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Zelda crushed Aerith and finished a division where every win had looked dominant. The writeup treats Aerith's record 15-seed run as impressive but completely overmatched once it reached Zelda.

Aerith beat Fox in a nearly static match and extended the deepest run ever by a 15-seed. The writeup emphasizes the historic seeding achievement more than the competitiveness of the poll.

Aerith beat Captain Toad without much movement and became the first 15-seed to win three matches. The writeup treats her run as a historic seeding oddity even though the path itself was unusually weak.

Aerith comfortably beat Waluigi after fears of joke votes or a meme rally failed to materialize. The writeup treats Waluigi's loss as another example of rallybait collapsing under the contest's quieter environment.

Aeris led for hours before Shepard erased the gap and then pulled away decisively, producing one of the contest's most satisfying upsets for Mass Effect fans. Tharja's presence and Final Fantasy VII anti-voting are discussed as background factors rather than formal anomalies.

Aerith won as expected, but the real surprise was Dragon Quest V's Hero taking second in the Expert Challenge ordering over Rinoa. The writeup celebrates the result as an improbable Board 8-style upset and a guru buster.

Auron performed almost exactly where the writeup expected against Aeris, which did little to resolve the larger Auron-versus-Squall debate. The writeup argues that merely meeting expectations was not enough to strengthen Auron's upset case.

Squall took control immediately, while Sora decisively reversed his old loss to Aeris. Aeris nearly fell behind Lara as well, making the writeup treat the result as a sharp confirmation of her decline.

LFF: The writeup argues that Squall's presence hurt fellow Square entrant Aeris far more than Sora, helping Sora reverse their old matchup and advance comfortably.

Squall settled a long-running strength debate with Aeris, while Akuma's debut was respectable despite a field crowded with Square characters. The writeup treats Akuma's showing as evidence that better bracket placement could have produced wins.

Zelda looked dominant early before Aeris recovered enough to make the final result respectable, though the outcome was never in danger. The writeup mentions favorable circumstances for Aeris but leaves their actual impact unresolved.

Aeris beat KOS-MOS but performed much worse than the writeup believed she needed to before facing Zelda. Although some fans blamed the picture, the author rejects that explanation and treats the result as a straightforward warning of trouble ahead.

Aeris beat Marle comfortably, with only a small amount of SFF according to the writeup. More concerning for Aeris was her failure to dominate the daytime vote, which weakened confidence that she could challenge Zelda later.

SFF: The writeup says Aeris and Marle showed some SFF from their overlapping Square and role-playing fanbases, but characterizes the effect as minimal rather than a major suppression.

Sonic narrowly held off Aeris in another performance that confirmed how far he had slipped from his pre-2002 reputation. Aeris's strong resistance made an upcoming Sonic win over Cloud look extremely unlikely.

Aeris comfortably beat a Master Chief whose narrow escape against Felix had already destroyed most upset expectations. Chief showed some resistance after a terrible start, but the writeup treats the match mainly as another strong Aeris fourpack win.

Aeris handled Sora as expected and continued the pattern of outperforming her low seed. The writeup later came to view Sora's poor showing as an SFF result that understated his actual contest strength.

SFF: The writeup retrospectively identifies Aeris versus Sora as an SFF match, arguing that Sora's connection to Aeris through Kingdom Hearts made him look weaker than he would against an unrelated opponent.

Solid Snake ended Aeris's underseeded run in an expected victory. The writeup focuses less on the match itself than on how Snake's showing might translate against the much stronger Crono.

Aeris received an unexpectedly easy path after Tina eliminated Gordon Freeman and took full advantage of it. The writeup views her low seed as misleading and her trip to the divisional semifinals as well deserved.

Aeris beat Kasumi without much drama, reinforcing the view that her low seed badly understated her strength. The writeup sees the surrounding part of the bracket as hers to control before an expected meeting with Solid Snake.