YMMV / Queen's Checkmate

• Accidental Innuendo:
  • In chapter 17, when Makoto accepts to attend Maruki's therapy sessions, we get this line:
    Ryuji: "Don't tell me you want his snacks too, Makoto!"
  • In chapter 27, after defeating a Dyonisus, Queen says that "it looks like he ran out of juice".
• Adorkable:
  • Makoto is this in spades. Whether it is because the mutual teasing she has with Ren or her love for Buchimaru plushies.
  • There is just something about Ren getting embarrased so easily despite being a huge jokester himself.
  • Ryuji always greets his friends by saying "What's bonking?"
• Alternate Character Interpretation: Has Ren always been a jokester, or did he adopt this persona to cope with his circumstances?
• Anvilicious: Gossip is bad and can ruin a person's life. The fic constantly repeats this topic, whether that'd be with the Shujin students or in any conversation Makoto has with just about anyone.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Shiho, who was already quite popular by fans of the original game, is this as a result of having a much more prominent role in this story than in canon, being one of the nicest characters in the fic and the fact that many readers feel like giving her a hug due to how much she suffers.
• Fan-Preferred Couple: Many readers ship Mishima and Tachibana due to how both of them are helpful to the Phantom Thieves (Mishima manages the Phan-Site and Tachibana provides Makoto with information about potential targets), their polar opposite personalities and because they are both huge supporters of the Phantom Thieves for similar reasons. To say that people were delighted when they interacted for the first time in chapter 24 would be putting it lightly.
• Like You Would Really Do It: Did anyone actually believe that Ren would die in chapter 39?
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
  • Eiko is not very well liked among fans of the original game for coming out as stupid, spoiled and stubborn, and an overall Ungrateful Bitch. Her having her own Social Link in this fic, being much nicer than she was in the game, eventually becoming the Phantom Thief Witch, and overall being a more fleshed out character has made her well-liked by readers.
  • While Morgana is more of a Base-Breaking Character in the original game, it should say something that his treatment of Ryuji has been greatly toned down (and in some cases, it's even justified), and that Makoto usually tells him to drop it when he takes it too far. The fact that he saves Makoto when Kamoshida attempts to sexually assault her also speaks for itself.
• Spiritual Successor: One could argue that this fic is one to the Dead Fic Queen of Hearts, which also revolved around Makoto becoming the Wild Card and leader of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.
• The Woobie:
  • All the Phantom Thieves qualify as this, especially Ren. He has to deal with the Malicious Slander the students of Shujin Academy spread about him after Kamoshida leaked his record, and whenever he is questioned if he is bothered by it, he just says that he's fine, but people can easily tell that that is not the case. His backstory is even worse, as it shows that him having to put up with so much discrimination isn't new for him.
  • Shiho goes through so much crap that you can't help but feel bad for her. For starters, Kamoshida rapes her out of spite that Ann refused to sleep with him and then she tries to commit suicide in a desperate attempt to get away from him. While she survives and recovers at a hospital, it's pretty clear that she doesn't take well seeing Ann and Makoto arguing, with the former accusing the latter of covering up Kamoshida's crimes. Even after Ann and Makoto make up and become friends, Shiho still suffers harrasement from one of his former volleyball teammates, who blames her, a rape victim, for the downfall of the volleyball team.
  • Eiko is revealed to be very insecure about herself for many reasons: she can't seem to improve her grades no matter how much she studies, her Insufferable Genius of a brother berates her and sees her as a failure, it appears that her parents don't seem to care about her, and she reveals to Maruki that Makoto is her Only Friend. As if things couldn't get any worse, she then meets Tsukasa, who in spite of bringing up her spirits considerably as he gives her the impression that he is one of the few people that cares about her, is also a two-faced douchebag who tries to take advantage of her emotional state.