Is it just me or did this horse girl anime jump up on popularity? What happened? I’m pretty sure this came out severa years ago at this point.

New season?

the mobile game just went live on near end of feb

slave2thedrago said:

Is it just me or did this horse girl anime jump up on popularity? What happened? I’m pretty sure this came out severa years ago at this point.

New season?

Developers were in negotiation with the yakuza for the past couple years.

slave2thedrago said:

Is it just me or did this horse girl anime jump up on popularity? What happened? I’m pretty sure this came out severa years ago at this point.

New season?

Season 2 and indeed, the release of the mobile game tho likely the latter is the bigger reason for the surge in popularity. I personally would like to believe that episode 8 of season 2 plus people finding out about the real horse's history led to Rice Shower being as popular as she is now.

Myrrhmidon said:

Season 2 and indeed, the release of the mobile game tho likely the latter is the bigger reason for the surge in popularity. I personally would like to believe that episode 8 of season 2 plus people finding out about the real horse's history led to Rice Shower being as popular as she is now.

IMO it's her entire character arc,

The 2nd season is filled to the brim with drama with Tokai Teio being the unfortunate target the majority, and like in the artist's commentary, I was bawling as well.

Ah. Mobile game. Should I have guessed....it’s always mobile game

Well not like I’m complaining. This series has some of the better hair designs in anime today.

Kurzwaltz said:

IMO it's her entire character arc,

Spoilers

from winning the Kikuka Sho, preventing Mihono Bourbon from achieving an undefeated Triple crown in the process, her anguish at being booed, hated, and called a villain by the crowd despite the victory, which leads to her decision to quit racing as she feels like she only brings misery. (poor girl T_T)

Surprisingly, it's Bourbon who manages to convince her to reconsider, by declaring that Rice Shower is her hero despite being the one who ended her Triple Crown dream. She then reveals that she had sustained serious injuries due to the race and had considered retiring, but found a new dream in wanting to race with Rice Shower again, which helped her work hard during recovery and physical rehab. Again she says to Rice: "You're my hero, a strong umamusume. And you must run at the Tennoushou to prove that!" .

While still having some misgivings, Rice agrees to continue racing, setting the stage for episode 8, which covers her race against Mejiro McQueen, one of the two main characters for Season 2. You heard that right: Rice Shower is a supporting character. McQueen is aiming for a 3rd victory at the Tennoushou, and the crowd thinks Rice Shower is a villain out to ruin it, but she won't be disheartened by that.

The 2nd season is filled to the brim with drama with Tokai Teio being the unfortunate target the majority, and like in the artist's commentary, I was bawling as well.

What I find weird about this is, Rice Shower is the only one treated like this. None of the other Umamusume who win races against the main characters are vilified as thoroughly as she is. Hell, I bet the original Rice Shower, who's rider was an intentional "villian" with his riding style, probably wasn't treated this badly by audiences.

slave2thedrago said:

Ah. Mobile game. Should I have guessed....it’s always mobile game

Well not like I’m complaining. This series has some of the better hair designs in anime today.

Except people want the game so badly and for several times. The game got put on the sack for several times until now.

slave2thedrago said:

Ah. Mobile game. Should I have guessed....it’s always mobile game

Well not like I’m complaining. This series has some of the better hair designs in anime today.

The funny part is that, from the whole multimidia project Umamusume is, the game was the first thing announced, but it was put back and remade and only finally released now.

Sigfried666 said:

The funny part is that, from the whole multimidia project Umamusume is, the game was the first thing announced, but it was put back and remade and only finally released now.

To be fair, the game now looks nothing like it's initial beta from 2018. Motherfucker's a powerful game.

cd_young said:

To be fair, the game now looks nothing like it's initial beta from 2018. Motherfucker's a powerful game.

Makes sense that, with the leaps in smartphone technology, they'd change the game almost entirely to better fit and use the platform.
I would love to play the game, but it is too story driven for my japanese level. XD

cd_young said:

What I find weird about this is, Rice Shower is the only one treated like this. None of the other Umamusume who win races against the main characters are vilified as thoroughly as she is. Hell, I bet the original Rice Shower, who's rider was an intentional "villian" with his riding style, probably wasn't treated this badly by audiences.

It was that bad IRL. In fact, arguably worse. At least in the anime, several characters applauded her. From what I know, the negative reaction to Rice Shower. One is obviously the money lost. But the other is historical: fans have been wanting a triple crown horse since Symboli Rudolf in 1980s. Since getting the triple crown is a once in a lifetime per horse, losing the streak is a big deal. Rice Shower being the combo breaker for two horses wasn't a good thing for some people. Still, the dramatic way the anime portrayed made me like Rice Shower a lot and she shot up as my best girl.

Myrrhmidon said:

It was that bad IRL. In fact, arguably worse. At least in the anime, several characters applauded her. From what I know, the negative reaction to Rice Shower. One is obviously the money lost. But the other is historical: fans have been wanting a triple crown horse since Symboli Rudolf in 1980s. Since getting the triple crown is a once in a lifetime per horse, losing the streak is a big deal. Rice Shower being the combo breaker for two horses wasn't a good thing for some people. Still, the dramatic way the anime portrayed made me like Rice Shower a lot and she shot up as my best girl.

The part that made me root for her was when the fans started cheering for MacQueen during Rice Shower's victory concert. I mean there's treating a girl like a heel but then there's rooting for a back up dancer during someone else's supposed victory celebration.

Myrrhmidon said:

fans have been wanting a triple crown horse since Symboli Rudolf in 1980s. Since getting the triple crown is a once in a lifetime per horse, losing the streak is a big deal. Rice Shower being the combo breaker for two horses wasn't a good thing for some people. Still, the dramatic way the anime portrayed made me like Rice Shower a lot and she shot up as my best girl.

Not just any Triple Crown but an undefeated Triple Crown, which at the time had only been achieved by Symboli Rudolf. Tokai Teio (son of Symboli Rudolf IRL) was en route to duplicating it, having already won two of the three Classic races while unbeaten, but was unable to race in the last one due to injury (as depicted in the anime). Bourbon was the same, but lost to Rice Shower on the final Classic race, the Kikuka Sho. . Narita Brian achieved it (as noted in the 1st season) in 1994 IRL, but was not unbeaten.

So from what I am seeing here, this girl was basically the closest equivalent to a main antoagonist?

slave2thedrago said:

So from what I am seeing here, this girl was basically the closest equivalent to a main antoagonist?

Only in the sense of the fans, she's a demure shy girl who looks up to several of the famous horse girls at the school, and is a very sad girl too since no one seems to like her, as I pointed out above, during her victory concert the fans were cheering MacQueen on, which gives the girl a bit of a complex.

So...

Literal dark horse, huh?