Anime March Madness 2019: Round 2 (Sweet Sixteen)

Round one of our tournament has concluded and boy, did it get exciting! Thanks to everyone who chimed in, especially through Twitter and Facebook, expressing disgust, hopefulness, and just pure adulation for their favorites and at the matches. There was some anxiety, too—Why are these two going against each other?! was uttered more than once!

Check out these initial thoughts about the tournament and then scroll down to start voting in round two—the sweet sixteen of Anime March Madness.

  • A few Cinderellas have emerged—Toradora, who hasn’t performed particularly well in past tournaments, overthrew the three seed, One Piece, in a minor upset, while Cells at Work made quick work of Goblin Slayer, despite being slotted as an the underdog.
  • The biggest shocker, though, was Mob Psycho 100, an eight seed (lowest), dropping an upset on Haikyuu, which as far as I can tell, is the first time a number one seed has lost in the first round. Obviously, this prognosticator underestimated MP100, whose second season has been lit, and overvalued Haikyuu, which has been a middling performer in this tourney despite both critical acclaim and popularity (and with a new season in the works).
  • A number of exciting “buzzer” beaters punctuated this tournament, with former final four competitor Rurouni Kenshin slipping by Evangelion despite a late push from the blog readers and Food Wars defeating Gintama by less than 1% in a battle between perennial heavyweights.
  • Some stories to look out for: a return to form for Cowboy Bebop, which has twice made the final four; strong performances by Your Lie in April, Violet Evergarden, Fairy Tail, and One Punch Man; last year’s champion (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood) and runner-up (My Hero Academia) easily winning their matches; and The Ancient Magus Bride with the most dominating win of the opening round.
  • While the biggest story of the first round may have been the Haikyuu shocker, equally notable are losses by ERASED, which in two years has gone from finals runner-up to first round also ran, and Steins;gate, a two-time final four competitor that got KO’ed by Saitama this year.
  • And the leader so far in the bracket challenge is…ME! But I don’t count. I have 13 of 16 possible points; Tommy and Edward are tied for second right now with 11. And Ryan, I’m sorry, but with you picking Steins;gate to win…your bracket’s busted.

Below are the polls for round two. Voting will also be open on our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts, so make sure to check them out and follow us there as well.

Shounen / Popular Region

 

 

Critical Darlings Region

 

Staff Favorites Region

 

2018 Anime Region

 

Twwk
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12 thoughts on “Anime March Madness 2019: Round 2 (Sweet Sixteen)”

  1. Every year I know more of the competitors. Too bad that Lain won´t win, but I guess we would be living in a very different world if it did. Evergarden was my last series before Lent, and it was quite impressive. I liked both the last episode and the special a lot. Contrarily, I didn´t like Magus Bride as much as I thought I would from the first episodes, but it was remarkable in its own right. This is going to be interesting. Go Boku no Hero! Go Toradora!

  5. 🙂 🎊🎉you are the dancing queen,young and sweet,only 17!
    I am the dancing queen,young and sweet,almost 17! (My birthday is July 29th) and Wyatt’s birthday is October 10

  7. 🙂 I just saw this
    Can y’all pray for me to have a better day tomorrow? Because I didn’t have a good day today because Wyatt wasn’t at school today unfortunately for some reason and I didn’t have anyone to talk to at lunch because Rachel had a National Honors Society meeting.
    Yep she’s in National Honors Society!

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