Round 2 AB

9/21 Predictions:
Victorique and Gertrud. Victorique simply outclasses her mid-level opponents. Gertrud faces Sui and Ryuuko Mifune. Sui's win last round was right up there with classics like that one time they voted for a horse, but she's going to die of old age by the end of the match. Ryuuko is a scary competitor who obliterated her opponents on an otherwise quiet day, posting one of the highest percentages in round 1, but I expect Erio's loss to weaken her Denpa Onna factionmate. The Strike Witches have been solid this year, so Gertrud has an opportunity.

Results: Victorique wins, and Gertrud narrowly escapes Ryuuko by eight votes. Prediction Record: 2/2, 2/2 R2, 72/98 Total

9/22 Predictions:
Biribiri and Tenshi. Anything else would be considered an assassination. Lots of people would like one of those, but it's harder to pull them off in the second round, so we're not likely to see anything dangerous.

Update: Tsukasa has turned this into a real match. The curves are highly unnatural, so we can be certain that a great many votes are fake, but Tsukasa is consistently rising faster than Tenshi after the first hour. In the other match, Chaos is a big disappointment so far. The one-sidedness of that match lends support to the theory that Tsukasa is getting a steady river of fakes from one person, but Tenshi had better accelerate to her round 1 pace soon.

Results: Real votes and (fakes) in parentheses: Misaka 450(828), Tenshi 393(518), Tsukasa 217(563). Yes, hilariously, the fake votes had Tsukasa leading throughout the match and winning, but when the real votes were revealed, she was butchered in a landslide and posted far fewer votes than she did in round 1.

Amagami is looking weaker than before, and that's encouraging for Kurisutina. Chaos and Sora no Otoshimono were utterly humiliated, getting far fewer votes than expected. Tenshi's performance is as expected from a future group B finalist. Misaka was in fine form, ensuring that Victorique will head into round 3 as the underdog. Prediction Record: 2/2, 4/4 R2, 74/100 Total


9/23 Predictions:
Makise Kurisu and Erica Hartmann. Both matches are close and subject to upsets. Kurisu beat another Amagami girl by a small margin in round 1, so she should be able to accomplish the same task in this round and obtain "my round 3." Erica vs Lingyin pits Strike Witches against Infinite Stratos in a faction vs faction match. Erica had slightly better numbers in round 1 and Lingyin isn't the strongest IS girl, but IS has been on a winning streak and seems well organized, so this match could go either way.

Results: Za zombie is still alive, and Erica barely outmaneuvers Lingyin in a dogfight that came down to 3 votes. Prediction Record: 2/2, 6/6 R2, 76/102 Total

9/24 Predictions:
Lotte and Suzuha. Lotte is very strong, and even Tooru won't be able to stop her. The second match is tough to call. All three characters are questionable and this could be close. Suzuha had the best results in round 1 after accounting for Yuuko's extra vote volume due to the Tenshi match on the same day.

Results: Lotte wins by a large margin, and Suzuha wins by a small one, although Suzuha got one more vote than Lotte. Prediction Record: 2/2, 8/8 R2, 78/104 Total