Jul 10, 2025
Author's Commentary #496:
Time to talk about Chapter 496: Unable to touch grass.
You can tell I had fun with this chapter too. Ilmi is easily my favorite of the Fins on the women's side, and luckily, she's not evil. She's just an ordinary girl who was trapped in electromagnetic Finland until now. Speaking of which, let's do the bios for her and the other women as well. But first, a big PSA for the series.
Season 7 is complete, and as such, I'm in the process of revising and reordering the chapters. As a result, this chapter, Unable to touch grass, will be swapped back to Chapter 477. If you've been following the series daily, go back to chapter 477: Unable to touch grass and read from there as that's the point all new content will be uploaded for chapters 478-496. Tomorrow, chapter 497 will be a continuation of the new canon, so if you don't want to be lost, head back to chapter 477 and read from there. Now for the bios.
ヴィルピ・ラトバラ (Virpi Latvala) is how Virpi's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is February 9th, which she shares with Finnish honorary grandmaster, Eero Böök.
Her favorite piece is the rook.
ヌーラ・ガレン・カッレラ (Noora Gallen-Kallela) is how Noora's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is February 27th, which she shares with Finnish grandmaster, Heikki Westerinen.
Her favorite piece is the king.
Some of you might recall that Noora's design was originally used for the then Dr. Yanmin Van Aitzema of the Babylonian women's team. Just like I said, her design was not trashed and now belongs to Noora.
ピルッコ・エスコ (Pirkko Esko) is how Pirkko's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is April 3rd, which she shares with Finnish grandmaster, Tomi Nybäck.
Her favorite piece is the pawn.
Pirkko's design has also been in reserve for a while, but I can't remember if I poster her design in any team artworks prior to this.
イルミ・ホロ (Ilmi Hollo) is how Ilmi's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is October 24th, which she shares with Finnish grandmaster, Jouni Yrjölä.
Her favorite piece is the queen.
One final thing I'll confirm about Ilmi is that she will become a DSPCM. However, since she wasn't a DSPCM now when she was beaten, Iori will have to rematch her to get the accolades from beating her. This will also be officially stated within the story.
That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.
