Dec 07, 2024
Author's Commentary #260:
Time to talk about Chapter 260: Banter amongst the Danish team.
There's quite a bit to talk about as not only are there new characters, but also some references to the 45th Chess Olympiad. We'll start with the characters.
First off, let's discuss the old faces. Skaberghast is in fact Danish, and the reason for that comes from the fact that skaber means "creator" in Danish. While he was born and raised in Denmark, he currently resides in America, but he has dual citizenship for both Denmark and America.
As for Wakuta and Retskcirb, they're on the team since they're based of Lego characters. And since Lego is Danish, it makes sense for them to be on the team. Everyone else though is a different story.
Jern, Sommer, and Leyla are all based off of Fairy Tail characters, those being Gajeel Redfox, Natsu Dragneel, and Lucy Heartfilia, respectively. Julia also takes inspiration from Fairy Tail, being loosely based off of Levy McGarden from the series, though Alice Nakiri from Shokugeki no Soma was actually the bigger inspiration behind her character design. Speaking of which, let's do everyone's bios.
レイラ・リンガード (Leyla Lynggaard) is how Leyla's name is spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is July 7th, which she shares with Natsu Dragneel from Fairy Tail.
Her favorite piece is the pawn, as she views them all as bald guys.
In case it wasn't obvious, Leyla is really into bald guys, especially bald twinks. Luckily for her, Sommer's her exact type, though keep an eye on the love triangle dynamic within the Danish team. While not everyone is in it, there will certainly be one.
ソマー・リゼロイド (Sommer Lyserød) is how Sommer's name is spelled in katakana. Sommer actually means "Summer" in Danish, while lyserød means "pink". This is fitting since Natsu is literally the Japanese word for Summer and Natsu has pink hair.
His birthday is July 1st, which he shares with Lucy Heartfilia from Fairy Tail.
His favorite piece is the knight, since it reminds him of a dragon.
True to his name, Sommer tends to wear everything in pink. Pink tank top, pink sneakers, pink scarf, only his shorts aren't pink, but beige. As for his hair, it was short, spiky, and crimson before Leyla shaved and waxed it all off.
イェルン・レヴ (Jern Ræv) is how Jern's name is spelled in katakana. His last name, Ræv, is Danish for "fox".
His birthday is August 9th, which is the day Levy McGarden's debut chapter in Fairy Tail was released.
His favorite piece is the rook, since it's the piece most like him.
Jern doesn't get along well with people which is often why he gets into fights. One big irony about him being based off of Gajeel is that his hair is pink, like Gajeel's rival, Natsu.
ジュリア・ラヴネトラ (Julia Ravnetræ) is how Julia's name is spelled in katakana. Her surname, Ravnetræ, means "raven tree" in Danish.
(If I made any mistakes with the translations, feel free to correct me).
Her birthday is January 23rd, which she shares with Alice Nakiri from Shokugeki no Soma.
Her favorite piece is the rook, mainly because it reminds her of Jern.
Much like Levy from Fairy Tail, she is self-conscious about her small breast size, though unlike Levy, will pad out her breasts.
Now onto the fun Easter egg. In the 45th Chess Olympiad, the first team the Japanese women's team faced was actually France. While I had planned for France to be one of the teams Japan would face in the story, learning that the real-life Japanese women's team faced it 1st in the Chess Olympiad was the main reason I decided to have France be first here. As for the men's team, their first team was actually Tanzania, not Denmark.
That's all for his commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.
