Uma Musume’s Star Motif.

It doesn’t take long to see that Uma Musume has a very clear star motif going on.

Teams are named after stars in constellations, dupes in the game give you star pieces that you use to upgrade the girls, not to mention how many meaningful moments are marked by meteor showers. Hell, even as far back as season 1 the anime opens with a whole scrolling image that implies that shooting stars are how horses become Uma Musume.

And on a surface level, the theme is very obvious and ties to the core theme of the franchise: Wishes.

It’s said that if you wish upon a shooting star, your dreams will come true, and Uma Musume is all about wishes, both those the girls carry in their names and those they pursue by themselves, with the game often exploring the idea of the girl’s wishes being strong enough to overcome the destiny being imposed onto them.

However, I’m here to propose the fact that this theming is rooted in something else also.

I believe it’s a pun.

To understand this, let me explain horse markings for a second. No not branding, markings, the white spots.

One of the most understated and genius design elements in Uma Musume is the integration of the real horse’s markings onto the girl’s hair (and outfits). It’s such a subtle detail, but it’s to the point where if you were to see a dark-haired girl with white bangs at the front the association with Uma Musume is already there. Also, personally, as a big fan of Mecha Musume, I admire the simplicity of that design cue more than any “She has three triangles because she won three G1s” details.

In real horses, these markings are referred to by different names depending on their shape and position. They are:

• Blaze: A wide marking that goes down the face.
• Strip/Stripe/Race: Like a Blaze bur narrower.
• Bald Face: A marking that extends to the whole face.
• Snip: A spot near the muzzle, between the nostrils.
• Star: The more commonly associated spot between the eyes.

Now, you might be going “That’s it? That’s the pun?” Only half of it, because you see, they have different names in Japanese.

Star is 星 (Hoshi), but it doesn’t stop there. There’s Kyokusei (曲星) for crooked Stars, Ransei (乱星) for stars of a disordered shape, Kansei (環星) for a ringed Star, and more importantly for this point Ryuusei (流星) for stars that continue into a stripe.

Ryuusei, means meteor, like the kinds that become shooting stars when they enter the atmosphere.

By the way, for the sake of completion, in Japanese there’s also a distinction for Biryuuhaku (鼻梁白) what in english would be called a Snip, but also for Bihaku (鼻白) when it covers the nose, and Shinsaku (唇白) when it covers the lips. Saku (作) is what in English would be called a Stripe, and Hakumen (白面) is what would be called a Bald Fa-

…Hakumen…

*ahem*

As you can see, in the Japanese side of that terminology, stars are more present, with one of the categories even being explicitly a meteor. And this gives a cool poetic meaning to the markings, almost like the wishes from one world are imprinted into their other incarnation.

…not all markings are visibly integrated into the designs, but that’s an aside.

Do I think this is on purpose? Definitely. Do I think it’s the only reason behind the idea? Not really…

Like with many things in this franchise, the answer is always “A bit of all columns”. After all it’s the integration of so many elements so seamlessly that makes all of this so compelling.

By the way, I tried to add some section in this post about why horses get those markings, but the answer is basically “we know it happens but no idea how”.

I actually thought before researching for this that it was kinda like how in black and white cats the pigment starts in their spine and goes down so the white spots are where the “ink” “ran out”… but the white spots in horses are actually more similar to vitiligo, to the point that horses with Bald Face might have blue eyes from (presumably) the lack of pigmentation extending there and horses that turn gray or whiter later in life might actually retain markings that are distinguishable as slightly pink skin.

The one thing we do know about those markings though, is that apparently they started becoming a thing once humans started breeding horses.

I don’t know why “we don’t know, but we know it’s the humans’ fault” it’s so funny to me, but that’s how I’m ending this post.