8th Seed Momiji Inubashiri (Touhou) VS 9th Seed Fio Germi (Metal Slug)
Momiji: 121 votes
Fio Germi: 109 votes
Momiji and Fate Tamamo both got to keep their meme pictures from round 1 throughout their entire tournament runs, due to those pictures just being so iconic and Powerful that using anything else to represent them in the polls would effectively be a nerf to their contest viability. And Momiji certainly had her work cut out for her in round 2, going up against the Metal Slug girl who easily defeated the other Touhou wolf girl of the tournament. However, while Kagerou is technically the more notable character in terms of game appearances, Momiji is such a beloved fan favorite that she proved to be in a whole different league.
The match started off neck-and-neck, and it stayed like that for a good while, with the score after 16 votes being 50-50. Momiji was however forcing Fio on the defensive, repeatedly trying to break away while the Italian girl had to fight desperately just to keep the match tied. At 28 votes, it was again 50-50, but it was only a matter of time before the wolf would strike, and eventually Momiji DID successfully take a clear lead and run with it, building a 7-vote surplus with no response from Fio whatsoever. The Italian girl did eventually wake up, but the damage was done and Team Awoo was firmly in the driver’s seat, even extending the lead further after fending off a Fio comeback attempt. And the lead just kept growing, with Fio being made to pay for what she did to Kagerou, and Momiji going up a stunning 60% to 40% after 67 votes.
After that, Fio’s wolf-hunting skills did however come into play, and she starting clawing herself back into the match, going on a ferocious push that brought the wolf down to 54%, then 53%, (only 5 votes now separating them), then she was suddenly only 2 votes behind, and then the match was 50-50 after 94 votes, before Fio took the lead! However, that was a far as Fio’s momentum was able to take her, as Momiji had a 51-49 lead at the 100 vote mark. Fio wasn’t completely out of ammo yet though, as she quickly erased that slim lead, tying the match up and then taking a 2 vote-lead herself, but she wasn’t able to hold that lead for long either, and after this final Italian offensive, Momiji’s popularity and her extremely enthusiastic fanbase really started making itself felt – the Awoo went on the offensive again, and rather quickly built up a 5-vote lead, which she slowly and methodically increased, until it had become outright insurmountable. Moreover, after a valiant effort by Fio fans, the fluffy tail frens were eventually dominating the match thread as well, and in the end Fio just wasn’t able to overcome Momiji’s meme magic, losing by 12 votes.
That said, this was still a good, close match, so close in fact that I can’t help but wonder if Fio would have won if the two had faced off in round 1 – the way she dispatched Kagerou was VERY impressive, and if the Italian could have gotten the chance to take on Momiji before the two Tamamos had fully mobilized the fluffy tail fanatics, and before Patchouli the master sorceress got the chance to give all the remaining Touhou girls stat buffs, she might just have had enough natural strength to get the job done. In the end though, both these girls were quite formidable, and while Fio lost, she went down guns blazing.
As for Momiji, she would be looking to avenge another Touhou girl in the quarterfinals, namely Remilia, but while Fio Germi had been a challenge, her next opponent Samus was seeming more like mission impossible, with the bounty hunter looking to truly get underway with her Touhou Shoah. Momiji would probably have to power up massively in order to even stand a chance against the Genocidal Aryan.
#BestVidyaGirlContest
