Round Two of Sakura Bowl has finally come to a close. Below lie the completed entries from the four remaining teams. After SDL's judges view the entries and submit their decisions we'll have the top two teams who will compete for the crown as SDL's Team Champions for 2009 and all the prizes such a title bestows. You've waited enough for these. Please read, enjoy, and give your favorites your support!

Round Two Stipulation:

The Quest-- In myth, teams of heroes would earn their right to fame and power by embarking on a perilous quest. In Sakura bowl, the teams that make it to the second round must search for a certain item, and bring said item to Il Casinò Regale to prove they have the right and ability to proceed to the final round. Both teams must compete with each other to infiltrate a certain area to retrieve one item that belongs there. There will be two items (one for each battle) and both with have their own separate locations to infiltrate. Teams are encouraged to not only worry about fighting with the other team, but also the dangers and obstacles that each area has.

Match One: The teams in match one will attempt to retrieve the prized golden hair brush from Yuki Hime of Black Stars [link] . Yuki is currently observing the festivities of the tournament at a palace on the outskirts of Osaka, along with a contingent of her most well trained ninja.

Match Two: The teams must find Ezo Okami [link] and retrieve the fur cloak is wears around his shoulders. Okami has hidden himself within the forests surrounding Osaka and is an survival expert. Okami will not be found easily, and if found he is as dangerous as the wolves his ancestors admired. Endure the terrain, the opposing teams, and Okami himself.

The holders of both items are expecting the teams to arrive.

Sakura Round Two Match ups.

Match One: [link] Gokubiri-Gumi vs OCBZ [link]

G-G Roster:
Kit
Hanabi
Propagandist
Moni
Ref:

OCBZ Roster:

Kyran: [link]
Isaac: [link]
Anzu: [link]
Jenna: [link]
Seth: [link]

Match Two: [link] Team Hachiman VS Karasu Tenshu [link]

Team Hachiman Roster:

Ruel: [link]
Chikane: [link]
Khorosahn: [link]
Rune: [link]
Enoch: [link]

Karasu Tenshu Roster:
Lotus: [link]
Koza: [link]
Kira: [link]
Dokuta: [link]
Takoyami: [link]


Also, if the teams could note me to confirm who will be their 5 artist team for round two, please do so within within the next couple of days. Round 2 will officially start on Tuesday July 7th. I will give the teams until August 22nd to complete their entries. I encourage each team to use their time wisely and wish everyone the best of luck.

Round One is now complete and has finally been decided. Unfortunately some real life events prevented some of our judges from relaying their decisions as quickly as I hoped, but I hope the impromptu break was refreshing for all involved. Since we had a break already, I will be announcing the next round shortly. Until then, here are the results from round 1.

The Winners:

Match 1:
Gokubiri-gumi VS The Kagema-Dan ----

Winnder: Gokubiri-gumi. (Won by forfeit)

Won by forfeit, but regardless it was a wonderful entry showcasing all of the teams strengths.

Innovative, fun, and interesting navigation and storytelling. Good mix of styles.


Match 2:
Henseiseki no Tsubame VS OCBZ

Winner: OCBZ:

I liked the overall 'lanning' that was exhibited by the ocbz team entry over team henseiseki. i found Henseiseki's entry to be overly complex. I usually like seeing artists interpreting characters in their styles and such, but the manner in which character personalities and conflicts are introduced and dealt with was rough and did not flow well from begining to end with alot of unnecessary details. OCBZ did not go into as much details, so only a basic idea of the characters was given. but they succeeded in laying out the basic goals, and clearly defining how and why their team won, without bogging down the reader (ala. me) in excessive details.

Difficult decision, the other team had some great character business, but OCBZ had a more interesting solution to the bout and a more coherent story.

While HnT had a very pretty, very gory entry (and a rather long one, at a whopping 19 pages), their story didn't hold up as much as Team OCBZ's did. It seemed like HnT had a rather long intro, while the fight scenes were kind of blazed through. That wasn't to say that the fighting scenes were not energetic--but the overuse of close-up/bust shots and the lack of backgrounds made it drag a bit.

Team OCBZ had a much shorter entry, and although their artwork was not as polished as HnT's, the comic flowed well from beginning to end. Much use was made of tone, mood, and composition. The creative way Team OCBZ defeated their opponents cemented their victory, in my personal opinion.

Match 3:
Team Hachiman VS Kimon She

Winner: Team Hachiman:

Hachiman blew me away with the sheer quantity of high quality pages (32... are you serious?!) that went from beginning to end smoothly and damn effectively. the only serious gripes i can honestly give is that the ending doesnt wrap up the story very neatly (its not clear that hachiman got out of the maze) and you were a tad bit late in the submission of the later pages.

Kimon-she's entry was quite entertaining (especially while combatting beel), with consistent quality through to the end. There were quite a few typos and speech bubbles that could've been broken up, and body posture can definitely use work to flow with the words. altogether a fantastic effort.

The art is very good in places, and the story is very funny and unpredictable. It seems to be about more complicated themes.

Match 4:
(late entry/forfeit) Le Corsare di Seles VS Karasu Tenshu

Winner: Karasu Tenshu (Won by Forfeit)
I really enjoy the art style employed in the start of this story, wish there was more.