Anime horse girls and a billion-dollar phenomenon

A mobile game about anime Horse Girls has taken Japan by storm, raking in over $2 billion

and now it's charging into the U.S. market. Uma Musume, Pretty Derby, developed by Psy Games, launched in Japan back in 2021

Since then, it's earned about $2 billion and racked up over 30 million downloads across Asia

Last month, the game finally went global, and it's making waves. On launch, Umamusume hit number one in free simulation

It also peaked at more than 47,000 players on Steam, with over 80,000 followers on Twitch

Its Reddit community, among the top 2% of all subreddits. And one Redditor even snapped a photo of the company's sponsorship booth at this year's Kentucky Derby, featuring its signature anime horses

And yes, that's exactly what they are. The premise has raced eyebrows, even among anime fans

As Game 8 put it, There's no delicate way to put this

The premise of Uma Musume Pretty Derby is weird. Even by anime game standards, it's weird

In the game, real Japanese racehorses are reimagined as anime girls with horse ears and tails

They train at a racing academy, compete in high-stakes races, and celebrate their wins with full-blown idol concerts

There are no actual horses. The girls are the horses. Each one is based on a real life race horse down to their stats, quirks and legacy

One standout is Hara Urara based on a horse who lost all 113 of her races but became a beloved symbol of perseverance during Japan economic slump

Her in-game counterpart is now a fan favorite and considered by one YouTuber the underdog of Uma Musume

As one Reddit user wrote, she never gave up, so do we. We will make her win and make her dream more than come true

This isn't the first time Japan has turned non-human subjects into anime girls

The game Kantae Collection turned World War II battleships into teenage girls and became a hit

Uma Musume takes the same idea and applies it to racehorses, and it stuck

The anime actually launched first in 2018, introducing fans to Special Week, a cheerful horse girl based on a real champion thoroughbred

The story follows her journey from rural Hokkaido to Tokyo in pursuit of racing glory

The game blends sports simulation with a gacha system where players spend in-game or real money to unlock random characters and support cards

It's free to play, but side game still makes a ton of money

Since its global launch, Uma Musume Pretty Derby has brought in $6.6 million outside Japan

4.3 million of that from the U.S. alone in just 18 days. Weird? Maybe. But whether it's curiosity, nostalgia, or sheer fandom, these anime horse girls are off to a fast start

And with millions already hooked, it might not be long before they're racing up even more charts

With Straight Arrow news, I'm Kennedy Felton. Download our app or visit san.com for more