On a Pale Horse (Umamusume/Youjo Senki)

[bucketbot129]

If I'm reading correctly Wrandm is an absolute bastard by having Shiro's first win happen off screen.

 

[Winged One]

If I'm reading correctly Wrandm is an absolute bastard by having Shiro's first win happen off screen.

Click to shrink...

I thought her maiden race was onscreen?

 

[Lyrista]

Yep, Shirogane's debut race was a victory for her.

As for her constant second places, Long distance races are going to start showing up on the roster soon, these are probably where most of Shirogane's wins will come from.

 

[bucketbot129]

I thought her maiden race was onscreen?

Click to shrink...

I'm joking, I actually like that it's written like this. Shiro is the permanent 2nd placer offhandedly mentioning she actually won some is hilarious

 

[Impstar]

Honestly the most frustrating the Golden Generation, and throwing Shiro into that mix only makes it so much worse. Despite everyone calling her the Silver Collector, I seriously want her to pull out a massive upset and get that sextuple crown, completely shattering the status quo of history.

Click to shrink...

While there is no chance she'll win more than one or two of the triple races, I do agree it's a shame there are so many strong racers. The weaker members of the golden generation could have dominated if they weren't racing against their peers.

 

[Winged One]

While there is no chance she'll win more than one or two of the triple races, I do agree it's a shame there are so many strong racers. The weaker members of the golden generation could have dominated if they weren't racing against their peers.

Click to shrink...

I don't. Isn't competition half the point of sports?

 

[Impstar]

I don't. Isn't competition half the point of sports?

Click to shrink...

I mean... from an entertainment standpoint you are correct. But if you, say, go up to Meisho Doto and say "damn girl, you would have been an absurdly dominant horse by any era's standards if T.M. Opera wasn't around," the only response you can really say it "well gee, thanks I guess." Because 2nd place is just 1st place loser in the horse racing world. You don't get famous for beating everyone but one other horse over and over again (except in a sort of affectionate way).

It's not a shame for us, the viewers, or any of the people in story watching the races that there are so many dominant racers. But it's a shame for Seiun that with Grass and El Condo seemingly going to participate in the classic triple crown that she's not going to win much of note (I would be shocked if she replicated either of her IRL wins if they are participating), and it's a shame for Shiro that a dominant career is just going to be second to her teammates in every distance lower than long (I'm not saying it's impossible for her to win at shorter distances... but she's just a weaker racer than they are at those distances).

 

[WrandmWaffles]

Observation as opposed to accusation, eh? She's aware of it at least.

Click to shrink...

At this point Shirogane has accepted that she's weird in comparison to most umamusume.

Also took me a moment to realize Fuji Kiseki and her brother have different moms, which is an interesting dynamic. It's also implied that racing families are a bit wacky with relationships? I'm legit interested to see how you might try to work the horse bloodlines into the story.

Click to shrink...

I'll say that I coughed on my drink when I read the name. Having her half-brother be called Fuji Kisuke is genius. Also them being half-siblings makes sense since they have different mothers, which in real life is... the definition, but in the Umaverse, umas only get counted as full siblings if they share a mother.

Click to shrink...

Well, if Sunday Silence was also an umamusume...how exactly would she have had so many kids?

Honestly Umamusume is a setting where it's better treated as racehorse Valhalla than a really serious coherent setting, because then you get questions like this that beg for answers.

(Also Fuji's brother is names Saito Kisuke).

It's curious that the first people to mention it with such astonishment are sports commentators rather than any of the other Uma Musume—though I suppose the ones close to her don't mention it simply because they're used to her eccentricities.

Click to shrink...

There was some confusion over why she was running so much in an earlier chapter, but it starts to make sense once they learn that Shiro can run for a long time.

The contrast in mid-race thought remains hilarious. Shirogane thinking damn, this is gonna be a bitch to clean while running through the mud at the same time Condor is having all this shonen anime if I can just push a little harder!

Click to shrink...

Shiro is still approaching racing like you would approach a job you are positively inclined to rather than a passion like it is for most racers.

So, the odds that Shirogane would be a hidden boss like Almond Eye.

Click to shrink...

Given how often Shirogane would show up in other umas' careers, she'd probably become something like the Majima meme or a Wit check.

Looks to me that Steady's trainer, after studying and watching film of Shiro's races (of which there is an abnormally large amount for a Classic year runner) decided to incorporate the same maneuvers into her race strategy. Steady's already familiar with Shiro's preferred style, but unless it happened off-screen, they haven't raced since before Shiro started going to Tracen, right?

Click to shrink...

A lot of it is because they trained together when they were younger, and Steady also ran deliveries for Suzukiya over summer break in some cases, so both of them are a lot more comfortable with narrow clearance than they typical racer. Steady is also a relatively difficult front runner to pass at the end, because she's good a managing her stamina to keep up a steady pace through the final stretch instead of gassing out like how front runners usually lose. She can't block others as effectively as Shiro can though.

Shiro is even smaller than her, perhaps the smallest in her year, but we all know that she's not lacking for strength. It'll be more than a little weird for an uma who's never raced her to think that they can just force a small front runner aside, only to find that the tiniest uma is rocking the world's most hidden sleeper build.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, Shiro is 145cm so shorter than all of them, even Phalaenopsis, though the tallest is El Condor Pasa at 163cm, so they're not super tall as umas go.

Still, it had to happen this way. The Silver Eagle's moniker must gain more infamy, it is written

Click to shrink...

I've noticed that even the race commentators regard Shiro as the eternal silver medalist.

Click to shrink...

Well, she has 10 second place finishes. That's already a huge collection of silvers.

If he's mostly been interacting with the level headed Shiro, and sweetie pies Taiki Shuttle and Urara it's not so surprising that the idea isn't as objectionable anymore.

Though, he should perhaps be wary of the sample size here.

Click to shrink...

He's still well aware that most umas are pretty excitable, but he now realizes that there are umas out there that are relatively calm and analytical. If he does end up becoming a trainer, I think the trainee he'd have the most success with is probably Symboli Kris S. He'd be less intimidated by Kris' height and straightforward behavior.

On the outside again? Unfortunate track conditions again? Unreasonably tough lineup again? Shiro really can't catch a break... like ever huh?

Click to shrink...

Shirogane is not exactly the league's favorite runner at the moment.

Had Shirogane been a horse IRL, every racing family with particularly fragile legs (you know who you are) would be scrambling and on their knees to get her blood into their families.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, there'd likely be a bidding war to foal her, and there would also be a lot of people confused on why the owners aren't retiring her to broodmare duties when they could be making so much more money that way.

Edit: It's funny how Shiro also hits the checkboxes for the more eccentric ones like Stay Gold who likes petite, creepy umas. Shirogane is more like a small Point Flag who isn't yandere.

Click to shrink...

Does she? I thought Stay Gold irl like Oriental Art more, and she was a larger mare, from what I recall.

How many races did Shiro run this chapter?

Click to shrink...

Three. She won an open dirt race in January, then she placed second after El Condor Pasa at the Kyodo News Hai in early February, while also winning the Wakagoma Stakes at Kyoto in the latter half of February.

 

[TheSmallSauce]

Does she? I thought Stay Gold irl like Oriental Art more, and she was a larger mare, from what I recall.

Click to shrink...

I kinda get the idea Stay Gold wasn't being paired with many smaller mares since he was already so undersized, any offspring between him and such a mare would have been perhaps too small to be worth training, so perhaps he just never met that many small mares. Also it's been noted that once he was being taken on a walk and he came across a pasture with some ponies and he got excited, apparently from seeing some horses the same size as him.

 

[Tiypo]

While there is no chance she'll win more than one or two of the triple races, I do agree it's a shame there are so many strong racers. The weaker members of the golden generation could have dominated if they weren't racing against their peers.

Click to shrink...

I know they're strong, but watching her play second fiddle to the rest kinda sucks ass, to put it bluntly. I don't think there's any particular issue with the writing at a per-chapter level, but it is a frustrating direction for the story to go; I'm here to see Shiro as the main character after all. I don't think a by-the-book retelling of The Golden Generation of horse racing from the point of view of a person twice isakai'd, whom only exists as a Sword of Damocles, is really a good use of that character.

It's like we're playing Nice Nature's career and it's going just like real life, a whole bunch of 3rds. But because Shiro/Tanya isn't the sort of character to have emotional moments, so it's also missing all the feel good points of Nature bonding with her floppy-trophy making trainer which balance out that frustration.

 

[Lyrista]

I know they're strong, but watching her play second fiddle to the rest kinda sucks ass, to put it bluntly. I don't think there's any particular issue with the writing at a per-chapter level, but it is a frustrating direction for the story to go; I'm here to see Shiro as the main character after all. I don't think a by-the-book retelling of The Golden Generation of horse racing from the point of view of a person twice isakai'd, whom only exists as a Sword of Damocles, is really a good use of that character.

It's like we're playing Nice Nature's career and it's going just like real life, a whole bunch of 3rds. But because Shiro/Tanya isn't the sort of character to have emotional moments, so it's also missing all the feel good points of Nature bonding with her floppy-trophy making trainer which balance out that frustration.

Click to shrink...

So what you're expressing is you're disappointed with the tangible character development of Shirogane as a racer. She's been going through her career about a year now but you're feeling a missed opportunity with how little she's changed and is basically the same as she started, no drive just a student who treats racing as a job she's employed for to bring home a paycheck for her parents. You want something to happen to push some sort of paradigm shift in her thinking to push some sort of change beyond just Shirogane showing up for her "shift at work."

 

[Dopplerdee]

Yep, Shirogane's debut race was a victory for her.

As for her constant second places, Long distance races are going to start showing up on the roster soon, these are probably where most of Shirogane's wins will come from.

Click to shrink...

Truly, she shall be The Demon of Distance.

 

[Tiypo]

So what you're expressing is you're disappointed with the tangible character development of Shirogane as a racer. She's been going through her career about a year now but you're feeling a missed opportunity with how little she's changed and is basically the same as she started, no drive just a student who treats racing as a job she's employed for to bring home a paycheck for her parents. You want something to happen to push some sort of paradigm shift in her thinking to push some sort of change beyond just Shirogane showing up for her "shift at work."

Click to shrink...

That's a good way of putting it.

And I fully acknowledge that she's setup to be very strong at further distances, but we're over 120k words in and just getting to the time where G1's are featured. I can only imagine we're looking at another 100k before we get to see her actually get to the races where she can shine. And in the meantime, the way she's written, she'll be perfectly content with that result. At the very least it feels like Nice Nature shares the frustration you feel with her results and wants to change.