Well, for one I was pretty happy last season about having so many of my picks taken!
Had to actually reconsult the character listing this time instead of just copy-pasting the old pools... In case it's not obvious from the picks, I love kick-ass female warriors and in general the lower-ranked people of their categories.
Godlike
Piastol (SoA) Kick-ass
Purim (SoM) Less kick-ass, but decently large and fun spell list.
Ryu (BoF2) A less-overpowered-than-usual Ryu? Count me in!
Beatrix (FF9) Been a long time.
Rika (PS4) The little numan that got to the finals in Godlike. Can she pulls the upset again?
KOS-MOS (XS) Neat character, and lots of incarnations to pick from in matches.
Heavy
Ursula (BoF4) Might get to fight Lyn next season if she goes up. BoF Kitty gungirl vs BoF fox gungirl.
Nel Zelpher (SO3) My 2nd favorite character ever, awesome on all counts.
Nephenee (FE9) First female soldier in the serie, that looks awesome and is actually very good stats-wise.
Lyn (FE7) Swordmaster-with-a-bow hype.
Jean (Lunar2) Decent and rarely seen.
Lyon (S5) She's the character with the most lines in Suikoden V, so might as well get her some spotlight here too.
Middle
Katt (BoF2) Favorite character ever. Doubt her win rate is ever going to be too good though...
Florina (FE7) Where Lyn goes, Florina goes. Spear and pegasus, what's not to love?
Rauny (OB) Pretty neat Ogre Battle character that has an actual story and some importance. Spear and lightning bolts, what's not to love?
Aelia (VP1) Spear and dragon, what's not to love?
Marle (CT) Spe... oh, just a crossbow and ice spells. It'll do anyway.
Tifa Lockheart (FF7) Eh, needed someone from FF7 to replace my Barret pick with. Arguing-on-the-forums-about-roulette-slot-attack-odds hype.
Light
Kahn (BoF4) C'mon, it's Kahn. No explanations necessary.
Yushis (OB) We need more angels in games. Too bad that the area effect of her spell is wasted here (Like Rauny).
Lelei (S5) Ultra-loyal guardian with questionable interests. Oh, and heavy armor hype I suppose.
Tao (SF1) Blaze IV hype, plus she's nearly first in number of lines spoken from a character in this game (2 lines).
Taya (SF2) Yuna's Aeons are puny in size compared to Taya's summons.
Estella (S3) How will she fare without her bodyguard/slave? Time to find out!