The U.S. Civil War pitted a nation against itself, brother against brother, father against son. I think it’s safe to say that the Corenament has been almost as difficult for fans of the hard side of idol.

Go ahead and give the Fond Farewell a read.

After several grueling rounds, we’ve eliminated the wheat from the chaff, or at least discovered who has the most and most ardent fans who can read English. Yes, after weeks of trials and travails, our bracket looks like this:

Babymetal, the #1 seed, has breezed through from the beginning, but the other odds-on favorites have been swept away. Now it’s a competition from the middle and bottom of the bracket, with BiSH, Deathrabbits and Kamen Joshi running on the thrill of an underdog’s victory toward a chance at the ultimate prize: A poorly made web sticker! 

What’s Next

Because Mrs. Maniac and I wanted to have some couple’s time and something that I didn’t expect to happen did happen, we’re actually going to start these final two rounds of the Corenament about 36 hours late.

The semifinal will take place for just TWO days, beginning Friday, April 1, at 0:00 EDT; it will end at 24:00 EDT on Saturday, April 2. The Corenament Final will be held as originally scheduled, as a one-day affair between 0:00 and 24:00 EDT on Monday, April 4.

But I’m adding a little wrinkle.

You can’t win in any long tournament without a deep bench, and you can’t very well win in the Corenament if your absolute best song (as voted on by the fans!) can’t get some support when things get tough.

So to make things a little bit more interesting, each member of the Final Four gets one additional song to keep in reserve. If the vote starts to get tight, the fans in support of one group or another can call for the substitution by tweeting “SUB <idol> <other song> #Corenament” to @homicidols; once I’ve received 10 unique calls for a substitution, I’ll make it; other fans can block that call by tweeting “STAY IN <idol> <#1 song> #Corenament” also to @homicidols; the first to 10 gets the call. Once the substitution has been made, the number of tweets for and against the substitution resets to 0, and the process begins anew.

This applies to both rounds, so think very, very hard about what your favorite’s next-best song is (and make sure there’s a recording on either YouTube or Vimeo). For the idols that advance to the final, they will start that match with their original #1. Nominations begin now and will run up until the beginning of the Final Four; as with the last time we did song nominations, use the form embedded at the end of this post.

The Participants

Babymetal took our #1 overall seed in a walk in the entry round, and they’ve barely had to sweat in dispatching first Osaka Shunkashuto, then Screaming Sixties. They aren’t the top vote-getters, though. Their fans’ song of choice for the Corenament is the sublime signature piece “Megitsune.”

BiSH were narrowly defeated by PassCode for the top spot in the Idolcore category just to get into the Corenament, but then put on a late charge and got their revenge in the last round. Prior to that, they had their hands full with Idol Metal’s #2, Fruitpochette. At this point, they and “Hoshi ga Matataku Yoru ni” are well-seasoned and ready for whatever is thrown at them.

The runaway winners of the DEATH POP DEATHMATCH haven’t lost an ounce of momentum; after trouncing sentimental favorite Guso Drop in the first round, they slowly but surely outpaced The Spunky until they totaled the most votes for of any entrant thus far. “Koisuru Kisetsu” has been a hit. Can it keep up?

The Idol Metal #4, Kamen Joshi, the #13 overall seed, has been the Wichita State of the Corenament, a well-known brand name that nobody expects to make much noise, but they just keep chipping away and chipping away. Alt-Idol champions You’ll Melt More! were the first to fall, then Rock Idol champions Party Rockets GT. Do the giant killers and “SOUL” have one more stone in their sling?

Fond Farewell

The Corenament’s second round was certainly surprising, enough to make one wonder how things might have been different if Psybou Kanojo hadn’t suddenly quit on Corenament eve, propelling Guso Drop into the mix and forcing a general re-seeding.

The Spunky and “Rock ‘n’ Roll and Idol and I” had done a great job of winning the Idol Punk category and fighting off a tough Himekyun Fruit Can in Round 1, but ultimately ran out of luck against Deathrabbits. Ironically, they lost with the third-most votes of any competitor in the round; had they been matched up with almost anybody else, we’d be wondering if the spunky upstarts had a chance at championship glory. Instead, we were able to learn a lot more about them and their music, and their future is looking very bright.

PassCode had just the worst luck, as the agonized commentary of fans could attest. They were going to lose for winning anyway by getting past insurgent alt-idol darlings Yukueshirezutsurezure in Round 1, and their reward was none other than their good friends, BiSH. In a contest settled by two whopping votes (see the winners’ announcement post on Facebook for a good lesson in why all votes matter), they and “Club Kids Never Die” ultimately fell. Their second album, VIRTUAL, is due out in a few weeks, so next year’s edition of the Corenament will likely feature a great song from it.

Party Rockets GT could have ridden “Kasabuta” all the way to the final. They nudged past Necronomidol in the first round but couldn’t keep up the pace against Kamen Joshi. Still, this revamped version of Party Rockets is back in the saddle, churning out a video a day until their return-to-glory one-man live in mid-April, and their entire body of work to date suggests that they’re going to be a force to be reckoned with.

Screaming Sixties were poised to do some serious damage with “Only Place We Can Cry.” After just edging Corenament sleeper Zenbu Kimi no Sei Da, though, their reward was the Babymetal juggernaut. And, to the surprise of nobody who actually took the time to listen to “Only Place,” they actually held a respectable lead for the first several hours. It evaporated, though, but make no mistake about Zekkyousuru60do; they’re screaming (GET IT?!) toward success and will bow to nobody next year.

If you have any questions about the Corenament, ping the boss.