the big viral EVO Japan side-tournament moment thus far: the Money Idol Exchanger tournament was won by a junior high student who showed up with her parents and proceeded to casually body everyone she played, and she voluntarily played mirror matches the entire time to boot.
full tournament archive:
a little more info: her official public tournament debut was at this Mikado meetup held earlier this month—she's been playing since childhood, mostly on her own, but dropped off for a while because most tournaments tend to be held late at night or during school hours and she wasn't allowed to attend any of 'em, but now she's reached the age where her parents are happy to bring her to meetups.
As for why she's so proficient at a somewhat obscure game that came and went a decade before she was born: her parents own and run the cult Anegasaki Shooting Star arcade, known for a wide rotating selection of niche old-school games (particularly STG), as well as doggedly clinging to ¥50 credits.
update: if you feel like supporting the player and her family at Anegasaki Shooting Star, you may want to leave a tip on their Ci-en page, which includes articles on "Anegasaki Money Idol"'s history with the game and recent tournament debut, as well as their last-minute EVO Japan entry.
lemme also point out that this story got picked up by The Guardian, with cursory reportage on KOFXV, 3D & UNIB results at the very end
