May 15, 2024

Author's Commentary #26:

Time to talk about Chapter 26: The Ginkawa hot springs.
This was pretty much a wholesome hot springs chapter. In terms of differences between this and the original draft, the only notable difference is that Mimi is now present in the chapter. Speaking of Mimi, I feel like I need to give a bit more context as to what she's referring to, but first, I'll give a quick bio on Gnoreville.

Gnoreville actually originates from one of my Shiruka sensei short stories, Four very bloody sentences to be precise. He's actually based off of the Vinesauce character, Gnorts.

ノールビル (Gnoreville) is how his name is spelled in katakana.

His birthday is May 12th which is also Vinny Vinesauce's birthday.

He won't really have much of a role in Escape Witch, though he does have more screen time in Spice of life. Now onto Mimi.

Mimi actually first encountered Ruchi Ookuma back in 2007 and ended up taking a nasty slash to the stomach in order to protect a 10-year old Rika. She was then cryogenically frozen for 9 years before being thawed out and having her life saved in 2016 by a skilled physician.

However, Mimi is also a member of the Ginkawa family from a parallel world that was merged with this one. Not to mention, Harumi's niece Reiju, the main protagonist of Mystery ghost foresight, ended up being the one to pay the cryogenics company for Mimi's refreezing back in 2007.

Since Mimi is an official member of the Ginkawa family, she lives in the mansion. Since Ryokoma is literally a boat ride away from the mansion, she usually takes a boat to and from work and home.

銀川 心美 (Ginkawa Mimi) is how her name is written in kanji. 心美 means "heart" and "beauty".
(If I made any mistakes with the translations, feel free to correct me).

Her birthday is January 20th which is national cheese lovers day. This is fitting considering her favorite food is Danablu cheese.

As for the Ginkawa milk, it is based off of the Chateau Romani milk from The Legend of Zelda Majora's mask. This was what actually led me to decide to make Gnoreville and his buddies servants working for the Ginkawa family, as I thought it would be a neat to have the aliens raising the cows unlike in the game where the aliens are trying to abduct the cows. Ginkawa milk is not commercially available like Chateau Romani is in in the game.

That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.

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May 15, 2024

Author's Commentary #34:

Time to talk about Chapter 34: Pool party.
The gang has finally arrived at the Tall tower hotel. In the original, this chapter actually took place towards the end of the arc, rather than at the start like it is here. The reason for that is because I felt the story flowed better if the arc started out with the pool chapter.

Speaking of the arc, it will largely be the same as the original, though now characters that weren't originally present in it like Mocha and Azuki will be. One important thing to note is that in the original, Azuki was originally called Azami, however, I decided to change her name to Azuki. Other than that, her character remains the same.

Speaking of characters, this chapter features a good chunk of all the female characters in the series. This is also a pool chapter, so naturally everyone's in swimsuits. I originally intended for this to simply be a fanservice chapter, however, this chapter actually ended up serving as the prelude for a mini-arc centered around Zuina. As such, I felt it was best to have this mini-arc take place before the catering arc in order to give more character development to Zuina, as well as properly introduce the series' newest antagonist, Rebelle. I'll talk more about her in the next commentary.

One final thing I'll mention is that while Nino is capable of hypnotizing Ichika, she's still far less skilled at hypnotism than her. She does have higher poison resistance though which is actually second only to Yuugen within the family.

That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.

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May 14, 2024

Author's Commentary #25:

Time to talk about Chapter 25: Training at the Ginkawa mansion.
There is a lot to talk about, but first I want to talk more about Fubuki since her real name has finally been revealed. First off, a little backstory.

Fubuki and her older twin sister Hitomi both hail from the Kirikawa clan, a ninja clan most known for having numerous multiple births throughout the family's history. In fact, it is considered abnormal if a woman from the clan bears any thing less than twins. Speaking of which, Fubuki and Hitomi's mother is a quintuplet, while Hitomi's children are triplets. Fubuki is the first woman from the clan in decades to give birth to only a single child, though she could have given birth to two children, albeit, they wouldn't have been twins.

二川 一心 (Futagawa Hitomi) is how Hitomi's name is written in kanji. 一心 means "one" and "heart".

As for Fubuki, 切川 二見 (Kirikawa Futami) is how her real name is spelled in kanji. 二見 means "two" and "to see" while 切川 means "to cut" and "river"
(If I made any mistakes with the translations, feel free to correct me).

Both Hitomi and Fubuki were born on February 2nd. This date is fitting because they are twins. It is also the day after Yuni's birthday.

Now to talk more about the chapter. In the original draft for Escape Witch, I intended for the girls to go to a gym where they would end up getting captured and bound with zip ties. Originally, that arc would occur right before the Ginkawa mansion was shown. Once I finalized the plans for the story, I decided to instead convert that arc into a training arc at the mansion. That way, Yuni and Serika would remain at the mansion and the idea would be preserved.

The Ginkawa mansion arc as a whole is easily one of the more lighthearted arcs in the story, which is needed considering the previous arc was pretty dark. And speaking of lighthearted, the next chapter is a hot springs chapter, so expect some hot springs antics next chapter.

That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.

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May 14, 2024

Author's Commentary #33:

Time to talk about Chapter 33: The prisoner.
Well, we finally know what happened to Itsuki after she ran off. To make matters worse, she was even going to head back and apologize to Rika before bumping into Fujiko. Sundae also got caught and it appears as though both her and Itsuki will be shipped off to the Demon queen cult. The only good news is that this will be Fujiko's last major appearance in the story. As such, I'll give a quick bio on her.

山口 富姫子 (Yamaguchi Fujiko) is how her name is spelled in kanji.
富姫子 means "wealthy", "princess", and "young".
Her surname, 山口 means "mountains" and "opening".
(If I made any mistakes with the translations, feel free to correct me).

Her birthday is March 15th, which is known as the Ides of March and the day Julius Caesar was assassinated. The biggest inspiration behind her character was Otoya Takechi from Akuma no Riddle.

Her favorite food is whip cream.

As for Yoriko Sakaguro, she's actually a character from Mystery ghost foresight. However, she's incredibly underdeveloped here, mainly because I planned to properly flesh out her character in Mystery ghost, but decided to abandon that series. I'll elaborate more on her though in a future commentary.

That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.

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May 14, 2024

Author's Commentary #81:

Time to talk about Chapter 81: Taira vs Mimoko.
As promised, someone ended up challenging Taira, and that someone just happened to be Mimoko. Mimoko doesn't play as crazily as Okisato, but she is by far one of the most skilled chess players in the series.

As for the game, it was a pretty simple match. Taira put up a good fight, but was nothing compared to Mimoko. Now Mimoko has bested a total of 3 SPCMs, Himitsudono, Himitsuchan, and now Himitsuue. Okisato has now bested 5 and only has to beat Himitsuue and Himitsuchan. Funnily enough, they're the only two members of the chess club that have beaten any SPCMs. Yuusuke has challenged Himitsuchan, but lost.

Now that Taira has been bested and Mizuse is angry, things are sure to heat up next chapter. I won't say, how, but I will say the next chapter will shine some light on why Ai did all this, so you won't want to miss it.

One final thing I'll mention is that Taira and Tenju's ratings are actually mirrored from one another. Tenju's is 1362, while Taira's is 2631. I meant to mention this in an earlier commentary, but forgot, so I'm mentioning it here.

That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.

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May 14, 2024

[Note]: I ended up rewriting the game featured in Chapter 34: Desperado. There's no significant change to the overall story, however, the game is now far more entertaining and epic compared to the original. Feel free to reread the chapter if you like. All I'll say here is that the game now starts off with a Barnes opening: Hammerschlag variation.

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May 14, 2024

Author's Commentary #34:

Time to discuss Chapter 34: Desperado.
We've finally reached the climax of season 1. First off, some background on the match. Originally, the match I used for this chapter was a match I won against a 1800 rated chess.com bot on my own. However, I felt the match itself was incredibly lackluster and decided to rewrite the game. This time, I challenged a 2500 rated chess.com bot and played with all the tools available in order to bring you the game that is now featured in this chapter.

A big reason the revision came about was because I ended up writing games with crazier moves in season 2, and when looking back on the original game for this chapter, I felt the game needed to be changed as it didn't feel like an Okisato game.

This worked out really well as the revised game not only features a Barnes opening: Hammerschlag variation, but also an en passant that ends up sealing Gyro's fate. I couldn't ask for a more fitting game for the climax of season 1. In fact, I enjoy this new game so much, that it's now one of my top 5 games in the series.

I will also confirm that Gyro is dead and won't be coming back. Though he'll likely reappear in flashbacks. As for his portrait in the Desperado collage, the purple "fire" is actually purple lightning, which references how he dies by electrocution. Originally, it was just purple fire, but I changed it to lightning.

One final thing I'll mention is that each major arc villain from here on out will largely embody one of the 7 deadly sins. Gyro, the main antagonist of season 1, embodied the sin of Tristitia (Sorrow/despair/despondency/melancholy). The reason for that is due to him constantly being in a state of despair after meeting Mimoko.

Funnily enough, the DESPERs themselves are a pun on the word "despair" which is fitting since they can cause despair, and because Gyro, one of the minds behind them, embodies the sin of despair. Have fun guessing the sins of future arc villains. I'll make sure to reveal the sins they embody as soon as their arc is over.

One final thing I'll mention is that desperado is also the term used to describe a piece determined to give itself up in order to bring about a stalemate. This is why it's fitting that many of the Desperado league members hope to bring about a draw when they see they are losing. I will also confirm that Gyro was one of the founders of the league and is second in command behind the Ultima-master despite there being other members more skilled than him.

That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.

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May 14, 2024

[Note]: I ended up completely rewriting this chapter. The reason I did was because I felt the game was incredibly lackluster especially considering it's meant to be the big climatic match of the season. Thus, the game is now completely different, but much more entertaining. In fact, I dare say this new game is easily one of my top 5 favorite games in the series. If you read the original, I hope you come back to read the revision.

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May 14, 2024

To:Taylor J

This is why Okisato's so adamant about killing his foes in matches. Though on the other hand, this now gives Yuusuke the chance to improve and hopefully win in a rematch against Zanni. Assuming of course, Gyro doesn't challenge him to a DESPER match. If that happens, he'd get destroyed. Hopefully someone will arrive to save Yuusuke.

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May 13, 2024

Author's Commentary #32:

Time to talk about Chapter 32: A late night snack for Mocha, Hina, and Mochi.
In the original, only Hina showed up to fight the cultists, however, this time, Mocha also accompanies her while Mochi hides in the car. The original chapter also didn't see Hina going to Ryokoma for a meal, nor did it feature Helga being introduced to Izuhana.

One of the major reasons I actually hated the plot-point of Mocha getting arrested in the original was the fact that she had never been to Ryokoma. Rectifying that was a top priority in the remake which is why Mocha now goes to eat at Ryokoma with Hina and Mochi.

In the original, Mochi and Hina didn't go to Ryokoma until much later in the story. Though Mochi did still critique Matcha's dish. Mochi is truly an elite food critic and talented chef, however, she decided to turn her back on the culinary world after what happened with Purin.

名智 望哉 (Myouchi Mochika) is how her name is spelled in kanji.
望哉 means "hope" and "contradiction".
(If I made any mistakes with the translations, feel free to correct me).

Her birthday is August 21st which she shares with Momo Akanegakubo from Shokugeki no Soma. The reason for that is because her character was actually inspired by Momo.

As for her favorite food, she actually does not have a preference. A healthy sand nutritious balanced meal would likely be how she would respond to the question.

One final thing I'll mention is the infamous Fujiko has made her appearance in the story. She won't have a major role, in fact, the next chapter will probably be her last appearance in this novel, but her cameo here shows that even back in middle school, she was still just as messed up as she ended up becoming in Escape Witch.

That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.

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May 13, 2024

Author's Commentary #24:

Time to talk about Chapter 24: The Ginkawa mansion.
First off, the "mansion" more or less resembles the island that houses the advanced nurturing high school from Classroom of the elite, except the whole island is considered to be the mansion. In fact, the advanced nurturing high school was the biggest inspiration for the Ginkawa mansion.

Now that Harumi is back in the story, I'll talk more about her along with some of the other members of the family. First up is Harumi.

銀川 花瑠美 (Ginkawa Harumi) is how her name is written in kanji. 花瑠美 means "flower", "lapis lazuli", and "beautiful".

Her birthday is July 11th which is also the day the first chapter of the original Escape Witch was released.

Harumi is actually the second oldest of Gozaemon Ginkawa's 4 children. Each child is named after a season, with Harumi's being Spring. Speaking of Gozaemon Ginkawa, he ended up semi-retiring as head of the family back in 2007. While he was still officially considered the head until his death, Harumi was essentially the de-facto head.

銀川 五左衛門 (Ginkawa Gozaemon) is how Gozaemon's name is written in kanji. 五左衛門 means "five", "left", "protect", and "door".

His birthday is May 5th. I chose this date for him mainly due to his affinity for the number 5. In fact, 5 is his lucky number.

As for the twins, 銀川 織美亜 (Ginkawa Oribia) and
銀川 織世 (Ginkawa Orise) are how their names are written in kanji. 織世 means "weave" and "generation" while 織美亜 means "weave", "beautiful", and "second".

Their birthday is April 4th. The reason I chose the date was because 2 squared is 4, and because 4 is considered an unlucky number in Japanese culture. This is fitting since the twins tend to embody the dark side of the Ginkawa family. Orise is the older one and therefore would have been the one to be the next head of the family had Harumi not decided to make Madoka her successor.

As for Harumi's third child, her name is Tetsuka Ginkawa. She did appear in the original Escape Witch as well as Spice of Life, however, I'm not sure what her role will be in the remake. She won't appear in part 1 of it, but none the less, I'll give some basic facts about her.

銀川 鉄花 (Ginkawa Tetsuka) is how her name is written in kanji. 鉄花 means "iron" and "flower".
(If I made any mistakes with the translations, feel free to correct me).

Her birthday is October 16th. I chose the date at random so there isn't any significance behind why I made it Tetsuka's birthday.

Tetsuka is actually traveling the world on her own. She mainly left the mansion after being ostracized by the twins.

One final thing I'll mention is that Emeri moved into the mansion after graduating highschool. Even though Madoka's the official successor, Harumi has divulged lots of secrets to Emeri. Her main reason for doing this is so that Emeri can help Madoka when she eventually becomes head of the family.

That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.

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May 13, 2024

Author's Commentary #80:

Time to talk about Chapter 80: A questionable move.
Originally, this was going to be two separate chapters, but I felt they worked better as a single chapter which is why I merged them together.

The title of the chapter also has double meaning. It could refer to the fact that the new policy changes are questionable and/or that Okisato's opening move was questionable.

Speaking of which, I really enjoyed writing the game for this chapter. It was once again a me vs the chess.com bots game, but over 90% of the games featured in this series are.

As for the Anderssen opening, it was famously played by Adolf Anderssen in the three consecutive games against Paul Morphy that he played as white. He ended up losing the first, drawing the second, and winning the third. While it is classified as an irregular opening, there is some debate regarding it's viability.

Since Okisato shares his birthday with Anderssen, I felt he needed to play the Anderssen opening at least once in the story. He was originally going to face Taira, however as I was writing the chapter, I realized that Taira's dialogue sounded more like Mizuse's so I decided to have her be Okisato's opponent instead. The decision actually worked out well as it also allowed me to feature a proper 1v1 chess game with her. Even though it's heavily hinted that 4-player chess will be how the the chess club chooses to combat the corrupted SPCMs, I intend for each SPCM to have a proper 1v1 chess match before the chess club faces them in 4-player chess.

As for the match against Taira, don't worry, it will happen next chapter, but Okisato won't be her opponent. As for who it will be, it will be revealed in the next chapter.

That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.

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May 12, 2024

Author's Commentary #79:

Time to talk about Chapter 79: A bald declaration.
The chapter title is an obvious pun on the phrase, "a bold declaration". To her credit, Ai did do a good job with the PR at the start, but quickly let her libido consume her.

One thing this chapter also confirms is that some DESPER punishments can be reversed. In order to do this however, one must beat the one who originally inflicted the punishment on someone. For example, if Nyoan beat Yuusuke and requested that the punishment he inflicted on Zanni was reversed, Zanni would be freed from his punishment.

Minor or non-permanent punishments like what happened to Nyoan could also not be reversed, though could easily be nullified simply by playing a new DESPER match. For example, Nyoan would be able to get her hair back if she challenged Okisato and made having all her hair grow back be a winning condition.

However, the punishment cannot always be reversed. The DESPERs can't bring the dead back to life, so anyone that was killed in a DESPER match can't be brought back to life, even by beating the one that beat them. The death of the one who originally inflicted a major punishment on someone would also prevent a punishment from being reversed. However, the big thing that truly prevents a punishment from being reversed is the "irreversible clause". So long as someone says the punishment shall be "irreversible", the punishment will become irreversible. However, the DESPER may choose not to enforce the clause if it believes an irreversible punishment is being unfairly placed on someone. For example, if an irreversible clause was placed on the match where Daria was forced to be a spectator, the DESPER would refuse to enforce the irreversible clause as Daria was unfairly roped into the match. The clause would still be enforced for Xiao Lin though, meaning she truly is bald for life.

As for the chess club, they're off to Lagoon pathways meaning a fight with a corrupted SPCM is looming. And I will confirm, the next match will be amazing.

That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.

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May 12, 2024

Author's Commentary #23:

Time to talk about Chapter 23: Bad medicine.
Buwahahaha! Dr. Jester is in! That's right, Jester's back again and this time he's brought his brother from another mother, Vincenzo, with him.

ヴィンチェンツォ・ディルイージ (Vincenzo DiLuigi) is how Vincenzo's name would be spelled in katakana.

His birthday is September 4th, which is the day the first episode of the Super Mario bros Super show aired. He also says all his lines in English and sounds exactly like Vinny Vinesauce when he does his Luigi voice. Funnily enough, Vinny's Luigi voice was the primary inspiration for Vincenzo. He does also draw inspiration from Luigi from not just the super show, but also the Super Mario bros 3 and Super Mario world cartoons. In fact, his "Hyelp" line is a reference to what Luigi screams in the "Mama Luigi" episode of the Super Mario world cartoon.

This chapter also featured another cameo by Izumi and Hanabi. This will also be their last cameo in the story for the time being. In the original draft, the two were going to be hired by the Ginkawa family and aid Madoka and co as they went adventuring throughout the world. However, I felt it was best to keep the story focused on the main 4 heroines, which led to Izuhana's role in Escape Witch being reduced to cameos.

That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.

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May 12, 2024

Author's Commentary #31:

Time to talk about Chapter 31: Matcha's family problems.
This chapter completely deviates from the original chapter. In the original, Kiji was not present and Mocha ended up getting arrested by Purin. Originally, intended for Mocha's arrest to become a major plot point in the story, but nothing really came of it, and by the time I decided that the plot point was bad, the original was already over 50 chapters long. Thus, I opted to just implement the new story line where Mocha doesn't get arrested into the remake since it was easier than editing everything.

As for Kiji, he actually did appear in the original and was killed off by Purin there as well, but in Chapter 60, which occurred well after Mocha's arrest in that story.. The reason I kept that in the remake was mainly to showcase both how corrupt Purin is and how bad her relationship is with her family.

Mochi, however, is the one Purin hates the most. Purin actually was slated to graduate Tabemono gakuin just fine, but her envy got the better of her and she challenged Mochi to high-stakes cook-off which led to her being expelled and blacklisted from the culinary world. Kiji deciding to ignore her existence following the loss only worsened her attitude.

As for why she's close with Himawari, the two knew each other from Tabemono gakuin. While they were initially from different factions, Purin being from the Makihara faction and Himawari being from the anti-Makihara faction, the two ended up bonding after their expulsions, and after seeing how far Himawari had come, Purin opted to join the police and become her subordinate. She then quickly befriended Makoto, Yumeko, and Inoka. Now let's give some bios on Purin and Kiji.

名智 符凜 (Myouchi Purin) is how her name is spelled in kanji. 符凜 means "token" and "coldness". Purin is also the Japanese word for pudding.

Her birthday is January 23rd which is international sticky toffee pudding day. This is fitting since sticky toffee pudding, along with regular custard pudding, is her favorite food.

名智 稀慈 (Myouchi Kiji) is how Kiji's name is spelled in kanji. 稀慈 means "rare" and "compassion".
(If I made any mistakes with the translations, feel free to correct me).

His birthday is September 4th which is also eat an extra dessert day.
His favorite food is mochi, however, he absolutely despises Rika's mochi surprise, though mainly because Rika made it as he begrudgingly devoured the whole meal when it was presented to him.

As for the story, now that Mocha won't be getting arrested, she'll have a greater presence in the story. I'm actually glad about this change as Mocha is easily one of my top 15 characters in the series, and now there will be more slice of life moments with her.

That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.

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