If 2025 has proven anything, it’s that the next big game can come from anywhere. A roguelike about a mansion broke everyone’s brains. An RPG about perfect parries stole everyone’s hearts. And now, as the second half of the year rolls around, everyone is obsessed with a gacha game about anime horse girls.
The wave called Umamusume: Pretty Derby has taken the gaming landscape by storm. Over the past few weeks, the internet has become filled with GIFs of anime girls with horse ears alongside streamers showing their excitement when their character wins a race. But if you haven’t played, you may be wondering what Umamusume: Pretty Derby is all about.
What is Umamusume: Pretty Derby?
Developed by Cygames — the company behind the Granblue series, another massive franchise — Umamusume: Pretty Derby was officially released in Japan in 2021, but only just became available in the United States this year. Released June 26 for Windows PC, iOS, and Android, this gacha game has taken over social media and livestreams.
Bubbly horse girls are at the center of everything in Umamusume: Pretty Derby. The main mode is the “career” mode, in which you choose one uma (or girls with horse features and who possesses the power and speed to race) to train and participate in a series of competitions. Trainees are unlocked through a gacha system; you spend a special currency to pull for characters. But no uma is strong enough alone. You’ll need other umas to support your student in the form of Support Cards. (Compared to other gacha games, you can think of trainees as the characters you pull, and Support Cards as weapons/equipment.)
It’s fair to think of Umamusume: Pretty Derby as a sports management game — College Football but with anime girls. You play as a trainer of umas, horse girls who race against each other to win the spotlight on the stage performing their victory songs. They have a dream and it’s your job to help them achieve it. You’ll guide trainee umas through their career and basically decide their training routines. All you will do in this game is to make their lives better as athletes.
Most of the time, you will be choosing what your uma is going to do from a menu. You can send them to speed training, to participate in quick races to get more fans, to go have a moment of recreation, or to rest when needed. While it might seem a simple process, playing Umamusume: Pretty Derby demands managing your trainee’s energy, maintaining their friendship with other characters to gain even more stats from training, and understanding their characteristics — all of the above might affect their performance in races. Eventually, the day of a big race comes and you can watch your trainee put all she learned into use.
Umamusume: Pretty Derby is, however, only one part of what Cygames called the Umamusume Project, a multimedia project from which anime series, manga, and games sprouted out. While each of these focuses on different characters, all of them serve to expand the Umamusume universe and develop the characters, which are designed after real racing horses.
Why is Umamusume: Pretty Derby so popular on Twitch and Steam?
Alongside tentpole games like Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, the fast and assertive pace of Umamusume: Pretty Derby has helped it stand out from the pack. But why are people talking so much about it? Why are horse girls cool now?
If you don’t believe me, here’s the data. Umamusume: Pretty Derby reached a peak of 47,264 players on Steam on July 8, while more than 80,000 users are following the game on Twitch. Streamers like Northernlion have seen more than 22,000 viewers watching him train his horse girls. Also on July 8, popular streamer Ludwig held a mini-tourney of Umamusume: Pretty Derby for streamers to participate. (As of this writing, the five-hour VOD of this specific stream has more than 333,000 views.)The unexpected recent success of Umamusume: Pretty Derby seems to be the product of the genuine surprise people had when realizing how good and charming the game is.
Because of the horse girl premise and anime visuals, long-time fans like me didn’t expect that the niche aspects of this game would reach further than its already existing community of loyal fans. Some have been spreading the word about the game on platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and calling the attention of new players to how the in-game girls’ behaviors are based on memorable (and funny) scenes performed by their real counterparts. The most famous is probably Gold Ship — the real horse whose temper famously made it lose the Takarazuka Kinen, a Grade I race horse in Japan, in 2015.
All the effort just helped people get at least curious to try the “horse game,” but what began as a meme turned into a multitude of players swiped by the umas. Umamusume: Pretty Derby gets you really involved in each character’s journey, since every girl has her own story, motivation, and dream.
The progression system in the game offers a real challenge for those who enjoy doing the math and working all the details to make the perfect characters, juggling details about each type of race, the stats for each individual girls, and Support Cards. Besides, the races can get really intense if you stop to watch them.
Of course, some attention the game is receiving now is because of the hype around the phenomenon of the “horse game.” However, Umamusume: Pretty Derby is leading people to know the heartwarming world of Umamusume. We can see the real horses receiving the support and love from new fans who learned about them through the game. One example is Haru Urara, who received 67,000 likes in a recent photo wearing her new tiara.
Is Umamusume: Pretty Derby worth playing?
Take it from me: If you’re even a little bit on the fence, Umamusume: Pretty Derby deserves your time. Cygames developed a game that doubles as a comfy end-of-the-day experience or as a game that’ll scratch your competitive itch.
The characters are well-written and each one of them has a singular story. From the optimistic Special Week to the funny El Condor Pasar, it’s hard not to find one that you feel more sympathetic toward or relate more to their dreams and motivations. (Since there’s a story mode in the game, you don’t need to worry about stats or numbers to enjoy Umamusume: Pretty Derby.)
On the other hand, if you’re ready to get your hands dirty and some tables done, Umamusume: Pretty Derby is also the perfect game for you. Training an uma becomes a complex process if you get into the minutiae involved in finding the perfect veteran umas, Support Cards, and training rotations for each of the girls.
You should, however, always remember that this is a gacha game. Although I believe it’s possible to have fun strictly sticking with the free-to-play mode, the game will promote time-limited characters and Support Cards that you can secure if you spend real money.
Do I need to watch Umamusume anime shows to enjoy the game?
Some anime shows are part of the Umamusume Project, but you don’t need to watch them in order to understand or enjoy Umamusume: Pretty Derby. The characters you meet in the shows are also present in the game, so you end up knowing them by progressing in the story or training your uma. The stories portrayed in the game aren’t the same you will see in the anime, but they will both hit you with emotional scenes of umas disputing to win the races.
However, if you’re curious about which anime you should watch, we have some suggestions. First, consider tackling the Umamusume: Pretty Derby seasons. There are three of them, each focusing on a different horse girl. If you don’t want to commit to watching three seasons, don’t worry. You can start with the newest show called “Umamusume: Cinderella Gray,” which is not part of the Pretty Derby series, although set in the same world. Or take a pick on the Road to The Top miniseries — all episodes are on YouTube!
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