In case it wasn’t obvious, Machan’s “Super Spy” fixation is a nod to how her name is based around Aston Martin, the car brand made famous by James Bond. More specifically it all started with the Aston Martin DB5 featured in Goldfinger.
There’s this small moment in her introduction where she asks the other trainers what their dream is, and perhaps it’s just the precedent of the story having a meta slant to itself, but it kinda felt like an acknowledgement of the weird period in early Uma Musume where things would be painted as if the girl is working for the trainer in some way (see: Starting Gate’s “fateful meeting”-style ending).
While going back to the first post, I realized the fun irony in how, even before Machan was acknowledged by the game, Vodka’s skill being based around her victory against her means that Machan was already leaving a mark in the game in a way.
While I might’ve focused on Machan’s story, the special thing about Uma Musume for me is that no girl is just their story. Their characters are so strongly written that you can put any combination of them together and have sparks fly.
Machan in particular has this streak of being really mischievous, nothing malicious but she does seem to have fun when she can get a rise out of someone. In one of her birthday messages she’s talking with Scarlet and Vodka, guilt-tripping them about them forgetting something until they reveal they were preparing a surprise party but they weren’t ready yet… after which Machan asks them to repeat what they just said so she can record it.
Likewise, a different birthday scene has her forming the Chanchan Alliance with Curren Chan. Another manipulative girl that I definitely gotta talk about another day.
There’s one event where a trainer finds a row of Machan dolls ominously staring at them in a bench, which is apparently a Marketing ploy by Machan to bring more attention to the dolls. Or the time another trainer decided to take photos to analyze other horse girls running and when they went to check them, Machan was in ALL OF THEM.
There’s other moments like her trying to be with Bakushin because she figured if she became the next class president she’d get more attention… until she realizes she wouldn’t have time to be a mascot.
There’s all her scenes photobombing others, where she will try to photobomb an aerial shot of the academy if at all possible; there’s that one time a reporter kept pestering Scarlet so Machan decided to talk the reporter’s ear out until they left… oh yeah she’s also friends with a cat she calls Hattori Shinobimaru, which she mentions a couple of times alongside a certain Arimura-san, and another one she calls Taro Akahashira. Taro Akahashira is the one that’s from near the post office it seems. Arimura-san by the way, is AN ANT.
She grabs an ant because she wanted Arimura-san to see a merchandise shop.
In her introductory story she also refers to a crow she knows as Chloe Harvard, and when she asks her how’s her baby the crow replies. She’s also seen napping with a white pigeon she calls Fuwa Fuwa-san.
Spoilers: Fuwa Fuwa-san dies goes to the sea later. She regrets never asking what their favorite color was.
Her introduction actually has a really neat narrative framing. It opens and ends with her introducing herself, as if recounting how they got there. The curious thing is that during this, the background theme of the Story Gallery doesn’t hit. Usually as a girl’s introduction ends and the contract with the trainer is set, the theme kicks in to enhance the mood of the situation. So this could be either bold confidence in the story they already had or just the fact it didn’t fit quite as well.
Also, while I glossed over it, I LOVE the scene at the beginning of her campaign where she’s filming the most amateur super spy film ever with Scarlet and Vodka. Not only is it a shocking contrast to the sad preceding scene but it also lets you know that she’s as much a goofball as every other character.
Literally one click in-between.
She might have a really dramatic story, but she doesn’t exist in just THAT story nor is her personality JUST that. Which is good because it means when she’s not pulling at the heart strings you will still have fun.
So what’s Machan’s personality like? As mentioned she has a bit of a mischievous streak to herself, but she’s also that… silent friend that doesn’t speak much but when she does everyone listens, and is otherwise keeping an eye on everyone. Which a fun thing to have as the contrast to a character obsessed with her image in a way, and as the third leg of the Scarlet and Vodka combo. She also has this weird sort of kindness where that’s… awfully relatable where she doesn’t think much about what happens to her but cares deeply about what happens to others.
While obviously her friends, the way Scarlet and Vodka need to look after her sometimes makes them look more like they’re her parents. By which I mean that Vodka is the dad promising to go play later with her, and Scarlet is the mom nagging her for running off and bothering someone with a camera.
She also falls into the terrain of girls that consume a lot of media, which reflects in her way of speaking. But unlike Rob Roy who reads a lot, and Digitan who is a filthy Otaku, Machan seems to be more inclined towards movies and the like, she also has an actual penchant for being dramatic beyond her actual dramatic story, she seems to love framing what she does in a way that feels like it’s from a story or some scene.
She’s actually one of the few characters that we actually see explicitly making stuff. While Digitan is said to make doujinshi and Mejiro Dober is said to make manga, Machan is the one you see the most explicitly making things, mainly videos but also voice recordings.
Her support card comes to mind. Every support card has an “Episode” tab, it isn’t representative of the actual story you’ll see because of the card but more of what the illustration represents. This specific short story has her trainer receive a recording from her.
In it, Machan talks about how she’s staring at the clear sky, on a tall place where thanks to all the puddles from the rain before she’s “between two skies, a big sky above and a small sky below”. Then with the description the trainer stands up and runs towards the place described and there they find Machan greeting them.
It’s the shortest, sweetest, cheesiest thing ever and I love it.
Oh also, if you zoom into the screen of Machan’s phone, you can see the recording has been going for 9 minutes and 30 seconds, or 00:09:30 if you will. The Sprinters Stakes that Machan won was held on September 30th, AKA 09/30.
So, you know… YEAH.
And what are her Support card events about?
Well, There’s a bazaar of used toys and the like, and Machan is seen having a farewell party for a lot of plushies that didn’t sell. She even uses the sea analogy so present in her campaign, where she talks about the toys going to the sea, where all things end up (though knowing how trash disposal works, it might actually be literal). And she’s just doing her best so that at least SOMEONE remembers Pyonne Pierre, and Mochiro, and Michio, and Kumanomori, and Nyakonyakonosuke, and of course Wafumofu Tamasaburo, how could you leave out Wafumofu Tamasaburo. They’re… the names of all the plushies, they’re all old mascot characters but they’re most likely names that Machan came up with on the spot because it fits her naming sensibilities.
Man, imagine being able to say a character has “naming sensibilities”. Being able to infer that the names are her creation because they’re names she’d come up with.
But in the end she decides to not give up. You see, if you create a compelling enough story, even a reject doll from a bazaar will sell. So she decided to rope Scarlet and Vodka in to make a “Doll Drama” in video form in order to get Wafumofu Tamasaburo and his buddies a home.
And it HAS to be a drama. It’s not enough to just get them sold because they might end up “in the sea” anyways before long, they HAVE to make a dramatic tale that will make people attached to them and want to keep them. Vodka immediately jumps on board, understanding Machan’s goal, bringing the example of used motorcycles (like the dork she is), where it’s rare for the bike to just be dropped off, it will often be handed directly with the old owner asking the new one to take good care of it.
So what drama do they make? Well, it opens with Mochiro being told about a Legendary Supercar (A legendary supercar/sports car like an Aston Martin for example) that if found will let them go to a new world. A goal that sounds impossible, but Agent Ma (Machan’s plushie) insists that if they all band together fate can change! Wafumofu Tamasaburo agrees, insisting that just waiting for the end is no good and might as well go down fighting for things to change.
And it works! They get people that recognize the mascots from their childhood and buy them for their kids, someone passionately declares that they want Wafumofu Tamasaburo and that his “new world” will be their home. That last one is actually handed over personally by Vodka… who then tells the kid to take good care of him.
It wasn’t easy, according to Machan, Vodka failed some takes about 11 times and Scarlet lost her patience because of this… but also she had Curren Chan help her with the editing, Biko Pegasus directed the action and Hishi Akebono was making sure everyone was fed. And Machan is really happy that not only did she indeed save Wafumofu Tamasaburo and his buddies from the sea, but that she made many memories with friends in the process.
And if all of it feels awfully and bluntly on the nose in more than one way… I KNOW! ISN’T IT GREAT?
I can’t even be mad, they were clearly having fun poking fun at what they did with Machan’s story.
As you might expect from a horse that died really young and with a really private life outside of racing, there’s not that much to say about Machan in real life, so I decided to take the chance to just highlight how Uma Musume characters aren’t JUST their stories, how there’s so much to them going on in so many layers that even if I write a whole post or two about their story, there’s a lot more going on, where their characterization is so strong that you can feasibly smash any two random girls together in a scene and something fun will happen (that doesn’t sound right… but I’m not gonna rephrase it). Even if I’ve written a post about a girl I still have a lot to say about them, hell, I might have more to say about Machan in the future.
Also to kinda highlight what makes the Support Card system so dangerous, where it’s not just the stats and skills they provide but also the fact it adds short stories like these.
Or as I often say: Uma Musume is a game where there’s so much going on that you don’t have to make up random details about the characters, you don’t have to “make your own food”.
Oh right, In the process I wanted to double check if maybe the mascot that the elders that don’t remember Machan mention at the beginning of her campaign is the same as the mascot character Light Hello likes. But no, the one my dear wife that I miss so much Light Hello likes is “Carrot Queen”, the other one is Carroline, the Carrot Fairy.
The camera in Machan’s loading screen comic is very clearly based on the Fujifilm Instax Mini 11 in Blushing Pink. I actually have this camera so I felt kinda called out. It’s basically a modern instant camera with no digital elements (though hybrids like the Instax Mini Evo that are simple digital cameras with the print function also exist), which is why Scarlet and Vodka are seen sorting through instant photos. They’re really fun! I definitely recommend them for someone that just likes to casually take photos in special ocassions.
In her Secrets section it’s revealed that Machan is good at mimicry, and also that she loves to hear about her little sister’s love exploits.. which brings the reveal that Machan has a little sister, actually.
Couldn’t find any specific that would fit the “little sister relationship”, I went through the other Admire Cogene and Rasling Kaps looking for any piece that would have a name related to precocious love and such.
The closest relation I can draw is Willow Paddock, a 2011 horse that has had (or attempted to have) pieces with Fuji Kiseki, Zenno Rob Roy, Mahattan Cafe, Satono Crown, and Satono Diamond. So if somehow they added Willow Paddock and it’s this little girl gushing over all the aforementioned implemented horses in the academy… yeah, I could see that.
In the process I learned that Machan’s mother and Jungle Pocket had a piece called Daiwa Lancelot. I just thought that was fun.
Speaking of family, her profile also reveals that she was in charge of carrying her mom to bed whenever she falls asleep on the couch. As a refresher, Machan’s mom is a doctor, so it’s probably a nod to her mom not making to bed out of exhaustion. It also reveals that she’s on her 9th set of earrings because she keeps losing them.
I’m sure I’ll come back to Machan before too long, but what I hope is that between this post and the rest of the trilogy you understand a bit better what makes this game so special. It’s not just the drama, it’s not just the mechanics, it’s not just how well they reflect and respect the legacy of the real life counterparts in a way where you unwittingly become a horse racing nerd by proxy…
It’s the fact that on top of ALL THAT, they just put so much care to each character and how they exist in this world and what their relationships are, that despite describing her main campaign and describing the emotional depth they clearly put in it, I also spent an extra article just bringing random examples of that same girl just… being a girl with a life of her own, whose identity isn’t solely defined by a dramatic story.
And the fact that this applies to any girl I’ve written about or I’ve yet to write about.
It’s a game where “based on a horse that died young” and “currently on her ninth set of earrings” are equally important details about a character. And that’s not something you see much of nowadays. I should know, I felt like I had to take matters on my own hands for that for the longest time.