Apr 24, 2026
Author's Commentary #9:
Time to talk about Chapter 9: Provoking the French team.
Things are now shifting over to the women's side, where the match will be far more intense than the men's. And to make matters worse, Iori provoked the French team, and now they're pining for a 4-0 sweep of Japan. Speaking of which, let's talk about all the members of the French team.
コレット・ファム・ファタール (Collette Femme-Fatale) is how Collette's name is spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is May 31st. I chose this date at random, so there's no greater significance behind why this day is her birthday.
Her favorite piece is the queen as like her, it slays.
卯都木 アリス (Utsugi Alice) and 卯都木 ミモザ (Utsugi Mimosa) are how the Utsugi twins' names are written in Japanese. 卯都木 means "rabbit", "city", and "tree".
The Utsugi twins were born to a French mother and Japanese father and grew up in France. The two have a deep incestual love for each other, which frequently puts them at odds with society. They are loosely based off of Nino Nakano and Miku Nakano from the Quintessential Quintuplets, more specifically, the Nino x Miku ship some fans believe in.
Their birthday is June 2nd. I chose this date at random, so there's no greater significance behind why this day is their birthday.
Their favorite piece is the queen, mainly because each see the other and themself as the queens of their own destiny.
フラワー・モニーク (Fleur Monique) is how Fleur's name is spelled in katakana. 切川 芙歩 (Kirikawa Fufu) is how her original name was spelled in kanji. 芙歩 means "lotus" and "walk".
(If I made any mistakes with the translations, feel free to correct me).
Her birthday is December 16th, which she shares with her sisters, Ina and Miga.
Her favorite piece is the pawn, mainly because that's Fifi's favorite piece.
Originally, I only showed three of the four games played during the match, which became a trend going forward for both the women and men. In the volumes, however, I'll be showing all four games for each match. That means that Fifi, whose match was originally off-screened, will have her game against Utami shown in full. I'm very proud of how this match ultimately turned out, so I hope you're looking forward to peak chess, because that's certainly what the Japan-France match is going to be.
That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.
