I Really Hate Hishi Amazon And Narita Brian's "Rivalry" (Umamusume) (Spoilers Through Chapter 48 of Star Blossom)
I'll be mentioning material from the game and the Star Blossom manga through chapter 48, so please no spoilers for chapter 49 and beyond.
Hishi Amazon is one of my favorite Umamusume characters, she's got a fun personality, a cool design, she breaks a boulder by screaming at it in her ultimate animation, what's not to love? Well outside of her lack of media appearances, her incredibly one sided ""rivalry"" with Narita Brian. Despite the real horses only racing once, maybe twice to my knowledge, ol HishiAma's career is about her relationship to Brian. Ok, taking some creative liberties, that's fine and often even necessary, what's the problem?
Amazon is a foot note in Brian's career story, only appearing in the classic year Arima Kinen and maybe the senior year Arima Kinen in the plot if I'm remembering correctly and being in a small handful of random events. While Amazon's career is dedicated to Brian, Brian's easily perhaps even gleefully discards her like she's nothing to focus on Brian going against some of the most decorated Umas. I can understand the appeal of having Brian face off against Symboli Rudolf, Oguri Cap, and especially Biwa Hiyahide as dream match scenarios, and in a vacuum Brian's career is fine or even pretty good, but it's tainted by the imbalance between how the ""rivalry"" is presented and it makes me like the career and even the character less, which really sucks because Brian is a cool character in her own right, it's just hard to separate her from how one of my favorites is always down played for her benefit.
The straw the broke my back and made me make my first post here is the Star Blossom manga. It's amazing, it's gorgeous, it's hilarious, it's heart breaking, there's so much praise I could heap on this manga but today I'm here to vent about it. Reiterating the opener, this will discuss material from chapter 48 and below, please no specific spoilers for chapter 49 and above.
The manga is set during Brian's and Amazon's career, so of course with her dominating the classics and the protagonist Sakura Laurel wanting to beat her, Brian gets a lot of focus and is basically the third MC behind Laurel and her trainer. That's totally fine, Laurel doesn't really have much to do with Amazon compared to Brian so Amazon having a small role is to be expected. Seeing Amazon pop up in a supporting role for some of the early chapters was an exciting surprise, one I foolishly allowed to give me hope.
The classic year Arima Kinen arc comes and... Amazon isn't a challenge for Brian to over come, she's just another cameo to get bodied like Twin Turbo, they don't have any meaningful interaction, Brian doesn't acknowledge her *existence* ***AT ALL***
So if Hishi Amazon is a glorified cameo in Brian's life, why the *fuck* does her character have to revolve around Brian?