ISML 2016: Gilgamesh Delivers Upset Of The Round Over Gintoki

ISML 2016: Gilgamesh Delivers Upset Of The Round Over Gintoki

By Jo-Ryan Salazar
The Bedlam on Baltic Avenue
October 1, 2016

Match Day 6 of the 2016 International Saimoe League Emerald Period is in the books. In the Female Division, Rikka Takanashi defeated Yuuki Konno 1561-1059, Shiro rolled past Utaha Kasumigaoka 1546-1091, Yukino Yukinoshita routed Kongou 1639-998, Chiyo Sakura whipped past Nadeko Sengoku 1506-1083, Illyasviel von Einzbern slaughtered Shimakaze 1644-928, Marika Tachibana prevailed over Sora Kasugano 1335-1204, Rin Tosaka hammered Inori Yuzuriha 1504-1089 and Megumi Katou throttled Yuri Nakamura 1443-1235.

In the Male Division, Korosensei crushed Shizuo Heiwajima 1378-911, Rentarou Satomi shot down Rito Yuuki 1248-854, Izayoi Sakamaki trounced Ikki Kurogane 1276-750, Gilgamesh handled Gintoki Sakata in the 1174-1102 Upset of the Round, Edward Elric prevailed over Ryuunosuke Akasaka 1267-1137, Yato blew apart Yuuji Sakai 1309-872, Saika Totsuka defeated Kosei Arima 1289-1004 and Saitama punched Adlet Mayer 1574-665.

In Divine Circlet action, Yui Hirasawa rocked Kotori Minami 1331-1139 and Eriri Sawamura Spencer won the closest race of the round, a 1219-1154 thriller over Reina Kousaka.

Match Day 1 of the 2016 ISML Ruby Period is scheduled for October 3, 2016. This will be the only match day in the period where there are predictions. Otherwise, all match days will include roundups. In any case, vote for your favorites at InternationalSaimoe.com and join the ongoing debate and keep it right here on The Bedlam on Baltic Avenue for continuing coverage of the 2016 International Saimoe League, the world's premier anime character competition!

Emerald Day 6 Standings

Female Group 1

RankNamePointsWinsLosesDrawsVFVAVDCVPGroup
1Aoyama Nanami9.00003004620349611247.44391
2Yui-nyan6.832121039954091-966.77531
3Yatogami Tōka4.697812037894219-4306.89741
4Shirai Kuroko2.625203037714369-5986.67761

Female Group 2

RankNamePointsWinsLosesDrawsVFVAVDCVPGroup
1Shiro9.00003004695329813978.27322
2Takanashi Rikka6.8734210420937704397.35562
3Kasumigaoka Utaha4.622512038584065-2076.68042
4Konno Yūki1.990203031374766-16295.82332

Female Group 3

RankNamePointsWinsLosesDrawsVFVAVDCVPGroup
1Tokisaki Kurumi9.00003005215287423418.74853
2Oshino Shinobu6.8452210433835128267.20683
3Sakagami Tomoyo4.293212035834238-6556.15003
4Shirayuki1.562003025305042-25125.66163

Female Group 4

RankNamePointsWinsLosesDrawsVFVAVDCVPGroup
1Yukinoshita Yukino9.00003004869316117088.54514
2Sakura Chiyo6.7876210415237364167.84164
3Kongō4.396912034674276-8096.30264
4Sengoku Nadeko2.178003032374552-13156.74044

Female Group 5

RankNamePointsWinsLosesDrawsVFVAVDCVPGroup
1Jibril9.00003004709325814518.29745
2Nibutani Shinka6.7866210412139651567.05325
3Yoshino4.8410120415738722857.34705
4Hiiragi Shinoa1.853203029704862-18926.15245

Female Group 6

RankNamePointsWinsLosesDrawsVFVAVDCVPGroup
1Illyasviel von Einzbern9.00003004883304518388.45156
2Tachibana Marika6.674221037994031-2326.43116
3Shimakaze4.450512034154254-8395.97376
4Kasugano Sora2.507603034674234-7676.20046

Female Group 7

RankNamePointsWinsLosesDrawsVFVAVDCVPGroup
1Aragaki Ayase9.00003004454343210227.56567
2Hikigaya Komachi6.9771210432335567676.92027
3Yūdachi4.359812033744310-9366.89637
4Victorique de Blois2.430903034254278-8536.67807

Female Group 8

RankNamePointsWinsLosesDrawsVFVAVDCVPGroup
1Tōsaka Rin9.0000300439136457467.89388
2Katō Megumi6.9385210414538253207.14358
3Nakamura Yuri4.692512039234141-2186.79428
4Yuzuriha Inori2.418703034904338-8486.54378

Male Group 1

RankNamePointsWinsLosesDrawsVFVAVDCVPGroup
1Korosensei9.00003004313262216916.87381
2Satomi Rentarō6.648121033363302345.98451
3Heiwajima Shizuo4.549412031563545-3895.45921
4Yūki Rito2.032303026443980-13364.51261

Male Group 2

RankNamePointsWinsLosesDrawsVFVAVDCVPGroup
1Yukihira Sōma9.00003004307259117167.14092
2Itsuka Shidō6.8072210384832256236.83492
3L Lawliet4.582012034703476-66.19592
4Ōji Mochizō1.475203022034536-23334.20532

Male Group 3

RankNamePointsWinsLosesDrawsVFVAVDCVPGroup
1Sakamaki Izayoi9.0000300373829497896.87783
2Gilgamesh6.9304210359532953006.61713
3Sakata Gintoki4.796012034543358966.11903
4Kurogane Ikki2.075503026653850-11855.38033

Male Group 4

RankNamePointsWinsLosesDrawsVFVAVDCVPGroup
1Otonashi Yuzuru9.00003004901233725648.48664
2Emiya Shirō6.83582104261283914227.30024
3Kurosaki Ichigo3.794312023374308-19714.42204
4Zen Wistalia1.778403022944309-20154.54134

Male Group 5

RankNamePointsWinsLosesDrawsVFVAVDCVPGroup
1Edward Elric9.0000300380231466566.99125
2Yato6.9753210367031395316.64925
3Akasaka Ryūnosuke4.800112035653494715.78305
4Sakai Yūji2.061203027474005-12584.88975

Male Group 6

RankNamePointsWinsLosesDrawsVFVAVDCVPGroup
1Kamijō Tōma9.00003004392293914537.71236
2Emiya Kiritsugu6.88292104157313010277.38496
3Mikoshiba Mikoto4.323712031523987-8355.49316
4Aki Tomoya1.929203027034348-16454.96056

Male Group 7

RankNamePointsWinsLosesDrawsVFVAVDCVPGroup
1Saitama9.00003004199285113486.44167
2Totsuka Saika6.8777210396930229476.84487
3Arima Kōsei4.566512033273433-1066.05647
4Adlet Mayer1.529103022024391-21894.01737

Male Group 8

RankNamePointsWinsLosesDrawsVFVAVDCVPGroup
1Sora9.00003004984235626288.34098
2Togashi Yūta6.565621036003646-466.72628
3Maō Sadao4.550712033603632-2726.10518
4Tōyama Kinji1.561703022984608-23104.78528

Western Bulldogs: 2016 AFL Premiers



If you were going to take 60 years to win a premiership, and you wanted to make it a premiership worth 60 years of waiting,  how would you script it?

Here's one way.

You could start two years beforehand with a crisis that led to the captain and coach leaving the club. You could replace the coach with a rookie called Luke Beveridge whose chief claim to fame was a couple of premierships in the amateurs and a stint in security in the public service.

You could replace the captain with a heart-and-soul veteran called Bob Murphy who in the season in question would do his knee and not play again after round three. You could put him out on the ground on grand final day anyway, because as sure as eggs, he was. I don't mean after the game, but during it. Surely you could see it. You could have it that he had his matchday guernsey on under his jacket all day.

You could survive a rash of injuries to other players besides, and finish seventh on the ladder, from where no-one has won a premiership before, and put yourself in a position where you had to win four finals in a row, starting with one in Perth.

You could win, and two, and three, gathering momentum as you go, and sweeping your hometown up along with you, and a lot of incidentals and casuals besides. You could turn the grand final, which it might easily be forgotten is just a game of football, into a kind of morality play. You could write it so that at the end of the day, everyone felt a little bit better about footy.

Even your opponents might come around to that point of view eventually, for this was a rare grand final day on which it was possible to barrack for one team and not against the other. You could, without giving offence to the Swans, make it that good guys win.

When it was done, and you'd stopped pinching yourself and slapping your own face, and the time came to divide the spoils, you could have that coach call up to the podium that maimed skipper and as 100,000 are your witness, hand over his premiership medallion, saying something like: "This is yours, mate. You deserve it more than anyone." Then he would also hand over joint responsibility with the stand-in captain for receiving and raising that mythical cup.

You'd have to write in a pause here, for tears and tissues, and _ why not? ­_ a beer.

Impossible, yes? A fable, yes? Well, why not give it a few more twists?  Why not pair yourself in the grand final with the Sydney Swans, the minor premier, the team that that is always there, the gold standard when it comes to finals style footy, the team whose captain, Kieren Jack, no-one could doubt at the end when he said:  "We didn't get the job done, but we're coming back. We're going nowhere."

Why not make it that you engage them on titanic terms for three-and-a-half quarters, and every now and then have them look as if  they might be about to shrug you off, and send shivers up all spines at the crucial moment early in the last quarter when Lance Franklin shapes a goal from 50 metres that reduces the margin to a point, and seems to presage a winning Swans surge?

Why not massage the script so that you match the Swans in what they do well, ferocity at the fall of the ball, and add something they don't, fleetness of foot and a preparedness to use it? Why not make it the sort of game in which every good turn deserved another, and every tackle, too, and in the third quarter have it that both teams find extra reserves of strength, as men in mortal danger do?

Why not now cast some improbable heroes? One could be, say, Tom Boyd, a lump of a lad who you poached from Greater Western Sydney in that crisis moment, really the president insisted and because you didn't want to be seen as a club that would accept to be pushed around, but who for two years you have found to be a bit of puzzle. Maybe he could grow through this final series, figuratively, but you would almost swear literally and on this day play his best match.



One could be Jason Johannisen, although you probably wouldn't given him that haircut. One  could be Liam Picken, son of a Collingwood great, but now with one over his dad, a premiership. Maybe it could be that he took four years to get onto a list, and spent most of his career since tagging, but was liberated by the new coach to play as a deadly forward?

One could be Dale Morris, a 33-yearold who the coach surely had in mind when he said this team was all heart, because for a dozen years it has leapt out of his chest so that he could play on and beat outsized opponents, and did again this day.

One could enigmatic Jake Stringer, who had only one decent moment for the day, but what a moment?

Why not, when the time came, link all these instant heroes in the final act? You could have it that in the centre of the MCG, Franklin is about to drive the Swans forward, but is tacked and dispossessed _ no-one strips Buddy Franklin _ by Morris, and ball tumbles free to Boyd, who tears up the playbook and thumps it forward and perhaps catches a gust of the crowd's urging tumbles and rolls through.

You could make it that just before that, Johannisen had kicked a goal that was overruled by a TV umpire because of a supposed touch on the goal-line, though everyone on both sides had accepted it and were in the centre for the next bounce. You could moralise here, about how a great grand final might have been ruined by a fatuous protocol. But it would be edited out.

You could have it that the Bulldogs beat the Swans at their own game. You could have it that exaltation on the boundary line and in the crowd looked like exactly it was, bursting with deliverance of 62 years. You'd have to leave a bit of space here, for more tears and cheers.

You could have the joy washing from one side of the MCG to the other, and back and forth across the change rooms, too, and not one player removing his guernsey _  because why would you ever take if off? _ and dozens of old players not bothering to hold back their tears and mouthing the theme of the week and the moment: "I never thought I'd see the day."

You could make it the best thing some old lags in the press box have ever seen in footy. You could even make it an AFL/VFL premiership double, like anyone has ever done that?

But who on earth would ever would you believe that any footy team could do all that?

The Bulldogs just did. They bloody well did. It's a fairytale, and even if the whole competition returns to normally programming next year, it will always be a fairytale.