I unironically love it when my posts become obsolete.
In January I wrote about an April Fools’ thing that an online horse racing simulator did where a bunch of notable mares were represented as humans, and it was a fun exercise in talking about a lot of horses I hadn’t had the chance to talk about before since otherwise I had slim pickings.
Then like a week or so later the post became obsolete when they announced Cesario for Uma Musume out of nowhere.
And then after the Third Annivesary announcements it was so obsolete I’m able to add this addendum post.
I don’t like editing old posts because this ain’t a wiki, this blog is as much my journey learning as it is information so I’d rather point you to an older thing and go “yeah so things changed, actually”.
So let’s start with…
Gentildonna
In retrospect, Gold Ship did give her and Orfevre a shout out in season 3…
“Gentildonna” is (according to her registry) meant to be italian for “Lady” as in “Noblewoman” (貴婦人 in Japanese), so the Keiba Densetsu Live design probably wanted to appeal to that side while Uma Musume decided to turn her into the Female variant of Orfevre’s brand of Tyrant.
Yes, I know Orfevre in Uma Musume is a girl, I know what I said.
Still In Love
If you’ll indulge me in a bit of phrasing that will be a time capsule before too long:
The Virgin Keiba Densetsu Live taking the name literally with a girl clearly blushing for someone or something.
Vs.
The Chad Uma Musume: Pretty Derby making Still In Love the most Yandere-coded design this side of Vira Granblue Fantasy.
I especially love how she only has one nail painted red and it’s in her left ring finger, where an engagement ring would go.
Cesario
There’s no proper full image of her costume, but just from the trailer of the second part of the main story it’s clear to see that both followed the same theming of dressing in a more masculine manner. It particularly sticks out to me that Uma Musume’s Cesario gives a less femme vibe than Fuji Kiseki.
The name Cesario was oddly prophetic since the real horse was so muscular it rivaled many stallions. Why prophetic? For those that don’t know, the name Cesario comes from the William Shakespeare play “Twelfth Night, or What You Will”, where a shipwrecked woman named Viola must hide herself by dressing as a man and going by the name Cesario.
In the play, Countess Olivia falls in love with Cesario while Viola falls in love with Duke Orsino, who was in love with Countess Olivia. By the end Countess Olivia actually marries Sebastian, Viola’s twin brother, who she mistakes for Cesario, and Viola after confessing to her identity marries Duke Orsino.
You also should be careful to not mix up Cesario with Cesaro, the stage name of WWE wrestler Claudio Castagnoli.
It’s surreal to think that there’s only two Triple Tiara winners missing from the roster. The third anniversary was a rollercoaster of emotions with whole rosters of generations being filled in, the three Stema brothers being finally in a single place, and even having a new face for the upcoming movie.
All the posts I wrote in countdown for that anniversary also became OBSOLETE immediately, but thank god I wrote the one explaining which girls in the cast are descended from Sunday Silence before that stream.
Also, I wasn’t joking. If I point out that this or that horse is missing or that only this or that horse in the roster has done a thing and the post becomes obsolete? That just means the roster grew bigger! And unlike other gacha games, more characters don’t take away screentime from others, if anything, adding one character might bring a burst of focus onto all of her related cast members so when characters are added it feels like learning about a friend you hadn’t seen until that point.
By the way, I love the redesign the Uma Musume website went through because you can actually highlight the text and that’s a godsend when googling the names.