winner 3

Earlier this week, we brought you news that voting was open for the “natural” round of this year’s Miss-Con, or rather the Kanto region’s Miss Cutest High School Girl.

Comments came in ranging from the generous (“They’re all beautiful!”) to the cautionary (“Jailbait!”) here and on our dedicated Facebook page, and for a while it looked like we might never agree on who was the cutest of the nine finalists, but we can finally reveal that the winner is none other than…

…baseball-loving, ever-so-slightly buck-toothed first-grader Hikauncho!

winner 1

Just to recap, this round of the contest was dedicated to “natural beauties”, and only girls with uncoloured hair and subtle make-up were allowed to take part. In a country where millions of people, especially young women, dye their hair in an effort to be a little different, kurokami bijin (lit. beautiful, black-haired girls) are seen as something of a rarity, but the natural look is making a comeback in recent years and contests like this are intended to remind Japan’s women that there’s nothing wrong with the colour they were born with.

Of the nine finalists, though, there could be only one overall winner.

▼ A hug for the champ.

winner 2

winner 3

The runner-up prize went to young Yuttan (below), a fellow first-grader who at the time of writing our initial report had received the most votes by far and was heavily tipped to win. Better luck next year, Yuttan!

yuttan

Not everyone in the netisphere was entirely convinced, however, that the right girls had been chosen, with some suggesting that while of course all of the finalists were beautiful in their own way, they were surprised at how… normal the grand prize winner was. The winner was decided by the number of online votes each of the girls received, and we very much doubt that there were any underhand deals or money changing hands for something as trivial as a high school beauty (sorry, cuteness) contest though, so perhaps the disgruntled few will simply have to account for different people having different tastes?

What do you think, Rocketeers? Did Hikauncho deserve the win? Or are you siding with the guys at sites like Japan’s My Game News Flash in thinking more along the lines of, “Well, yeah, she’s really cute, buuuut…”?

Source: My Game Newsflash (Japanese)
Images: Modelpress