Apr 01, 2025
Author's Commentary #396:
Time to talk about Chapter 396: Fools of the day.
Obviously, I tied this chapter in with April Fool's Day. However, this chapter actually was planned a while back, but since the release schedule allowed me the opportunity to release it on April Fool's Day, I naturally took the chance to do so. The date is also Iori's birthday, as well as Jester's and Gwen's, so naturally, Iori's game is also featured a bit in this chapter.
Now onto an important announcement, and no, this isn't an April Fool's joke. First up, I've made some minor edits to Season 1. Gorona, Maccabee, and Noa, now all cameo in it, with Gorona and Maccabee now being Mimoko's 1st and 2nd round opponents, respectively. Before, said opponents were just unnamed, but now that there's such a large cast of characters, I decided to expand on that more. As for Okisato's 1st and 2nd round opponents for that tournament, I'll confirm that they were in fact, Hubert and Mirjana, respectively. I'll also confirm that I have plans to showcase those games whether it be via flashbacks in this arc, or via edits to season 1. The latter is looking a bit more likely, but naturally, I'll confirm things when they happen here in my author commentaries. Going with the latter would mean I'd have to go through all the chapters and update the author commentaries and game logs to properly match, but I might end up updating the game logs anyway to include more information. Though if this series were to get an official publication, I would definitely showcase those matches in the volume. They would also be present in an anime adaptation of season 1, and naturally a video game adaptation as well. And before I end this segment, the chapter these three now cameo in is Chapter 36: A new era of chess. Though as I said, it's likely I'll be editing Season 1 as a whole to include their games.
As for the chapter, what better way to celebrate April Fool's Day, than to give a homage to Monty Python. The Spanish Inquisition being late is a homage o the ending of the Spanish Inquisition episode where the Inquisition arrives too late to say their line before the "The End" screen is shown, with one of them even saying, "Oh bugger". The judge character, Francisco Patxi, is also a Monty Python reference, as that very place the Spanish Inquisition was late to was a courtroom. Speaking of which, it's character bio time.
フランシスコ・パクシ (Francisco Patxi) is how Francisco's name would be spelled in katakana. His surname, Patxi, is actually a nickname for people named Francisco.
His birthday is September 22nd, which is the day the Spanish Inquisition sketch debuted in Series 2 Episode 2 of Monty Python's Flying Circus.
His favorite piece is the bishop.
フランク・リングア (Frank Lingua) is how Frank's name would be spelled in katakana. His name is an obvious pun on "lingua franca".
His birthday is January 1st, which is New Year's Day.
His favorite piece is the king.
Frank is actually a character from the original version of Escape Witch. He didn't make the remake though, but naturally, I have plans for him here in this series. And who knows, maybe he'll end up appearing in Streamer Royale as well.
丹德龙 (Dan Delong) is how Dan Delong's name would be spelled in kanji. 丹 means "red", while 德龙 means "Germany" and "dragon". ダン・デロング (Dan Delong) is how it would be spelled in katakana.
His birthday is October 24th, which he shares with Chinese grandmaster and 17th World Chess Champion, Ding Liren.
His favorite piece is the king.
This was hinted at earlier in the story, but Dan Delong is meant to be this world's equivalent to 17th World Chess Champion, Ding Liren. While some real-life chess players do exist, or did exist within this world, others have parodies of them. This is usually due to the fact that these characters have more screentime and somewhat important roles in the story. Where as Magnus Carlsen does exist in universe, he never appears fully on screen, which is often the case with many anime when they include a real-life person in it.
焦世佳 (Jiao Shijia) is how Shijia's name would be spelled in kanji. 焦 means "focus", while 世佳 means "world" and "good". ジャオ・シジア (Jiao Shijia) is how it would be spelled in katakana.
(If I made any mistakes with the translations, feel free to correct me).
His birthday is August 4th, which he shares with Chinese grandmaster, Wang Hao.
His favorite piece is the knight.
And finally, in fitting with the theme of April Fool's Day, the game was a complete joke. All I wanted was a quick game just to have something to show while the Inquisition tried to get to the venue in time.
And now for something completely different; we return to the Japan vs Estonia match. Sorry, I had to make the joke.
That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.
