Kroc Camen<p>*Finally*, <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/umamusume" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>umamusume</span></a> Cinderella Gray (<a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/anime" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>anime</span></a>) grabs the premise by the collar and shakes its pocket money loose! Great story telling involves taking an absurd or unrealistic premise (anime horse girls racing) and hangs a realistic outcome off of it (what does this mean in practice?).</p><p>The first season (Pretty Derby) was pretty bad -- cliche, too much 'destined hero' and not enough 'Not everybody is born to be the best at something'. Season 2 & 3 improve measurably but never totally escape the inevitable one-dimensional plot line.</p><p>Cinderella Grey opens with dead-end horse girls in a dead-end school, destined for mediocrity. The teacher even acknowledges that there are many other job opportunities open to horse girls, implying that them getting to a racing school is the best outcome they could hope for, the other options are...? They have the strength of 10 men so there must be an entire industry of horse girl manual labourers, no? What do they do after their racing career is over? (or never got out the starting gate). Historically, how was glue made? 🤔</p>