Oct 27, 2025
Author's Commentary #605:
It's finally time to talk about the finale to Season 9, Chapter 605: The controversy's conclusion.
Oh boy, do I have plenty to say on this season. First off, unlike many of the other seasons, it was more of a last minute planning sort of deal. Season 8 was in a similar boat, but with that, it worked due to it being short and serving as a cooldown for the marathon that was Season 7. It's hard to believe this season ended up being 36 chapters, but I guess that's how it is, though as I noted in a previous commentary, many of the chapters are on the shorter end.
First, let's delve more into Yuusuke. The original vision for this arc was to have the spotlight be on his struggles and showcase how an average to below average guy like him handles the pressure of doing well in a tournament. In the beginning, you could kind of see that, until the MT plotline hogged up all the space. Yuusuke was planned to not break 2000 from the start though as that would allow him to participate as an under 2000 player for the global league.
Speaking of which, the global league is based off the real-life Global Chess League, which features 6 teams of 6 players facing off against each other. There are player requirements such as a junior, a woman, which serve as the basis for the requirements here. There are actually some tournaments that require teams to have a player rated under 2000, which served as the basis for this requirement. Needless to say, unless I decided to slot something else in that I feel needs to elevated from Side Story status, Season 10 will be the global league. I've actually had that idea in mind during the early phases of writing Season 7 as the 2024 edition of the Global Chess League was occurring a few weeks before it's first chapter was uploaded.
Finally, let's circle back to MT, Mimoko Tanabe. To be honest, I feel the chapters with her prophetic games looming over them were handled rather poorly. They were also games I didn't enjoy writing as much as the mood both in-universe and in real-life was miserable. Not like I haven't felt miserable writing arcs before as evidenced by Side Story 6 and parts of Season 7, except this time I kind of felt like I was forced to show all of Mimoko's games. Though if I had to pin the blame for why I felt more stress than normal, it would likely be because I wanted to get the Season done before the month's end so I could start Side Story 8 in the last few days of it. Side Story 8 is something I've wanted to do for a year, but didn't because the story was cannonically still in the month of September at the time. Now that it's in October, this idea is finally a go.
Of course, this meant I needed to finish Season 9, which ended up dragging out for much longer than I originally anticipated. I do feel I could improve it somewhat with revisions. It all depends on my motivation and free time, which with this new contest, means Season 9 revisions likely won't be coming any time soon. That being said, there were some bright patches like the Okisato vs Emmie game and the Martian Gambit game. Though this season will likely be one of the more frowned upon ones in the series, it does have some bright patches like the Okisato vs Emmie game and the Martian Gambit game. And we can't forget the 600th chapter special, though that one's in an odd place since it was kind of slotted into the season, but it still worked. All in all, while the season does have some bright patches and important plotlines, I do feel things could have been written a little better.
That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.
