On a Pale Horse (Umamusume/Youjo Senki)

[TheSmallSauce]

A couple pages back, I was struck by an evil plot bunny dredged from the hitherto unplumbed depths of the mind of one @ScarredPunLover.

… I'm imagining a Racer who once had a fierce rival—but said rival starts to fall apart and/or give all their focus to Shiro, and thus leaving the racer behind. You can play into it as a shipping thing or jokes about relationships in general, though I think there's more fun to be had in the racer watching their rival fall apart, self-destructing slowly but surely, "because" of Orzel.

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This plot bunny has been mercilessly gnawing at my attention for the last two weeks, so now that I've happened upon some free time, rest assured I will raise that plot bunny into... (What do you call a fully realized plot bunny?) a fully-fledged plot jackalope. Putting that aside, I felt like the plot jackalope would be be missing it's horns, so to speak, without at least some appearance (with dialogue!) by the main character. Unfortunately, I am what you might generously call utter garbage at consistent character writing, especially with characters that I had no part in creating. So while Shirogane has as a person diverged somewhat from Tanya, which gives me some leeway in depicting her character, I still felt it prudent to do some research on what makes Shirogane feel like, sound like and act like Tanya. After all this is still a Youjo Senki fic, some part of Tanya needs to be recognizable in her reincarnation.

The research began, as it always does, by returning to the literature. To preface, my experience with Youjo Senki started with Selphius' German rendition of Los! Los! Los!, which lead to the singular season of the anime, which of course lead to the manga in search of evermore wonderful historical fiction. The light novel was, as all good light novels seem to be, under lock and key by Yen Press and their tyrannically slow translation team, so I never got around to reading it. And as infatuated as I was with the story, I chose not to trudge through the hell that was the machine translation of the web novel, that way lay madness and pronouns for one character changing five times in a single sentence, but I digress. All this is to say that my primary interaction with Youjo Senki came from the manga, which is the source from which I draw most of my ideas about who Tanya is.

In the manga, perhaps the chapter that most examines Tanya's character is chapter 19, in which the Salaryman lays out his mindset and worldview in plain terms. Nowhere else is the basis for Tanya's understanding of the world so explicitly stated.

Spoiler: Chapter 19, Page 4 & 6

Tanya

"When I was a little boy, I had come to understand that and adult's personal nature differs from his outward apperance."
"If I don't be a 'good boy', I'll be excluded!'
"I needed to live for people's expectations."

Spoiler: Chapter 19, Page 9 & 10

Spoiler: Chapter 19, Page 13

Salaryman

"If you abide by the rules, you can follow a path laid out for you."
"That's how I managed to find a path to a generally satisfying life. By acting as a good cogwheel to society."

Tanya's worldview is shaped by her experiences in her previous life as the Salaryman, where she came to understand that people rarely act entirely in accordance with their true desires. Instead, individuals adapt themselves to societal expectations, rules, and norms in exchange for stability, acceptance, and the benefits that society provides. Influenced by rationalist and meritocratic ideas associated with the Chicago School of Economics, she concluded that the most effective way to live comfortably was not to rebel against these systems, but to understand and optimize herself within them. To Tanya, society functions through incentives, institutional structures, and predictable rules, and the individual who best adapts to these structures is rewarded with security, status, and personal freedom. Her goal therefore becomes finding freedom within the boundaries imposed by society, primarily through relentless self-improvement and competence, with the ultimate aim of achieving a stable and comfortable life.

Spoiler: Chapter 19, Page 11

Salaryman

"People who don't follow the rules give me a great deal of anxiety. Everything I accomplished by following the rules can be threatened by their disorderly conduct."

This worldview also explains Tanya's hostility toward irrationality, incompetence, and ideologically driven behavior. Because she perceives herself as having faithfully followed the implicit social contract throughout her life, she struggles to understand people who knowingly act against their own interests or against the stability of the systems around them. In her eyes, emotional idealism, reckless nationalism, blind faith, or revolutionary thinking are dangerous because they disrupt the predictable order upon which rational planning depends.

Spoiler: Chapter 76, Page 24

Tanya

"No matter how hard you work, your wage will never increase, but good job! Now keep working! Profiting is bad! The state will manage it instead! If you slack off, you're going to be reeducated! Forced labor!! Keep working!! Everyone's poor!! Someone's complaining? Too bad, you're going to be purged!!"

Which leads to her hatred of collectivist ideologies such as communism, something that stems less from simple political opposition and more from her belief that systems disconnected from merit and competence inevitably undermine efficiency and punish exceptional individuals. To Tanya, a society that redistributes rewards regardless of effort removes the incentive structures necessary for productivity and stability, while authoritarian governance introduces arbitrary power that makes rational self-preservation impossible. More than anything, Tanya fears helplessness and unpredictability, which is why she places such importance on rules-based institutions and personal excellence.

That covers my understanding of Tanya Degurechaff, the soldier. Her personality and worldview are similar to those of her previous life, but they aren't identical. Chapter 58 of the manga actually goes out of its way to state it in no uncertain terms.

Spoiler: Chapter 58, Page 31 & 32

Tanya

"I figured you'd say that, you greenhorn who only lived through the Showa and Heisei era."

Salaryman

"You've changed. Did you find comrades you can trust?"

Tanya

"Of course. I'm none other than Tanya von Degurechaff."
"I'm different from you."

So as Tanya, she's changed a lot compared to the Salaryman through her experiences. It lends credence to the idea that even though Shirogane is a continuation of Tanya as a character, she isn't the same person anymore.

"Shiro, dear," her mother began, pursing her lips seriously. "Why don't you say anything if you are still hungry?"

Shirogane stared back at her in bemusement. "I eat about as much as you do. If I eat more then it will use up too much food."

The adults shared a look, before their expressions softened and father laughed.

"Shiro-chan, if you need to eat more we will buy more food."

"But that will cost money."

"Well, yes…but that's not so important," her father waved off. "We buy a lot of food to begin with, a little more won't make that much of a difference."

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Fortunately, it didn't appear that Suzuki Shirogane would have to worry about any of the dangers that the Soldier did. Not only was she born after the World Wars (this world somehow following a similar history despite the lack of horses) at a similar time to the Salaryman, she was not an orphan, and actually had parents.

Or more specifically, parents that actually took child rearing seriously.

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Dream? "...I have a family that cares for me at their own expense and expects too little in return; I live in a pleasant place where aside from natural disasters, I do not have to fear for my life, and barring severe economic downturn, I will have something to inherit to pass down to any children I might have."

Shirogane smiled. This life felt like a dream, like the retirement she imagined in her past lives.

"What else could I wish for?"

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This, I feel, is an important part of what separates Shirogane from Tanya for me. Here I think she finally understands that these are people who will always support her, no matter what. Shirogane still values stability and her family represent the greatest kind of stability: unconditional love and support. And while she still speaks in transactional terms, she's clearly softened up. I would probably go a bit further than that and say that Shirogane isn't as confused by or scared of irrational actors as a result of having this support system.

"Even so, I can't exactly leave my parents to do all the work," Shirogane added. "My grandparents are not dead yet, but they are getting old enough they can't help as much." At least they didn't need to spend so much time looking after her now that she had demonstrated her ability to look after herself. Still, it would probably be better for their health if they moved towards retirement. It wasn't helped by the fact that her parents couldn't really afford another child since she consumed enough resources for at least two.

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It's why she feels so indebted to them and a why a big part of her character is centered around making sure that her parents and grandparents can retire and live comfortably. These people not only said that they cared for her unconditionally, they also showed it by delaying their retirements and working hard to support her without ever asking directly or otherwise for her to pay them back. It probably doesn't hurt that running the restaurant once her parents retire means that her path to a comfortable life has not only changed, but gotten significantly simpler.

There had also been a distinct lack of self aggrandizing entities this time.

Perhaps the Salaryman had been correct that the Thing had been no real god, or perhaps, as the Soldier suspected, they had simply been discarded after they were found to have no further use.

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Another important detail, I think, is that she no longer has to constantly look over her shoulder for the possibility of being screwed by a malicious supernatural entity. Shirogane has a much less stressful life, no need to worry about god pissing in your dinner and no need to worry about being shot out of the sky or taken as a prisoner of war, which means she's a lot more easygoing than Tanya. No performing an emergency craniectomy on unruly ponies here. Though it seems that there are some habits she can't quite let go of yet.

Shirogane blinked, finding herself turned around and her fist smashed through the speaker that had played the starting…gun noise.

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In chapter eight, we get to see that she has a violent reaction to gunshots and loud noises, a carryover from her second life.

"Just because I am faster than you doesn't mean I'd make a good racer," Shirogane pointed out. "I was mostly interested in these things because I wanted to see how much of a difference it could make." Working at a restaurant could often mean standing around in a hot environment for long periods of time, not to mention irregular mealtimes, so the energy gel packs and electrolytes could help with avoiding dehydration when working in the kitchen. It would also help with PT.

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Here she is using an abbreviation with a military origin, I reckon a normal person would probably just say fitness. Then there's the harsh and realistic critique she has of her own running. She'd probably already considered the prospect of racing and come to the conclusion that she lacked the ability to compete at the top level, and also that it was probably an unreliable career path.

The racing academies were some of the best schools for umamusume, both academically and in regards to training programs, but gaining entry was a competitive endeavor, and most of the roster would inevitably be filled up by children from notable pedigrees due to being selectively bred for improved performance. There was some degree of nepotism, but most of the time they did win out in fair competitions.

Shirogane had not heard of any umamusume with a pair of human parents doing particularly well on the racing circuit, so it seemed likely she would be far outclassed.

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"It isn't as simple as that," Shirogane deflected. "First of all, that depends largely on at least showing in a big race. However, the majority of the purse goes to first place, and from those winnings, a chunk is taken by the academy, and more fractions are cut off by taxes, so the take home amount is far less than what may appear."

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Case in point. She's not one to dream, even in this life.

But whatever the case may be, this body and brain, being not entirely human, seemed less inclined towards the zealous obsession the Soldier had developed, being much more attached to the tangible than the theoretical. Perhaps it was to be expected of a hybrid of horse and human, but as the animal in question did not seem to exist in this world, it did not seem a good idea for her to wonder out loud about. It could also have been due to the Soldier's common usage of computation orbs and the adaptation of her brain to using magic from a young age making her mind in her last life more agile than her current one.

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Then we also have the change in brain chemistry to consider. No matter how much one might try, biology is pretty hard to defy. In the manga, this is actually played for a gag.

Spoiler: Chapter 11, Page 37 & 38

Could you imagine this scene but she's straight up just a horse?

Shirogane

"—Hm? Stay Gold is in the same ship? It's something all horses go through? A horse like me? I AM!!! A HUMAN!!!"

Where was I going with this again...?

Right, examining what makes Shirogane feel like Tanya, and what sets her apart.

tl;dr

Shirogane feels like Tanya because she keeps the same rational, analytical, control-oriented mindset, but she differs from her in what she values and the way she interacts with others because the safe, supportive world of Umamusume removes the fear and hostility that originally hardened those traits into something colder and more defensive aggressive violent.

Thanks for coming to my tedTalk, I lost the plot halfway through though.

Plus I'm still writing that evil ass plot bunny. Curse you, @ScarredPunLover, you did this to me! Though now I feel like I can write Shirogane's part better...

Spoiler: Thing