Racehorse that Inspired One of “Uma Musume Pretty Derby” Characters Dies

Sad news to fans of horse-girl anime Uma Musume Pretty Derby: Biko Pegasus, the racehorse that inspired a character of the same name in the said anime, has just passed away. This unfortunate news was shared by the official Twitter account of Uma Musume Pretty Derby. According to their tweet, Biko Pegasus passed away on June 11. While no official reason for her passing was stated, this is most likely due to old age.

As most fans know, the horse-girls on Uma Musume Pretty Derby are based on real-life champion racehorses in Japan. Most of them, however, were already old when the anime aired last year. So far, four of the racehorses on which Uma Musume characters were based have already died: the inspiration for the lead character, Special Week, died a few weeks after the anime’s premiere. Her character was voiced by Azumi Waki.

The next racehorse to pass away was King Halo (Uma Musume VA: Iori Saeki), who died on March 2019 at the ripe old age of 24. Following him was Vodka (Uma Musume) VA: Ayaka Ohashi), who passed away on April 2019. A few weeks later, Hishi Amazon (Uma Musume VA: Yuiko Tatsumi) also passed away. Biko Pegasus is the 5th Uma Musume racehorse to have passed away. Her character in the anime was voiced by Aimi Tanaka.

Uma Musume Pretty Derby is a multimedia franchise created by Cygames that includes a smartphone game, manga, and a TV anime series. It tells the story of a horse-girl named Special Week, who moves to Tokyo’s Tracen Academy with the goal of becoming champion racers and famous idols as well. The anime, which spanned 13 episodes, aired in Japan from April to June 2018. The series was produced by P.A. Works.

Source: Anime News Network