Uma Musume Pretty Derby is a multimedia franchise created by Cygames that started as a mobile video game and then expanded into an anime, a manga and more. This series is about a group of “racehorse girls” who attend Tokyo’s Tracen Academy for training. As usual, fans see these adorable girls as their “waifus” and make inappropriate content out of them. And Cygames is not happy about this….
Cygames’ new press release for Uma Musume fans
As reported by several Japanese media outlets, Cygames has just released a statement to the franchise’s fan community regarding the adult content of the characters they often create and post on the internet: “Currently, we are confirming inappropriate derivative works using Uma Musume characters, mainly on the internet and social networks. (This series) features many characters based on real racehorses, so expressions that severely damage the image of racehorses or characters are strictly prohibited. Once again we ask that you consult the guidelines on derivative works and refrain from posting inappropriate derivative works.”
This is something that many fans often forget, or perhaps didn’t know in the first place: the “waifus” in Uma Musume Pretty Derby are not only anthropomorphized horses, but are all based on racehorses that actually existed in Japan. Popular characters like Special Week, Silence Suzuka, Oguri Cap and all the others have their real-world counterparts (Color fact, the vast majority are male) This means that when someone creates adult content from these characters, they are technically making adult content from a real horse, which has owners, fans, sponsors, etc. So, on the one hand, Cygames’ reaction is completely understandable.
However, as we can see in opinion forums such as Yaraon Blog, the reaction from fans has been quite divisive. Many consider this decision by Cygames to be logical, especially towards those who use Artificial Intelligence to create explicit content of these characters. But many others see it as an attack on their artistic freedom and even believe that Cygames has no right to make these claims because Uma Musume supports horse racing, something that many see as animal abuse. So this statement has managed to form a huge controversy among the community of this game.
At the end of the day, although her motives are understandable, it is almost impossible for Cygames to keep the fans under control. Many artists who create inappropriate content may not be aware of this release and/or ignore it altogether. They may see their Uma Musume Pretty Derby “waifus” as individual characters that have nothing to do with the real horses they represent.
What do you think about this situation?, and do you think Cygames is right to prohibit Uma Musume fans from creating this type of content?
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