Round 5: Groups 1 & 3

Note: Winners in bold advance to the Quarterfinals.

• Alucard (Hellsing) [11 Votes]
• Kenshin Himura (Rurouni Kenshin) [19 Votes]
• Roy Mustang (Fullmetal Alchemist) [23 Votes]
• Lelouch Lamperouge (Code Geass) [18 Votes]

Quarterfinal: Round 6: Groups 2 & 4

• Haruhi Suzumiya (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya) [15 Votes]
• Ciel Phantomhive (Black Butler) [6 Votes]
• Sousuke Sagara (Full Metal Panic!) [16 Votes]
• Vegeta (Dragonball Z) [14 Votes]

Semifinal: Round 7

• Kenshin Himura [45 Votes]
• Sousuke Sagara [44 Votes]

Semifinal: Round 8

• Haruhi Suzumiya [42 Votes]
• Roy Mustang [41 Votes]

Final: Round 9

• Haruhi Suzumiya [22 Votes]
• Kenshin Himura [33 Votes]

The winner of the S.C.A.M. Character Tournament is Kenshin Himura from Rurouni Kenshin! It was a great fight to the end going up against leading Saimoe champ Lelouch Lamperouge of Code Geass and Sousuke Sagara from Full Metal Panic. In the end, it was both Haruhi Suzumiya and Kenshin to the finish. A predictable end to a first successful run of the tournament. Many congratulations go out to the winner and his supporters! ^_^

Greatest Video Game Character Ever

Now that the tournament is over for the anime characters, it’s time for the Greatest Video Game Ever Tournament. The game character tournament is larger than the anime character event. However, instead of 48 hour rounds, it will be 24 hours with 31 rounds total until the end of February. The tournament is currently in its 4th round, with each round ending at midnight. The full roster and tournament status can be viewed via BracketMaker.com. To vote, visit and like Scenic City Anime & More on Facebook to cheer on your character!

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