Every single eligible anime of the season with at least 3000 members on MAL has been included in the contest, roughly doubling the number of participants compared to before
The contest will no longer have multiple rounds in a bracket format. Instead it will just be one big free-for-all round to decide everything. There will still be two entries posted per day, however every entry is competing against every other in the whole lineup. It is not just a direct head-to-head competition between the two themes in the same post, that is only for scheduling purposes. Don't try to simply compare the two of them against each other; judge every entry individually
When judging the entries, you should no longer simply vote for one or the other. Instead you should give a rating to both contestants
This is done by giving each entry a score on a 1-10 scale for both the audio and the video separately. Decimals are not allowed. For clarification, see the example post in the following section
At the end of the tournament, there will be three winners crowned. One for best average audio score, one for best average video score, and one for best average total score, where the latter can be considered the "true" bracket winner
Don't try to abuse the system. We will be keeping close tabs on everyone's votes in the tournament spreadsheet so we will easily notice if someone tries to forcibly give out 10/10s to one entry and 1/10s to everything else just to boost the chances of their favourite entry. The admins have the right to disqualify any such votes from the competition altogether
A new pair of entries will be showcased every day throughout the tournament's running and every group will remain open for voting for approximately 72 hours. We've increased the time every round remains open by 50% since with just one big round, you only have one opportunity per entry to speak your mind about it. However, it will not really affect the overall tournament schedule as the full competition will last about a month in total regardless
There will be a big data spreadsheet linked further down which anyone can open at any time to check on the current standings of the contestants and the tournament schedule
Example Post
Entry 1:
Audio - x/10
Video - y/10
Entry 2:
Audio - z/10
Video - t/10
Entry 3:
Audio - a/10
Video - b/10
Simply replace "Entry 1, 2, 3" with the titles of the anime you're judging and then input whatever numeric scores you feel like they deserve below instead of the symbols. Please make sure it is obvious who you are voting for.
Try to vote for the best opening/ending, not the best show.
Every round will run for roughly 72 hours-ish and new one gets posted every day.
If you notice any mistakes, please comment below. Some songs may be pitched/nightcored due copyright issues.
Seeds are shuffled.
Since some shows can have multiple openings/endings, we have decided to allow only the first one into the competition. It seems the best and the most fair solution. We want many different contestants rather than one show taking whole bracket.
Also, since there are many much more obscure shows included with the new tournament format, there is a chance that some themes might simply be impossible to find on the internet. If it turns out that we are unable to track down a copy of the entry for the purposes of the tournament then the contestant may have to be disqualified.
Kenja no Mago | OP:
Audio: 5/10 (and a low one at that)
Video: 6/10
Kimetsu no Yaiba | OP:
Audio: 7/10 (fucking finally, a good song in this garbage dump of a line-up! High 7)
Video: 7/10 (feels a bit bog standard and the sequence in the middle is atrocious stills, but everything else works well with some cool stylistic shake-ups and generally good production values to keep it above mediocrity. The effects in the chorus nearly brought it to an 8.)
Kono Oto Tomare! | OP:
Audio: 4/10
Video: 6/10 (A low one at that)
Kenja no Mago | OP:
Audio - 4/10
Video - 3/10
This is the first season I've done so many of these OP ratings, and all these upbeat pop songs are starting to bleed together. The video starts on a naked guy flying down from the sky and remains equally stupid from there. The stupid actually makes the show funnier, I swear, but doesn't really help it on the OP front
Kimetsu no Yaiba | OP:
Audio - 9/10
Video - 8/10
Finally a good song. The flat 2D water effects look somewhat better in the OP where every show has more stylistic elements, but I still can't get used it. The beginning and last few seconds look gorgeous though.
Kono Oto Tomare! | OP:
Audio - 7/10
Video - 7/10
I like the driving beat and melody, but the vocal quality just lacks a little something that would push this over the top. The video is very...standard school drama-ish, but it doesn't rely on stills and flows from scene to scene in a logical manner, so I guess it works?
Kenja no Mago:
Audio - 3/10 (Sounds like just another run of the mill idol song)
Video - 3/10 (This looks like an ED honestly...)
Kimetsu no Yaiba:
Audio - 9/10
Video - 7/10 (Nothing special in particular but the great animation and the stylish effects in the chorus nailed it for me)
Kono Oto Tomare!:
Audio - 4/10 (Not really my style. I prefer the ED of this show)
Video - 5/10
"Blood and rain mixed with broken dreams flow together along the curb,
But even in the darkest corners of misery the roses bloom at sunset"
THIS IS THE SHEER MIGHT OF BIAS. Well, tbf, the OP is pretty terrible imo. I thought that "Bouken mo" line was "Pokemon" for way too long.
Kimetsu no Yaiba | OP:
Audio - 7/10
Video - 8/10
Well... it's just a slightly heavy sounding LiSA I guess. Video switches between serious aesthetic and weird comedy. I'm sure it has something to do with the series but meh in practice. Or maybe they allocated more of the budget to the latter half of the OP (which is smashing btw).
Kono Oto Tomare! | OP:
Audio - 9/10
Video - 7/10
I love this song honestly. It feels like everything in it should be out of place with each other but it just works y'know? Also it has everything but the koto (it even had a harp in it x'D) Video reminds me of Tsurune in some parts actually. It's very varied, bit like the song, but not so sure it worked quite as well. Regretted rewatching it for fair judging because unintentional spoilers too... oh well.
@HaXXspetten Lol so for Day 5 I was sleep-deprived last night. The first post contains my actual scores. The second post for some reason I forgot I already posted, started a new reply by copying someone else's as the base outline, thought I finished reviewing, and posted. Didn't even realize I posted twice until you pointed it out XD