I'm a little bit surprised at the final that will take place on the 2chan forums regarding this year's Anime Saimoe 2008 Tournament. It's gonna be a battle of the Hiiragi fraternal twins: Kagami vs. Tsukasa.

To be honest, I was hoping for Nagisa taking on Hinagiku, but I think that this final will confirm the relevance and importance of Lucky Star. To see these two meeting together for the final...it's gonna be amazing.

Too bad it's in Japanese. I'd like to know who the other contestants are. I'm sure an English translated version will be out after this has ended though but it'd be fun to have updates that closely follows the Japanese version time-wise.

http://saimoe2008.hp.infoseek.co.jp/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anime_Saimoe_Tournament

The top 8 results seems to indicate how much moe-ness plays a deciding factor in the voting outcome. But then, that was also the case in previous years' tournaments.

Other possible reasons could be:
01. Hype. Clannad and Lucky Star were riding on the popularity wave associated with KyoAni's recent works such as Suzumiya Haruhi, Air TV and Kanon 2008.
02. Pandering to the otaku masses. Lucky Star and Hayate no Gotoku had a lot of references made to other animes.

Lucky Star had both of the above + moe-ness on its side. So I guess it is somewhat to be expected. Now for the final, it'd be whether which moe-element trumps the other. Tsudere vs adorable clumsiness (anyone knows the japanese slang for this?)

I'm not sure what drove two Bamboo Blade characters into the last eight though besides the moe factor since I have never watched the anime.

They should have won yesterdaty = = too much cheats... but still good to see the win~