Jul 14, 2024
Author's Commentary #41:
Time to talk about Chapter 41: Black sail of the labyrinth Part 1.
As highlighted in the previous commentary, major revisions between this and the original have occurred. The first is that the season's main antagonist, Melinda Moriarty, has received both a personality and visual overhaul in terms of her design. Instead of being more melancholic, she's now more edgy and upbeat. I really do like her new personality and design compared to her old one. Speaking of which, let's go over her bio.
メリンダ・モリアーティ (Melinda Moriarty) is how her name is spelled in katakana. She's a highly intelligent woman and has a decent social media following. Her name is also a reference to Professor Moriarty from Sherlock Holmes, and she is actually his descendant.
Her birthday is January 31st, which is both National Backward day and the day before Yuni's birthday.
Now that Melinda's bio is out of the way, it's time to talk about a major change between this and the original, that being Serika doesn't get kidnapped. Looking back, I'm not sure why I decided to have her get kidnapped or how she'd even get kidnapped considering her strength. Even if she did get taken out by the immobilization serum dart, I still didn't want her getting kidnapped, mainly because of what Melinda would try and do to her. However, I also didn't want Serika at full strength as that would make everything a sure win for the girls which is why I had her get hit with the dart in the first place. She actually has built up some immunity to the serum thanks to her training at the mansion, but obviously not enough to resist it completely. While she didn't get kidnapped, she will be completely useless for the arc and will have to be carried around by Madoka since leaving her alone would be too risky. And much to Serika's dismay, her hair will also be styled in twintails until she can move again, courtesy of Yuni.
That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.