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.

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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?

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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.

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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.

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

 

[Impstar]

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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?

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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.

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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

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

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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.

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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?

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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.

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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.

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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?

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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."

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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.

 

[Euphemism]

Really enjoying this story. I love Tanya crossovers, but this one feels unique by starting off as a nice slice of life and then swapping into a sports drama, and overall this feels like Tanya basically died in life 2 and went to heaven.

Got a nice cushy retirement with parents who love her, then a fun career that provides her with lots of money and people she can get along with, and after she retires from that she can probably just play the stocks and relax (and then maybe discover that she gets bored too easily and needs more excitement).

 

[Walberino69]

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.

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Then this story might not be for you right now. It has already been made clear that Shirogane isn't a Tanya-esque figure desperate to prove something; she is someone living the dream of a peaceful, stable life. As many have already noted, she is essentially a "grandma in a young girl's body."

On the other hand, it is also clear that her strength doesn't lie in the "short" races common in Japan; she would fare much better in long-distance races abroad, and her attitude is unlikely to change anytime soon.

There is still a possibility that she might change and give more than 100%, but that would require some external stimulus—whether negative (a desperate need to win) or positive (giving her all out of respect for someone else's dedication).

Tanya is happy with her results, and unlike in her first life, she can appreciate the merit of being at the top without the pressure of needing to be number one.

It seems like you're looking for a *shonen* sports series, but the author has made it clear since Chapter 1 that this story is primarily a slice-of-life.

The best way to view this story is to think of it as a spin-off like *Emiya-san Chi no Kyō no Gohan*—one that shows the day-to-day life of the *Fate* series without the Servant battles, focusing instead on mundane matters. It's like watching the lives of the villagers from Luffy's hometown: the story you're looking for is happening in the background, but it isn't the focus of the narrative.

 

[Winged One]

stable life

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[Lyrista]

I mean almost never finishing under second place is still an objectively impressive resume and gets her attention and recognition and a reasonable number of fans too. The occasional first place finishes sprinkled in will keep her fans coming back for more to see whether or not she can pull off a first place finish again.

Infamy also gains her attention too, fans want to see if their own favorites can beat the Silver Eagle challenge and watching other Umas push themselves to their limits to overcome the stamina monster that is Shirogane must be exciting to watch in Universe.

El Condor Pasa, a very powerful racer of her generation clearly had to substantially push herself to win this race and she still just barely managed it.

First place or Second place, it seems like Shirogane puts on a show that's worth watching.

 

[Tiypo]

Then this story might not be for you right now. It has already been made clear that Shirogane isn't a Tanya-esque figure desperate to prove something; she is someone living the dream of a peaceful, stable life. As many have already noted, she is essentially a "grandma in a young girl's body."

On the other hand, it is also clear that her strength doesn't lie in the "short" races common in Japan; she would fare much better in long-distance races abroad, and her attitude is unlikely to change anytime soon.

There is still a possibility that she might change and give more than 100%, but that would require some external stimulus—whether negative (a desperate need to win) or positive (giving her all out of respect for someone else's dedication).

Tanya is happy with her results, and unlike in her first life, she can appreciate the merit of being at the top without the pressure of needing to be number one.

It seems like you're looking for a *shonen* sports series, but the author has made it clear since Chapter 1 that this story is primarily a slice-of-life.

The best way to view this story is to think of it as a spin-off like *Emiya-san Chi no Kyō no Gohan*—one that shows the day-to-day life of the *Fate* series without the Servant battles, focusing instead on mundane matters. It's like watching the lives of the villagers from Luffy's hometown: the story you're looking for is happening in the background, but it isn't the focus of the narrative.

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Slice-of-life doesn't mean the characters are stagnant, the protagonist should have some motivations and challenges, especially when they're directly involved in something obviously competitive. Why is it her racing when she could instead be running food deliveries to all the different uma as some sort of Tracen "S-Rank Asphalt Aptitude" cryptid?

The issue in my mind is that Shiro is written and treated as a Sword of Damocles. Everyone she's racing against acknowledges her as a threat and treats her as such; from their perspective they are in that "shonen" sports series and she's a part of it. The entire story is focused on that sword; every race she's in is like a camera shot of her competitor on a throne with the threat of HER dangling over them, threatening to fall. But if it never falls, did it really represent a threat to begin with or was it just a set piece? How many times can that same camera shot be repeated before the sword has no value as a part of the story?

And maybe these thoughts are pre-mature and things will happen soon, but Shiro's position as that sword certainly has been fed to us a lot and yet at the same time it feels we keep being whispered "the sword isn't THAT big a deal", which loops back to the point of why have said sword then?

 

[Liar]

To be honest, I thought the First Year was just a setup for the Classic Year, where the famous races occur. I didn't expect much character development until the competition for the Triple Crown and Triple Tiara began. The author carefully established Shirogane's reputation, and understanding her standing among racing fans and other Umamusume helps us engage with the stakes of the Classic Year races.

 

[Impstar]

Slice-of-life doesn't mean the characters are stagnant, the protagonist should have some motivations and challenges, especially when they're directly involved in something obviously competitive. Why is it her racing when she could instead be running food deliveries to all the different uma as some sort of Tracen "S-Rank Asphalt Aptitude" cryptid?

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Well the Watsonian reason she's not running food deliveries is that racing pays better. The Doyalist reason is that umamusume is a setting focused on horse racing. So far her motivation is to return what she sees as her debt to her parents by helping them financially. And that's perfectly okay for a starting motivation. I admit this story is a very very slow burn, but I think it is going somewhere with Shiro's character. If the burn is too slow for you, that's unfortunate, but the pacing of the story has been established.

The issue in my mind is that Shiro is written and treated as a Sword of Damocles. Everyone she's racing against acknowledges her as a threat and treats her as such; from their perspective they are in that "shonen" sports series and she's a part of it. The entire story is focused on that sword; every race she's in is a like a camera shot of her competitor on a throne with the threat of HER dangling over them, threatening to fall. But if it never falls, did it really represent a threat to begin with or was it just a set piece? How many times can that same camera shot be repeated before the sword has no value as a part of the story?

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That's not really my take on it though? She's acknowledged as being extremely intense to the point of causing discomfort to other umas racing against her, which is noteworthy. Her consistency is also noteworthy; if you don't bring your A-game and pay close attention while racing her, she may very well take the win. But that's it. She's not a sword of damocles, unless you mean it in a "if she does this well in shorter races, what will she be like in longer ones" way. She's not a sword of damocles anymore than Grass Wonder or El Condo is really; less so, because they are consistently favored to win (and do so). Shiro's tendency to get second instead of first is noted in story. The story is not hyping her up more than she deserves to be at this point in time.