Jul 11, 2025
Author's Commentary #458:
Time to talk about Chapter 458: The 6B roster.
Originally three different chapters each focusing on all the teams participating, I felt it was best to just merge everything together both to save time and move the story along quickly. It is worth noting that thanks to Ayane, Mayane has now been roped into participating. Really, Iceland is probably the only team that won't get much spotlight, unless of course some teams decide to drop out of the event. Now let's do the bios for the stylists.
セドサスワーヴ (Sedosa Suave) is how Sedosa'a name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is May 9th, which is the day Suave Brands' North American rights were acquired by Yellow Wood Partners LLC.
Her favorite piece is the queen.
サリー・ブレイド (Sally Blade) is how Sally's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is January 5th, which she shares with American businessman, King C. Gillette.
Her favorite piece is the queen.
ライッサ・レイザー (Raissa Razor) is how Raissa's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is October 25th, which is the day Société Bic S.A. was founded.
Her favorite piece is the queen.
リリ・ルシャス (Lili Luscious) is how Lili's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is January 29th. The reason for this is because Greek physician, surgeon, and philosopher, Galen was born in the year 129.
Her favorite piece is the queen.
One of the main reasons I held off on doing these bios was actually because with the exception of Sedosa, I wasn't sure if I was going to change the initial names I gave them. I ended up keeping them, and after finishing their designs, decided to finally do their bios. One tidbit I'll mention about Sedosa is that she used to be included as part of the Misc. Female Players art, but has now been replaced there in order to appear in the art of the stylists. That being said, she is still competing in the main tournament.
As for the stylists in general, I'm not sure what plans I have for them beyond this arc. That being said, I do want to eventually flesh them out, which will likely happen as some of them are SPCMs or DSPCMs. Even for the ones that aren't, I do plan to flesh them out. One other thing I can talk about is that the reason there are so many women's teams is for a few reasons.
First off, there was Japan and any country that finished in the top 10 and/or had one of their members win a medal in the IRL 45th Chess Olympiad this arc is inspired from had to be added, meaning at least 23 teams, regardless of if I was already planning on adding them, were added. Next were any nations not part of the aforementioned group that had major characters hailing from them such as France and England to name a few. And finally, teams I hadn't planned for, but was inspired to add for one reason or another whether it be because I just felt like it or was inspired by some music.
And that eventually lead to over 500 characters being created, and I'm still adding more, not to mention I still need to finish up art for some of the men's teams that have already appeared. One certainty is that you can expect new characters I created literally days ago to pop up frequently in this story.
Speaking of teams, I've ended up playing around in paint and making a few more new women's teams. That being said, while I have ideas for them, I doubt they'll have much of a role in this arc. Though I will state here that one of the teams is the Greater Federal Republic of Central America, which is based off historical nations of similar names. Costa Rica isn't a part of it, and thanks to DESPER shenanigans, it's now located in the gulf of Thailand, bordering Cambodia. Since I retconned this into Chapter 282: Chess' worldwide importance, I felt I'd mention that here since it's literally almost 200 chapters back. But while this team and the other new ones won't have much of a role in this arc, they will pop up again later in the series.
That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.
