There have always been Horse Girls, whether they own a horse or not. Many girls go through a Horse Girl phase, and it sticks for some. When I was in elementary school, all the girls wanted to read Misty of Chincoteague, but the school library only had a couple of copies, so there was always a waiting list for it.
This is Horse Girl with an Anime twist. Not that big of a surprise really.
The game’s actually really well made. The anime is fantastic with a good author behind it. It is incredibly respectful to the horses in the heritage of them. Honestly, all things said and done. It’s just a generally highly polished IP with a lot of respect to the source material on the horses and it does a lot of charity and good.
Because it is, somehow, an actually very well made game. One of those things where I first just learned about the anime and just thought that sounds dumb, but man the game is actually fun. Also the recent spinoff anime series (cinderella gray) was actually just a very good sports anime.
In this case, a horse girl is an anime girl with horse ears and a horse tail. Umamusume is a gotcha game where you manage a horse girl that participates in a horse race. It’s very similar to Monster Rancher, except with FOMO and horny.
Small nitpick, but it’s actually “gatcha” or “gasha” because it comes from the Japanese word “gatchapon/gashapon”. The word is derived from two different Japanese onomatopoeias: Gasha - The sound of a toy capsule dispenser handle being cranked/turned. Pon - The sound of a toy capsule landing in the output slot of the machine.
Basically, you know those little coin-operated toy capsule dispensers that you can find in arcades? The ones that have little toys, stickers, candy, etc. inside? They usually look something like this:
Yeah, these things are wildly popular in Japan. They’re colloquially referred to as “gatchapon”. There are massive stores full of these gatchapon machines. Brands will do promos for new anime, TV shows, band album releases, etc… Collectors spend a lot of money to get the rare collectibles from these machines, because not all the toys are the same rarity.
And a gatchapon game is the same basic concept, but in a digital format. You get pulls/draws/{whatever the game calls them} via some method (usually purchasing them, because that is usually how the game makes money), and then those pulls are used to get new things. Sometimes characters, sometimes equipment, sometimes new outfits, etc… It’s literally gambling, because the best stuff is virtually always gated behind some hilariously small jackpot odds.
Again, small nitpick. I just think it’s interesting (and horrifying, because it’s literally slot machine style “keep rolling cuz the next one may be a jackpot” style gambling) how much the mobile game market has come to rely on gatcha mechanics in recent years. There is a lot of (well deserved) condemnation of loot boxes in kids games, but somehow gatcha games have managed to skirt around it.
WTF is a “horse girl”? Umamusume? Is that some anime thing I’m not weeb enough to know?
I’m afraid to ask these questions because I feel like I’m always so disappointed in the answer.
There have always been Horse Girls, whether they own a horse or not. Many girls go through a Horse Girl phase, and it sticks for some. When I was in elementary school, all the girls wanted to read Misty of Chincoteague, but the school library only had a couple of copies, so there was always a waiting list for it.
This is Horse Girl with an Anime twist. Not that big of a surprise really.
Everytime I see something about it I just wonder why it’s popular.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3224770/Umamusume_Pretty_Derby/
The game’s actually really well made. The anime is fantastic with a good author behind it. It is incredibly respectful to the horses in the heritage of them. Honestly, all things said and done. It’s just a generally highly polished IP with a lot of respect to the source material on the horses and it does a lot of charity and good.
The fans are just crazy
Because it is, somehow, an actually very well made game. One of those things where I first just learned about the anime and just thought that sounds dumb, but man the game is actually fun. Also the recent spinoff anime series (cinderella gray) was actually just a very good sports anime.
The movie that came out semi recently was also really goddamn good
It’s a mobile game where you train anime girls modeled after horses to race.
Yeah that checks out. Lol.
Uma (馬) is horse in Japanese and musume (娘) is daughter (or young, unmarried woman, I guess). Beyond that, I have no idea what is going on.
Thanks for this invaluable insight into the epidemiology of horse girls.
In this case, a horse girl is an anime girl with horse ears and a horse tail. Umamusume is a gotcha game where you manage a horse girl that participates in a horse race. It’s very similar to Monster Rancher, except with FOMO and horny.
Small nitpick, but it’s actually “gatcha” or “gasha” because it comes from the Japanese word “gatchapon/gashapon”. The word is derived from two different Japanese onomatopoeias:
Gasha - The sound of a toy capsule dispenser handle being cranked/turned.
Pon - The sound of a toy capsule landing in the output slot of the machine.
Basically, you know those little coin-operated toy capsule dispensers that you can find in arcades? The ones that have little toys, stickers, candy, etc. inside? They usually look something like this:
Yeah, these things are wildly popular in Japan. They’re colloquially referred to as “gatchapon”. There are massive stores full of these gatchapon machines. Brands will do promos for new anime, TV shows, band album releases, etc… Collectors spend a lot of money to get the rare collectibles from these machines, because not all the toys are the same rarity.
And a gatchapon game is the same basic concept, but in a digital format. You get pulls/draws/{whatever the game calls them} via some method (usually purchasing them, because that is usually how the game makes money), and then those pulls are used to get new things. Sometimes characters, sometimes equipment, sometimes new outfits, etc… It’s literally gambling, because the best stuff is virtually always gated behind some hilariously small jackpot odds.
Again, small nitpick. I just think it’s interesting (and horrifying, because it’s literally slot machine style “keep rolling cuz the next one may be a jackpot” style gambling) how much the mobile game market has come to rely on gatcha mechanics in recent years. There is a lot of (well deserved) condemnation of loot boxes in kids games, but somehow gatcha games have managed to skirt around it.
It baffles me people don’t call it a “clickity-clunk” genre.
Foreign terms always make things sound fancier than they actually are!
I assumed they intentionally misspelled it as a clever nod to this aspect of the genre
I was in a loop of trying to decide if it was this sort of joke or just ignorance
horse/human fetish/