Jan 20, 2025
Author's Commentary #324:
Time to talk about Chapter 324: Comedy sketch.
Round 5 is reaching it's end, but first we need to showcase a potential opponent. That's right, it's Xiu's sexy feet. Muazzez most certainly will play a role later in the arc, but with Türkiye's loss to Peru, she and her team will not be facing Japan next round. But before we go any further, let's do Ichiko's bio.
いちこ・ロハス (Ichiko Rojas) is how Ichiko's name would be spelled in Japanese. Her name in kanji is 壱瑚, which means "one" and "coral". Her stage name Ichi-ro, is a combination of her first and last name, and yes, many do mistake her for famous baseball player, Ichiro Suzuki when they hear her name mentioned aloud. Many have even been disappointed when they hear "Ichiro" is nearby only to find out it's Ichi-ro instead. In Japanese, the joke would be that Ichiro the baseball player is イチロー, while Ichi-ro the comedian is イチロウ.
(If I made any mistakes with the translations, feel free to correct me).
Her birthday is October 22nd, which she shares with famous Japanese baseball player, Ichiro Suzuki.
Her favorite piece is the king, because she thinks it's a good joke.
Ichiko is a Japanese-Peruvian comedian with her design being inspired by Ichika Nakano from the Quintessential Quintuplets. She's not the most successful comedian, but she's at least decent at chess.
As for the game, it was actually one of the many I had in my library that I decided I wanted to use in the series. I wanted to show off Muazzez properly too in order to build her up for later. There is definitely something going on with her. That hour-long space out she had was not normal. But the round still has one more game left to showcase in the form of Xiu's game. Or at least it did before Ragnar showed up.
It's funny how just a few nights ago, I felt too exhausted to write any chapters with games, but the power of a good night's sleep can do wonders, and I ended up writing not just the game with Xiu, but this one as well, along with a game that will happen in round 6 and the Ragnar game that will happen next chapter. There will still be some downtime chapters in between the rounds, though.
That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.
