Greetings, and welcome to the 2015 Winter / Spring Edition of the Namine's Café Newsletter
First, I would like to thank everyone who has joined the cafe, as well as those who actively support us. After being open for less than 18 months, we are closing in on 5000 members and 100 affiliations. And Namine's cafe just recently passed the incredible milestone of 8000 pages of chat comments (that's 160,000 comments), the first club in MAL to ever achieve this goal.
We have an amazing amount of things happening at the cafe: First, we have three major competitions coming, including an Anime Couples Competition, a Voice Actor Competition, as well as the 2nd Annual Namine's Cafe Best Girl Competition. We'll also be having several other small competitions along the way, including an Anime Scavenger Hunt, a Best Scene Competition, a card making competition, plus many more. In addition to our competitions, there some big news at the cafe. First of all, Skype is back!!! While we still have a dedicated IRC chat, we've brought back Skype, and it's as popular as it ever was in the cafe. Also, member card editions are returning to the cafe shortly, with some of the best card makers in MAL signed up to help make wonderful cards, so stop by early and often to see what cards are available.
The details for each of our event sare listed in the below spoilers:
Namine's Café Anime Couple's Competition
Following the success of our previous competitions we held last year, we've decided to follow that up with another competition. Last month, we held a vote on what type of character competition we should hold, and Couple's Competition won.
Here's how it works:
The competition takes place in two phases. The first phase is where everyone gets to nominate a couple for the competition. You can nominate up to 3 anime/manga couples. They must be a real couple in the anime (no wishful thinking here :-)), having at least dated or kissed in the anime as a minimum. You rank your nominees from 1 to 3. The ranking determines how many points each character gets, like so:
#1 choice is worth 5 points
#2 choice is worth 3 points
#3 choice is worth 1 points
The points each character gets from each members nomination are cumulative, and when the nominations are over, the points will be counted, and the top 32 couples will compete in a double elimination bracket style competition where then members vote on them in one on one, er... two on two, competitions xD.
The nomination phase will last 15 days, starting on Sunday, 2/15/2015, and will close on Saturday, 2/28/2015. The first voting competition will start on Tuesday, 3/3/2015. A new competition will start every day, and each vote is open for 2 days. If a couple wins, they move on to the next round. If a couple loses, they move to the single loss bracket, where they will face off against the other match losers. If a couple wins their match in the second bracket, they will move on for another match in the second bracket. If they lose a match in the second bracket, they are out. This means that even if your favorite couple loses, they still have a chance.
Here are the rules:
As stated above, you can nominate up to 3 anime/manga couples. It can be less than 3, but it cannot be more. Any couple over the first 3 will be removed.
The couple must be a couple in the anime/manga. If they are not, but are a couple, or have kissed or dated in a LN or VN, then they will be accepted (proof must be provided in this case). Straight, yuri, and yaoi couples are acceptable. For threesomes and love triangles, make a choice on which pairing to nominate (or nominate both separately :-)).
List the full name of both characters in the couple to be nominated, as well as an anime that they are in. Hot-linking the characters to their MAL page is welcome, but not required.
Only one nomination list per member, please.
Namine's Café Second Annual Best Girl Competition
Our first competition last year, the Moe Competition, was an incredible success. This is the second annual competition, but instead of just moe girls, all girls will be allowed to be nominated.
Here's how it works:
Similar to last year's Moe Competition and the Couples Competition, this competition also takes place in two phases. The first phase is where everyone gets to nominate supporting characters for the competition. Since we're allowing all girls, we're also increasing the field of play. You can nominate up to 7 anime characters, listed in the MAL database. They can be your favorites, or just characters that you believe are the most cool. You rank your nominees from 1 to 7. The ranking determines how many points each girl gets, with special bonus points for #1 & #2 pics, like so:
#1 choice is worth 10 points
#2 choice is worth 7 points
#3 choice is worth 5 points
#4 choice is worth 4 points
#5 choice is worth 3 points
#6 choice is worth 2 points
#7 choice is worth 1 point
The points each character gets from each members nomination are cumulative, and when the nominations are over, the points will be counted, and the top 64 girls will compete in a single elimination bracket style competition where then members vote on them in one on one competitions.
The nomination phase will last 15 days, starting sometime in March (exact date TBD). The first voting competition will start shortly after the nominations have been closed. A new competition will start every day, and each vote is open for 2 days. Because the field will be double the size of the other competitions, the best girl competition will be single elimination and not double elimination.
Here are the rules:
As stated above, you can nominate up to 7 anime girls.
The nominee must be listed in MAL, and must be in at least one an anime - sorry, but no pure manga girls allowed. Furthermore, nominees must be female - no traps allowed.
List the full name of each character to be nominated, as well as an anime that she is in. Hot-linking the character to their MAL page is welcome, but not required.
Only one nomination list per member, please.
No double nominating. Meaning that the same character is nominated as your 1st and 3rd choice. If this happens, the 2nd listing will be removed.
Namine's Café Voice Actor Competition
Another competition we'll be having is the Voice Actor Competition
Here's how it works:
The competition takes place in three phases. The first phase is where everyone gets to nominate Voice Actors the competitions. You can nominate up to 5 Japanese Voice Actors, and up to 5 non-Japanese Voice Actors. Following the nominations, there will be two separate competitions: one for Japanese VAs and one for non-Japanese VAs. The VAs must be listed in MAL. You rank your nominees from 1 to 5. The ranking determines how many points each character gets, like so:
#1 choice is worth 5 points
#2 choice is worth 4 points
#3 choice is worth 3 points
#4 choice is worth 2 points
#5 choice is worth 1 point
The points each VA gets from each members nomination are cumulative, and when the nominations are over, the points will be counted, and the top 32 Japanese VAs and the top 32 non-Japanese VAs will compete in separate single elimination bracket style competition where then members vote on them in one on one competitions.
The nomination phase will last 15 days, starting sometime in April / May (exact date TBD). The first voting competition will start shortly after the nominations have been closed. A new competition will start every other day, with the Japanese and non-Japanese matches alternating, with each vote open for 2 days. Because there will be two separate competitions, the field will be double the size of the other competitions, similar to the best girl competition, so the VA competitions will be single elimination and not double elimination.
Here are the rules:
As stated above, you can nominate up to 10 Voice Actors - 5 Japanese and 5 English a/o non-Japanese.
The VAs must be listed in MAL.
List the full name of the VA, as well as at least one to two characters they've portrayed (so that others know who they are). Hot-linking the VAs to their MAL page is welcome, but not required.
Sometime witin the next couple of months, we'll hold an Anime Scavenger Hunt. There will be prizes for the winners.
Here's how it works:
The scavenger hunt will actually be a series of hunts, differing in levels of difficulty. Every couple days, a list will be pulished at the cafe for a new hunt. The list will contain objects, characters, quotes, etc. The job of the hunters is to find what anime the items on the list come from.
Here are the rules:
Each list will contain a set of items that need to be identified from specifica anime. The list will also include a MAL user account
If an item on the list can be found in multiple anime, listing o ne of the anime is acceptable
Teaming up is allowed
When all the items have been identified, a PM needs to be sent to the user account identified on the list. The first PM, based on datestamp, that correctly identifies everything on the list is the winner.
Namine's Café Best Scene Competition
Another competition the cafe will be having is the best scene competition.
Here's how it works:
The competition takes place in two phases. First, anyone can nominate up to two scenes that they like in anime - either it's really funny, sad, kawaii, uber-erotic, etc. To enter a nomination, members will need to make a snippet of an anime containing that scene and turn it into a video. Scenes can be up to 5 minutes long. The first 50 scenes will be accepted. If turnout is high, that can be increased. Once all the nominations are in, the compettions will begin. Each week, 5 scenes will be selected at random and added to a poll therad. The top vote counter will win that week. The #2 vote counter will also stay alive. Follign the 10 weeks of voting, the 10 2nd placers will compete in 2 weekly votes, with the 2 winners added to the 10 1st placers. The 12 remaining scenes will vote in 4 separate votes of 3 random scenes each, with the winner going to the final. The championship will be a week long vote of the final 3 scenes. The one who submitted the winning scene will win a major prize.
Namine's Café card making competition
Namine's cafe will hold a card making competiton, where anyone who wants to try to make a card can join. Once the competition starts, there will be a 2 - 3 week period where everyone can make and submit a single member card. The cards (exact number TBD), will then be pitted against each other in head to head competitions. Don't think you can make a card - don't worry so much. Try your cand at making a card and who knows, if coul dbe amazing.
Namine's Café Skype Group
The cafe once again has Skype. please Click Here for more information on the Skype Group, and to get an invitation to it.
Namine's Café Official Steam Group Activities
As many of you are aware, the Cafe has it's own Steam Group. Please click here for more information on the Steam Group, and to get an invitation to it. We are currently planning some possible Steam game tournaments in the future, and feedback on this would be awesome. Also, we may be getting our Minecraft server back, as well.
THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS BEING SENT TO ALL BLUE BUTTERFLIES SQUAD MEMBERS.
If you haven't visited the Club lately, the good news is that we, the Blue Butterflies, have won first place for the month of February once more with an overwhelming lead of 1090 points! However, WE HAVE A SITUATION. The Red Butterflies have gathered their army and taken the lead from us this month. They currently have a 475 point lead over us and are rapidly gaining points as we speak! This is why we need everyone's support! ヽ(＾▽＾)人(＾▽＾)人(＾▽＾)ﾉ
But what can we do, you may ask? The key word is to PARTICIPATE!!! Come to Cho Cho Empire and explore the new games and contests involved! Perhaps you are interested in long lasting games, such as the Acronym Game, Answer Question with Question, or the Cho Cho Prediction Game! These games won't earn you squad points, but instead will give you a chance to create new friends and learn more about your other fellow club members! HOWEVER, if you want to be in front of the battlefield where all the action is at, check out these games and contests:
St. Patrick's Scramble for Gold: This isn't your typical word scramble game. A secret word is hidden in the scrambles! Are your eyes keen enough to spot it? Come check it out! Who knows? You might even win a BONUS Prize!
100 Steps: It's like a board game with a little bit of Truth or Dare! Do you have what it takes to reach 100 steps? Check out this game that many have said is loads of fun! You just have to be in the TOP TEN to win prizes and squad points!
Clue: How well do you know your animes? Check out these clues and see if you can be the anime champion!
You can also earn points in other ways! Have a fondness for AMVs? Come to the club and see the AMV of the month! Then, put your own suggestions for the AMV of the month in the AMV of the Month Suggestion thread. If your AMV gets chosen, our squad earns 50 points! Maybe you like collecting cards! The new Clover SE is out for a limited time so hurry and request those cards! We earn 5 points for every member that requests a card! (^_^)
For every game or contest you win, along with your prizes, the squad earns points and at the end of every month, all these points are tallied and the squad with the most points wins!
What do we get if we win the first place? Bragging rights, of course. Aside from having our rightful place in the club's layout, we are awarded a special trophy, plus the person who has earned the most points in each squad will be awarded a special mystery prize for being such a huge part of the team. That is why, visit the club now and join in the fun! (◎｀・ω・´)人(´・ω・｀*)
Even just popping in every now and then and giving us moral support will help! Why not check out our squad thread right now and say hi?
♫ It gets a little lonely, All these empty forum threads, Just watching the points slip by~~ ♫ ｡ﾟ( ﾟஇ‸இﾟ)ﾟ｡
Have no idea what squads are? Click here! Don't worry, you're in the Blue Butterflies!
Greetings, Namine's Cafe is holding our first annual Moe Girl Competition
The competition takes place in two phases. The first phase is where everyone gets to nominate moe girls for the competition. The nomination thread will open on Sunday (3/10/2014), and will last for 10 days, Each cafe member can nominate up to 5 girls, with a point systems as follows:
#1 choice is worth 5 points
#2 choice is worth 4 points
#3 choice is worth 3 points
#4 choice is worth 2 points
#5 choice is worth 1 point
Unlike this, the Namine's Cafe Moe Competition will only be for Moe girls. Kawaii/ecchi girls will have their own competition later. To help ensure that only moe girls are nominated, we will have a panel of judges who will review the nominations, and if they unanimously determine that a nominee is not moe, then that specific nominee will be disqualified from the competition. To assist, here is a definition of moe, as stated by our judges:
Moe is an affection for cute girls doing cute things that excludes sexual desire. Moe will either minimizes the sexualization of their characters, or won't even reference sex at all. Lolicon depicts children as objects of sexual gratification, literally a romantic and sexual desire focused on a child. That being said, there are some lolicon characters that are also depicted as moe.
If a nominee is disqualified, she will be removed from the member's list. The rest of the member's list will still be available for the competition, but backfilling a disqualified nominee will not be allowed.
After the nominations are over, the points for each girl are tallied. The top 32 are put into a bracket style competition, the one with the most points will be ranked #1, and will face the one ranked #32 with the least points (no random competition selection).
A new competition will start every two days, and each vote is open for 4 days. This means there Will be a total of 31 competitions to name a champion. The winning character will get a special place on the layout for her, a card edition just for her, and have the fame and recognition of being Namine's Cafe's firsy moe champion (LOL). If we get enough support for the moe competition, we may follow it up with other competitions.
ƸӜƷ ~*Cho Cho Empire*~ ƸӜƷ To all my fellow Blue Butterflies:
＼(￣O￣) Comrade Tiffany-chan and I were thinking about establishing an alliance with two other squads. In other words, we are proposing a strategic alliance, or an agreement between the squads to pursue a set of agreed upon objectives needed while remaining independent. These squads, as of now, are the Yellow and Green Squads. However, we know that it would be selfish of us to decide on the matter ourselves so we are inviting everyone to give their suggestions and opinions. If someone has a squad he/she wishes to ally with, we are perfectly willing to place it on the table for further discussion.
What is this alliance all about, you may ask? Well, despite our previous victory for the month of January, our rivals(or namely, our great rival, the Red Butterflies) are getting stronger and it is a good strategy to form strong bonds with the other butterflies to keep them from snatching the throne away from us. But then, you may also ask, the other squads are also potential rivals so why are we uniting with them? My dear comrades-in-arms, it may be greatly selfish for me to say this but I would rather give away the trophy to another squad rather than see it in the hands of the Red Butterflies. Such is the hostility between the two squads, unfortunately. However, I am also aware that some, or okay, most, of the Red Butterfly folks are pleasant and not at all that bad. But as they had oh-so-indirectly proclaimed, this is war. Yes, they dared declare war against us, the Blue Butterflies. ( ﾟДﾟ)＜!!
Will we sit back and let them trample on our pride? No. We must fight back with all our might. ヽ(●-`Д´-)ノ
Now, we were thinking of waiting until a suitable amount of other opinions were given, but alas, an emergency has appeared---that of the form of a sole Red Butterfly making rounds throughout the club and tarnishing our image by accusing our goodwill and plans for an alliance as 'false' and 'lies'. That is why we must move quickly, and form a conclusion soon. This might be too sudden, but we plan on sending out the announcements/proclamations of alliance to the other squads as quickly as possible. Please check out the club's thread and give us your opinion on the matter. :)
(o´ω`o)ﾉ
Sincerely yours,
the officer of the Blue Butterflies,
Panda.
THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS BEING SENT TO ALL BLUE BUTTERFLIES SQUAD MEMBERS.
If you haven't visited the Club lately, the good news is that we, the Blue Butterflies, have won the first place for the month of January! However, this does not guarantee that we will snag the trophy for this month. That is why we need everyone's support! ヽ(＾▽＾)人(＾▽＾)人(＾▽＾)ﾉ
What support, you may ask? Every month, there are different games and contests for every one to participate and join. For example, we have the 'Idea's contest', the 'Valentine Word Drop', the 'Count to 1000' game, 'Guess Who' game, and the 'AMV of the Week'. The idea is to have fun while competing with the other squads! Making new friends, chatting, showcasing your talents(like the previous 'Banner-making contest', 'Pic & Write Competition' and 'New Years Competition'), and just having a good time.
For every game or contest you win, along with your prizes, the squad earns points and at the end of every month, all these points are tallied and the squad with the most points wins!
What do we get if we win the first place? Bragging rights, of course. Aside from having our rightful place in the club's layout, we are awarded a special trophy, plus the person who has earned the most points in each squad will be awarded a special mystery prize for being such a huge part of the team. That is why, visit the club now and join in the fun!
(◎｀・ω・´)人(´・ω・｀*)
Even just popping in every now and then and giving us moral support will help! Why not check out our thread right now and say hi?
Have no idea what squads are? Click here! Don't worry, you're in the Blue Butterflies!
All Comments (6) Comments
THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS BEING SENT TO ALL BLUE BUTTERFLIES SQUAD MEMBERS.
If you haven't visited the Club lately, the good news is that we, the Blue Butterflies, have won first place for the month of February once more with an overwhelming lead of 1090 points! However, WE HAVE A SITUATION. The Red Butterflies have gathered their army and taken the lead from us this month. They currently have a 475 point lead over us and are rapidly gaining points as we speak! This is why we need everyone's support! ヽ(＾▽＾)人(＾▽＾)人(＾▽＾)ﾉ
But what can we do, you may ask? The key word is to PARTICIPATE!!! Come to Cho Cho Empire and explore the new games and contests involved! Perhaps you are interested in long lasting games, such as the Acronym Game, Answer Question with Question, or the Cho Cho Prediction Game! These games won't earn you squad points, but instead will give you a chance to create new friends and learn more about your other fellow club members! HOWEVER, if you want to be in front of the battlefield where all the action is at, check out these games and contests:
You can also earn points in other ways! Have a fondness for AMVs? Come to the club and see the AMV of the month! Then, put your own suggestions for the AMV of the month in the AMV of the Month Suggestion thread. If your AMV gets chosen, our squad earns 50 points! Maybe you like collecting cards! The new Clover SE is out for a limited time so hurry and request those cards! We earn 5 points for every member that requests a card! (^_^)
For every game or contest you win, along with your prizes, the squad earns points and at the end of every month, all these points are tallied and the squad with the most points wins!
What do we get if we win the first place? Bragging rights, of course. Aside from having our rightful place in the club's layout, we are awarded a special trophy, plus the person who has earned the most points in each squad will be awarded a special mystery prize for being such a huge part of the team. That is why, visit the club now and join in the fun! (◎｀・ω・´)人(´・ω・｀*)
Even just popping in every now and then and giving us moral support will help! Why not check out our squad thread right now and say hi?
♫ It gets a little lonely, All these empty forum threads, Just watching the points slip by~~ ♫ ｡ﾟ( ﾟஇ‸இﾟ)ﾟ｡
Have no idea what squads are? Click here! Don't worry, you're in the Blue Butterflies!
ƸӜƷ ~*Cho Cho Empire*~ ƸӜƷ
To all my fellow Blue Butterflies:
＼(￣O￣) Comrade Tiffany-chan and I were thinking about establishing an alliance with two other squads. In other words, we are proposing a strategic alliance, or an agreement between the squads to pursue a set of agreed upon objectives needed while remaining independent. These squads, as of now, are the Yellow and Green Squads. However, we know that it would be selfish of us to decide on the matter ourselves so we are inviting everyone to give their suggestions and opinions. If someone has a squad he/she wishes to ally with, we are perfectly willing to place it on the table for further discussion.
What is this alliance all about, you may ask? Well, despite our previous victory for the month of January, our rivals(or namely, our great rival, the Red Butterflies) are getting stronger and it is a good strategy to form strong bonds with the other butterflies to keep them from snatching the throne away from us. But then, you may also ask, the other squads are also potential rivals so why are we uniting with them? My dear comrades-in-arms, it may be greatly selfish for me to say this but I would rather give away the trophy to another squad rather than see it in the hands of the Red Butterflies. Such is the hostility between the two squads, unfortunately. However, I am also aware that some, or okay, most, of the Red Butterfly folks are pleasant and not at all that bad. But as they had oh-so-indirectly proclaimed, this is war. Yes, they dared declare war against us, the Blue Butterflies. ( ﾟДﾟ)＜!!
Will we sit back and let them trample on our pride? No. We must fight back with all our might. ヽ(●-`Д´-)ノ
Now, we were thinking of waiting until a suitable amount of other opinions were given, but alas, an emergency has appeared---that of the form of a sole Red Butterfly making rounds throughout the club and tarnishing our image by accusing our goodwill and plans for an alliance as 'false' and 'lies'. That is why we must move quickly, and form a conclusion soon. This might be too sudden, but we plan on sending out the announcements/proclamations of alliance to the other squads as quickly as possible. Please check out the club's thread and give us your opinion on the matter. :)
(o´ω`o)ﾉ
Sincerely yours,
the officer of the Blue Butterflies,
Panda.
THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS BEING SENT TO ALL BLUE BUTTERFLIES SQUAD MEMBERS.
If you haven't visited the Club lately, the good news is that we, the Blue Butterflies, have won the first place for the month of January! However, this does not guarantee that we will snag the trophy for this month. That is why we need everyone's support! ヽ(＾▽＾)人(＾▽＾)人(＾▽＾)ﾉ
What support, you may ask? Every month, there are different games and contests for every one to participate and join. For example, we have the 'Idea's contest', the 'Valentine Word Drop', the 'Count to 1000' game, 'Guess Who' game, and the 'AMV of the Week'. The idea is to have fun while competing with the other squads! Making new friends, chatting, showcasing your talents(like the previous 'Banner-making contest', 'Pic & Write Competition' and 'New Years Competition'), and just having a good time.
For every game or contest you win, along with your prizes, the squad earns points and at the end of every month, all these points are tallied and the squad with the most points wins!
What do we get if we win the first place? Bragging rights, of course. Aside from having our rightful place in the club's layout, we are awarded a special trophy, plus the person who has earned the most points in each squad will be awarded a special mystery prize for being such a huge part of the team. That is why, visit the club now and join in the fun!
(◎｀・ω・´)人(´・ω・｀*)
Even just popping in every now and then and giving us moral support will help! Why not check out our thread right now and say hi?
Have no idea what squads are? Click here! Don't worry, you're in the Blue Butterflies!