Uma Musume Pretty Derby is a multimedia franchise created by Cygames which started as mobile video games and later expanded into an anime, a manga, and much more. This series is about a group of “racehorse girls” who attend the Tokyo Tracen Academy To train. As always, fans see these adorable girls as their “waifus” and make inappropriate content from them. And Cygames is not happy about this…
Cygames’ new statement for Uma Musume fans
As reported by several japanese mediaCygames has just released a statement to the community of fans of the franchise regarding the adult content of the characters that they usually create and publish on the internet: «We are currently 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 seriously damage the image of the racehorses or the characters are strictly prohibited. We once again 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” by Uma Musume Pretty Derby are not only anthropomorphized horses, but they are all based on racehorses that really existed in Japan. Popular characters like Special Week, Silence Suzuka, Oguri Cap and all the others have their counterpart in the real world (Color fact, the vast majority are males) This means that, when someone creates adult content of these characters, they are technically making adult content of 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, fan reaction has been quite divisive. Many consider this decision by Cygames to be logical, especially towards those who use Artificial intelligence to create explicit content for 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 their 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 statement and/or ignore it completely. They may see their “waifus” by Uma Musume Pretty Derby as individual characters that have nothing to do with the real horses they represent.
What do you think of this situation? Do you think Cygames is right to ban Uma Musume fans from creating this type of content?
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