Before we start
And now we are at the most interesting part of the survey. Your favourite ships and couples, and your favourite characters in general!
To reiterate: 131 of you answered the survey over the course of about a month. That’s more than twice as many replies as last year, and A LOT more votes for your favourite characters! In fact, the total votes for the “Main Girl” category went up from 102 votes to 284!
Like last time, other characters may chime in with a comment every now and then. These will be prefaced with the usual emoji and “Text in italic.”
Cassy: “Just like this!” 😉
Exactly!
Sandra: “We can even drop the disclaimer about the data collection: it is a ‘favourite character’ vote, so getting a good random sample is not terribly important — unless you want to judge initial appeal.”
Your favourite ships
I thought that before we get into the details, we’d quickly go over the favourite pairings. Those were write-in, so as not to influence the selection.
Fiona: “Aye, but it’s us that has tae dae the aggregatin’, ken?”
This got 29 replies in total. The more prominent “canonical” pairings got the most mentions, with Melanie and Rhia receiving 7 mentions!
Rhia: “Tidy, mun!”
…and Cassy and Siggy receiving 9 mentions, making them the most popular couple!
Cassy: “Ehhh… couple?” 😳
Siggy: “And most popular at that…”
Cassy: “Uhhm…” 👉👈
Amy and Azdael have been shipped with plenty of others.
They have been shipped with each other and with their semi-canon partners: Azdael × Laura and Amy × Gloria were both mentioned specifically!
Azdael: “As it should be!”
Amy: “Aye, agreed!”
Roughly a fifth of respondents had no preferences, or were even against fixed pairings.
Fiona: “Folk like that open relationship we girls frae the future have goin’. But there’s someone cravin’ Ciri doin’ it wi’ Yuki a fair bit mair often.”
Yuki: “Well… what do you think, Cece?” 😳
Ciri: “We… we’ll see… not opposed, I am… mun…”
Fiona: “Dr. Flößer got her fair share o’ shippin’.”
Sandra: “… ahem…”
Amy: “The auld hen? Fer real? Let me see, Wee-Fi.”
Amy: “Aye… it’s TRRRUE! ‘Anyone’, Azdael an’ the wee lad an’ aw!”
Siggy: “Me?!?”
Amy: “Ye’re no’ thinkin’ she’s still sexy?”
Siggy: “No comment!”
Rhia: “An’ what’s your take, Sandra?”
Sandra: “Ja mei, people’s fantasies are people’s fantasies… I’ll leave it at that.”
On a side note: Yuki Kazeshiro from HoloAN: After Hours and “senpai” also got a mention… I’m not sure whether they meant Marine or the male partner from her episode. 🤔
Yuki: “Ara… why not both?” 💙
Yuki: “Ehh? That’s… that’s not me!” 😳
The “Design Awards”
I also asked for the favourite design and personality, and for those that need the most work, so we’ll tackle these, too.
In terms of favourite design, Cassy scored another decisive win with 36 votes, followed by Rhia with 15 votes (so less than half) and Azdael with 11 votes. Though everyone is at least one person’s favourite!
Favourite personality also went to Cassy, with 36 votes again, followed this time by Amy with 19 votes and Rhia with 10 votes. Everyone was someone’s favourite again, and the Next Gen girls getting fewer votes here feels fairly natural, given that there is far less content involving them (especially if you don’t read the Tidbits).
Cassy: “I won both of these!” 😳
Melanie: “Beaten twice by the same person. That’s efficient, at least.”
Amy: “Glad folk enjoy their sassy Scottish lassies, so Ah am!”
Melanie: “Maybe you should dial back the accent and become real competition!”
Amy: “Pure pish!”
Maybe I’ll try to settle on a more readable version of strong Scots… whatever that actually means!
Rhia: “A proper oxymoron tha’ is, mun!”
Amy: “Ye’re one tae talk, ye wee oxy-moron!”
View as table
| Character | Favourite design n = 111 | Favourite personality n = 106 |
|---|---|---|
| Cassy | 36 (32.4%) | 36 (34.0%) |
| Amy | 7 (6.3%) | 19 (17.9%) |
| Rhia | 15 (13.5%) | 10 (9.4%) |
| Melanie | 9 (8.1%) | 6 (5.7%) |
| Yuki | 8 (7.2%) | 3 (2.8%) |
| Sandra | 7 (6.3%) | 2 (1.9%) |
| Azdael | 11 (9.9%) | 9 (8.5%) |
| Ciri | 5 (4.5%) | 4 (3.8%) |
| Mio | 3 (2.7%) | 2 (1.9%) |
| Fiona | 2 (1.8%) | 2 (1.9%) |
| No preference | 8 (7.2%) | 13 (12.3%) |
In terms of things that need work… over half of the votes were “no preference”, and we can lump the skips/non-answers in there too. So most people seem fairly content with the status quo.
Still… Yuki and Ciri were named most often in the design category with 8 votes, followed by Cassy and Rhia with 7 votes each… I guess people simply have stronger opinions on some designs. The “winner” here might be Azdael: not a single vote for her design needing work!
Azdael: “I’m so versatile, everyone can find something they like!”
In the personality category, Sandra received 10 votes, while Amy and Yuki got 6 votes each.
Sandra: “Do people think I’m boring?”
Amy: “Nae, ye’re a stick in the mud, auld hen… that’s the issue!”
Sandra: “Someone has to be the voice of reason, Mäderl.”
View as table
| Character | Design needs most work n = 91 | Personality needs most work n = 90 |
|---|---|---|
| Cassy | 7 (7.7%) | 4 (4.4%) |
| Amy | 3 (3.3%) | 6 (6.7%) |
| Rhia | 7 (7.7%) | 1 (1.1%) |
| Melanie | 6 (6.6%) | 5 (5.6%) |
| Yuki | 8 (8.8%) | 6 (6.7%) |
| Sandra | 5 (5.5%) | 10 (11.1%) |
| Azdael | 0 (0.0%) | 2 (2.2%) |
| Ciri | 8 (8.8%) | 2 (2.2%) |
| Mio | 2 (2.2%) | 2 (2.2%) |
| Fiona | 1 (1.1%) | 1 (1.1%) |
| No preference | 44 (48.4%) | 51 (56.7%) |
Some interesting insights, huh? Will this be reflected in the main awards?
The actual “TDG Best Girl Awards”!
We’ve pushed this back far enough; it’s finally time to reveal your favourite girls across the categories.
And we’ll start with the “Core Four”, the main girls Cassy, Melanie, Amy and Rhia.
TDG Best Girl — Core Four
We’ll start with the most recent main girl: Rhia received 66 votes in total.
Rhia: “Meanin’?”
That you are sharing your place with Melanie, who also received 66 votes in total!
Rhia: “Tidy, dun’t you think, bach?” 💛
Melanie: “I have no complaints about sharing the spot with you, Kitty.” 🖤
Sandra: “You have to share the spot with one more person, because Miss Reid received 66 votes, too.”
Amy: “Say whit?”
Sandra: “Now we’re only missing Miss Kanayama’s results.”
Cassy: “Uhhm… I’m a bit nervous…” 😣👉👈
Technically speaking, we’ve achieved a three-way tie, just like last time, but could we make it a four-way?
Sandra: “Well, the answer is no if you look at the total votes cast. Miss Kanayama received 86 votes in total.”
Cassy: “Ehhh?!?” 😳
That means Cassy wins the TDG Best Girl Award for the Main Cast!
Amy: “It’s the poster lass that’s the favourite, aye?”
Melanie: “Look at my overgrown toddler!”
Rhia: “You alright, bach?”
Melanie: “I’m fine…”
Amy: Melanie: Rhia: “Congrats, Cassy!”
Cassy: “Thank you! Love you girls!” 😘💞
And for your convenience the full chart below:
View as table
| Answer | Count | Share of respondents |
|---|---|---|
| Cassy | 86 | 68.3% |
| Melanie | 66 | 52.4% |
| Amy | 66 | 52.4% |
| Rhia | 66 | 52.4% |
Respondents could pick more than one, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Cassy was more or less leading the pack the whole time, with her lead even growing (relatively) as the votes came in, and as you can see, more than two thirds of all respondents cast a vote for Cassy!
The others, however, were trading positions constantly, with every one of them being at the top, the bottom, or the middle numerous times.
Rhia: “A smidge dirty, tha’ sounds, innit?”
Melanie: “Kitty…”
There were periods of three-way ties, so it’s nice it ended up in this state.
Sandra: “You may have noticed we are not providing a detailed breakdown of the combinations. You can ask yourself why that is, and what a full analysis across all categories would mean for a single pie or doughnut chart. Reviewing your entry-level probability and statistics material may be helpful.”
Rhia: “Oi, enough o’ tha’, Sandra! We en’t in school, innit!”
Let’s move on to the next category:
TDG Best Girl — Support Cast
So, probably no one is surprised that this vote was not as close, and that the number of votes cast was lower in general. There were 161 votes overall, more than 100 fewer than the main girl vote.
Azdael and Sandra dominated this poll, with Azdael garnering 70 votes and Sandra still taking 52 votes in total.
So, Azdael is our TDG Best Girl for the Support Cast!
Azdael: “Of course I did! But you did pretty well for an old-timer.”
Sandra: “Who’s the old one among us?”
Sandra: “And I shall choose to take this as an attempt at a compliment.”
I don’t think it’s too surprising that the boys fell behind in this one.
Amy: “Nae worries! Mair o’ the lads fer us, is it no’?”
Cassy: “Don’t be sad, Siggy, I’ll comfort you as long as you want… later.” 😘💞
Siggy: “…Thanks, Cassy.”
Ricardo: “I’m not too mad about not winning a Best Girl award, but I’ll gladly take Amy’s consolation prize!”
Amy: “Ah bet ye dae, pal!” 💙
And here’s the full chart again:
View as table
| Answer | Count | Share of respondents |
|---|---|---|
| Azdael | 70 | 68.6% |
| Sandra | 52 | 51.0% |
| Siggy | 25 | 24.5% |
| Ricardo | 14 | 13.7% |
Respondents could pick more than one, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
The appeal of Azdael is quite obvious, and she’s pretty big, pretty often. It’s not too surprising that the thinly characterised audience-surrogate guys aren’t too popular in muscle-girl-centred content. Sandra did better than I expected, given her smaller proportions and more reserved, non-sexual character.
Azdael: “Not mincing words, are we? Right, Sandra?”
Sandra: “I’d prefer Dr. Flößer from both of you, but the points hold up well enough otherwise.”
Siggy: “Thinly characterised audience-surrogate… at least I’m the more popular self-insert…”
Ricardo: “Pfft… I’m only around for half the time.”
Well… erm… onto the final category:
TDG Best Girl — Next Gen Girls
Participation for this was in between the other two categories, with 238 votes cast. So who’s in the lead here?
Sandra: “We’ll start with the newest character again: Mio received 51 votes in total.”
Fiona: “An’ she’s sharin’ her spot wi’… masel’. Ah scored 51 votes, so Ah did!”
We are one vote short of another three-way tie: 52 votes went to Ciri!
Yuki: “So… that means…” 😳
Yes, we have another Kanayama win! A whopping 84 votes for Yuki — that’s almost 75% of the voters!
Fiona: “Aye, congrats! Ye can be right proud o’ yersel’, sugar!” ❤️🔥
Ciri: 
Mio: “Da iawn, Yuki!” 🧡🧡
Yuki: “I’m super happy! I’ll keep doing my best!” 💪😉🩵
Yuki: “I’m sure you girls can get closer next time…” ☺️
Mio: “Oi!”
Ciri: “You know she means well, dwt.”
Yuki: “Ehhh?!?! Did I say something weird?” 😖
And here’s one last chart:
View as table
| Answer | Count | Share of respondents |
|---|---|---|
| Yuki | 84 | 74.3% |
| Ciri | 52 | 46.0% |
| Fiona | 51 | 45.1% |
| Mio | 51 | 45.1% |
Respondents could pick more than one, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
This is… honestly not surprising at all. The community likes the big girls, and Yuki’s the biggest. 😅
Yuki: “Uhhhm…” 😳
Azdael: “Is she now?!”
Usually…
Azdael: “Fair.”
Though it was fairly unexpected to see the other characters being so close again. Basically everyone was in second place at some point, with three-way ties on several occasions, too.
Overall results
Looks like the Kanayamas are the most popular girls at the moment, by quite a bit. The three category winners also achieved the Top 3 results:
- Cassy with 86 votes
- Yuki with 84 votes
- Azdael with 70 votes
But Azdael’s popularity is more in line with the other main girls. Still a better result than I expected for her. Hard to say whether, e.g., just a current/Next Gen split, or a single combined vote, would yield different results.
Azdael: “Are you trying to undermine my result here?!”
Azdael: “Seventy votes. And that’s while barely showing up. Do the maths, dunce.”
Mio: “Think we should get a heart ahoge, me chwaer?”
Ciri: “Huh… why should we do that, dwt?”
Mio: “Well… just look at the winners, mind. What do they have in common, like?”
Fiona: “Michty me… she’s richt enough!”
Cassy: “It… it just runs in the family…”
Azdael: “Well, not for me, but it is endearing… otherwise I wouldn’t have one!”
Overall there are 4 “popularity clusters”:
- both Kanayama girls are at the top
- then the “current gen” cluster led by Azdael
- the Next Gen girls and Sandra
- and below all the girls, at the bottom, are the guys
Amy: “No’ the worst position tae be in, richt lads?” 💙
Siggy: “I… I guess…”
Ricardo: “It has its perks, for sure.”
And remember the teaser back in the Design Awards? Favourite design and favourite personality predicted the category winners pretty well, but Yuki managed to muscle her way in.
Fiona: “Anither shocker, that yin.”
I didn’t quite expect Cassy and Yuki to pull that far ahead, but I’m fairly happy with the overall results. A lot of the other girls are really close together, which doesn’t seem that easy given the size the cast has grown to!
Closing thoughts
And that wraps up the 2026 survey!
I hope you enjoyed reading through this; it’s a lot longer than last year’s post!
Thanks for the continued interest in my stuff and the girls, thanks for contributing to the survey, and thanks to all the characters for making this post less dry! (Hopefully.)
A few final words from our winners and the whole cast:
Cassy: “Thanks everyone! You guys and girls are great!” 😘💞
Yuki: “Uhmm… I’m honoured all of you like me so much, I’ll keep putting in a strong performance!” 💪😉🩵
Azdael: “I’m glad you all recognise I’m the best… but the others aren’t half bad either. Wouldn’t be around without them, would I?”
Melanie: Sandra: Siggy: Ricardo: “Bye everyone!”
Amy: Fiona: “See ye around, folks!”
Rhia: Ciri: Mio: “We loves you all, mind. Hwyl!” 💛🧡🧡
Alright, back to a more regular schedule… people asked for more comics and Leaf still needs some growing, so…