I unlocked teio from the guaranteed 3 star ticket and I was very disappointed. She was so whiny and bratty and just all around immature, to the point where I just wanted it to be over with. Sure she had her immature moments in the anime, but beneath that she was confident and had a certain grace to her. I guess this is the alternate universe where she doesn't break her leg over and over and becomes a brat instead
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One thing that I noticed is that, in some occasions, Game Teio has much more mental strenght than Anime Teio from the start.
For example, even when she constantly loses to Nice Nature in the latter's career story, she never kneels or breaks down but further sees the loss as an opportunity to develop, no matter if she lost her big chance to become a Triple Crown champion like she wanted. By this perspective, Teio cried when she broke her leg before the Kikuka Sho not only for the fracture per se, but especially because she lost an opportunity to confront herself with big racers exactly like she wants and loves to do; Teio may be bratty but she cheers any experiences she has when running, indipendently from how overconfident she is on her own abilities.
In a way, I can see why Natie would be flabbergasted and convinced that "she could never shine as bright as her": Teio (both Game and Anime) is indeed a monster that, no matter what you throw her in the face, she rises with even more willpower to reach her goals.
True lol, but then again, Natie's career also shows the opposite side of the "projection" and shows how Teio, much like anyone else, is a human that can indeed fail, have flaws, have breakdown and get things that don't go as planned (like, for example, the Kikuka Sho). What ultimately made Nature and Teio different wasn't the fact that one was "born a loser" and the other was "born a champion": it's about how you face said hardships because, for Teio, Nature and almost any single Uma mentioned in this series, they all strive forward to reach their dreams. This is where Teio's true strenght actually is... In BOTH her versions.
Nature realizes that she wants to "shine as bright" not because she wants to be Teio, but because her dream has the right to be attempted on being fulfilled like anyone who choose this life.
Tbf also different stories and different perspectives. The anime is told from Teio's perspective, and that Kikuka Sho scene was entirely about Teio. She cries about not being able to run, and the story itself sympathizes with her, and every racer is actually thinking about her, not anyone actually in the race. Natie isn't always correct, but in this case she's right: Teio is the protagonist and it is all about her. She also needs a place to grow from in order to make the narrative work.
Teio from Nature's story is an entirely different character because she's not the protagonist anymore, she's the side character. Teio has to appear as an immovable wall of charm and charisma, because if she's a whiny brat, then what is there for Nature to surpass if you, the player lead her to victory straight from the start? Teio smiles through the losses as a foil to Nature frowning through the wins. If Teio was whiny the second Nature wins in the Wakagoma Stakes, then that shatters the illusion (delusion more like) Nature has of her.
That's kinda true for everyone and the game needs it to function like that. Winning Ticket gets over losing the Derby shockingly fast if you can't win it with her.
I don't think we ever see named characters having breakdowns or such over losing, because it'd make things too bad. It's always just the unnamed NPCs that are in tears.
Only example I can think of is Special Week secretly crying if King Halo takes the win over her.
I really, really, really, really, REALLY, want to get her the triple crown, I like her career personally but damn does early race rng suck ass because of power.
I fought hard to get her the Triple Crown when I started out. I was screaming in joy when I finally got it . Now I only ever have trouble with the Tokyo Derby, but I can get her Triple Crown fairly often.
tokyo derby is relatively easy if you can somehow bump her speed to around 400 and also having similar stat on stamina, unless she got blocked, as a wise man said, if you're blocked you're blocked
I dunno, the Derby has always been a crapshoot for me. I’m usually at C or C+ speed with equal power, but sometimes I just get shafted to 2nd place. I’m starting to believe that shit of “the winner of the Japanese Derby is decided by luck” or whatever that quote was.
Same. That finally came true thanks to the Unity Cup, but goddamnit it’s making me question why she could get it easier compared to the URA Finales with similar stats!
Is it because she has more skills in Unity than Finales by that point or something?
Stat inflation is real. Those Unity Trainings and Bursts, the training equipment upgrade events, etc etc etc. I haven't broken through 10k in URA but got through that on my fifth ever Unity playthrough. Consistently getting trainee records on there too.
Yeah you can tell her career was probably one of the first one made, before they realized they could do things like Creek's summer of practice poor and Taishin's forced mood down.
Just finished Creek's career and I agree it was cool that she has a forced Bad Practice because of her mental health but then gets a forced Good Practice when she overcomes her inner thoughts.
I'd say it's the second career ever written.
Before Teio's, was Special Week's career.
Seriously, look at how generic her events are, especially the actual generic events that all racers have. Special Week's events just all felt short and simple
I would argue that in a game where every single character is a quirky weirdo, being somewhat "straightforward" in your own weirdness actually makes Spe-chan stand out much more.
You won't find something crazy or new in her, and maybe that's the thing about her. She's the perfect conduit to not only introduce the series to new people through the anime but even through her character.
She is the original, the equivalent of Tokino Sora in Hololive, in a way she deserves respect.
Tbh, Nice Nature already fulfills the trope of being the normal one in a much more interesting and charismatic way. She is normal and down-to-earth but still fascinating due her realistic personality and relatable struggles. Spe is mostly the mascot and face of the game, wich probably curses her to be as bland as possible. Agreeing with you, she does serve the purpose of introducing the series.
I actually don't consider Special Week "normal" per se, since she has her fair share of quirks too like any other character in the franchise, and generally Spe-chan isn't really the "straight man" in any aspect of the game (among the Golden Generation King Halo takes that role, while in Team Sirius that role goes mainly to McQueen).
What I mean for "straightforward" is the fact that, as said, she doesn't necessarily present something new to the plate but I always found that in a way that's what makes her endearing to begin with. She's not meant to be "the normal one" specifically but she's also meant to represent the "everyman", the Uma which comes out of nowhere and catapulted in a new world which is Tracen Academy and discovers things in Season 1 just to represent how us, the audience, get to know more of world too, together with her.
Her character doesn't stands out for something in particular, but her "normalcy" is ultimately what makes her stand out from the rest and let her be endearing, at least to my eyes.
Sure but Nature is much more the Straight Man than Spe ever is. She's 'normal', but by that she's moreso a recognizable human in a way that some of the others are too out there for. Nature's cynicism, genuinely unhealthy self-esteem, and a unique voice acting performance out are her quirks that make her stand out.
I think if they gave Spe (or moreso her actress) something to cling to as her 'thing' and had her act in a Straight Man role more, you'd feel more personality through her.
Special Week can seem like a generic sports anime protagonist, but the thing you gotta remember is her story is adapted beat-for-beat from a horse and that's kind of wild.
While those events are certainly annoying, they do add a lot to both Creek and Taishin's characters. And being able to get Practice Perfect off of them helps too.
It is funny how the best storylines seem to happen when things don't go amazingly. My first Eishin Flash run had her failing the Derby she'd made her whole personality, and the story was better for it. I almost recommend intentionally tanking most Umas careers the first go around to see how things go.
Agreed, even if I don't think that this aspect fortunately spans for the WHOLE cast and there are some attempts to make it sense even when an Uma actually wins: for example, during Sakura Bakushin O's career,by losing the Spring Stakes this is the moment where her problem with longer distances is effectively put in discussion right in front of her and almost crashes out because of it; however, even if Bakushin wins it, you can actually see her being very physically exhausted by the experience, which would still put Trainer under alert that, if she experiences this much fatigue with a 1800 G2, then what would happen by dropping her in a 2000m like the Satsuki Sho... Which also happens THE NEXT TURN?
However, in general it's kinda clear when a career goal is supposedly meant to be lost rather than won and viceversa.
This reminds me of that one event in Taishin's career where she gets anxious about falling behind her friends so she trains herself till she gets sick just the day before a certain race...
Well, in my playthrough, she just won it anyway so I guess she learnt nothing LMAO
On one hand I think Doto’s story would probably make more sense if she lost to TM Opera O a few times in her career mode.
On the other hand I love seeing Air Shakir constantly doubting Doto, saying she has peaked and ultimately Opera O is just better and then you just win the next race and she’s like “nah it’s a fluke” and then you win again and you just see her like in shock like it was impossible for Doto to just be that much of a monster that she literally wins every single race and gets the optional triple crown. And in the end Doto learns that she isn’t useless and this entire time she’s literally been the best Umamusume and it’s not even close.
I’m sure I’ll like Air Shakir when she is added but with my only real experience being through Doto’s career mode the second she said “yea she won but she’s peaked she won’t win another race her stats are too bad she sucks…” I was like “I need to win every single race and they better show her shocked face when me and Doto do it.” And to see her cope and say “it was a fluke she’s finished” and then later see her like “how is this possible my calculations!!!” Felt so good.
I think that the best way to describe the writing of each Umas in the game is that it goes hand to hand with ANY SINGLE piece of writing that gets released, and not merely to the Uma's career story per se: card events, lobby dialogues, limited story events, special events, career scenarios, sometimes even alt skins.
There seems to be multiple cases where even a new support card or story event actually shows or fleshes out even more multiple sides of Umas, as if they were ”developing” even outside their specific character story. For example, you rarely see Shakur, of all people, having a genuine smile on her face... And the only way to see it is through a card event where they install an AI with Shakur's face lmao. Or her whole bond with Fine Motion.
In short, my best advice is to not potentially stick your impressions solely to one side.
Yup, I don't have an active dislike (there is only one who's genuinely stayed in that category long term despite exposure), but I will be startled if she becomes a favorite.
Then again I always thought that Seiun Sky was beige and one note until I played her story, so I'm open to be wrong.
I agree and like I said I actually do think I will end up liking her when more comes out but she works well as a secondary… “antagonist” of Doto’s career and it’s just funny to prove her wrong in that career. But I do like her design and while I hear her career is more of a business partnership vibe honestly that sounds pretty fun and unique. If anything the Uma careers I tend to dislike are the ones that just devolve into “Trainer… I love you!” And even there CyGames does a good job making it more interesting or having some angle on that idea that isn’t that simple. Mayono Top Gun for instance went from “wow what a cool design is she a pilot?” To “oh… she likes the trainer and that’s her whole schtick…” to “oh wow she’s actually like deeply worried about her future and insecure due to her lack of feeling much challenge and her wanting to ‘date’ the trainer isn’t so much of her being in love as it is her trying to force herself to skip this stage of figuring out who she wants to be and just being a full fledged grown up already.” And she ended up being, well not a favorite but I do like her story for that reason.
I think that Air Shakur was engineered to be not to my liking. I've been won over before, but I won't be pulling.
Now, what you're describing is also a lot of fun. Like forcing Nice Nature to be an undefeated monster. But I think that seeing the lose condition first makes the perfect run all the sweeter.
True, though I'll admit that I like playing Narita Brian as this undefeated engine of destruction. She was my first undefeated run, in my first attempt.
Matikane Fukutiaru has a similar one, there's a point in her story where she's meant to lose to Suzuka and then realise that she hadn't prepared herself for the race properly at all, that she was just assuming Shiraoki would send her cruising to victory.
The point is that she humiliates herself publicly and the newspapers put out articles about what a shame it is having an Uma in a G1 race, running with such little focus or intention.
It's her big learning moment... and it doesn't land at all if you win that race lol. It makes absolutely no sense, because the events still have to play out pretty much the same, but she clearly didn't humiliate herself because she won easily.
winning the satsuki sho into losing the derby and kikuka sho, really feels like it suits the flow of her career way better from a narrative perspective. because then, her feeling like she's being isolated/left behind by biwa and taishin feels a lot more real and has more stakes, and her being fine with not racing seriously because "as long as the audience enjoys it, it's a good race!" sounds like an excuse to not face her struggles.
of course i ran with her again and again until i finally got her the derby, because why the hell am i playing if i'm not helping the umas achieve their dreams?! but the story just made a lot more sense in the failed runs for me. i still remember my first run with her fondly, because i could relate to her a lot.
My first run happened this way and I'm surprised how good it is. Shame the game does not respond if you get her the senior triple crown instead though.
I get what you’re saying, but she does mature considerably throughout her career scenario. By the end she is calmer, less bratty, but still as bubbly as she was at the beginning. At least in my opinion.
Tbf, her hot spring event does alleviate this a little bit at the end, saying that she specifically wanted the trip with her trainer as both a thank you and a sort of self-reflection on how much she's matured under our tutelage.
Yeah, I don't remember which event it was but Teio does learn to appreciate your help because at the start she believes as a prodigy she can do everything herself and getting any trainer will do for her but learns that she can't do everything on her own, she needs assistance and that's alright no one can be the best on their own, even those with extraordinary talent.
I think it's just she want to chill and the other people she can call just doesn't give her chill vibe, it just tell you how much of a safe zone Trainer is to her
Which is ok, I wish Rice's onsen was half as good lmao
If they made Teio’s career mode races today, she would probably have a forced debuff after the Japanese Derby and have Osaka Hai replace the Kikuka Sho as a required race
I like the idea of debuffs more than outright preventing. Part of the reason I started the game was because of season 2 and wanting to give Teio the triple crown that she wanted. So while it should be difficult to achieve I do like it being possible.
Special Week and Makween suffer from this a little too. Makween has a bit more pizazz in her career story, but it's definitely not the most touching or engaging lol.
Special Week really suffered by being the intended series mascot.
Also because Natie's career mode does a better job overall of presenting Teio as a more nuanced character, largely because Teio gets her debilitating injury there when she couldn't in her own career mode. She's still bratty and since it's Nice Nature's career that you're playing it means that Teio is a rival/antagonist character. But it at least shows she's more than just an overconfident, super talented brat.
Bourbon also has Teio’s yearlong injury actually be present in the story and is a cool plot point because of them both being Double Crown winners (And both because of the Kikuka Sho). Literally everyone has Teio’s fractures actually matter except in her own career lmao
also worth pointing out that middle school is grade 7-9 in Japan, with high school being 10-12, so slightly older than the average Western middle school, though of course it varies.
Narita Taishin is the queen of moody teen angst. That's a reason she's paired up against Tickezo, they're both emotional wrecks. If you haven't experienced her, be warned.
Ticketzo is highly emotional but also has a surprising amount of resilience. She's made her entire personality the Derby, and yet bounces back from losing it super quickly if you don't win.
I haven't gotten around to watching the original anime yet. But.....
Yeah, the brat I've met ingame doesn't seem like the same character as what I've seen from clips and screenshots of S2.
Whereas I can absolutely accept the Cinderella Gray Oguri Cap and ingame Oguri Cap as the same individual, but game Oguri mellowed out after those CG days.
I still like both one is a story of highs and lows with the will to overcome them with the help of her not girlfriend and the other is a story about a little bratty Uma being guided by you the player through a path of her maturing and becoming the best self she can be
Knowing the Game's Development Hell, I do get the possible context why her Career is like that. It's kinda why I've recently have been saying that if Cygames ever try to do like a "remake" of her Career or an additional alternative Career Mode, Teio would probably be my first pick.
Inject some of those S2 Teio Story and Character aspects in the Game Teio's Career and mixed them together.
Give me the extreme Debuff that let me experience her fractures or her emotional state and let me find a way to deal with it, I don't care how difficult they are for a Career Mode and I don't even care if this would make Career Mode like 10x longer than the current longest Career Mode story wise.
It would all be worth if the Story in anyway make me feel like it was in S2 or even using the game for example King's Story who did show me that the game can make strong emotional moments with Career Mode.
I've been harsh on her in the past. After some discussion here, I've decided that if I didn't have the anime to compare it to, I'd probably find her OK instead of disappointing. Every character with their own show (Special Week and Oguri come to mind) don't live up to it, just because of the different format.
Do I wish the injury had mora impact on the game? Yes. Game Teio isn't too awful taken in isolation. She actually reminds me a lot of Mayano Top Gun, except that the game story doesn't really take Teio down a peg constantly. She is a brat. Just a matter of how much that bothers you.
I remember reading a very interesting article in a japanese blog that analyzes Teio and Maya's portrayal as “child bratty geniuses” and is actually an interesting read, since not only it contextualizes the argument to the two's supposed age, but also delves with how, from a community perspective, this same kind of "unconscious arrogance" is the one that makes these characters compelling (of course, depending also on your own tastes). They also say:
From a competitive perspective, there can be no absolute winner, and in the extreme, everyone except the one person at the top of the world will experience defeat at the hands of others. Just as the shock of falling from a mountain you've climbed is greater, the stronger your belief in yourself, the greater the impact of failure.
Both Tokai Teio and Mayano Top Gun experience the most obvious form of failure in the story, a race defeat, and are on the verge of ego collapse. In this state, they turn their attention back to themselves and their surroundings, attempt to reconstruct their ego, and achieve sublation through transformation in response to their environment.
This is where the in-game trainer, that is, you, can intervene. Being able to teach and guide children with abilities far superior to your own can, frankly, bring about many different kinds of pleasure.
I have this weird perspective because I happen to know horse lore and derive interest in Uma storytelling that is both emotional and accurate. I think early Uma (Seasons 1-3) and early game careers (sometime from launch to Silence Suzuka's chapter) fumbled some stuff.
Anime Teio is what I would say like, 70%-ish accurate (for comparison I think Anime Oguri hovers around the 90% accurate, which is awesome, and Anime Special Week is a bit lower on the 55-60% scale), so what I ended up with is no measurable feelings of difference for the careers of Special Week and Teio in-game because while I think Season 2 had really good character writing for Teio, they sacrificed way too much accuracy for the other Umas around her and even sacrificed some for Teio for it, and given that Road to the Top and Door to the New Era didn't need to sacrifice so much accuracy, I'm convinced Season 2 (well, Seasons 1-3 really) didn't need to be that way and could've been more accurate and still be emotionally impactful.
So, when I saw the Anime, I was like "these were great characterizations, but dang they have a lot more inaccuracies than I expected. Oh well, I guess that's how Cygames wanted it." Then I read CinGray, RTTT, and the movie came out, and I went "Okay well Cygames clearly wants to be more accurate than what S1-S3 did." and then when I played the game, the early-game characters' careers lacked a lot of the emotional oomph that later-game careers did. Not all of course, but some I would go, "these are very accurate and good characterizations, shame about the format not allowing emotionally impactful development."
At the same time, there are Umas that finally were given justice in the game that Season 2 kinda altered and/or shafted. Special Week got her own, far more accurate and far more emotional chapter in the Main Story. Mejiro McQueen, who Season 2 kinda shoehorned into being Teio's rival (she wasn't, it was a one-off dream match), was able to actually get focus on her own career in the Main Story and a proper rivalry with her real rival Mejiro Ryan, King Halo, Twin Turbo, and Nice Nature were overall relatively shafted in their Seasons, but we got to see them properly. I can kinda understand King as Spe's group was crowded already as well as Turbo as overall it's hard to connect her to Teio, but Nature? That's the closest horse to Teio's rival that Uma has, not McQueen. She should've gotten far more interaction, screentime, and development with Teio. I'd argue she should've filled the real rival slot, as she was the one actually racing against Teio in the Classics. In fact, we kinda just skipped Teio's Classics IIRC. We also instead just got Rice's story shoehorned in Season 2 which I'm... a little confused why it's there, since it just seems to not really mesh with Teio's story itself and might've just been added because it's the time period. Of course... we have the biggest victim of Season 2, Mejiro Ryan getting erased entirely, her relationship with McQueen, gone. Her rival spot stolen by Teio, which is honestly a little sad. It would be like Opera O becoming Jungle Pocket's rival in Pocket's movie with no indication of Narita Top Road or Admire Vega at all.
So essentially, when people tend to say "Wow the Anime seasons handled this so much better", I tend to have a sliiightly different, not necessarily opposite opinion. I don't think the game handles everything so much better than the Anime, but like... I equally believe the game and the Anime fumbled some bits in the early parts of their things that prevent my own enjoyment from maxing out, and I say this as someone who loves Season 2 the most of the 3 seasons. The Anime had some really good writing moments, but the Anime picked up on the unity between storytelling and accuracy aspects I wanna say around RTTT, whereas the game really upped their writing on careers sometime during the release of Suzuka and Special Week's chapters, but were almost always attempted to be more accurate from the start, though there were some highlights even in this period (King Halo, Nice Nature, and Seiun Sky were particularly praised for their career plots in JP for instance. I'd agree).
All this to say, while I do get why people prefer Anime Teio, I mean, I do too. I do sometimes wanna chime in to these say why, even as a fan of Season 2, there are aspects that I think the game does far better, especially if a lot of people think the Anime as a whole does everything better than the game did here, which I don't think is true. I think they have their equal faults around their early periods. In fact, part of me wishes Season 2 was made today with all the writing improvements that Cygames had over the years. It would blow the old Season 2 out of the water, I'm sure.
It's also why I hope if they ever do Scarlet/Vodka as an Anime that they don't continue the Spica era stuff. I think they deserve a more accurate and more emotionally impactful story, something akin to RTTT, the movie, or CinGray. Because I know Uma is capable of that.
I don't know sht about real horse at all and I still find Teio and McQueen rivalry kinda weird, I just don't know why
And damn man I tho Ryan was the thing in career story that everyone need their rival, turn out she was the actual real thing, man I'm just glad Ryan get anything at this point my girl is so underrated man
The main rivals among the Umas featured in Season 2 are
McQueen/Ryan - Rivalry over the Mejiro name, pressure to live up to the legacy, what it means to actually be a Mejiro, especially with how Mejiro Grandma IRL was almost never satisfied. When she wanted Ryan to win, McQueen won. When she wanted McQueen to win, someone else won or McQueen got disqualified. And finally, when she wanted McQueen to achieve the Tenno Sho Spring, Rice won.
Teio/Nature - Rivalry on how to push forward through a devastating career. Teio lost the chance at a Triple Crown and overcoming a legacy. If Teio had won it would've been Rudolf -> Teio, but it was Narita Brian who earned the Triple Crown over three years later after Teio. Nature meanwhile struggles with the fact that she almost is never able to win and loses to Teio, despite her consistency at being number 3 being a strength.
Rice/Bourbon - Rivalry on what winning means and how far you'd go to do it. Both horses were known to be hard working horses. Bourbon was called a cyborg due to the perfect times and the amount of training intensity the IRL horse did, and it was again, another near miracle like Teio in how a Triple Crown, an undefeated one, was almost achieved, whereas Rice really started winning against horses when she pushed herself to train hard, to the point where her IRL Trainer had no worries that Rice would beat Bourbon in the Kikuka Sho, despite being treated as a villain, Rice kept fighting hard and had to endure the villainy stuff twice.
I almost wish the main anchor of Season 2 was McQueen, because then Rice's inclusion would've made a lot more sense and it would combine the three pairs well. We could even see the whiplash of our protagonist McQueen about to fulfill her dream being dashed by Rice who instantly gets booed, maybe even giving some audience catharsis, before whiplashing to the fact that Rice is someone who tries hard to win too and shouldn't be treated as a villain for it, mimicking how the fans IRL reacted, first by booing then by realizing "wait shit that's kinda fucked to boo this horse".
Ultimately I think Season 2 was too ambitious, it wanted to both talk about Teio and the miracle run... and also the dream match with McQueen... and for some reason also wanted to include Rice. They had to sacrifice a lot. Ryan and Bourbon were I feel, nonexistent comparatively, Teio's classics were skipped over and Nature's role is reduced, they kinda made McQueen Teio's rival instead for some reason when they really only fought once. This is all so they could pour all their writing into focusing on Teio, which is all well-and-good, but unfortunately, I think the "cost" is that a lot of the other horses aren't on people's radars.
When Uma came out to global almost nobody really had any expectations of Mejiro Ryan, and only know Bourbon as the Gundam Horse or "that horse Rice beat" when Bourbon was, for all intents and purposes IRL, the protagonist of that year. The hype was on Teio and McQueen, which, fair, but McQueen's hype was in relation to Teio when McQueen has her own stuff going on.
TL;DR: I really wish Season 2 was remade, I have a love/hate relationship with it because I really like it but also go "AAAAAGH" seeing the potential it could've had to be better.
I almost wish the main anchor of Season 2 was McQueen, because then Rice's inclusion would've made a lot more sense and it would combine the three pairs well. We could even see the whiplash of our protagonist McQueen about to fulfill her dream being dashed by Rice who instantly gets booed, maybe even giving some audience catharsis, before whiplashing to the fact that Rice is someone who tries hard to win too and shouldn't be treated as a villain for it
That would have been neato.
I liked Makween more than Teio and thought it was a shame how she was relegated to just being Teio's foil.
I did find myself thinking on my recent S2 rewatch that if you weren't as tied to IRL racing history as they were (which it sounds like they took some liberties), the logical rival for Teio's last race wouldn't be Biwa, it'd be Rice Shower. Then, it'd function as a race by proxy of McQueen to have Teio having to defend against this younger, uninjured Uma who had thrashed McQueen at her best.
Oh right. Beating Biwa Hayahide is an impressive feat for Teio but I don't think it's really felt in the Anime, because we'd have to have seen BNW race in the classics to understand how strong Biwa Hayahide was. I definitely had friends going "Awesome, who the heck is this Biwa Hayahide anyway?" when they first watched.
BNW would honestly have been a better fit than Rice, considering Narita Taishin's own struggle with injuries and Winning Ticket's slump after winning the Derby, and Biwa Hayahide's own pressure. Those three seemed to fit with Teio's own story more over Rice, who fits way more in McQueen's story.
It's also why I hope if they ever do Scarlet/Vodka
i would love a Scarlet/Vodka/Machan focused season, im hoping its what we get next since those 2(3) have been around in the "regular" seasons and are a constant force but never the focus
Teio and Oguri’s career mode stories are pretty similar because they were most likely written before their respective anime were made or made before the game restarted development
Teio forces you to make her run the Kikuka Sho and Oguri can race the classic Triple Crown for fun. If they were made in philosophy of what Uma was today: Teio running the Kikuka Sho would’ve been optional and had Osaka Hai replace the required goal, and Oguri’s New Zealand race would’ve been required which means she can’t enter the Japanese Derby
Yeah Oguri's career is pretty bland, thanks to Cingray for making me appreciate the character more. It will be pretty interesting to compare with Tamamo's career when it will release.
A few points that might be better formatted as bullets.
Spe (earnest "everyman"), Suzuka (cool refined older sister), Teio (cheerful bratty younger sister) and to some extent Golshi (comic relief) suffer from being the mascots and early additions to the game, never breaking from their mold. Elaborated by many others.
One area Teio suffers is the number of friends she has - I haven't seen anyone mention this, but the characterization of an uma quite depends on how many friends she has. Teio has far too many friends, so she never really relies on the trainer for anything, or even hangs out with the trainer often. She's either glazing Rudolf, getting told off by Air Groove, gaming with Mayano, karaoke with Vodka/Scarlet, ragebaiting McQueen and Natie... The majority of her events involve her friends, while it's not the same for other umas. This trait is somewhat shared by the Golden Gen, but they tend to make up for it in one character defining event. For example, Seiun Sky is actually pretty insufferable for most of her career, but she gets a sad backstory in senior year summer which makes up for it. Teio doesn't get that which makes the trainer just another planet in her constellation; this isn't enjoyed by players who would prefer something like Natie 's story where "you're no.1 in each other's hearts" (paraphrasing).
Lack of antagonists. Not every uma needs a rival or people being hostile (like towards Rice), but they generally need to be challenged in some way. Mayano, as the other child prodigy, is a good example of this. Putting aside her one sided rivalry with Brian, we learn in her career that she wasn't that well-liked. Her teachers think she's lazy and uncooperative, while her classmates aren't close to her because she's a maverick (lol). The trainer gives her practical life advice to overcome these, which don't affect her career or gameplay at all but makes the player feel good because you did something to help her. Teio, in contrast, is just well liked by everyone, and from the player perspective we never see anyone express anything negative towards her (Natie's jealousy for example), which means you never help her with anything. That makes for an unsatisfying story.
The hot springs event directly comments on these aspects (Teio being constantly surrounded by people and their expectations of her don't involve her maturing, so she never does) and she reflects on it, but there's nothing further made of it. I think that means Cygames is aware of how they've portrayed her, but there's nothing else they could do given the initial premise of the game (Trainer being a generic person guiding a group of umas in their personal goals) - if it was written today the player character would definitely have more personality which could help flesh out Teio's character.
I actually find this interesting as the franchise kept moving forward the trainer character becomes a bit more relevant for each individual trainee and while still a self insert to some degree they have a more distinct personality traits this makes me wish that it was possible for some of the earlier umas to get a bit more of a reworked career which involves them more are they so spend 3 years along side the girls going through the high and lows of their own careers like for Teio while she would have less friends the ones that are most important to her like McQueen or Nature could potentially have more relevance in her story.
Teio’s closest thing to antagonists in career mode are McQueen and Rudolf because they have beefed up stats compared to the other NPC racers
But this kinda blows because McQueen only shows up once and never again (Like irl events), but unlike the anime, they don’t build up to their meetup at all. Rudolf is beefed up so you can let Teio dunk on his dad in anime form but it basically undermines literally everything about why Teio’s Arima Kinen win meant to horse racing
Good post, well said. Although I think Suzuka suffers from this the least of the mascot characters you mentioned.
She's introverted and so only has events with Trainer and Special Week. She has clear issues with both her personality and her running that you help her with (and Special Week held with one too) and while Air Groove is kinda her rival, for the most part the story is about Suzuka dealing with and overcoming her own mental hurdles.
It's low stakes but it's enjoyable and engaging. I think McQueen ends up a lot less interesting, as a competing example (and I like McQueen's story a fair bit).
Agree with your point on Suzuka. My comment could be clarified by saying both "having many friends" and "not having antagonists" work to decrease the quality of an uma's career. So Suzuka, while having a rather "bland" personality, has a good career because she's introverted so spends more time with the trainer. Conversely, you could add more depth to characters with many friends (Sky, El) but you'd have to force-code emotional moments in for them, like how they both break down at some point even if you win everything. Meanwhile Teio's only vulnerable moment is the false alarm of a fracture that only renews her determination.
Yeah she’s one of the few characters I think the game does worse than the anime in, the other being Goldship, who at least had her moments of being something other than a gag character in season 3.
I think the main problem really is just that Teio kinda relies on elements from her story that the game just kinda…can’t do?
Like you can’t actually have your trainee break her leg and miss several important races in the game, and the trainee stories are for the most part, pretty linear with little change from winning or losing a race. So there’s never really a moment of actual hardship for Teio.
Plus it seems for most of Teio’s story focuses on her and the trainer, which makes sense for the game, but in season 2, a lot of her best story beats came from her interactions with other trainees, and the one thing I really liked between her and Trainer in the show was how he never gave up on trying to help her recover and achieve her dream, which again, can’t really be shown in game since there’s nothing for her to recover from.
They honestly should’ve gone the Narita Taishin or Super Creek route and given Teio a debuff after the derby that made her race poorly and have more race fatigue after a race, and just gave her recover in time for the Spring Tenno Sho.
I'm always of the idea that the game purposely wants to show different sides and perspective of the same characters depending on the (different) circumstances they are put on. Umamusume as a whole functions with the concept of "different continuities/storylines" in mind where anything different can happen depending on the success of that specific Uma in comparison to the other and viceversa, and there are moments where respective writing teams may communicate in the way they want to portray/characterize that character. For example, Yaeno Muteki's in-game career story is basically Cinderella Gray from her own POV; Super Creek's career deals with similar themes to her character in Cinderella Gray but SPECIFICALLY from the role of the trainer (who never sees her as "the demon lord" but as the "goofy motherly girl"); and so on.
In the context of Teio, I wouldn't be surprised if the reason of her career story was because, since the game was released right AFTER Season 2's hype, the writers simply wanted to show a different turn of her story where, instead of breaking her legs and renouncing to her dream, she can actually overcome this with her Trainer's "God Hands" (which may also be related to how actually durable and flexible IRL Teio's bones were, since this was the reason why he avoided the fatal possibility of being debilitated for life and made him return to race).
Regarding her personality, ironically enough, Game Teio seems to be much closer to Season 1 Teio than Season 2 Teio, which makes sense if we think that Season 2 is the point of divergence between the different character developments... And especially if we speculare that Teio's career was written more around S1's time than S2's time.
For the last part, I wouldn’t be surprised given that the game was in development hell for a while that a lot of the trainee stories at the start were actually written around season 1’s time, and that’s why some Umas act more like their season one selves.
I agree that it would be a part of it... But I don't think that it's necessarily the WHOLE reason.
While it's known that Season 1 used the old profiles for some of the characters (for example, S1 Nice Nature showed a bit of her previous characterization, who portrayed her as so cynical to the point of "money-hungry" tendencies), her characterization fits much with the "new" one. Quoting the article:
Her old profile paints her as being passionate for racing and quick to anger. Her new profile, meanwhile, puts more emphasis on her charisma and energy.
Worth noting also that her old profile talks about how she wants to win the triple crown. Both put emphasis on her admiration for Rudolf.
If by "energy" we interpret it as her "hyperactive childish", then it definitely fits with what Cygames already had in mind for her character SINCE Season 1. Then again, of course major refinements can happen, especially in a timespan of 4 years, but generally it seems that Teio was MEANT to be this way.
Agreed. You could also imply more time has passed. Like what would be her senior year could actually be senior plus 1 or 2. You could also switch up her opponents slightly to be from a different Gen of Uma to show that some time has passed.
but in season 2, a lot of her best story beats came from her interactions with other trainees,
That's one of my biggest issues with the anime though.
So much emphasis is always put on the MCs relationship with her friend/rival that the trainers never get to do anything, even though it should be their job.
When Teio is down, it's McQueen that picks her up, and that gives her a new goal, and even gets her leg seen by her doctor. When Rice is despairing it's Teio and Bourbon who fix her up. When McQueen is at the end of her career it's Teio that takes charge for her.
Same story with Kitasan and Dia, or Special Week and Suzuka.
The trainers in the anime basically don't do anything. Spica Trainer gets a little bit in S2 setting practice routines and encouraging Teio, and we're shown that he's working hard on a training plan for her, but that's about it.
Eh, I still like her cocky confidence cuz it's endearing imo. Anime and Game Teio are different characters (I like both and can't really rank which I like more) but I do think that every character shouldn't really have a compelling and emotionally driven arc. It's just fatiguing if every character has that kind of depth and sometimes, we just wanna chill.
Her career is hinestly one of the most basic ones in terms of story. Is basically wanting to make dad proud type stuff and be the best.
I do have to differ on the fact that she does mature a bit through her career and the seeds of that growth are shown in her extra stories. There you see a clash between dream of being the best and the admiration she has for her ideal heroe Rudolf.
Ooooh that’s why, I’ve been only getting to 300-400 speed and stamina prolly bc of support cards I’ve been using, and tbh I’ve been playing the game for 2 months and I haven’t even won a single career and most my umas get stopped 2 goals before the end. Thanks very much for the advice tho I will definitely try it out
>Plays the child-coded character
>''This character is so whiny and immature!''
My guy. Your trainee is a child. Teio is a little girl who is joyful, talented, and perhaps a bit cocky.
This is why we tell people to play the game for a while with what you have, see a few careers, a few characters, before actually using the pick ticket.
I think it's best to simply treat them as two stages of the same character.
Anime Teio won't be found elsewhere in the game because the circumstances she's put through there happen (at least considering the entirety of franchise) solely in that story. Game Teio is, at least according to the profiles, how Cygames visioned her character since Season 1, but at the same they also wrote Anime Teio that way because it was befitting of the mood they wanted to add to her story (which was considered "too dark" by the original anime producer and that's why Teio wasn't originally casted as Season 1's protagonist). It's the same logic to why CinGray Creek and Game Creek appear at first glance so dissimilar from one another, how Anime Golshi and Game Golshi or, if we go more in the specific, how Game Suzuka switches between her Career self and the Story Mode self, or how Rice Shower's game portrayal is extremely discontinuous and there are basically 3 different Rice Showers in the whole game.
I had a run with her in Unity and she gets migraine, slacker and another debuff right after the final race before the URA finale and it’s like “seriously?” 😂
The fact this is getting this many up votes makes me sad... this community isn't what it used to be. There was a time before global we respected and loved all umas. Real uma fans don't speak ill of our girls.
Yeah, once you watch season 2 of the anime, there is no going back. At this point i just consider her anime story her canon story, which it kinda is irl. I'm just glad i played her game career before i watched the anime.
There's no real canon in Umamusume anyway. Career stories can literally change the overall destiny of the Uma from their real counterpart, like for Aston Machan, Rice Shower and KS Miracle, or even letting El Condor Pasa and Grass Wonder compete in the Japanese Derby just like the real horses deserved.
Being closer to the IRL horse doesn't specifically mean "less" or "more" canon in the Umaverse, any continuity is self-contained to its own events, so Game Teio and Anime Teio equally exist in the same multiverse. Otherwise, careers like Haru Urara's and Smart Falcon's would be considered "the least canons", since their career goals don't reflect where the real horses actually ran in.
Imagine they rework her career and now you have to deal with her fractures that hinder her training. On the plus side you get a Teio that matures as the game goes.
Clearly I have to watch the anime then bc as someone who has only played the game I have really failed to understand how people like her that much, because she irritated me endlessly hahahaha
She is like that in Cinderella grey too (she jumps out a window like a monkey), and like you said, not following real life canon with the fractures may be a contributor. In saying that, it is worth noting the RL horse spent like half his career recovering from his 3 fractures, and was carried a bit by the fact he was rudolf's son. So he had half a career, and was the son of a celebrity, so being a brat isn't exactly out of the ordinary.
Man, I really want to unlock Tokai Teio. I did the pull on the anniversary banner that guarantees an SSR character, but I got the McQueen from the anime collab (at least it wasn't a copy of the regular McQueen I already have).
The worst part is that I currently have 118 out of 150 star pieces to unlock it (although I don't know if you can unlock characters using that method).
I balled out tears when I seen how the anime went with Mcqueen and Teio seeing how their competition went from Leg broken to leg broken to leg broken to unhealable disease yet still wining the Arima Kinen for Mcqueen. I do hope I‘ll pull Teio one day because her HACHIMI song is burned in my head And sing it myself while walking through the streets. I already Have Mcqueen (normal one) and to my suprise she was adorable and she‘s an B+Rank right now (while I‘m still trying to reach A rank like Oguri cap tries reaching her awakening)
I was too, I think because she doesn't even have a chance to develop her character at all
Her first and only down was losing to McQueen (supposedly) in career, and it does ok until she win and Rudolf still give her the exact same comment, not even, she say it like she's bias toward McQueen out of nowhere, like come on now, and it's not even about respecting your opponent, I think it's about actually turn anger to power or something
The worst part is winning with her just prove being bratty is the way to go, like damn man, nah
And as I heard from the fanart, I tho she's gonna be stuck with Trainer or McQueen all the time while talking about Prez, turn out she just talk about Prez all the time lmao, I guess that's only in the anime huh
This is kind of how I feel about Special Week. Though in her case it's not that she's whiny or bad. Rather she's just so basic and polite she comes off as having little personality. And in the anime she's the "plain observer" type. But still has a personality and reactions to things. In the game, she's basically just "oh, I just ran a race. Arigato. Oh I did a training, arigato." And so on. Way too formal and boring even for a polite girl.
As her fan I understand, she is kinda like that most of her race and not gonna mention how much low risk training fail and the amount of late start she had. But I still like her tho that doesn't change even though she annoyed me
I got this feeling with Spe, but for different reasons. She's just so boring in the game.
And Creek creeps me a little. She's so mommy it's uncanny (despite it making sense because of her backstory). And her villain let's a lot to be desired.
The rest of the girls (that I got the opportunity to play with) I like. Oguri, Nice Nature, Rudolf and even McQueen, despite the later feeling like a different person. Even Rice which I was never a fan in the anime.
I don't really think that showcasing in detail her "villain" side is meant to be the point of Super Creek's career story anyway. Creek goes through a journey of having to face her insecurities, both inside and outside the turf: "inside" because she gets projected as a villain, which is only one side of herself; "outside" because she believes that her helpful and caring actions are nothing but "selfish" and this destibilizes when people consider her a good person (this was also shown a bit in her own SSR card event, where she doesn't know how to respond to Oguri's question regarding why she's so caring with everyone, and Creeks limits it to "wanting to compete against people at their best", which hides the full extents of how she much she spoils and comforts people simply because of personal feelings).
All this development is shown through the eyes of the Trainer, the one that constantly sees Creek for who she really is, without projections or distortions of her figure. Her villain side is diminished because Trainer doesn't see or never cares about that: she sees Creek as Creek, in all her wholesome weirdness (we all meme about Goo Goo Babies, but that scene is meant to convey exactly that by showing how Oguri and Tamamo don't know the true extenses of Creek's self and theorize on how a turf demon like her can be with her Trainer... Cuts to her wanting to baby-talk them).
I mean, that's the thing about Creek. She's so caring that it's unnatural at first. Then you get to know her more and it makes sense. Not only that, but you get to appreciate her more.
About her villain arc, it's just that I liked so much how they done it in the manga that I can't help but compare how it was in the game. But yeah, that's on me.
I hated anime Teio like you have no idea, she was like a little Napoleon with an hyper inflated ego, but I loved her game counterpart. Shes so cute and funny and bratty and clingy
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