We interrupt the unexpected hiatus and the tangent within a tangent because I gotta talk about this artbook.
You might be thinking “Fer, it’s just an artbook” but please understand that Uma Musume hasn’t had an artbook until now. And that’s weird, isn’t it? The game will be four years old next February and yet it didn’t have an artbook of any kind until now.
And now there’s not just one, but next month and January will release two others and who’s to say they’re not releasing one more for the anniversary?
Because if it was just the content for each year it would make sense, but that idea got thrown in for a loop after going through this one. Sorta, kinda.
Let’s go in order.
The book starts with each girl’s profile. It includes every girl’s racing outfit, draft design, school uniform, and Live Show uniform. Notably, however, it also includes details hidden in every design. Some I already knew like how Teio poses with a three in her hand because Symboli Rudolf(‘s Jockey) would raise one finger per each Triple Crown victory.
There’s others I found interesting like the fact that Nice Nature has a belt on one of her legs to “protect” the same leg that the real Nice Nature had injured.
But there’s also slightly obscure ones like the fact that Special Week has four leaf clover-shaped belts because the real horse won four G1 races, or Agnes Tachyon having square-shaped zippers because the real horse went undefeated in his four races.
There’s also this bit with Taiki about how her American motif is represented by a sheriff badge HIDDEN IN THAT ANGLE BY HER AMERICA-SIZED BOOBS or Daiwa Scarlet having “a classy outfit to contrast Vodka” while also focusing on her chest area.
Whoever designed the book, I see you. Don’t think I don’t.
The lineup of girls might feel like it has gaps (there’s no Fuji Kiseki when she’s one of the original ones, there’s no Hishi Amazon and so on), and that’s because the selection is the release day one, which by itself is a nice thing to have as reference.
This character profile area is followed by a small section with the NPC characters. That’s followed by each girl in their 3D chibi, and then some of the chat stamps.
The next section is super neat though. It has every Support Card on release PLUS rough drafts of when they were designed.
Fun fact: I first checked the book before going out to do other stuff and I caught the Tamamo Cross one while flipping through pages. I almost lost my shit thinking Tama having a horizontal CG meant there was some discarded Story at the planning stage.
But no, it’s just that some designs were made with a wide frame in mind and others more like a vertical photo. They’re actually super neat because the sequence almost makes it feel like they were taking photos and picked the right one. Or just minor adjustments like where Inari is in the Super Creek one.
This happens with both SSR and SR but Rs are just portraits so no drafts exist.
The next section includes Key Visuals used for the game. Specifically ones from the Pre-release stage that actually led up to the game releasing. It has the first splashscreen, the CGs for the Main Story chapters one and two, and even the CGs of the URA Finals scenario.
Afterwards it has the CD illustrations for each Starting Gate CD (1 to 12), and then the Winning Live covers, and this is where some anachronism kicks in because it includes Winning Lives 1 to 20 (latest one as of this writing is Winning Live 23). Likewise it follows that with the 1koma loading screens and if memory serves right these are from at least up to the first anniversary or so? It has the Mayano one with Laurel in the background for example. The section closes with the promotional illustrations they used in the countdown to release.
The book closes with two sections.
The first is a gallery of backgrounds. It might seem plain but you don’t get many chances to appreciate them on their own.
The last one is an interview talking about the key visuals. It’s super interesting and while I need to comb through more calmly still, there’s a cool part where they talk about how the first key visual (with everyone on a stage) didn’t fully convey what Uma Musume was about and that’s when they made the first one of them running. It also makes mention about the challenges of doing that as the cast grows more and more.
Personally, it’s kinda telling how the identity was being solidified even then when you compare the prerelease art with the splash screen, specifically how the running is depicted.
With that out of the way, here’s a bunch of things I wish it had and things I wish it had more of:
I wish the artists for the concept art of each girl got named. Some are very obvious (for example: Fuji Kiseki and Hishi Amazon are very clearly designed by Saitom of Xenoblade 2 fame) but it would be nice to have that without needing to look up the 2016 slides.
I wish more pre-2018 beta content got acknowledged. It includes the first key teaser, but it doesn’t include, for example, Boneless Maruzensky or The Four We Shall Not Acknowledge. The fact that characters like Super Creek and Winning Ticket have outfits that are different from their final design isn’t acknowledged. It doesn’t have to be, but it would be neat.
Isn’t there more with the NPCs? Happy Meek doesn’t include her racing outfit for example.
It’d be cool to see other illustrations posted on social media like the ones promoting real life G1 races, extra points if they include the ones that they released since 2018 that were in black and white.
These are all just the fan side of me talking though, I’ve been on both sides of Games (consuming and making) and I know all too well that if something isn’t done, 9 times out of 10 it’s NOT for a lack of wanting to. Not to mention that this is just volume one. Just like how they’ve added all the Winning Lives here, who knows what they’ll summarize in the next volumes?
The main thing is that an artbook is an opportunity to add information that they might not have added otherwise, like drafts and such, so I’d like to see that chance properly taken.
All in all, would I recommend it? Yes! While a fuller assessment might need to wait until I have all three volumes on hand because I suspect they’re meant to be a whole package rather than just incremental updates, it has a bit of everything. It has drafts for the art side, trivia for the otaku side, and even backgrounds for the True Sickos.
Apologies for the delay in continuing the current batch of posts. Life’s been hectic this year but not bad all in all.
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Oh, one last detail, the copyright on the back says “November 20th”, so the book was released officially about five days before it says in the copyright that it did.