So a new scenario just released. A new batch of Original Girls was included and the perennial question of who they’re based on is up in the air.
In particular the identity of the new girl who has a close relationship with chairman Akikawa, Mei Satake (佐岳メイ).
Initial theories ranged everywhere with Northern Dancer being the most convincing one (which would make Mei based on the chairman’s real life father).
However, the consensus and suspicions have settled down on Mei being based on Dictus. Who was, incidentally, contemporary with Maruzensky‘s dad Nijinsky.
The theories ARE well based too. Finding images of Dictus in color are tricky but what few there are show a yellow and black Jockey outfit that fits with with Mei’s attire.
Credit to the image finds goes to these two twitter users, I don’t embed the tweets just because the site might die tomorrow for all I know.
Dictus was also French, and notably I can’t seem to find any specific record of facing the Arc of Triumph Grand Prix (which is the central theme of the new scenario), though given that the scenario has a big underlying theme about regrets and dreams (more on that in a different post) that might be the point.
Notable also is that historically, Dictus progeny has has very good compatibility with Northern Taste progeny, which would explain the specific “two babies that are also old grandmas” dynamic that Mei and chairman Akikawa share.
Fun fact, since “Yayoi” (the Chairman’s given name) mean March, that means we have March and May side by side.
There is one extra detail which is the point of this post though: Her eye color.
If the name Dictus sounds familiar it’s because Dictus is indeed the father of Ikuno Dictus (Ikuno being her Kanmei), and also the father of Dicta Striker in Cinderella Gray… or rather of Soccer Boy, the horse that Dicta Striker is based off of.
And you might notice one specific similarity across them:
Yellow eyes.
Moreover, if you see second-generation descendants of Dictus (via Soccer Boy more specifically) like Hishi Miracle and Narita Top Road, you can see a sort of “diluted yellow” effect at play.
This is a design element that’s not as easy to point out as say… how jockey clothes are emulated so well you can see the real race and know who’s who on color palette alone.
And you might be thinking that I’m overthinking things as usual, but it’s something the game all but admits more than once. In particular in Special Week’s profile one of the bond-unlockable details is her explaining her eye color is from her birth mom (reminder: Special Week was raised by a human, hence the distinction)
This is especially noteworthy because every other direct descendant of Sunday Silence has either blue or yellow eyes, so Special Week’s purple makes her stick out amongst them.
Sunday Silence, as per usual, is a can of worms for another day.
There are other cases we could study, but here’s a fun one.
Godolphin Barb, one of the Three Goddesses of the Uma Musume world, based on one of the three grandsires alongside Byerley Turk and Darley Arabian.
The reason her default expression has her eyes closed is that historically, Godolphin Barb’s progeny was mainly composed of mares. So while a lot of of throughbreds can trace their ancestry to Godolphin Barb, it’s mainly via maternal lines, making her presence in the genes more understated, thus, her eye color is “hidden”… except for moment where she’s showing a particularly caring maternal streak, funnily enough.
That is also why Special Week having her eye color come from her birth mom is noteworthy.
Hopefully (and ironically) now you can’t unsee this in the designs.