Yeah I cant even be salty, we Reze fans are used to this
Kirosh22026-01-27 19:02
The stealth bomb propaganda exploded a day too soon, maybe it was needed for her to go in the finals, or maybe it wasn't, but it succeeded in waking up the propaganda fore Shisui instead, fan scared of the sweep.
ClemFire2026-01-27 19:15
Reze and poor timing name a better duo.
ali941272026-01-27 14:03
Battle well fought. Wonder if the propaganda battle would've worked better if I'd saved the pool scene clip for this contest over the finals of Fall 2025. See y'all when Maomao just blows through Best Girl 13.
Usodearu0072026-01-27 14:09
the power of fanservice is quite something...
>See y'all when Maomao just blows through Best Girl 13.
chisato was so close from beating her even though it was maomao's debut contest so who knows..
ali941272026-01-27 14:17
Recency bias favors Maomao more with 2 seasons and more stuff on the way. Chisato only had Friends Are Thieves of Time OVAs and it's been years since the first season.
Usodearu0072026-01-27 14:25
both S3 & the movie will air after the contest. so i dont think it will be so easy like it was for frieren..
she is still the favorite of course. but i hope we get some nice surprise unlike last year's boring contest.
ali941272026-01-27 14:35
Juggernauts are pretty boring; I would agree. I don't think Best Girl 13 has as huge juggernauts entering. Honestly, if Apothecary Diaries season 3 even happens to get a trailer while the contest is running, it'll be a huge boost for Maomao. And there will be campaigning for [minor spoilers]>!Loulan!< as well, which will increase overall hype for her. Still think it's a little unfair what contests she allowed to participate in, but perhaps the challenge is apt for Reze.
Frostbitten_Moose2026-01-27 14:27
Tough talk for someone who still has to face Fern.
ali941272026-01-27 14:31
Fern didn't do super well in Best Girl 12; she lost to Megumin. Two characters from the same series winning Best Girl has only happened once with Hayasaka.
UMP45isnotflat2026-01-27 14:47
Its megumin though
Usodearu0072026-01-27 14:32
i personally will believe in 4k otter girl and a summer sequel like a fool which would still be a better decision than to hope for megumin to do something for the xxth time..
ali941272026-01-27 14:40
I've wanted Megumin to win for years as well now, but think it'll only happen now if the exact right timing happens with great anime season scheduling with a huge campaign.
Usodearu0072026-01-27 14:45
yeah i didnt read the novel but i heard S4 will be quite good for her chances if the timing is right.
Zeallfnonex2026-01-27 14:52
The US has just faced off Fern, we’re… mostly… doing OK. I think.
Xatu442026-01-27 14:49
Maomao's a paper tiger, she'll get boomed again.
ali941272026-01-27 14:55
Paper tigers don't tie for Best Girl 2023 and get runner-up in the actual contest.
MapoTofuMan2026-01-27 15:01
Paper tiger is a bit much but I see her having trouble in the top 4 this year, she almost lost to Chisato with a recency bias boost. Anna is going to be a wildcard too.
81Ranger2026-01-27 14:04
Hallelujah.
I can't believe the lack of salt (for me personally).
A great character in a great show, fully deserving.
qwertyqwerty45672026-01-27 14:05
~~r/anime was a mista-~~
[](#maxshock)
HOLY SHIT, WE DID IT REDDIT!
GLORY TO OUR SHI CLAN QUEEN!
R/ANIME IS SAVED!
[](#delighted)[](#delighted)[](#delighted)
Hot_Researcher_68392026-01-27 14:05
I started to cook that Shisui clip half an hour after I saw the Reze one, losing some time there, so that was close.
Anyway my prediction that Shisui will do well came true, with a little enforcement from me.
ali941272026-01-27 14:08
My Reze clip got spoiler tagged for a few hours, so I'm wondering if that killed some momentum. Of course, I'd used our greatest Reze weapon of the pool scene for the finals of Fall 2025 already. Still, the cafe clip having that much momentum after 2 days is about as good as we could hope for. Battle well fought.
Hot_Researcher_68392026-01-27 14:10
I concede that reze's pool scene is vastly superior, using that for the Fall title was overkill. You could have used the cafe clip for that
ali941272026-01-27 14:15
I thought she was in pretty major danger of losing to Scarlet, so busted out the big guns. The vote counts are pretty close. Didn't really include a super explicit call to vote. The cafe clip isn't mine, so I commented a pretty explicit call to vote there and the effect was more than I could've expected. Didn't realize the Best Girl of 2025 contest was this close, so didn't save it. Wondering if I should've posted her intro scene instead, but thought it was too similar to her cafe scene and I was hoping the thumbnail of her doing 1+1 would be effective, but that got spoiler tagged. Oh well, at least both Shisui and Reze are on the board of best girl winners now.
Open to questions (may be late to respond) and please give feedback.
notanfan2026-01-27 14:11
glad to see scarlet so up
michhoffman2026-01-27 14:15
It seems fitting that Monica is hiding down at the bottom of that list with Isabelle.
ClemFire2026-01-27 15:19
I love Isabelle, and honestly it is crazy work she cracked into top 10 with like 10 minutes of screen time. Imagine how powerful she would’ve been if she was a main
Oh okay that makes sense. Shisui confused me for a second because Apothecary was also on season 2 but she wasn’t in the first.
ClemFire2026-01-27 15:22
If she was allowed after her Season 2 performance I lowkey feel like she would’ve swept. My favorite character from 2025. Looking at 2022 though that was some crazy competition with Marin, all the BTR girls, Yor, and the gay partners from Lycoris. Honestly I could see any of them making it into at least the top 4 if they aired this year
snowwhitecat04aug2026-01-27 14:05
If it was not a movie but season 2, Reze would have no diff everyone right?
Hot_Researcher_68392026-01-27 14:08
CSM movie is popular enough that it could function as well as a season. Reze mainly lost the propaganda battle.
Icy-Organization-9012026-01-27 14:13
Not here apparently
Hot_Researcher_68392026-01-27 14:16
It's still very well received, just behind the apothecary diaries as the r/anime 2025 favourite anime poll suggests
ali941272026-01-27 14:11
I don't know about that. It's an upway battle. Apothecary Diaries is extremely popular as an anime and light novel series and Shisui is extremely popular. Think it's a little unfair [minor spoiler]>!Loulan!< will be allowed to participate in Best Girl 13 before Reze, but is allowed to participate in this contest, but Maomao is probably gonna destroy Best Girl 13 anyway.
michhoffman2026-01-27 14:11
I'm not sure about that given that she did better than both Power and Makima in their contests who are generally more popular. The movie was so well received that it may have elevated her even higher than usual.
Icapica2026-01-27 14:58
A lot of Power's popularity among manga fans comes from parts that haven't been adapted yet though.
UMP45isnotflat2026-01-27 14:55
Yeah Im debating this as well, on one hand having an entire movie dedidated and even named after her is definitely *nice*, but there wasnt all that much time for people to actually see it. With movies having weird streaming release schedules. I think the weekly format also massively boosts general awareness, just look at what netflix batch releases did to Jojo.
So I kinda hope that more people will see the movie before the yearly best girl contest in summer.
KPika14122026-01-27 14:06
Happy for Shisui, she deserves it! Wishing her happiness always :)
michhoffman2026-01-27 14:08
And now people who still haven't watched or finished Season 2 can watch it to see why she absolutely deserves the crown.
It's really rare for a girl who has basically no presence in Season 1 of her show to win 1 of these congrats. I guess that would have been the case regardless of who won today.
changshiyixia2026-01-27 14:09
## It’s official! The title of r/anime ’s best girl of 2025 goes to Shisui!
#### The representative from the Apothecary Diaries joins her best friend Maomao as the annual salt winner, and she could boast to her friend that unlike Maomao, she doesn’t have to share her gold medal with another one. With this win, our beloved insect zealot becomes the first-ever annual champion to only finish the seasonal salt as a semi-finalist and it promotes the Apothecary Diaries to become the first-ever series to produce multiple annual salt winners. Congratulations to Shisui and all her fans supporting her in the final!
Also, congratulations to Reze to get a strong momentum to produce one of the most unpredictable annual salt finals. Her performance washes a lot of the shame the Chainsaw Man Series has endured in these best girl contests. I’m sure she would provide lots of surprise and bombs when she comes into the grand best girl contest! Salute to Reze and all her passionate fans supporting her till the final moment!
Also, congratulations to the Monica Everett for winning her third-place match! I believe she is the winner in the heart of her follower! The third place match result can be seen [here.](https://strawpoll.com/kogjRNKrqg6/results), Summer runner-up Kaoruko Waguri gets fourth.
changshiyixia2026-01-27 14:14
Again, it’s time to express my huge thanks to all voters that participate in the contest. This is my fifth year and fourth full-cycles of running the seasonal salt and without your constant visit, discussion and vote the seasonal salt cannot strive for so long (And those *clips*! I almost feel envy seeing them get 10-20x upvotes compared to the contest post lol!)
ali941272026-01-27 14:20
Just asking, but what are your stances on the clips including hard calls to vote? Just wanna make sure for the future. Thank you for your services. These have been super fun. Just see it as those clips' upvotes being your upvotes in-reality.
changshiyixia2026-01-27 14:25
> what are your stances on the clips including hard calls to vote
I warmly welcome all those clips as long as the clips not violating the rules made by r/anime moderators. (My only small wish is that you can link my post but not the direct vote link in the clip post to attract more to come and leave some comments in my post lol!)
> Just see it as those clips' upvotes being your upvotes in-reality.
Sure! In fact the great traffic buried my post in the elite-eight round and I'm grateful that those clips help the contest post float on the front page (just in another way lol).
ali941272026-01-27 14:28
>(My only small wish is that you can link my post but not the direct vote link in the clip post to attract more to come and leave some comments in my post lol!)
Gotta make it as easy as possible for voters to vote lol. A whole additional click is a lot to ask for. Maybe including the thread link as well. Is it possible to include a link to the current thread in the animebracket website after voting? Might increase engagement a little.
changshiyixia2026-01-27 14:31
> Gotta make it as easy as possible for voters to vote lol.
Definitely Understand! Just a half-joke lol.
ali941272026-01-27 14:37
I do wish these contests got pinned. The current Best of /r/anime 2025: Winners! post doesn't seem nearly as engaging. More of a notification.
Icapica2026-01-27 14:52
I'm not sure if pinning would help. I can't be the only user who instinctively ignores every pinned post so that I don't even see them. They're usually stuff like subreddit FAQ, rules, etc.
ali941272026-01-27 14:57
Well, don't know if that trends overall. They could always just pin a contest one time and see if it dramatically increases engagement.
Urgnu-the-Gnu2026-01-27 15:21
My personal opinion, as a sole individual voter, is that more participants in the contest is almost always a good thing. But people coming in to only vote for one option and not participate in the contest as a whole is not great. It has the potential to invalidate previous results and take away from the meaning of future votes. There is no significance in a win if the other girls aren't taken into account. You can't determine *best* girl if there is no *better* girl.
Of course it's a bit much to ask of someone to have watched every anime airing in the season, even just those that had girls enter the bracket. But if I haven't, then that raises doubt on whether I can actually judge who the best girl is.
Naturally, that won't stop people from trying, it's a contest for fun after all, we vote for who we like. My only wish for new voters is to try and vote in every matchup, really participate in the contest. While that might sound counter-intuitive and might even be an exaggeration of my opinion, there is a way to vote for matchups you don't know one or two participants in. The higher seed wins on a tie, by default. She must defend her right to advance. In every matchup, if you don't support the higher seed, she doesn't have a right to advance in your opinion and you can vote the lower seed.
Ah, sorry, I'm rambling on a random post. You didn't even ask for my opinion, I just felt the need to share anyway.
ali941272026-01-27 15:32
That posits that the seed brackets are non-biased, which is of course also going to heavily favor characters from popular shows. Also it would be extremely unfair to ask someone to not vote for their favored character over a character that may not appear in a series until much later. Shisui debuts in season 2 of Apothecary Diaries after a 2 cour season 1. Reze requires watching season 1 of Chainsaw Man. It would be extremely unreasonable to say someone should watch an entire season 1 just to be qualified to vote against a character.
changshiyixia2026-01-27 15:57
Hi urgnu, I appreciate your opinion. We do have to admit that different voters have different opinions on how to vote in these kinds on contests. To be frank, I myself is the kind of voter to vote for my favourtie girls regardless of whether I have watched the opponent's shows. I think one of the points I love these contests is I could hear how others decide to vote. Always grateful to your reply to my post to share your vote process :D
Urgnu-the-Gnu2026-01-27 16:40
Oh, everyone does vote for their favourites no questions asked, especially in the early rounds. That's normal. What I'm always interested in is the well-being of the contest. Brigading, or "brigading" in this case as technically it was not from a different subreddit, is not much better than botting. I want those people here, I want them to upvote the contest and participate, vote, even comment. But I want them to be here from the beginning, to be invested in the whole contest. Else it loses a lot of meaning.
This is all just my opinion, of course. And I respect if not many people are sharing it, and I'm happy for people that can enjoy the contest regardless.
If you want to encourage clips and advertisement, I think one idea to consider is doing it right from the start. Even starting with elimination, you can encourage people to talk about the contest, share clips and bring in people to vote on everything. That'd potentially bring in and retain more people and could actually make the contest grow again.
changshiyixia2026-01-27 16:50
I understand your point. I would have to admit that due to the whatever mechanism reddit is now using, it is hard for our contest post to stay longer on the front page and appear on the front page of many voters timeline - at least in the beginning. In fact we have fewer than 300 voters in the elimination due to the traffic that day. I would say if we have those number of voters from beginning to the end it would be a huge disaster to the contest itself. It is unrealistic and unreasonable to hope everyone to participate from the beginning from my point of view. One of the main charm I see from those contests are voters are generally grown through the process and lead to a culmination in the final.
That being said, I have encouraged upvoting and commenting for years. I admire clips but I'm not sure whether the moderators would be happy if I outright encourage clips as it could make the front pages flooded with clips. I have to say it is hard to find the balance.
Urgnu-the-Gnu2026-01-27 17:56
I don't see how people engaging with the sub and sharing clips and commenting could be against what the moderators want. Events like these contests are the little bit that makes this place special and alive, and r/anime should support contests whenever possible.
UMP45isnotflat2026-01-27 18:01
I truly wish these kinds of established community contests would atleast be mentioned in the daily or weekly pinned posts. I understand why the mods cant pin them all (though I also dont think we need 3 weeks old casual fridays stickied..) but atleast having them mentioned within the pinned posts would help.
I myself only heard of the contest for the semi finale.
changshiyixia2026-01-27 14:21
Again, it’s time to express my huge thanks to all voters that participate in the contest. This is my fifth year and fourth full-cycles of running the seasonal salt and without your constant visit, discussion and vote the seasonal salt cannot strive for so long (And those *clips*! I almost feel envy seeing them get 10-20x upvotes compared to the contest post lol!)
Also, shoutout to u/redlegsfan21 for being the data guy everyone admires and u/CannikinX for providing lots of productive suggestions on how to improve the method we use and u/Zeralyos & u/Syrefva for giving a help hand on the improvement – although the discussion goes so deep that I feel a bit hard to follow what’s going on.
Also huge thanks to the hard work of our [Animethemes.moe](https://animethemes.moe/) team (Including u/Maniload , u/Gaporigo and many more), their hard work and effort help keep the Animebracket as the heart of best girl contests.
Before you leave the post, you can check u/Wuff_the_Dog as wuff is conducting the Best OP/ED of 2025 with the nomination open [here,]( https://old.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1qkwdfg/best_oped_of_2025_nominations/) I’m sure Wuff is waiting for more nominations!
And see you in the next cycle of salt!
Queue_Jumping_Quack2026-01-27 17:36
Thank you and all the other tireless organizers of the fun contests! Whether I end up happy or salty about the results, I always try to participate when I can.
Nidus118572026-01-27 14:12
Okay question like for real. Not to piss of some fanbase or something....but who is this girl ?
GonnaSaveEnergy2026-01-27 14:15
She's from apothecary dairies.
TMNAW2026-01-27 14:26
To be honest, the only characters I ever see mentioned from Apothecary Diaries are Maomao and Jinshi. I didn't know about this character at all. Guess I should get around to it.
Pataconeitor2026-01-27 15:02
She is central to the plot in season 2, although the isn't evident until several episodes into the season.
BalecIThink2026-01-27 14:30
Part of the problem with saying anything other then 'go watch Apothecary Diaries' is that any explanation of why fans love her is going to touch on huge spoilers for the series. So...go watch Apothecary Diaries, it's an excellent show.
robertm942026-01-27 14:31
She's from the apothecary diaries. [Apo diaries. The spoiler here is really light, no major details are given, just a very vague overview] >!She gets introduced early into S2 as a quirky eccentric girl who is into bugs, appearing as just a minor side character initially, then getting a major arc centred around her detailing her background, deeper personality and convictions!<
The only character I'd have voted for ahead of her was Monica from secrets of the silent witch but as Reze beat her in the semi's, I'm very very pleased to see her win.
Also - if you intend to watch the series, don't Google her to get info. There is some very very very spoilery stuff about Shisui that will be almost unavoidable. I accidentally spoiled myself while the series was ongoing by googling her just to get a picture of her.
Mountain-College-6912026-01-27 14:12
It's Frieren of course!
comelickmyarmpits2026-01-27 14:15
I am actually scared to ask who is shisui
michhoffman2026-01-27 14:17
Watch and Find Out
Icapica2026-01-27 14:28
She's from the second season of Apothecary Diaries.
comelickmyarmpits2026-01-27 14:37
Ahhh make sense i am caught upto season 1 only, and shisui was really a minor characters by the end of s1.
Holding off S2 for s3 and movie ( i am binge guy 🥲)
Icapica2026-01-27 14:39
> Ahhh make sense i am caught upto season 1 only, and shisui was really a minor characters by the end of s1.
You might be confusing her for someone else, as Shisui doesn't appear in the show until the first episode of season 2.
comelickmyarmpits2026-01-27 14:41
Hmmm? I googled shisui and I think I definitely saw her in the end episodes of S1
This is her right -https://share.google/Vs8OxpaxwtercbPef
Icapica2026-01-27 15:05
Yes. Her first appearance is in the first episode of season 2.
Also, do not google her or you will encounter massive spoilers.
ShiRonium2026-01-27 14:52
for a second I was wondering if you even watched the show considering your flair on here lol
comelickmyarmpits2026-01-27 14:55
I would have watched S2 asap but I got my little bro into this series as well.
Now when I asked him "let's watch S2" he said let's wait for s3 (i already told him s3 is announced)
I have no body to watch anime with and my brother is not anime guy at all so I am just happy when he agrees to watch any anime I recommend with me. Also as I said I am binge guy so I am okay with waiting for s3
:)
ShiRonium2026-01-27 14:58
yeah have fun, you'll see why shisui is so loved by everyone
comelickmyarmpits2026-01-27 15:00
Ahhh now y'all made it harder for me to wait for s3
Swizardrules2026-01-27 15:54
S2 is a complete story/arc, so absolutely bingeable as is
Warm-Enthusiasm-95342026-01-27 21:29
Agreed. There's no reason to wait. Season 1 and 2 together are basically a complete story.
comelickmyarmpits2026-01-28 01:18
Yeah I agree but holding off for sake of watching it as first time with my brother
[deleted]2026-01-27 14:39
[deleted]
Icapica2026-01-27 14:42
Shisui's present in most episodes (maybe all of them) of season 2. She's one of the main characters of that season, and the season's main storyline focuses on her.
UMP45isnotflat2026-01-27 14:46
She has a whole ass character arc in S2.
TheSauce322026-01-27 14:55
Apparently I only saw season 1 lmao
This will make sense in context gonna get caught up
Mons90902026-01-27 14:35
Shisui uchiha/s
GGABueno2026-01-27 15:31
[removed]
pikachu_sashimi2026-01-27 17:57
She is best girl of 2025. Didn’t you read the title?
/s
Since others have already explained, I will just say that I think she is very deserving of the title
Kazewatch2026-01-27 21:24
You're not alone. Had no idea who the hell she was.
Nachtwandler_FS2026-01-27 14:16
Surprise, I was sure Reze fans will push for her again.
surgemaster1402026-01-27 14:18
Yes congrats to Shisui!!! It’s actually pretty incredible if you think about it. Shisui debuted in the Winter as a supporting character and didn’t even win that contest. Despite all of the recency bias she had to fight she still managed to win it all.
Animatrix_Mak2026-01-27 14:19
LoL I wasn't expecting Shishui to win especially after the Reze glaze. Looks like that post really influenced the votes.
Well she deserves to be the winner tbh. Such a beautiful character
Jojo_Smith-Schuster2026-01-27 14:23
Agenda
Illustrious-Star-6212026-01-27 14:23
well deserved
Pharaoh_Misa2026-01-27 14:23
My daughter Inori losing CRUSHES my soul you don't understand. 🥺 But, we love Shisui and I'm glad Monica made it as far as she did! What a lovely result! I don't remember why, since I haven't seen one of these in a while, but why wasn't Xiao Mao included?
81Ranger2026-01-27 14:30
She already was in a previous seasonal salt from when season 1 aired. You only get one appearance in the seasonal contests.
Pharaoh_Misa2026-01-27 14:31
Ah! Thanks for the reminder friend! I was wracking my brain and couldn't for the life of me remember.
Cyd_arts2026-01-27 14:23
Wow a character i had voted for actually won a best girl contest!
HuTaosTwinTails2026-01-27 14:24
LETS GOOOOOO
I was team Monica but this is the next best thing out of who was left.
SweetAndSpicyCanton2026-01-27 14:24
Who?
ExpertCaterpillar22026-01-27 14:26
[I love democracy.](https://share.google/gX3iYn3m8FoiS2epr)
Riskany12042026-01-27 14:27
Apothecary Diaries fans are just build differently. Nice.
Swimming-Elk67402026-01-27 14:30
Weak year for “best girls” if this is who won. Coming from someone whose favorite show from the last two years was Apothecary Diaries.
UMP45isnotflat2026-01-27 15:08
Yeah idk I liked S2 and I liked her character even before she stole the show but likewise it also did not leave a big impact on me, I actually forgot it aired last year lol.
If multiple people here have to ask who she even is you know something is wrong.
porpoiseoflife2026-01-27 15:24
My best girl lost in the quarters. Not to say her opponent was a bad choice, but few characters moved me like Scarlet did over the last year.
2kenzhe2026-01-27 14:31
Oh wow Shisui!!! Let’s goooooooo!
Ceryto22026-01-27 14:32
I'm glad Shisui won. She is a great character and a deserved winner for the year.
I must say however, this contest once again shows that propaganda works. Whichever girl had a post high on the front page won. Also while I personally really like Shisui, I wonder how much of this win is solely attributed to her and how much is to show popularity.
That being said, as always thanks to u/changshiyixia for hosting and everyone else for participating and I hope to see you all in the best OP/ED of 2025 contest starting in a few days!
Urgnu-the-Gnu2026-01-27 15:26
>I must say however, this contest once again shows that propaganda works.
Exactly my thoughts. Cool, we have a winner, but we've also had a sudden influx of new voters dropping by for one girl specifically, and now another batch. Does our participation really mean anything at that point? Does the win mean anything?
ClemFire2026-01-27 15:51
Feels like it encourages people to just post a propaganda clip of their favorite the day right before the vote if just an influx of a hundred new voters could flip the vote.
On the other hand though I feel like if someone loves a character so much to go through the effort of getting the video and sub file, merging them, and clipping a select scene to post it that should be rewarded.
Fools_Requiem2026-01-27 14:38
The people who allowed Natsuko to lose in the second round clearly didn't watch Zenshu...
I don't know how you can look into those eyes and think "Yeah, she's not worthy."
Quiet_Researcher71662026-01-27 14:38
Interesting, what was the criteria to get in? Surprised I didn’t see Frieren listed there.
changshiyixia2026-01-27 14:41
You must be a girl who make your debut from four seasons of 2025. And you only have one chance for the seasonal. Frieren already shares the best girl of [2023](https://animebracket.com/-r-anime-s-best-girl-of-2023/results) title and she has already winned the grand best girl [12](https://animebracket.com/results/best-girl-12-spice-and-salt-?group=finals)
UMP45isnotflat2026-01-27 15:00
I completely forgot we almost had Flamme vs Frieren in that seasonal. Frierens cast really dominated that one, wow. Surprising that she tied with Maomao but completely destroyed her in the full contest.
Michvito2026-01-27 14:39
i did not expect the silent witch to be 3rd
actuallyrndthoughts2026-01-27 14:39
Always weird when side characters win something, more like a win for the anime. At least it's not a movie character i guess
[deleted]2026-01-27 14:42
[deleted]
Icapica2026-01-27 14:45
5 minutes? She's one of the main characters of the second season. She has a ton of screen time, especially near the end of the season.
Xatu442026-01-27 14:47
Booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.
MonkMew2026-01-27 14:47
Cat ladies jumping for joy rn
oomoepoo2026-01-27 14:49
I'm a bit shocked it wasn't Reze with how omnipresent she and the whole movie were in the last couple of weeks.
wiggliey2026-01-27 16:06
I’m guessing these votes fly under the radar for CSM fans. It’s a well put together poll obviously, but the Grand Finals only had about 1,000 votes. I imagine with more traction Reze would have swept.
First-Variety7142026-01-27 16:38
I definitely would have voted for Reze but didn't know this was a thing until 2 minutes ago.
APRengar2026-01-27 19:53
I dunno how many years and seasons it's been, but I always see this thread and go "oh dang, I missed the vote again, well, I'll make it for the next one." repeated like 10+ times or something...
Ultrarandom2026-01-28 01:09
I'm on Reddit every day and this is also the first I've heard of this poll as well. Looks like it was all predictable as well anyway, semi-finals were the top 4 seeded and the finals were the top 2 with number 1 winning it.
LakerBlue2026-01-28 02:25
The annual ones are a little more chaotic. I also think last year having less new girls in notable shows was a factor in it going so chalk.
pynxem2026-01-27 17:31
These votes certainly fly under my radar. I'm on reddit WAY too much and yet I only come across the votes maybe twice every poll. This time I think I noticed the semis and final only.
UMP45isnotflat2026-01-27 18:12
Now that you mention I dont think I have seen anyone mention this contest on the csm subs I frequent
qwertyqwerty45672026-01-28 04:29
and thats a good thing.
These contests should represent r/anime, not r/chainsawman1 + r/chainsawman2 + etc.
pikachu_sashimi2026-01-27 17:56
I am too, but it’s a pleasant surprise. Shishui I think deserved it. Genuinely one of the more shocking and well written characters I have come across in anime.
Warm-Enthusiasm-95342026-01-27 21:22
I'm super-shocked it wasn't Reze even though I voted for Shisui.
oomoepoo2026-01-27 23:56
I voted Shisui too, mostly because I thought "it's gonna be Reze anyway" :'D
thenicezen2026-01-28 04:19
Lol, reze is popular outside of r/anime but reddit has its own preferences and it’s never the one popular outside of themselves. I’m not surprised Reze didn’t win
qwertyqwerty45672026-01-28 04:30
does reze being 2nd in best girl *of the year* make her unpopular?
UMP45isnotflat2026-01-27 14:49
I just love how many people are asking who shisui even is.
I guess not enough people have seen the Reze movie yet. Even her own author forgot about her before he became a fan again after seeing the movie.
IXajll2026-01-27 15:02
I'm pretty sure like 70% of people who voted Shisui haven't even watched the Reze movie to actually make an informed decision about the whole thing. No shade towards Shisui (I voted her for best supporting chara in the r/anime awards) but that's just how it is.
Now vice versa it's kinda similar exactly because of all those shisui who comments, though pretty sure the ratio is not as high.
Emi_Ibarazakiii2026-01-27 15:48
> I'm pretty sure like 70% of people who voted Shisui haven't even watched the Reze movie
I'm pretty sure that's the same in every single contest, to be honest!
In the early rounds I do believe some people probably skip some matchups in which they haven't seen one (given they're irrelevant anyway, it's not like they affect the finals) BUT when we do get to these final couple rounds, people aren't risking their best girl losing!
IXajll2026-01-27 16:12
> I'm pretty sure that's the same in every single contest
Yea, makes the whole contest kinda meaningless and why I almost never follow/participate in them. I know it's basically just a glorified popularity contest, but when people aren't even aware of who the competition is, it feels so pointless.
Also makes all these "she deserved it" comments look so stupid because how can you tell the other choice wouldn't also deserve it, if not even more so, when you never even watched it yourself.
wiggliey2026-01-27 16:31
The fact that this is a popularity contest and the top comments in reference to the winner are literally “who is this”, tells me that the poll didn’t reach a big enough sample size.
UMP45isnotflat2026-01-27 17:56
I genuinely wonder given Apotecaries popularity if people simply forgot her alternative name? Like, there is no way you watched the show and dont know who she is, right?
UMP45isnotflat2026-01-27 17:58
I just think beeing a movie only character hurt the popularity because streaming seasonals is usually easier than movies
UMP45isnotflat2026-01-27 17:52
Atleast I have yet to see a "who is reze" comment
I also try not to vote when I have not actually seen both shows, but atleast in this case I have
My personal conspiracy theory is that due to the state of the CSM fandom some fans actually voted against her
Zard912026-01-27 20:12
I'm pretty sure 70% of people who voted Reze haven't even watched the Shisui season. /s
TheSauce322026-01-27 14:54
Congrats to Shisui for reminding me they only have season 1 of Apothecary on Netflix and I need to get caught up lol
Time_Fracture2026-01-27 14:55
oh, I thought it was between Waguri and Reze.
Congratulations for the winner.
Urgnu-the-Gnu2026-01-27 14:59
Congrats to Shisui! Despite of what I said yesterday about how I feel, I know she deserves the win out of those two! She was truly remarkable this year. And Monica (the *secret* true best girl of the year) gets third place, that's the most I can ask for.
Thanks to everyone for participating, and as always thanks to our dear host. I hope I'll see some of you in the OP/ED contest.
MapoTofuMan2026-01-27 15:03
Did the Chainsaw Man sub miss today's vote or did the Shisui propaganda do the trick?
[](#animatedthink)
Either way as much as I'm not happy with Reze vs Monica I have no objections to the final result. Can't wait for a new Apothecary Diaries girl to come in S3 and take yet another Best Girl contest that year.
[](#azusalaugh)
UMP45isnotflat2026-01-27 15:10
The current state of the CSM fandom is dire because of all the Part 2 shenanigans. Im 100% certain if part 2 did not exist Reze would have done way better here. Wouldnt be surprised if a part of the fandom actually voted against her.
Prof_Acorn2026-01-27 15:46
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
My favorite CSM character hasn't been adapted yet. My favorite parts of my second favorite CSM character also hasn't been adapted yet.
The Reze movie was cool, but she's never been a favorite of mine. I didn't vote against her or anything but I don't feel a strong need to vote for her either.
ClemFire2026-01-27 15:47
Is Part 2 really as mixed as people say? I stopped at Part 1
LandAyZ2026-01-27 15:59
It’s cleary worse than part 1, but imo its not as bad as people say. Recently the manga has become quite boring but thats just the consequence of a fight going on for way too long in a weekly manga with nothing really happening. In a binge, I'm sure it would feel way better.
ClemFire2026-01-27 16:02
This reminds me of how MHA manga readers were complaining about the final arc, but in anime form it just flowed so much better.
Sounds like I’ll read Part 2 in one go after it finishes
Ok-Cod52542026-01-27 19:02
Well that was also specifically because the MHA manga had frequent breaks and shorter chapters due to the mangaka's health.
UMP45isnotflat2026-01-27 18:27
I binged it a few month ago and while it was slightly better, the fundamental issues are still there.
People always want to make this about the pacing and while that indeed sucks, the cast is still inferior to part 1s.
Cyouni2026-01-28 01:00
I do know a friend who recently binged it and they are very down on it. The big thing is that about halfway through the arc something major happens that changes the tone for the worse, in their opinion (an opinion I do not disagree with), and really that's the world we've been living in for the last year and a half. Basically their argument is that from there on, the stakes are so high and so low simultaneously that there's basically no narrative weight.
UMP45isnotflat2026-01-27 18:26
Part 1 is just a well thought out masterpiece, everything clicks together just right and when the big reveal towards the end finally happens it really blows you away. You also have loads of amazing side characters, from Himeno early on, to Kishibe, Quanxi, Kobeni and obviously Power and Aki. (Fml I forgot to mention best girl Reze). Then there are lets say side arcs like the Santa Claus, Hell, Darkness combo which really hit home and help the worldbuilding. Oh there is also the friendship between pochita and denji and his trauma.
For the manga the art is also just really good imo.
Part 2 really has none of that. Things just kinda happen, character disappear and reappear almost at random. There is setup without payoff, the current arc drags on and on. There is so far not really a clear goal of the whole part, its still questionable who the mastermind is and if there is even one to begin with. And the art isnt as good anymore either.
I shit you not the latest chapters introduced a side enemy, the next chapter dealt with that side enemy and at the end of that we are back at square 1.
There are also no side characters at all anymore, no really, there are all just gone.
There is potential that there is still some sort of payoff, which is why Im still reading, but its impossible for it to be anything as satisfying as part 1 was.
ClemFire2026-01-27 18:45
In that regard it almost feels like the mangaka only planned for CSM to be Part 1, and it has me respect authors who can tell the same story for decades without losing steam like Oda.
DrStein10102026-01-27 21:44
It's the exact same issues that happened to Fire Punch after the [Fire Punch] >!revenge!< arc. The cast shuffles like crazy and there's zero narrative direction beyond "Make Agni/Denji suffer".
Kirosh22026-01-27 19:00
Chainsaw Man is very character driven as a series. [Heavy Chainsaw Man Part 1 spoilers]>!So when 3 out of the 4 favorite characters of the fandom are gone, and the new cast doesn't really hold a candle to them it makes it hard for part 2 to be liked.!<
DrStein10102026-01-27 21:45
Especially considering [CSM] >!Nayuta gets fricking offscreened, and Kobeni and Kishibe are just MIA forever.!<
Nachtwandler_FS2026-01-27 16:22
To be fair the only new girl in S3 will be [plot]>!the antagonist!<. Best girl [plot]>!Chue!< and a couple of others won't appear till later installments.
faithfulheresy2026-01-27 15:09
Invalid. Ranma wasn't even on the list.
1000-MAT2026-01-27 15:27
I think it was the power of the breasts.
Miyuki222026-01-27 15:29
What is this... No Frieren characters at all.
Icapica2026-01-27 15:41
Frieren didn't air in 2025.
ClemFire2026-01-27 15:53
And it would only be new Frieren characters from S2 who would be eligible for this year.
Likes2game032026-01-27 15:32
Where's is Yihdra from Red Ranger Isekai? You're all so mean!
GGABueno2026-01-27 15:33
Reze shouldn't have beaten Inori if she was going fumble like this.
Anyway, best girl won.
UMP45isnotflat2026-01-27 18:33
Losing just a step away from victory is just the way for reze fans
AnnualAdventurous1692026-01-27 15:34
I’m just happy Miko beat shiori
hinakura2026-01-27 15:51
Oh wow I didn't expect THE GOAT Shisui to win
xShockmaster2026-01-27 17:52
Man, I remember when people used to actually vote or care for this. Might be time to just close it off. 200 votes for a year end one is so bad.
272b2026-01-27 18:58
Shisui, huh? Well-deserved.
Her dance sequence in Apothecary Diaries Season 2 was amazing.
Chasm62026-01-27 19:34
I missed out on the entire voting side but I have to say these 2 in the final with Shisui coming out on top is exactly what I would have voted.
3stoner2026-01-27 19:50
Wow, didnt even know this contest was even happening. Wish it had more visibility
Adorable_Rip_20062026-01-27 20:45
Yachio in 12 is insanity
surma0412026-01-27 21:08
Reze fans thinking their best girl lost to a random unknown servant girl is so hilarious to me.
Shantotto112026-01-28 06:22
I’m more mad that Alicia and Waguri lost to her, and I know who Shisui is…
Flarzo2026-01-28 00:52
Where is Wada? She's the real best girl
heimdal772026-01-28 03:31
Funny how many people thought Reze had it in the bag.
7h30n3M45k3d2026-01-28 04:09
Ok hold on a minute why are none of the Cinderella gray girls here? Why is OGURI not here?
McDergen2026-01-28 04:42
I’ve legitimately never heard of a single one of these characters
Distinct_beorno2026-01-28 04:47
As reze fan I'm glad the other girl won
Shizuka_Marjanovic2026-01-28 07:30
Congrats, Shisui. It's Time to celebrate your victory with Maomao and Xiaolan. I'm looking forward to Best OP/ED of 2025 contest.
Commentaires
>See y'all when Maomao just blows through Best Girl 13.
chisato was so close from beating her even though it was maomao's debut contest so who knows..
she is still the favorite of course. but i hope we get some nice surprise unlike last year's boring contest.
I can't believe the lack of salt (for me personally).
A great character in a great show, fully deserving.
[](#maxshock)
HOLY SHIT, WE DID IT REDDIT!
GLORY TO OUR SHI CLAN QUEEN!
R/ANIME IS SAVED!
[](#delighted)[](#delighted)[](#delighted)
Anyway my prediction that Shisui will do well came true, with a little enforcement from me.
**RESULTS**
Seed | Top Seed | TS% | BS% | Seed | Bottom Seed
-: | :- | :-: | :-: | -: | :-
1 | Shisui | 54.97% | 45.03% | 2 | Reze
Total Votes: 1,006
**TOP 10 SCORES**
Rank | Girl | Score
-: | :- | -:
1 | Shisui | 215.06
2 | Reze | 176.17
3 | Kaoruko Waguri | 148.62
4 | Scarlet El Vandimion | 133.23
5 | Alicia Glenfall | 133.06
6 | Inori Yuitsuka | 126.98
7 | Renako Amaori | 122.66
8 | Nico Wakatsuki | 119.05
9 | Monica Everett | 117.90
10 | Isabelle Norton | 113.17
Link to spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HSv5fwqLOpXk6r3BAyZHBDHKg-BzuNoowSRjnLCzZYY
Explanations: https://www.reddit.com/user/redlegsfan21/comments/10dup0w/ranime_contests_bracket_explaination?sort=qa
Open to questions (may be late to respond) and please give feedback.
https://animebracket.com/results/-r-anime-s-best-girl-of-2022?group=finals
So I kinda hope that more people will see the movie before the yearly best girl contest in summer.
It's really rare for a girl who has basically no presence in Season 1 of her show to win 1 of these congrats. I guess that would have been the case regardless of who won today.
#### The representative from the Apothecary Diaries joins her best friend Maomao as the annual salt winner, and she could boast to her friend that unlike Maomao, she doesn’t have to share her gold medal with another one. With this win, our beloved insect zealot becomes the first-ever annual champion to only finish the seasonal salt as a semi-finalist and it promotes the Apothecary Diaries to become the first-ever series to produce multiple annual salt winners. Congratulations to Shisui and all her fans supporting her in the final!
[Congratulations!](#congratulations "Congratulations ")
Also, congratulations to Reze to get a strong momentum to produce one of the most unpredictable annual salt finals. Her performance washes a lot of the shame the Chainsaw Man Series has endured in these best girl contests. I’m sure she would provide lots of surprise and bombs when she comes into the grand best girl contest! Salute to Reze and all her passionate fans supporting her till the final moment!
Also, congratulations to the Monica Everett for winning her third-place match! I believe she is the winner in the heart of her follower! The third place match result can be seen [here.](https://strawpoll.com/kogjRNKrqg6/results), Summer runner-up Kaoruko Waguri gets fourth.
I warmly welcome all those clips as long as the clips not violating the rules made by r/anime moderators. (My only small wish is that you can link my post but not the direct vote link in the clip post to attract more to come and leave some comments in my post lol!)
> Just see it as those clips' upvotes being your upvotes in-reality.
Sure! In fact the great traffic buried my post in the elite-eight round and I'm grateful that those clips help the contest post float on the front page (just in another way lol).
Gotta make it as easy as possible for voters to vote lol. A whole additional click is a lot to ask for. Maybe including the thread link as well. Is it possible to include a link to the current thread in the animebracket website after voting? Might increase engagement a little.
Definitely Understand! Just a half-joke lol.
Of course it's a bit much to ask of someone to have watched every anime airing in the season, even just those that had girls enter the bracket. But if I haven't, then that raises doubt on whether I can actually judge who the best girl is.
Naturally, that won't stop people from trying, it's a contest for fun after all, we vote for who we like. My only wish for new voters is to try and vote in every matchup, really participate in the contest. While that might sound counter-intuitive and might even be an exaggeration of my opinion, there is a way to vote for matchups you don't know one or two participants in. The higher seed wins on a tie, by default. She must defend her right to advance. In every matchup, if you don't support the higher seed, she doesn't have a right to advance in your opinion and you can vote the lower seed.
Ah, sorry, I'm rambling on a random post. You didn't even ask for my opinion, I just felt the need to share anyway.
This is all just my opinion, of course. And I respect if not many people are sharing it, and I'm happy for people that can enjoy the contest regardless.
If you want to encourage clips and advertisement, I think one idea to consider is doing it right from the start. Even starting with elimination, you can encourage people to talk about the contest, share clips and bring in people to vote on everything. That'd potentially bring in and retain more people and could actually make the contest grow again.
That being said, I have encouraged upvoting and commenting for years. I admire clips but I'm not sure whether the moderators would be happy if I outright encourage clips as it could make the front pages flooded with clips. I have to say it is hard to find the balance.
I myself only heard of the contest for the semi finale.
Also, shoutout to u/redlegsfan21 for being the data guy everyone admires and u/CannikinX for providing lots of productive suggestions on how to improve the method we use and u/Zeralyos & u/Syrefva for giving a help hand on the improvement – although the discussion goes so deep that I feel a bit hard to follow what’s going on.
Also huge thanks to the hard work of our [Animethemes.moe](https://animethemes.moe/) team (Including u/Maniload , u/Gaporigo and many more), their hard work and effort help keep the Animebracket as the heart of best girl contests.
Before you leave the post, you can check u/Wuff_the_Dog as wuff is conducting the Best OP/ED of 2025 with the nomination open [here,]( https://old.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1qkwdfg/best_oped_of_2025_nominations/) I’m sure Wuff is waiting for more nominations!
And see you in the next cycle of salt!
The only character I'd have voted for ahead of her was Monica from secrets of the silent witch but as Reze beat her in the semi's, I'm very very pleased to see her win.
Also - if you intend to watch the series, don't Google her to get info. There is some very very very spoilery stuff about Shisui that will be almost unavoidable. I accidentally spoiled myself while the series was ongoing by googling her just to get a picture of her.
Holding off S2 for s3 and movie ( i am binge guy 🥲)
You might be confusing her for someone else, as Shisui doesn't appear in the show until the first episode of season 2.
This is her right -https://share.google/Vs8OxpaxwtercbPef
Also, do not google her or you will encounter massive spoilers.
Now when I asked him "let's watch S2" he said let's wait for s3 (i already told him s3 is announced)
I have no body to watch anime with and my brother is not anime guy at all so I am just happy when he agrees to watch any anime I recommend with me. Also as I said I am binge guy so I am okay with waiting for s3
:)
This will make sense in context gonna get caught up
/s
Since others have already explained, I will just say that I think she is very deserving of the title
Well she deserves to be the winner tbh. Such a beautiful character
I was team Monica but this is the next best thing out of who was left.
If multiple people here have to ask who she even is you know something is wrong.
I must say however, this contest once again shows that propaganda works. Whichever girl had a post high on the front page won. Also while I personally really like Shisui, I wonder how much of this win is solely attributed to her and how much is to show popularity.
That being said, as always thanks to u/changshiyixia for hosting and everyone else for participating and I hope to see you all in the best OP/ED of 2025 contest starting in a few days!
Exactly my thoughts. Cool, we have a winner, but we've also had a sudden influx of new voters dropping by for one girl specifically, and now another batch. Does our participation really mean anything at that point? Does the win mean anything?
On the other hand though I feel like if someone loves a character so much to go through the effort of getting the video and sub file, merging them, and clipping a select scene to post it that should be rewarded.
I don't know how you can look into those eyes and think "Yeah, she's not worthy."
These contests should represent r/anime, not r/chainsawman1 + r/chainsawman2 + etc.
I guess not enough people have seen the Reze movie yet. Even her own author forgot about her before he became a fan again after seeing the movie.
Now vice versa it's kinda similar exactly because of all those shisui who comments, though pretty sure the ratio is not as high.
I'm pretty sure that's the same in every single contest, to be honest!
In the early rounds I do believe some people probably skip some matchups in which they haven't seen one (given they're irrelevant anyway, it's not like they affect the finals) BUT when we do get to these final couple rounds, people aren't risking their best girl losing!
Yea, makes the whole contest kinda meaningless and why I almost never follow/participate in them. I know it's basically just a glorified popularity contest, but when people aren't even aware of who the competition is, it feels so pointless.
Also makes all these "she deserved it" comments look so stupid because how can you tell the other choice wouldn't also deserve it, if not even more so, when you never even watched it yourself.
I also try not to vote when I have not actually seen both shows, but atleast in this case I have
My personal conspiracy theory is that due to the state of the CSM fandom some fans actually voted against her
Congratulations for the winner.
Thanks to everyone for participating, and as always thanks to our dear host. I hope I'll see some of you in the OP/ED contest.
[](#animatedthink)
Either way as much as I'm not happy with Reze vs Monica I have no objections to the final result. Can't wait for a new Apothecary Diaries girl to come in S3 and take yet another Best Girl contest that year.
[](#azusalaugh)
My favorite CSM character hasn't been adapted yet. My favorite parts of my second favorite CSM character also hasn't been adapted yet.
The Reze movie was cool, but she's never been a favorite of mine. I didn't vote against her or anything but I don't feel a strong need to vote for her either.
Sounds like I’ll read Part 2 in one go after it finishes
People always want to make this about the pacing and while that indeed sucks, the cast is still inferior to part 1s.
For the manga the art is also just really good imo.
Part 2 really has none of that. Things just kinda happen, character disappear and reappear almost at random. There is setup without payoff, the current arc drags on and on. There is so far not really a clear goal of the whole part, its still questionable who the mastermind is and if there is even one to begin with. And the art isnt as good anymore either.
I shit you not the latest chapters introduced a side enemy, the next chapter dealt with that side enemy and at the end of that we are back at square 1.
There are also no side characters at all anymore, no really, there are all just gone.
There is potential that there is still some sort of payoff, which is why Im still reading, but its impossible for it to be anything as satisfying as part 1 was.
Anyway, best girl won.
Her dance sequence in Apothecary Diaries Season 2 was amazing.