Uma Musume is a series whose weirdness on the outside catches my attention with mixed expectations, and I was even a little mixed about its character designs initially. But the more I delve into its philosophies and lenses, the more I appreciate and enjoy its content. It’s such a shame that this franchise has been “polarizing” ever since Global’s release, but that doesn’t really stop me from being a fan of it. The reason for that comes down to how flavorful Uma’s story content is. Most entries do a good job of capturing their messages and character writing across the board. Even some of the weaker titles (with the exception of S3) do justice. However, there are some titles that tend to stand out a little more, and nothing in this series stands out more than Cinderella Gray. CinGrey is such a special title in every single aspect that it’s not wrong to separate it from the rest of the franchise; ranging from the fantastic character designs to the superb narrative to even such breathtaking landings, we’ll get to that later. There’s a lot to talk about in this title, and we’ll get into it right now.

To quickly clue you in, let’s briefly summarize what the plot of Cinderella Gray is. CinGrey initially takes place in Kasamatsu Training Academy and starts with Oguri looking quite poor and dirty, even with some other Umas mocking her initially. As Oguri’s first race begins, she immediately shows her power and wins against most of her opponents, proving the mockers wrong. This led to Fuhimasa March, who is considered to be dominant in Kasamatsu, puzzling Oguri, and already, she’s the first taste of how complicated and intense races get throughout the years. Although Oguri struggled, she eventually won, said goodbye to her new friends, and moved to Tracen, where she’ll learn A LOT. One of her lines is “I run… because I can.” More on this later. Another thing to note is that every single storyline in the Uma Musume franchise is based on a legitimate timeline where certain racehorses show their might and luxury, even though they also give their characters their own stories; here, this is based on the 1987-90 events, when the real Oguri was at his very prime. Because of this, expect this to be one of, if not Uma’s longest, titles out there. Oguri’s history is one of the richest out there, and these events are quite heavy, to say the least. So, how does Cinderella Gray handle all of this? Much to my surprise, when reading the whole thing left to right, BRILLIANTLY! In fact, MORE THAN THAT, and this is where the fun begins.

Cinderella Gray has a lot of things I expect from the Uma Musume series, and even though I never expected perfection to begin with, how it manages to handle all of its story content is beyond me. Now, let’s start with the first elephant in the room: the worldbuilding. Uma Musume, for the most part, does a pretty good job of handling worldbuilding. Say what you will about season 1, but its worldbuilding is surprisingly the best part of that show, as it does a great job showcasing how the Tracen Academy works and how the Umas interact there. Season 2 is kind of a downgrade, but that’s nothing to cry over because it manages to retain most of the charm and appeal anyway. With that said, CinGrey takes worldbuilding to a whole new level by excellently showing the progression from Kasamatsu to Tracen, the relationship between the two, and how they work. Kasamatsu is pretty much the starting place, as seen with Oguri’s struggles against March when they first challenge each other, while Tracen is a very rich academy in a lot of ways, showing Oguri how things get heated over time. This sounds very simple, but in context, it truly shows the details, like expanding on how the Umas live their lives, how they plot things, and so on. I’m not so sure if I can even call this worldbuilding, but I guess the reason for that is that there are titles that tend to blend multiple different story segments into one. But nonetheless, CinGrey is super consistent and elaborative with the worldbuilding.

And if you think that wasn’t enough, the worldbuilding also does a fantastic job of showcasing the races. The rules are made abundantly clear with the tracks and obstacles. Kikuka Sho, Japan Cup, Arima Kinen, and many more. These races perfectly show the conditions and details of how racing would go and how the Umas would interact there. Even though these races may not necessarily show most of what they offer, they still get the lines down amazingly nonetheless. Other titles in the series also follow these things well, sure, but CinGrey still does a better job. Part of the reason why comes down to how the story handles strategizing. This may come as a shock, but Uma doesn’t do that great a job showing strategizing. Even season 2, for as high-quality as it is with its narrative and character writing, sort of lacks in that department, even though it did try. Cinderella Gray manages to put the missing piece on the big puzzle board. While Oguri mostly gets advice from her trainers and/or friends, we can still see how she plans ahead when she faces serious competition. We fully get to see what she could develop, what she should improve upon, and what she should avoid in the first place. All of these things easily give viewers a greater understanding of how the story illustrates a fine line between consequences and solutions. These strategies and the interpretations of them never get old and manage to stay completely stable while still showing us all the details on the fly.

With that out of the way, all of this is just the tip of the iceberg. Cinderella Gray is a perfect mix of being dark and gritty and being lighthearted and fun. While we do get some dumb fun like Oguri’s gluttony, Inari’s gremlin energy, and such, NONE of those would distract from the story’s overly-competent narrative and pacing. CinGrey amazingly nails the dark and gritty aspect because it’s not just about edginess or whatever. It completely illustrates what maturity means, as we saw Oguri (and other main racers) getting her ass kicked and trying to find what the real conclusion is: to accept what reality really is to the point you just let it slide or to dance with your fears until you fully master your steps. Not to mention, you also learn what your journey is, no matter how much you learn from others. CinGrey amazingly nails the lighthearted and fun aspect because it’s not just about wholesomeness or other sorts. It completely illustrates more about friendship and trust, and how they’re not as simple as you may think, but you can still use that to your very own advantage to find happiness, as we saw Oguri building her chemistry with Belno, March and friends, Rudolf, and many others. No matter how complicated things can get, they still find their way to smoothly build their reputations and lives. Both of these things perfectly complement and contrast each other through character progression, which we will also get into later. CinGrey’s vision is essentially a fabled yin-yang, something that most other titles of the same franchise have yet to master, and it has only gotten ever stronger from here.

Still on the story segment of sorts, we all should acknowledge that Uma Musume is far more philosophical/meaningful than anyone thinks, and Cinderella Gray appropriately addresses that. This series is not comedic by nature, and never has been. The reason why comedy exists in the first place is that Cygames needed to find some sort of fanservice in order to keep viewers entertained. With that being said, Cinderella Gray is easily one of the most influential pieces of fiction out there, even by non-Uma standards, and part of that comes down to how it delivers on showing its vision of racing. To race isn’t really to compete with others; you LEARN. You learn not just your strengths and your way to connect with the messages around you/that are important, but how you express yourself as well. Oguri has been learning about racing in many ways, and all of those have been proven since her first interactions with March and Rudolf. But to Oguri, the reason she attends the races is that it’s very fun to her. Let’s go back to the line she said earlier: “I ran… because I can.” Oguri likes to enjoy what she’s attached to, but is forced to learn the consequences; even though things get rough, she slowly understands where things are going. This is incredibly genuine in the sense that it shows that you have your own dream, but you must get the road down first. Not only does it show an organic iron triangle between living your life, going through the chores, and fighting against the chains, but it’s also a valuable lesson YOU can easily learn from. Even if you don’t relate to any character in this series, you can at least understand their consequences and solutions well, and how you can try to mimic those someday. Cinderella Gray’s message is very deep, and the plot is very careful about it. While it may be quite heavy to some, it’s still something that shouldn’t be neglected.

And speaking of something that shouldn’t be neglected, the character writing! Uma Musume’s character writing in general has almost always been quite good, although there are some holes that aren’t filled. Most titles respect this iron triangle of backgrounds, personalities, and connections, all while carefully writing what they have on their respective main casts. The same probably can’t be said with their side casts, however. While they don’t really do a horrible job with side characters, they don’t really do anything very special with them either. Most of Uma Musume’s side casts are either gimmicky, sole boosters for the main character(s), or …well, just there. Some examples, Rice Shower and Cheval Grand, among others, are good additions, but those are still not enough. Much to my surprise, Cinderella Gray avoids these issues. While the vast majority of the manga is on Oguri, it still gives a good focus on the side characters. Not only do they show more of their purposes, especially if they’re major racehorses, but they also have great character chemistry all around. A good example of this is Yaeno Muteki, who, even though she has such a small appearance, shows a lot of character. Her relationship with her trainer and her motivation to attend the races are shown quite a lot. That’s definitely more than an average side character in other titles like Daiwa Scarlet, who is usually based on one character trait, and even her relationship with Vodka, while noticeable, isn’t really that much to think about. And if you think it ends here, it doesn’t. We still have many more examples to point out.

Symboli Rudolf and Maruzenky are great major side characters around. Even though they don’t necessarily attend races and such, for this particular case, that doesn’t make them any less interesting. Think of them as observers, and the manga did a great job detailing those things by making their judgment clear and precise about everything around them. Their chemistry with each other is also among the best in the manga, so much so that they even help the already great worldbuilding. Obey Your Master is one of the most compelling and enjoyable ones to look at, as her aura during races is enough to illuminate her fantastic writing, and her chemistry with Oguri and Tamamo is pure shiny iron. Plus, her backstory is great. Speaking of Tamamo, she’s also fantastic for similar reasons, and her rivalry with Oguri is up there as one of the best. Of course, we can’t forget about the more major ones. Belno Light, despite being quite comedic, is an important character, and it shows in how supportive she is towards Oguri and friends. And of course, Fujimasa March. She was Oguri’s first impactful contrast and quickly began to share some similarities: struggling, but still learning, as well as maintaining a rich friendship. To this day, the rivalry between her and Oguri is still the best in the manga. Arguably, nothing is deeper than that, and I don’t think there will be in another time. …and this is still just the tip of the iceberg, and we all know where this is going. So, let’s finally jump into the depth itself.

Oguri Cap, the Gray Monster and Idol Horse. This gluttonous horse girl is easily the best character in the whole franchise, to the point where she deserves her own section. One would refer to her comedic moments where she is very hungry, her fantastic character designs, or her badassery during races where she locks the hell in, even if it means struggling. What makes Oguri such a standout is …pretty much everything about her. For starters, Oguri has a very strong introduction. As soon as she showed her first victory in the first chapter of the manga, this lured March in. The reason why this is a great introduction is that when their first race starts, they develop a super strong chemistry, and it further shows how Oguri is written in the first place. Oguri is always strong from start to finish, but she has massive competition as time goes on and begins learning. She likes to have fun in races, but that doesn’t separate her from the consequences. This gives viewers such an insanely good understanding of her character. If you plan on writing a strong character, it’s ALWAYS important to analyze the relationship between strengths and weaknesses and how a character works on that. Although Uma Musume as a series does a great job getting those fundamentals down with most of its main characters, once again, CinGrey is on a different level. This has been shown so many times throughout 200+ chapters, and it completely nails the narrative brilliantly. And there’s still more to talk about Oguri.

We already talked about her chemistry with various characters. They’re without a doubt among her biggest peaks. All of these chemistries are unique to one another, highlight everything about Oguri’s background and personality, and emphasize the context of Cinderella Gray. These interactions aren’t just interactions; they provoke strong emotions that would easily let viewers know when shit gets real. We pointed out her badassery during races a while ago, but we should talk about it once and for all. Again, Oguri does receive advice from her trainers and friends, but she still shows us how all of this is done. I know not all of you play the live service game, but you know how positioning and relying on specific abilities in races work? While the manga doesn’t have all of those things, it does have most of them. Oguri’s racing skills do a fantastic job showing the skills of racing through how she strategizes during races. Whether she wins, loses, or struggles, she does show us amazing details. I should note that this isn’t just Oguri showing these things. All the main racers in this manga also do a great job in that department. But because Oguri nails well at being a protagonist, she does it best. Oguri is such a compelling character comes down to how many characteristic elements she uses and how they're used extremely well, all while cementing her as a very profound protagonist on a deeper level. Her struggles are very believable, her interactions are superb, and so on. Her whole character is just perfect.

[!] THIS PARTICULAR SECTION CONTAINS HEAVY SPOILERS. DO NOT READ UNTIL YOU FINISH THE MANGA [!]

And now, besides Oguri Cap herself, we should talk about the other biggest elephant: The ending of Cinderella Gray. I’m going to say it: Cinderella Gray’s ending is the best in any Japanese industry, to the point where it makes me believe how far this manga has come. To end this entire story, Oguri Cap steps out with yet another godly drip and faces her biggest opponent yet. Oguri absolutely struggles just as much as in her most intense races, but she absolutely tries. And with enough hard work, she truly radiated enough flames and won the race. Mind you, this takes place in the Arima Kinen, the race where Oguri received her first victory after properly learning from what Tamamo was capable of. Oguri absolutely fulfilled her legend status after her rough but very endearing journey, and with that, she retired. This ending is just ABSOLUTE CINEMA. It’s pretty much the complete calculation of how much work Oguri goes through. Not only does the ending remember all the things that happen in CinGrey, but it also creates such clever callbacks to let us know the specific details that truly impact the whole manga in its entirety. They truly encapsulate all the messages and connections seen throughout the story. Oh, and let us all look at Oguri’s first iconic line one last time: “I ran… because I can.” No matter how many heavy lessons she went through, what matters to her the most is that she had so much fun, from Kasamatsu to Tracen. This kind of evolution can not get any more epic.

This is the one lesson I wanted to point out. No matter how much we study, whether it’s a healthy one or not, what really matters is that we just want to have fun. It’s the type of personal happiness that drives us when we seek to complete our dreams. It wouldn’t matter how many legendary racers Oguri encounters; she just had a lot of fun. She retires because her mission is complete. The Oguri in real life was born with disabilities, and even though he gained a lot of improvements, the weaknesses still haunt him. But regardless, he succeeded in a lot of races. This incarnation fully follows that. All I know is that all of her writing receives nothing but massive love and respect. Before CinGrey ended, I was worried that it wouldn’t end quite well. Most modern manga don’t respect the very basic idea of a conclusion. Most of these titles’ ends are met with either mild indifference or “ah shit, here we go again” syndrome. …little did we know that we would be proven wrong here. The missile we dodge by not giving this series the Tokyo Ghoul/Attack on Titan/Oshi no Ko treatment could NOT be any more overstated. This ending truly knows how to wrap things up after gathering everything the manga offers, and it’s the cream of the crop on top of it.

Looking at all the things we just said, it’s safe to say that Cinderella Gray has both an immaculate representation and an immaculate illustration. Think about it: it’s not just about lessons and meanings; the inside is what matters the most. CinGrey truly took the time to understand all of this, and even though it ran for over 5 years, which is relatively smaller than other seinen manga with a similar chapter scale, it definitely gave us some of the best answers we could hope for. I also drew a comparison between this and the other Uma Musume titles. Yes, most of these titles tend to get a lot of the fundamentals right, but they still tend to be either stiff in some area or miss other major things. Examples like strategizing, side characters, and even endings were their biggest weaknesses. Season 2 is the second best installation in the whole franchise, and ironically, it still missed on the former 2 aspects, although it did have a great protagonist and a great ending. What’s also interesting is that CinGrey was released around early 2020, the year when Cygames finally got the vast majority of horse rights when building the franchise, and this was shortly after Season 1, which was released around 2018. If Cygames had waited a bit longer and this had been their official starting point, this franchise wouldn’t be seen as a mixed bag. But that wouldn’t matter much. Needless to say, though, I’m just so glad that this title absolutely existed.

And that will do for my massive thoughts on Uma Musume: Cinderella Gray. Normally, I hate using the word “perfect” when complimenting something because almost every series I’ve seen so far has flaws. Even my favorites can be flawed in some areas. But in a very rare case, Cinderella Gray is just PERFECT. It has one of the best stories; whether you’re a fan of sports series or not, it has amazing worldbuilding, it has adequate and well-elaborated strategies, it has some of the best side characters out there, and it might even have the best protagonist ever, all while having such a divine ending to top it all off. Whoever wrote this manga clearly treated it like they were amazed to eat an entire premium meal at Shake Shack. I like the Uma Musume series, but I wouldn’t be as interested had it not been for CinGrey. Nothing would EVER be the same without it existing. This, for sure, is a true magnum opus to behold. Thank you very much for reading.

I've been getting into the game and manga an lot recently and keep finding Uma x Trainer stuff.its always wholesome but I was wondering what the general community felt about it. I'm a big wholesome romance fan and I'm only 18 myself so I'm not a weird for enjoying this stuff yet. The ages always confused me because in the first umamusume manga about haru, all Umas are 20 but the game suggests that Tracen is like a highschool/college, so i always just imagine that they are about my age but some of them i usually think are older like the symboli family and Air groove. I'm saying all this extra personal opinion stuff because I feel like some people just see and instantly think that the creator is a pedo, when there is more to consider then the fact they attend a school. I do think some of it like with Haru or Rice is weird. Sorry for the terrible writing, I'm not good at this

They're just my headcanons and will never be canon

It appears my Special Week's affinity is rising beyond the max.

While I was pulling for "Please, don't forget me" this girl show with her, and I decide to play her career (specially because I have a weakness for dark-skinned girls)

AND BOY, NOW I HATE SO MUCH THAT SUPER CREEK HAS THE TITTLE OF MOM IN THE UMAMUSUME-VERSE, HAVING HISHI AMAZON THERE!!!
She is a mother through and through, every event she has is about the her being like a mom to the dormmates, EVEN COOK FOR EVERYONE, TELL SUPER CREEK TO DO THAT!!!
I was expecting like moments like, yuri moments with brian or wife moments with the torena, but in every event that essence of mother don't leave her.

I LOVE HER FOR GOD, every interaction she has, even the run, and even it feels generic, her energy and charcarter make me LOVE HER every second of the run, even make me feel guilty for the runs she lost even if winning them wasn't a requirement to continue.
and now, I HATE that people don't give the love that girl deserve, I search in the subreddit and LIKE NOTHING, I'M GONNA TO KILL SOMEONE I SWEAR.

1) Did Equinox's rise have a tangible impact on the revival of Umamusume?

Although his career started in August 2021 (Unity Cup), he didn't win his first G1 until October 2022 (Grand Concert). It was then that everyone realized that we were witnessing not a mere horse, but a comet rocketing across the turf - and the rest is history.

Now, what's really interesting about this is that Trackblazer and Grand Concert (as well as the controversial A&G banner early in Grand Masters) caused the game to lose lots of players back then. Is it possible that the emergence of perhaps Japan's greatest racehorse ever at just that time helped keep the game afloat by indirectly drawing more eyes to the game and as such, to an extent making up for the players who left?

2) Was the Arc scenario actually the "Fire Emblem Awakening" of Umamusume?

For those who don't know, prior to the release of Awakening, FE as a franchise was on its last legs before it after multiple poorly-received games. The plan was to go out with a bang, put everything into Awakening, and make it the EOS game.

Awakening ended up doing so well that it saved the franchise and FE is still going strong today.

Similarly: was that actually the plan with Arc? Because after the struggles of TB/GC/GM it probably wouldn't have been that big a shock to anyone if you'd told them back then "EOS is coming soon" - and what better way to (try to) send the franchise off than with your chance to bring home the one title that Japan has been chasing for 60 years and in-universe, etch your name into immortality?

Like Awakening, Arc is a consensus top 3 scenario of all time at worst and seems to be the most common pick for GOAT scenario. Could it be that they thought "this could be the end so we will really go all out for this one", just like what happened with Awakening?

It's also worth noting that it was the last 6-month scenario and thus marked the end of "the first era of Umamusume"

I don't know if I'm on to something - whether I'm cooking with these or if I'm not even close - but I thought I'd put it out there

Thoughts?

Sauce

I like to headcanon that everyone, & I mean EVERYONE on Team Rigil, even the trainer. Are terrified of racing Oguri or Tamamo. Opera O more or less refuses to race Oguri out of respect.

Addons used:

GloriousURA, the (Incomplete) Uma addon.

Weapons++.

Fun fact: She's actually enchanted, I just turned the glint strength down so it's barely noticeable.

Source: https://x.com/pineconete/status/1997715410981167536

I swear my Wi-Fi is good and I’m connected, but the second my Wi-Fi isn’t super fast in connection, my game just won’t connect at all and I can’t do anything. Is this an issue for anyone else and is there a way I can fix this?

dream journey in flower bouquet nico!! my best girls cross over + tracen uniform as a treat :3c

This may sound strange but hear me out. I've heard that cats can hear without their ears because they still have their ear canals and this goes for horses too. But it'd probably be awkward for the humans because they already have ears and a second pair would disrupt their senses. For the tail, I'm unsure. Horses have tails to swat flies or pests near them. I'm not sure what purpose tge tail is for the umas. I doubt they use their tails to swat flies and/or pests because they aren't butt naked. I don't think the tails have a purpose for racing either.

Unless im missing something... aren't we supposed to get 1500 karats?

i noticed i got second place in one of my races and checked my skills, there’s not one, not two, but THREE PURPLE SKILLS. is this my fault, and if so how can i get rid of it?

What card do you guys think I should I get with the 1.5 year anniversary ticket? I was thinking about super creek, Nice nature, or fine motion. I'm probably going to wait until this next set of banners as I believe it's going to be creek again. But just trying to get an idea of what's worth it. I haven't played seriously in a while and I'm just getting back into things, Thanks!

original post (twitter)

Does anyone here know what causes this? :/

It's also free on Tubi. Very long, but also really worth the watch for your own curiosity. Definitely at least see the part when the horses are first introduced, could really imagine them being Umas.

yes thats poseidon as a uma. yes technically poseidon has horse children and he himself did it as a horse

(Credits in post image)