At Hash Percent And 2

@#%& #2 was one of seven8nine's live Q&A sessions, streamed on YouTube on June 11th, 2021. In this session, seven8nine focused on questions about chapter titles and character backgrounds.

Transcript
S: Hello! I'll wait for a few minutes for people to join in

S: Okay, let's get started! Many people were asking about chapter titles so I'll start there

Q: Is (Hey you, Hey you) Sit Down! a reference to Sit Down! by NCT 127?

S: Yes! I'm surprised people noticed that honestly. There are other song references like Outta My Head being a reference to Somi, haha

Q: What does Lyrical and Technical mean? It has no correlation with the chapter's plot.

S: So [with] band auditions, you're supposed to prepare two etudes; a lyrical and a technical etude. The lyrical one is typically easier and tests how much emotion you can put into the piece, and the technical etude is harder to see your skill level. [It] kinda translates to sports, where you have to balance a good mentality and a good amount of skill.

S: If that makes sense. Does that make sense? Um, moving on...

Q: Are there any other song references in the chapter titles?

S: Let's see...

S: Sitting on My Throne is a reference to the song by Jennie, Solo. You know, where she's rapping and she's like "You're sitting on my feelings, I'm sitting on my throne". I don't know, I thought it was nice because Mina sees Kagayaku as royalty and then she's overtaking them.

S: Uh, and Your Gold's Just Plastic references On The Ground by Rosé. "You find out that your gold's just plastic", [with] the second-years watching an improved Karasuno, but Ayaka continuously notes that hardly anything changed about their mentality, it was just their play got better.

S: The final one I can think of is Take Me To Your Paradise. That's Hell In Heaven by TWICE. I don't know why I chose that title, but I liked how it sounded [lol]. Um...

Q: Do different characters correspond to different cards? A lot of chapter names reference playing cards

S: Yes, actually! I was thinking about it really hard before I made the card references a thing.

S: All of the players on Jinsoku Hisho are the Hearts suit. Mina is the Ace [of hearts], Nishimura is the King, Sejeong is the Queen and Misaki is the Jack. Nakahara is the 10 of Hearts, Yamaguchi is 4, and Okuni is 9.

S: So I thought that this was a good concept because from Mina's perspective, while she knows she's the captain of Jinsoku Hisho and is the best player on the team, she belittles herself in comparison to the other captains [and] aces. In Sensory, Mina calls the numbers 1-5 on Asasenshi a royal flush, which is the rarest (and strongest) hand in poker, and then it's referenced again in the chapter Asasenshi's Royal Flush.

S: And before, with Kagayaku, she says that they'll continue to be ahead Jinsoku Hisho after regaining their momentum, because with their players, they always have a strong front line (and she calls this a full house versus Jinsoku Hisho's high card).

S: The final reference I think is cool is the chapter 1 or 11, which references two different poker rulesets where the ace is either the highest-ranking card worth 11, or the lowest-ranking card at 1. This is also a nice touch because Mina is number 1 on the team and Yuzuki is number 11, so if the highest card would win, it would be Yuzuki, but Mina is the most skilled player on the team. Wow, my playing card references are on point!