Uma Musume is a series that came onto the scene in 2021 with the release of the mobile game from Cygames. This interesting horse racing/raising simulator characterizes popular race horses from Japanese horse racing history as quirky characters with big ambitions! It combines the fun of sports anime with cutesy design and a strong reverence for the history of the sport of horse racing.
Uma Musume
All Uma Musume Goods
Browse all goods from the Uma Musume series!
Uma Musume: Cinderella Gray
Browse goods from the anime Uma Musume: Cinderella Gray.
What Is Umamusume?
Umamusume is a multimedia franchise of games and animation started by CyGames in 2021, featuring cute character designs and high-tension athletic scenarios based on Japanese horse racing history!
Uma musume has been steadily growing in popularity since the release of the first anime and mobile game, culminating in a huge explosion of popularity in 2025 with the global release of the mobile game and the debut of the new Cinderella Grey anime.
In terms of how Umamusume is experienced, there’s a lot of options - there’s an anime, multiple manga, a mobile game, video games, live concerts and even a movie, with a lot more in development. Uma Musume isn’t just one thing - it’s a complete multimedia experience.
For fans of the Umamusume characters, following these characters across the various experiences is part of the fun, but some people just like the game or the stories told in the media, and that’s a totally valid way to experience it - they have different appeals depending on your tastes!
What Does ‘Uma Musume’ Mean?
The title is fairly simple to translate - ‘Umamusume’ simply means ‘Horse Girls’, which is exactly what the series is about.
In universe, an ‘Uma Musume’ is a humanoid girl with some horse features such as a tail and horse-like ears. These characters are said to be ‘born to run,’ and are often described in the series as 'reincarnated racehorses from another world.’
Of course, if you’re familiar with the legendary horse races of Japanese horse racing history, you’ll understand that this ‘other world’ is our own, and the characters featured in the series are based on champion horses of yesteryear.
The Umamusume Mobile Game
One of the biggest draws of the Umamusume series is the mobile game, Uma Musume Pretty Derby, which first released in February 2021 for Japan, and has since gotten an English Language world-wide release in June of 2025.
The Umamusume mobile game is an interesting horse racing simulator with deck-building and progression elements. Over the course of one uma musume’s career, you’ll train them and watch them participate in classic Japanese horse-racing tournaments. Win enough championships and your horse girl will graduate, ready to become an inspiration to the next generation of horses.
Available on the App Store and Google Play Store, the Uma Musume mobile game can be downloaded for free and is free to play.
Umamusume Pretty Derby Anime
In addition to the mobile game, there are also multiple anime series that have been broadcast both before and after the release of the mobile game.
The main anime series began with the first season in 2018, which focused on the adventures of notable race horse Special Week. The second season which began in 2021 focused on the career of Tokai Teio. Finally, the third season of the anime began in 2023 and focused on the career of Kitasan Black. These seasons of anime directly adapted the events of real life horse races from throughout the history of the sport (with some artistic license of course).
Since the third season, the anime has taken a variety of different, new formats. In 2023, a 3-episode OVA based on the career of Narita Top Road, Umamusume: Pretty Derby – Road to the Top, was released. After that, 2024 saw the release of the first Umamusume animated feature film with Umamusume: Pretty Derby - Beginning of a New Era, which told the story of Jungle Pocket’s rivalry with Agnes Tachyon.
Finally, the latest anime series is based on the manga of the same name - Uma Musume: Cinderella Grey. This series is focused on the iconic racehorse Oguri Cap. The first season aired in 2025 to critical acclaim, and is set to get another season in 2026.
Who Is The Main Character In Uma Musume?
One of the interesting things about Umamusume as a series is that it doesn’t have just one main character, and depending on how you enter the franchise, your perspective on who the main character is may be different.
To some people, Special Week is the main character, but to others it may be Oguri Cap. Because each season of the anime shifts focus and each ‘career mode’ run of the game has a protagonist that you personally choose, it’s difficult to decide one in particular.
How To Watch Uma Musume in Order?
To get the best experience of the Umamusume anime, you can simply watch the entries in release order. That means starting with Umamusume: Pretty Derby’s first season and continuing in order of release.
However, if you have a particular affinity for a higher quality of animation, you may want to skip to the newer entries, like Beginning of A New Era or Cinderella Grey. In some ways, these might be more likely to captivate brand new fans, getting you immediately into the racing action.
If you’re not looking for a long commitment, you can also get a taste of the series by watching the three-episode OVA Road To The Top. In just 3 episodes, you’ll experience a complete arc that offers some of the best story in the whole series. If you like it, you can always go back to experience the earlier seasons!
Beyond anime, there’s other umamusume media like stage plays, live performances, and manga.
Umamusume Figures & Model Kits
Umamusume has been intertwined with the world of hobby goods since its debut, with many characters receiving figures and even model kit releases.
Popular releases based on the series included the Figure-Rise Standard Series by Bandai, a series of character model kits which featured kits based on iconic characters like Special week and Tokai Teio. We haven’t seen a new Umamusume model kit in a while, unfortunately.
However, especially since the explosion of popularity caused by Cinderella Gray and the global release of the game, we’ve seen the series continue to appear regularly in different figure brands and from different makers.
There are a lot of different Umamusume Nendoroids, for example. Many of the highly popular characters from each series were already made available in this figure series, and each of them comes with a stand and accessory pieces representing a race track, making cool ‘race’ displays easy to create on your shelf.
In addition, it’s a series we often see pop-up in the form of scale figures from a variety of companies, like this 1/7 Uma Musume Pretty Derby Symboli Rudolf: Signature Racewear Ver. from Claynel or this 1/7 Uma Musume: Pretty Derby: Dantsu Flame from Phat Company. We’ve seen more and more of these over the last year especially, with more niche and less popular characters also getting created as detailed, fixed-posed figures.
Of course, we also see a wide range of Umamusume merchandise appear in the form of keychains, acrylic stands and other types of ‘character good’ merchandise. Generally, these releases coincide with the airing or conclusion of new umamusume content.
