I. Header

i. Introduction.

A. This page contains all the rules and regulations for the International Saimoe League (hereto after abbreviated as ISML) 2009, including but not limited to procedures and penalties.

B. This page was last updated 1 January 2009, Revision F.

ii. Disclaimers Concerning Rule Interpretation and Tentativeness.

A. All rulings refer to this rules page and will be interpreted by only the ISML Staff.

B. All rules are subject to change upon the administrator's discretion.

II. Prerequisites

i. Candidate Requirements.

A. A Candidate is defined as a female character from any Japanese animation (anime) series.

B. Candidates are eligible to enter this League if and only if the following conditions are met:

1. The Candidate must represent an anime series.

2. The Candidate must represent an anime series that is not rated 18+.

a. Candidates representing anime depicting pornography or hentai cannot be nominated.

b. If the Candidate represents multiple anime series, she must represent a series that is not rated 18+.

3. No limitations exist as to the airdate or length of an anime series. TV series, Original Animation/Animated Videos (OAV), Original Video/Visual Animations (OVA), and movies will be accepted as suitable anime series to be represented as long as the ISML Staff can confirm their existence.

C. All Candidates will undergo a background check.

1. If the proposed Candidate is not female and does not exhibit female-like qualities, he or she will fail background check.

2. If the proposed Candidate does not have a name or a proper method of universal identification, he or she will fail background check.

3. If the proposed Candidate does not have sufficient air time within the anime represented, he or she will fail background check.

4. If there is insufficient information during the procedures of background check, the proposed Candidate will fail background check.

5. All rulings regarding background check will be determined by only the ISML Staff.

ii. Candidate Eligibility.

A. Because of the limited resource availability for a round-robin tournament, only sixty-four Candidates will participate in ISML each year until a plan to expand or decrease the number of Candidates is initiated.

B. ISML 2009 will have maximum forty-eight automatic qualifications or "bids."

1. Candidates MUST pass background check in order to be eligible for an automatic qualification or automatic entry, as determined by Section II, Subsection i.

2. Candidates who have completed one of the following requirements will be eligible for an automatic entry. An automatic entry is defined as a priority bid for an automatic qualification. Qualifications in order of priority are listed as follows.

a. Candidates listed in the ISML 2008 Top 16.

b. Candidates who have won a Necklace in the ISML competition of the previous year, provided that they have obtained at least the equivalent point value of thirty-two wins minus one point in a regular season.

c. Candidates who have won or tied in a match in Korea Best Moe 2008, Round of 16, also defined as Round 7.

d. Candidates who have won or tied in a Group Final match in the Anime Saimoe Tournament of Japan, 2008.

e. Candidates who have won or tied in a match in Korea Super Best Moe 2008, Round 5 (Victors' 8) or Round 7 (Final Repechage Round).

f. Candidates who have obtained at least the equivalent point value of thirty-two wins minus one point in the regular season in the ISML competition of the previous year, provided that they have not met one of the preceding five requirements.

3. If the total number of automatic entries exceeds forty-eight, then an order of priority among the requirements above, in order of a ranking system determined by the ISML Staff, will commence until a total of forty-eight automatic qualifications are determined.

C. A preliminary nomination round, as determined by Section III, Subsections i and ii, will be held to determine the remaining Candidates. The number of nominations available is defined as the number of automatic qualifications subtracted from sixty-four.

III. League Procedures

i. Nomination System.

A. The nomination system uses a weighted system. Voters will nominate accordingly by strength of their nominations.

1. Voters are NOT allowed to nominate a Candidate who has already qualified for the League via requirements listed in Section II, Subsection ii, Rule B.

2. Voters are allowed to nominate up to eight Candidates, allocating to each Candidate one of the following point values at their discretion: ten (10), eight (8), six (6), five (5), four (4), three (3), two (2), and one (1). Each point value may be used only once.

3. If voters choose to nominate fewer than eight Candidates, the point values that are not allocated will be forfeited. No unused points may be redistributed to other Candidates.

B. Each voter can nominate once and only once.

1. A voter may exercise his or her right to change a nomination by contacting a member of the ISML Staff by e-mail, providing his or her IP address within the e-mail with the revised submissions.

2. If many similar, if not exact, nominations from a particular range of IP addresses exist, the set of IP addresses and the voter(s) sending the ballots will be banned from the ISML competition at ISML Staff discretion.

ii. Preliminary Round Procedures.

A. Upon conclusion of the nomination stage, all points will be tallied, and all Candidates nominated will undergo background check. After all points are tallied, the forty-eight Candidates who pass background check and have the most points will move on to the preliminary rounds. If a tie for 48th place exists in the standings, a tiebreaker match will take place to determine the forty-eight Candidates eligible for the preliminary round.

B. The Candidates will then be divided into four even groups. Beginning with the third Monday of January and continuing every Thursday and Monday as necessary, voting for each group will proceed for a twenty-four-hour period. At the end of the voting period, the Candidates with the most votes in each group will earn an entry to the regular season as explained in Section III, Subsection iii. The remaining Candidates will be reseeded using statistical formulae as determined by the ISML Staff and the process will repeat until all entries are filled.

1. Each voter may vote only once per group each period, and for only one Candidate in each group.

a. A voter may exercise his or her right to change a vote by contacting a member of the ISML Staff by e-mail, providing his or her IP address with the revised submissions.

b. If many votes for one Candidate from a particular range of IP addresses exist, the set of IP addresses and the voter(s) sending the ballots will be banned from the ISML competition at ISML Staff discretion.

2. Should less than four entries become available, the ISML Staff reserve the right to determine the number of groups in the final preliminary round as well as the number of Candidates in each group.

iii. Regular Season Procedures.

A. A Match is defined as a standard HTML polling system of voting between two Candidates and an option to abstain from voting.

B. The sixty-four Candidates that have been automatically entered via the eligibility requirements listed in Section II, Subsection ii, Rule B, or via the nomination and preliminary system explained in Section III, Subsection ii, will then take part in a round-robin tournament consisting of sixty-three Rounds.

C. Each Candidate will face the other sixty-three Candidates in one head-to-head regulation Match per Round. Each Candidate will face all other Candidates once each.

1. Regulation Matches will last for a total of no less than twenty-four hours. If an internal voting problem exists, regulation Matches may receive a time extension at ISML Staff discretion.

2. The regulation Matches will be decided solely by the number of votes received from the voters. The number of votes received will be saved to a database to address standing tiebreakers.

3. If a Candidate has more votes than her opposing Candidate, the Candidate will record a win and the opposing Candidate will record a loss.

4. If two Candidates have an equal number of votes, the result is a draw, and one attempt to decide the winner will follow in the form of an overtime Match.

a. The overtime Match will consist of only the regulation matches whose end result is a draw.

b. Votes accumulated in an overtime Match will not be registered into the standings database.

c. At the end of the overtime Match, the Candidate with more votes will record an overtime win. The Candidate with fewer votes will record an overtime loss. If both Candidates have the same number of votes, the end result is a draw with no second attempt to decide the winner.

D. A standings system will be set in place in order to rank the Candidates by their performances and their results. The standings system is defined by a number of tiebreakers.

1. The utmost priority in the standings system, also known as Tiebreaker 0, is determined by a Candidate's number of League Points. League Points are defined as follows:

a. A resulting win results in three (3) points.

b. A resulting loss results in zero (0) points.

c. A resulting overtime win results in two (2) points.

d. A resulting overtime loss results in one (1) point.

e. A resulting draw results in one-and-a-half (1.5) points.

2. Tiebreaker 1 is determined by a Candidate's number of wins.

3. Tiebreaker 2 is determined by a Candidate's number of overtime wins.

4. Tiebreaker 3, also known as the Head-to-Head matchup, is determined by the respective match winner of two Candidates with matching Tiebreakers 0, 1, and 2.

5. The following formulae are known as the Strength of Schedule formula and will be used for the next two tiebreakers.

a. The Strength of Schedule Formula is defined as taking the total number of wins multiplied by three plus the total number of overtime wins, finalized draws, and overtime losses. The resulting value is defined as "Strength of Schedule."

b. Tiebreaker 4, also known as the Strength of Schedule of Defeated Opponents, is determined by the total Strength of Schedule of all of a Candidate's outright defeated opponents. An "outright defeated opponent" is defined as an opponent defeated without the need of an overtime Match.

c. Tiebreaker 5, also known as the Strength of Schedule of all Opponents, is determined by the total Strength of Schedule of all of a Candidate's opponents.

6. Tiebreaker 6, also known as the Vote Differential, is determined by the sum of a Candidate's votes received minus the sum of the respective Candidate's votes against.

7. Tiebreaker 7 is determined by the total of a Candidate's votes received.

8. Tiebreaker 8 will be determined by the ISML Staff.

E. The regular season will be divided into seven Periods of nine Rounds each. In addition to the cumulative standings system, a Period standings system will be in effect for each of the seven Periods. At the end of each Period, the highest ranked Candidate via the Period standings system will receive a Necklace and be declared the winner of that Period.

F. On days when a regulation Match will take place, the voting form will contain thirty-two Matches. Each Candidate will be featured in one respective Match. Only one "Submit" button will be present per voting form for submission.

1. All voters must mark a decisions among Candidate A, Candidate B, or Abstain for all thirty-two Matches before submitting the voting form via the "Submit" button. Once a vote is submitted, the voter will not be able to change votes.

a. The ballot submitted to the server will contain the voter's IP address and the date and time submitted in addition to the combination of the voter's selections.

b. If a voter wishes to request a voting change on a ballot, the voter must send his or her IP address along with the change in selection for the desired Matches to [email protected].

2. All voters must vote for a Candidate in a designated number of arenas, as listed below.

a. On a voting form containing thirty-two regulation matches, a voter must vote for a Candidate in at least eight matches. In other words, a voter is allowed to abstain from a maximum of twenty-four matches.

b. For all other voting forms, a voter must vote for a Candidate in at least one match.

3. Voters are allowed one and only one vote per IP address. Voters may use one and only one IP address per Round to vote. Failure to comply with this statement will result in a temporary or permanent probation or ban from the ISML competition at ISML Staff discretion.

a. If a voter uses a proxy to change IP addresses in order to vote more than once, the corresponding votes will be removed and the voter will be banned from the ISML competition.

b. If a voter disconnects and reconnects to his or her Internet Service Provider to obtain a different IP address in order to vote more than once, the range of IP addresses that are obtained will be placed on probation. Repeated offenses will result in a temporary ban at ISML Staff discretion.

iv. Postseason Procedures.

A. At the end of the regular season, the sixteen top-ranked Candidates via the cumulative standings system explained in Section III, Subsection iii, will take part in the postseason, which will be held within four to five weeks after the end of the final regular season Match.

1. All matches occurring in the postseason will follow the regulations stated in Section III, Subsection iii, Rule C, with an amendment on Rule III.iii.C.4.c as stated below.

2. At the end of an overtime Match, should one occur within the postseason, if both Candidates have the same number of votes, the Candidate who won the respective match between the two Candidates in the regular season will be declared the winner. If the respective match between the two Candidates in the regular season resulted in a draw, the Candidate with the higher rank in the regular season standings system explained in Section III, Subsection iii, Rule D will be declared the winner.

B. The sixteen Candidates will initially take part in a standard double-elimination tournament.

1. All sixteen Candidates will be seeded accordingly by rank via the standings system explained in Section III, Subsection iii, Rule D.

2. For the preliminary round, Candidates will be matched accordingly by rank in the following order: 1 vs. 16, 8 vs. 9, 5 vs. 12, 4 vs. 13, 6 vs. 11, 3 vs. 14, 7 vs. 10, 2 vs. 15.

3. Candidates will then progress through the winners' bracket and the losers' brackets accordingly.

a. Candidates who win the preliminary round will take part in the winners' bracket and will progress further until she has lost a match. Candidates who lose a match in the winners' bracket will be placed into the losers' bracket. The last remaining Candidate in the winners' bracket will be the champion of the winners' bracket.

b. Candidates who lose the preliminary round will take part in the losers' bracket and will progress further until she has lost a match. Candidates who lose a match in the losers' bracket will be eliminated from the double-elimination tournament. The last remaining Candidate in the losers' bracket will be the champion of the losers' bracket.

c. The champion of the winners' bracket and the champion of the losers' bracket will take part in the final championship match. Should the losers' bracket champion lose the final championship match, she will be eliminated from the double-elimination tournament. Should the winners' bracket champion lose the final championship match, a rematch of the final championship match will take place, and the loser of this rematch will be eliminated from the double-elimination tournament.

4. At the end of the postseason, when only one Candidate is remaining in the double-elimination tournament, the Candidate will be declared the champion of ISML 2009.

C. The final ranking system for the postseason will be determined by a Candidate's progression through the double-elimination tournament.

1. The Candidate declared the champion of the International Saimoe League 2009 will receive a final ranking of first place.

2. The Candidate on the losing end of the final championship match will receive a final ranking of second place.

3. The Candidate eliminated from the double-elimination tournament in the losers' bracket sixth round will receive a final ranking of third place.

4. The Candidate eliminated from the double-elimination tournament in the losers' bracket fifth round will receive a final ranking of fourth place.

5. The two Candidates eliminated from the double-elimination tournament in the losers' bracket fourth round will face each other in a fifth-place consolation match. The winner will receive a final ranking of fifth place, and the loser will receive a final ranking of sixth place.

6. The two Candidates eliminated from the double-elimination tournament in the losers' bracket third round will face each other in a seventh-place consolation match. The winner will receive a final ranking of seventh place, and the loser will receive a final ranking of eighth place.

7. The four Candidates eliminated from the double-elimination tournament in the losers' bracket second round will take part in a seeded single-elimination tournament.

a. The highest seeded Candidate will face the lowest seeded Candidate in the first match, and the other two Candidates will face each other in the second match.

b. The winners of the first and the second matches will face each other in a ninth-place consolation match, and the losers of the first and the second matches will face each other in an eleventh-place consolation match.

c. The winner of the ninth-place consolation match will receive a final ranking of ninth place. The loser of the ninth-place consolation match will receive a final ranking of tenth place.

d. The winner of the eleventh-place consolation match will receive a final ranking of eleventh place. The loser of the eleventh-place consolation match will receive a final ranking of twelfth place.

8. The four Candidates eliminated from the double-elimination tournament in the losers' bracket first round will take part in a seeded single-elimination tournament.

a. The highest seeded Candidate will face the lowest seeded Candidate in the first match, and the other two Candidates will face each other in the second match.

b. The winners of the first and the second matches will face each other in a thirteenth-place consolation match, and the losers of the first and the second matches will face each other in a fifteenth-place consolation match.

c. The winner of the thirteenth-place consolation match will receive a final ranking of thirteenth place. The loser of the thirteenth-place consolation match will receive a final ranking of fourteenth place.

d. The winner of the fifteenth-place consolation match will receive a final ranking of fifteenth place. The loser of the fifteenth-place consolation match will receive a final ranking of sixteenth place.

D. All rules in Section III, Subsection iii, Rule F will apply for the postseason rounds.

IV. Legal

i. Disclaimers.

A. The International Saimoe League is a non-profit organization and therefore does not seek any substantial increase in revenue. All voting is free of charge. Cases may exist where monetary donations will be requested from voters and participants for technical and operational purposes, but the decision of donation and the amount to donate will be left at the discretion of all voters and participants. Those decisions will not be forced by the International Saimoe League in any form or matter.

B. The genuine accuracy of all forms of outside information, including but not limited to biography information, Saimoe histories, and copyright information, is not guaranteed to be fully accurate. Therefore, the International Saimoe League, its staff, and its owners, cannot be held legally liable for any harm caused by the use or misuse of information contained within the pages located on the www.internationalsaimoe.com domain.

C. The names of all Candidates as well as the anime series they represent do not in any way belong to the International Saimoe League. All copyrights belong to their respective owners as listed below.

1. Names from the following title series are copyrighted by Kyoto Animation Co., Ltd.

a. CLANNAD

b. Suzumiya Haruhi no Yūutsu

c. Kanon

d. Lucky Star

e. Full Metal Panic!

2. Names from the following title series are copyrighted by Shaft, Inc.

a. Negima?!

b. Hidamari Sketch

c. Sayōnara Zetsubō Sensei

3. Names from the following title series are copyrighted by Studio Deen Co., Ltd.

a. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni

b. Fate/stay night

4. Names from the following title series are copyrighted by Nomad, Inc.

a. Rozen Maiden

b. sola

5. Names from the following title series are copyrighted by Oriental Light and Magic Incorporated.

a. Utawarerumono

b. ToHeart2

6. Names from the following title series are copyrighted by MADHOUSE Ltd.

a. Strawberry Panic

b. Cardcaptor Sakura

7. Names from the following title series are copyrighted by J.C.Staff Co., Ltd.

a. Shakugan no Shana

b. Zero no Tsukaima

8. Names from the title series Hayate no Gotoku! are copyrighted by SynergySP, Ltd.

9. Names from the title series Mahō Shōjo Lyrical Nanoha are copyrighted by Seven Arcs Corporation.

10. Names from the title series ARIA the Animation are copyrighted by Hal Film Maker.

11. Names from the title series BAMBOO BLADE are copyrighted by Anime International Company Inc.

12. Names from the title series Code Geass are copyrighted by SUNRISE Inc.

13. Names from the title series Kamichu! are copyrighted by Aniplex Inc.

14. Names from the title series Minami-ke are copyrighted by Doumu Inc. and Asread Inc.

15. Names from the title series School Rumble are copyrighted by Studio Comet.

16. Names from the title series Ōkami to Kōshinryō are copyrighted by Imagin Co., Ltd.

17. Names from the title series Tsubasa Chronicle are copyrighted by BEE TRAIN Production Inc.

18. Names from the title series To Love-Ru are copyrighted by Xebec Inc.

D. Vote-checking after each match will be conducted by the ISML Staff on a regular basis. The ISML Staff does not, will not, and cannot show any favoritism to any Candidate during the vote-checking process. All results are unofficial until 24 hours after the respective regulation or overtime Match is closed, and they are therefore open to appeal within that time period, in which case the ISML Staff will repeat the vote checking process and make any adjustments. All appeals must be sent in via a written argument by e-mail to [email protected]. Once a result is official, the ISML Staff cannot be held legally liable for any possible adjustments to the final result.

E. While the ISML Staff will attempt to enforce Rule F in Section III, Subsection iii as strictly as possible, situations may occur where not all votes in violation of Rule F will be detected by the ISML Staff or where voters banned for violations of Rule F discover alternate methods to submit votes. The ISML Staff will work to the best of their ability to minimize the occurrence of these situations.

F. All Matches are tentatively scheduled to begin at 0000 GMT on a predetermined date. All dates and times are tentative. The ISML Staff reserve the right to change a date and proposed time for each and every Match. All changes will be announced prior to the original starting time of the proposed match in question.

G. The purpose of the International Saimoe League is to attempt to present a fair system of Matches such that Candidates can have a chance to compete against all other Candidates. While the fairness and parity of the overall schedule is guaranteed, the fairness and parity of each respective Period is not. The ISML Staff have assured their best, honest, and virtuous effort to arrange a respectively even Strength of Schedule for all Candidates without bias or favoritism or discrimination and therefore cannot be held legally liable for giving any Candidate an imbalanced period schedule.