ISML 2020 Charter

The Annual Charter defines the values and limitations of and establishes a schedule for ISML. The Charter purposes to be the flexible aspect of ISML that complements the static Constitution. It aims to provide ISML with the ability to make the innovations necessary to remain entertaining each year.

  1. General Rules and Outline
    1. ISML 2020 will consist of: the Main Tournament (Section IV), the Tournament of Champions (Section XI), Seasonal Tournaments (Section XII), and Exhibition Matches (Section XIII).
    2. ISML 2020 will be held across a total of Fifty-nine (59) match days (excluding Nomination Phase). The amount of match days each phase of the tournament will take will be specified on Section XIV.
    3. A match day will consist of a voting phase and result announcement.
      1. Voting phase will be held as scheduled (see Section XIV) and will run for Twenty-Four (24) hours. Staff may extend this time if system errors prevent votes from being submitted during this period. All extensions will be reported on the Website.
      2. Voting will be held on https://www.internationalsaimoe.com/voting
      3. Detailed Policies and Procedures of voting phase are explained in Section II.
      4. Result for each match day will be announced approximately Thirty-Six (36) hours after the end of each voting phase, unless decided otherwise.
    4. As constituted by Article I Section 4 of the ISML Constitution, ISML Commissioner and delegated Technical Staff will preside over ISML 2020 during the course of its duration, with authorities and duties as described on the ISML Constitution. These two parties will be referred as one term "ISML Staff" in this charter.
  2. Voting Policies and Procedures
    1. The IP addresses of voters will be logged in order to verify ballot authenticity and voter uniqueness.
    2. Voters are obliged to obey the Policies stated in Article IV of the ISML Constitution.
      1. Voters may not submit multiple ballots in the same round.
      2. Voters may not submit ballots using proxy IPs.
      3. Voters may not engage in bribery, blackmail, aggressive intimidation, or similar unethical activities.
      4. Voters may not engage in any other activities forbidden by the laws of their respective country or domicile. ISML, our Commissioner, and all of our Staff are not responsible for the actions of our users.
    3. ISML Staff reserve the right to decide whether a violation of the procedures has or has not happened.
    4. ISML Staff reserve the right to exercise punishments to Parties that are deemed to have violated procedures as constituted on Article IV of the ISML Constitution.
    5. Voters may change their vote (if cast in error) by contacting the Staff by email at [email protected]. Vote change requests must include the IP address from which the vote was cast and/or the vote id given at the confirmation page when a ballot has been submitted (page after vote is sent), the original incorrect vote, and the requested new vote.
    6. Voters may abstain from any match in a given round, but a ballot must have a minimum number of votes to be considered valid. This value differs depending on the round and will be specified on each voting ballot.
  3. General Rules of Eligibility and Qualification
    1. Character eligibility will be checked according to Article III of the ISML Constitution.
    2. Consideration of female gender (for entry into Female Division or any other Female-based tournaments) includes: the character is female, possesses a female form (in which case only the instances when the character is female shall be considered), or must regularly exhibit feminine qualities when the character's gender is unknown or cannot be determined.
    3. Consideration of male gender uses the same qualification as Section III.B, except with regards to male and masculine characters.
    4. A character who qualifies as both male and female may enter one division only. The staff will consider the following points in their decision:
      1. The amount of screen time the character gets as each gender.
      2. The character's personal identity.
    5. ISML Staff reserve the right to deem any avatar-type character ineligible for the Main Tournament.
      1. We define "avatar" as any entity, virtual or otherwise, that is controlled by a distant conscience.
      2. An avatar may be eligible in the following cases:
        1. His/her status as an avatar has not been revealed in the anime adaptation.
        2. The character only appears as an avatar; i.e., the controlling conscience is never revealed or does not have a corporeal form.
        3. The avatar gains, or regains, his/her own individual conscience.
    6. Qualification for the Main Tournament will take precedence over all other tournaments except Tournament of Champions (see Section XI.D).
  4. Main Tournament
    1. The Main Tournament will consist of Preliminary Period, Seeding Matches, a series of Group Stages, and Postseason Elimination Stage.
    2. The Main Tournament will follow schedule as explained on this website unless decided otherwise (see Section XIV).
    3. The Main Tournament will be divided into two Divisions: the Female Division and the Male Division.
      1. The Main Tournament's format and schedule are identical for both Divisions.
    4. Characters participating in either Division are known as Contestants.
      1. To be eligible for the Main Tournament, a character must have first appeared before 31 December 2019. Any character data occurred after said date are not eligible for the Main Tournament.
      2. Participants of each Division will be selected following the result of Nomination Phase that will be held prior to the Main Tournament (Section VI).
    5. Across the duration of the Main Tournament, Seven (7) Gem Necklaces/Pendants will be distributed to the Contestants who are deemed to have performed the best on each phase of the Group Stages.
      1. The names of the gems are: Aquamarine, Topaz, Amethyst, Sapphire, Emerald, Ruby, and Diamond.
      2. The mechanism that will be used to distribute the Gem Necklaces/Pendants will be ruled on Section IX.
    6. At the end of the Main Tournament, the winner of the Female Division will be awarded the Heavenly Tiara and the winner of the Male Division will be awarded the Champion's Scepter, and both will be declared as Champions of ISML 2020.
  5. Automatic Qualification
    1. The Two (2) finalists from each of the ISML 2019 Seasonal Tournament are permitted entry into the ISML 2020 Main Tournament. This is a total of Eight (8) entrants.
    2. Any winner of a 2019 Necklace or Pendant is permitted entry into the ISML 2020 Main Tournament, provided he/she is not participating in the Tournament of Champions. This is a maximum of Twelve (12) additional entrants.
    3. All contestants who qualify via these two methods will receive rankings above participants who qualify via nomination count for the initial Preliminary Period.
  6. Nomination Phase
    1. The Nomination Phase lasts Seven (7) days (see Section XIV).
    2. The Female Division, Male Division, Winter, and Spring Seasonal Tournaments share a single character nomination form.
      1. Voters may nominate up to Twenty-Four (24) characters each.
      2. At least Five (5) eligible anime franchises must be represented on the ballot.
      3. At least Two (2) female and Two (2) male characters must be included on the ballot.
      4. At most Four (4) characters from any given series or franchise may be nominated on the ballot.
      5. No character may be nominated more than once on the ballot.
      6. All nominations have equal weight. There is no ranking of nominations in each ballot.
    3. As ruled by Section III.F, characters who are eligible for the Female Division Preliminary will first be considered for the Female Division Preliminary, even if the intent was to nominate them for the Seasonal Tournaments. Only if they fail to advance to the Preliminary Stages will they be considered for the Seasonal Tournaments.
    4. Invalid nominations on a ballot will be discarded individually and will not void the ballot unless any discard results in that ballot being in violation of Section VI.B, in which case that ballot will be voided.
    5. At the end of the Nomination Period, the characters with the most nominations for each Division will advance into the Main Tournament until the allotted slots are filled.
    6. The number of allotted slots for each Division is One Hundred and Twenty (120) minus the number of automatic entries permitted in Section V. If, however, two or more characters have the same number of nominations, the number of allotted slots for each division is not subject to the One Hundred and Twenty (120) limit.
  7. Preliminary Period and Seeding Matches
    1. Contestants are tentatively seeded based on the results from the Nomination Phase.
    2. The following sequence of tiebreakers will be used to break ties in favor of the character(s) who fits the stated description, applying each subsequent condition only among tied Contestants:
      1. Automatic qualification characters (see Section V.C).
      2. Greater number of nominations.
      3. Greater number of career wins in ISML Regular Seasons.
      4. Greater number of career wins in ISML Main Tournaments.
      5. Characters with the latest appearance in a TVA episode, OVA release, or movie release. Re-broadcasts, re-releases, and re-screenings are not taken into consideration.
      6. If a tie persists, the Staff will choose the character(s) they believe will perform the best.
    3. The Preliminary Period consists of Two (2) voting rounds, defined below.
      1. As to Round 1, the Contestants not in the top Ninety-Six (96) will collectively be subjected to an Approval Voting match. The top Six (6) Contestants will advance to Round 2, while the rest will be eliminated.
      2. As to Round 2, the remaining Contestants not in the top Seventy-Eight (78) will collectively be subjected to a Range Voting match. The top Eighteen (18) Contestants will advance to Group Stages and top Six (6) will participate in Seeding Match held during Round 3, while the rest will be eliminated.
    4. Special matchups will occur during the Preliminary Period that will determine seeding in the Group Stages. The Seeding Matches consist of Three (3) voting rounds, defined below.
      1. As to Round 1, the top Twenty-Four (24) Contestants will collectively be subjected to a Range Voting match. The top Eighteen (18) Contestants will be seeded 1st through 18th based on the result of this vote, while the rest will participate in the next seeding match.
      2. As to Round 2, the bottom Six (6) Contestants from Seeding Matches Round 1 and the next top Eighteen (18) Contestants will collectively be subjected to an Approval Voting match. The top Eighteen (18) Contestants will be seeded 19th through 36th based on the result of this vote, while the rest will participate in the next seeding match.
      3. Round 3 will consist of two halves.
        1. The first half of the Round 3 will have the bottom Six (6) Contestants from Seeding Match Round 2 and the next top Eighteen (18) Contestants collectively be subjected to a Range Voting match. The Contestants will be seeded 37th through 60th based on the result of this vote.
        2. The second half of Round 3 will have the Contestants not in the top Sixty (60) collectively be subjected to an Approval Voting match. The Contestants will be seeded 61st through 84th based on the result of this vote.
  8. Group Stages
    1. The Group Stages will consist of Three (3) Splits.
      1. The First Split will consist of One (1) Period, the Aquamarine Period.
      2. The Second Split will consist of Three (3) Periods, the Topaz, Amethyst, and Sapphire Periods.
      3. The Third Split will consist of Three (3) Periods, the Emerald, Ruby, and Diamond Periods.
    2. The amount of Contestants for each Split will be as follow:
      1. The First Split will have Ninety-Six (96) Contestants.
      2. The Second Split will have Sixty-Four (64) Contestants.
      3. The Third Split will have Thirty-Two (32) Contestants.
    3. On each Split, Contestants will be split into Groups. Contestants in the same Group will compete with each other in a round-robin format.
      1. The First Split will consist of Sixteen (16) groups of Six (6).
      2. The Second Split will consist of Four (4) groups of Sixteen (16).
      3. The Third Split will consist of Two (2) groups of Sixteen (16).
    4. Each Period consists of Five (5) matches for all Contestants. Depending on the number of matches, the number of Rounds in a Period may vary.
      1. The number of matches in a Round will vary depending on the number of Groups on each period.
      2. Each Contestant will have exactly One (1) opponent per match.
      3. Each Round will be done on a single, specific match day. Technical rules of each match day follow Section I, while the schedule of each match day follows Section XIV.
    5. At the end of each Round, the Contestant who received the greater number of valid votes in his/her match will be declared the winner of that match; the opposing Contestant will be declared the loser. If opposing Contestants have an equal number of valid votes, their match will be declared a draw: both Contestants will record a tie in their statistics, and no overtime match will occur.
    6. A ranking system for each Group will be utilized to record the Contestants' results in each of the Periods and Splits.
      1. The following iterative process will be used to update the rankings within a Group: the highest available rank is given to the Contestant who satisfies the following conditions, applying each subsequent condition only among tied Contestants. All values are from the relevant Period and Split only.
        1. Greater number of cumulative wins and draws, in which a draw will be counted as half (1/2) the value of a win.
        2. Winner of the tied Contestants' head-to-head match, if applicable.
        3. Greater Period/Split's Cumulative Vote Point Difference (PCVPD/SCVPD) value.
        4. Greater Period/Split's Cumulative Vote Point (PCVP/SCVP) value.
        5. Selected by Staff.
    7. At the end of each Split, after all tiebreakers have been applied, Contestants who have performed well will advance to the next Split.
      1. After the First Split, the top Three (3) Contestants in each Group and the Eight (8) Contestants with the highest Necklace/Pendant Showdown qualifying rank (Section IX.D) among the 4th ranked Contestants will advance. The rest of the 4th ranked Contestants plus all of the 5th ranked Contestants will collectively be subjected to an Approval Voting match. The top Eight (8) Contestants will advance, while the rest will be eliminated. This additional match is known as a Wild Card Match and will occur alongside the Necklace and Pendant Matches (see Section IX).
      2. After the Second Split, the top Six (6) Contestants in each Group will advance. The Contestants ranked 7th through 11th in each Group will collectively be subjected to an Approval Voting match. The top Eight (8) Contestants will advance, while the rest will be eliminated.
      3. At the end of the Third Split, after all tiebreakers have been applied and final group rankings decided, the top Eight (8) Contestants in each Group will advance into Postseason Elimination Stage.
    8. After each Split, all advanced Contestants will be re-seeded according to their results in prior Stages before being allocated to their respective Groups.
    9. Other statistics may be posted and kept for study and analysis.
  9. Necklace and Pendant Showdown
    1. At the end of each Period, there will be a Necklace Showdown for the Female Division to determine the winner of the Necklace for that Period. The Male Division will have a similar Pendant Showdown.
    2. Only one Necklace and one Pendant will be awarded per Stage.
    3. Contestants who win a Necklace or Pendant are ineligible for later Showdowns for the remainder of the year.
    4. A total of Eight (8) Contestants from each Division will participate in a Necklace/Pendant Showdown based on their performance during the relevant Period. For each slot, the slot will be filled by the eligible Contestant who satisfies the following conditions, applying each subsequent condition only among tied Contestants.
      1. Highest ranking.(only applicable to the First Split)
      2. Greater number of Period cumulative wins and draws, in which a draw will be counted as Half (1/2) the value of a win.
      3. Greater Period's Cumulative Vote Point Difference (PCVPD) value.
      4. Greater Period's Cumulative Vote Points (PCVP) value.
      5. Selected by Staff.
    5. The voting round will last Twenty-Four (24) hours.
      1. Voters will rank the Contestants in each of the Showdown matches.
      2. Exhibition Matches (see Section XIII) may be scheduled alongside the Necklace and Pendant Showdowns.
    6. At the end of the Round, the winning Contestants, as decided by an Instant-Runoff Voting system, are awarded the Necklace and Pendant.
      1. Ties are resolved in favor of the Contestant who was ranked highest on the most ballots. A continued tie will be broken using the number of second-highest ranks, and so on.
      2. If the tie still persists after that, the same procedure as the one used in the Main Tournament will be used to break it (see Section VIII.F.1).
  10. Elimination Stage
    1. Sixteen (16) Contestants from each Division are seeded according to their performances in the Third Split. Contestants from the same group in the Third Split will not meet in the first round. The first round will feature the following matches based on seed from the different groups: 1st vs 8th, 4th vs 5th, 2nd vs 7th, and 3rd vs 6th.
      1. Contestants advance through the bracket according to traditional single-elimination rules.
      2. If opposing Contestants have the same number of votes at the end of an Elimination Round, the Contestant who had won their previous head-to-head match during the Group Stages will be declared the winner. If that match was also a draw, or did not occur, the higher-seeded Contestant according to the initial Elimination Stage seeding will be declared the winner.
    2. Eliminated Contestants will be seeded into the Consolation Brackets that will determine the final rankings from third place to last place. These matches will take place during the Elimination Stage at the earliest possible opportunity.
  11. Tournament of Champions
    1. The most recent Eight (8) champions, per division, of ISML will participate in a side tournament to be held during the Main Tournament. This tournament is referred to as the Tournament of Champions.
    2. Tournament of Champions will be held across a series of matches in a round-robin format, in which a minimum of Two (2) contestants with the most wins will then go into Final.
      1. In case of a tie for second place, then all Champions that are involved in the tie will qualify for Final.
    3. Tournament of Champions Final will be a Range Voting match among all finalists. The winner of that match will be crowned winner of Tournament of Champions.
    4. Characters participating in the Tournament of Champions are ineligible for the Main Tournament.
    5. Past champions who fall outside of the Tournament of Champions bracket are eligible for the Main Tournament.
  12. Seasonal Tournaments
    1. Each Seasonal Tournament will have a separate nomination period (except Winter and Spring, see Section VI).
    2. Characters must satisfy the following conditions to be eligible:
      1. The character has appeared in an anime series after 31 December 2019.
      2. The character did not advance to the Preliminary Stages nor participate in the Tournament of Champions.
      3. The character was not eligible for any of the previous four (4) Seasonal Tournaments, or no characters from the same series participated in any of the previous four (4) Seasonal Tournaments
      4. The character fulfills any other requirements of eligibility that may be constituted by ISML Staff.
    3. The same guidelines ruling eligibility for the Female Division (Section III.B) and eligibility of avatars (Section III.E) apply to all 2020 Seasonal Tournaments.
    4. Qualification for a Seasonal Tournament is based on two factors.
      1. Characters with more nominations have an increased chance of qualifying.
      2. Characters who have less nominations than a different character from the same series have a decreased chance of qualifying.
    5. No series will be allowed more than three (3) characters in a Seasonal Tournament.
    6. The number of allotted slots for each Seasonal Tournament is Twenty-Four (24).
    7. Contestants of each Seasonal Tournament will collectively be subjected to an Approval Voting match. The top Sixteen (16) Contestants will advance to the Elimination Stage, while the rest will be eliminated.
      1. In case of a tie, nomination rank will be used to break the tie.
    8. Elimination Stage will be a single-elimination bracket. Winner of the Seasonal Tournament will be awarded the corresponding Seasonal Diadem.
    9. Contestants eliminated from the single-elimination bracket will be seeded into the consolation bracket. The contestant with the best performance will be deemed the Seasonal Runner-up.
  13. Exhibition Matches
    1. Exhibition Matches are official ISML-hosted events designed to raise awareness of anime series that are not represented and Japanese media characters who are not participating in the Main Tournament. The matches may focus on anime series airing after the Nomination Phase had begun or on other outlets possibly previously unknown to members of the Community.
    2. Exhibition Matches have no effect on the Main Tournament, unless an exception for a specific match is announced at least one week before the start of that match.
    3. Exhibition Matches may be scheduled during the Group Stages, the Necklace and Pendant Showdowns, and the Elimination Stage.
    4. Divine Circlet and Crown Exhibition
      1. Contestants of Female Division who are eliminated before the Second Split of Group Stages are eligible for Divine Circlet Exhibition. The Contestants of Male Division will have a similar Divine Crown Exhibition.
      2. Contestants who have at least one winner poster of ISML are ineligible for Divine Circlet and Crown Exhibition.
      3. A poster contest shall be held before the Semifinal. Further information of the poster contest shall be announced on the Forum.
      4. The winning posters of the poster contest shall be used as voting avatars in later rounds of the Exhibition, and the posters for the eventual winners shall be the characters' winning posters.
    5. Jewelry Exhibition
      1. At the end of each Period, there will be a Jewelry Exhibition Match for each Division. The winning Contestants, as decided by the Instant-Runoff Voting Matches, are awarded the Jewelries.
      2. The Jewelry Exhibition Matches will occur alongside the Necklace and Pendant Matches (see Section IX).
      3. Contestants participating in the Necklace/Pendant Showdown are ineligible for the Jewelry Exhibition Matches of the relevant Period.
      4. A total of Eight (8) Contestants from each Division will participate in a Jewelry Exhibition Match. For each slot, the slot will be filled by the eligible Contestant who satisfies the following conditions, applying each subsequent condition only among tied Contestants.
        1. Lesser number of ISML winner posters.
        2. Earlier awarded an ISML winner poster, if applicable. The Contestants awarded his/her first ISML winner poster in the same year will be regarded as a tie.
        3. Greater number of Period cumulative wins and draws, in which a draw will be counted as half (1/2) the value of a win.
        4. Earlier participated in ISML Main Tournament, including Preliminary Period, Regular Season, and Group Stage. The Contestants made their debut in the same year will be regarded as a tie.
        5. Higher Necklace/Pendant Showdown qualifying rank (Section IX.D).
  14. Schedule
    1. All dates in this section will be published on the Website for easy access by the Community.
    2. All dates are subject to change. ISML may change the schedule without updating this section of the document; however, any and all changes must be published on the Website as early as possible.
    3. The Nomination Phase is scheduled from 1 July 2020 to 8 July 2020.
      1. This period will be extended if system errors prevent nomination submissions for more than twenty-four (24) cumulative hours.
      2. Result of Nomination Phase will be announced approximately seven (7) days after the end of the phase.
    4. The Main Tournament is scheduled from 22 July 2020 to 1 February 2021.
      1. All matches in this period are scheduled to start at 1000 GMT on the dates reported on the ISML Calendar.
      2. Preliminary Period and Seeding Matches will take place from 22 July to 2 August.
      3. Group Stage - Aquamarine Period will take place from 7 August to 2 September.
      4. Group Stage - Topaz Period will take place from 7 September to 24 September.
      5. Group Stage - Amethyst Period will take place from 29 September to 16 October.
      6. Group Stage - Sapphire Period will take place from 19 October to 5 November.
      7. Group Stage - Emerald Period will take place from 10 November to 27 November.
      8. Group Stage - Ruby Period will take place from 30 November to 17 December.
      9. Group Stage - Diamond Period will take place from 20 December 2020 to 6 January 2021.
      10. Elimination Stage will take place from 11 January to 1 February.
  15. Legal
    1. The information presented on the website, including but not limited to biography information, statistical history, and copyright information, is not guaranteed to be completely accurate. ISML, including its staff and owners, cannot be held legally liable for any harm caused by the use or misuse of information contained within the pages located on the internationalsaimoe.com domain.
    2. The names of all characters and Japanese productions featured on the Website do not in any way belong to ISML. All copyrights and intellectual property belong to their respective owners. Images are used for identification purposes only.
    3. During vote-checking, Staff shall not show any favoritism to any Contestant during the validation process. Once voting results are released for a match, a member of the Community may appeal the results within twenty-four (24) hours. Once an appeal is accepted by the ISML Commissioner, the Staff will repeat the validation procedures and make any appropriate adjustments. After twenty-four (24) hours have passed, the result is final and cannot be changed.
    4. While the Staff will attempt to enforce the Voter Policies as strictly as possible, situations may occur where not all votes in violation of the Policies will be detected or where voters banned for Policy violations discover alternate methods to submit votes. The Staff will work to the best of their ability to minimize the occurrence of these situations.
    5. All scheduled dates and times are subject to change without prior notice. However once changed, the Community will be notified on the Website.
    6. Each year, ISML and the Staff attempt to present a fair system of matches. The Staff will ensure their best, honest, and virtuous effort to arrange a respectively even schedule for all Contestants without bias or favoritism or discrimination.
    7. The Staff is authorized to delay the start of the voting session should any problems arise due to technical issues or other areas of concern. In such cases, the Staff are allowed to delay the end of the voting session and the release of results.
    8. In the event of any discrepancy between the English version and the translated version, the English version hereof shall prevail.
  16. Amendments
    1. Once approved and published, the contents of this document shall not be altered. It may only be amended, in which amendments may update or supersede the statements in this document.
    2. Amendments may be suggested by any member of the Community and are subject to approval by the Staff and Commissioner at any time during the course of the tournament.
    3. Approved Amendments must be reported on the Website.