{"id":54787,"date":"2025-12-11T13:04:06","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T04:04:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=54787"},"modified":"2025-12-11T13:04:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T04:04:09","slug":"peta-uses-gory-umamusume-pretty-derby-image-to-raise-awareness-about-horse-racing-sparking-outrage-among-fans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/peta-uses-gory-umamusume-pretty-derby-image-to-raise-awareness-about-horse-racing-sparking-outrage-among-fans\/","title":{"rendered":"PETA uses gory Umamusume: Pretty Derby image to raise awareness about horse racing, sparking outrage among fans\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nonprofit organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals<\/strong> (PETA)<\/strong>\u00a0made a post on December 11 presumably meant to raise awareness about the suffering of racehorses, but the act has been met with massive backlash for name-dropping Umamusume: Pretty Derby<\/strong> and using an image of the game\u2019s character in a context which possibly violates the franchise\u2019s content guidelines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Titled \u201cIf Umamusume: Pretty Derby was Honest,\u201d the image seems to be PETA\u2019s homebrew fanart of Silence Suzuka. Like other \u201chorse girls\u201d appearing in\u00a0Cygames\u2019s hit racing game<\/a>, Silence Suzuka is based on a real-life Japanese racehorse. The horse is famous for achieving several major wins on the JRA circuit before suffering a severe injury and subsequently being euthanized.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In reference to this background, PETA\u2019s recent post<\/a> reads, \u201cIf Umamusume: Pretty Derby were honest, your favorite horse girl doesn\u2019t get a comeback arc. One failed event, and the race is over forever\u2014just like what happened to the real Silence Suzuka.\u201d Their image depicts Silence Suzuka (as she appears in Umamusume) crying out in pain on the ground, her leg bent out of shape from a bleeding open fracture.\u00a0Fans found this depiction to be an overly sensationalized and trivialized use of Suzuka’s tragic story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The seemingly unauthorized use of Cygames\u2019s intellectual property, as well as suspected violations of the company\u2019s strict guidelines on derivative works (more on that later), have not been taken in kind by Umamusume fans. Shortly after the post went up, players flooded the post with negative comments and rallied to mass report PETA<\/a> to Cygames. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given that Umamusume: Pretty Derby features anthropomorphized versions of famous, real-life racehorses, the game\u2019s existence strongly depends on Cygames\u2019s relationship with the horses\u2019 owners and related parties like the JRA (Japan Racing Association). In order to protect these relationships, Cygames has\u00a0established guidelines<\/a>\u00a0regarding fanart and other derivative works based on Umamusume: Pretty Derby. These guidelines are meant to ensure the racehorses\u2019 reputations are not damaged (which would, by effect, cause Cygames handling of the horses to be brought into question by rightsholders).\u00a0Violent and gory depictions of the girls are forbidden, and using them to advocate or criticize specific movements or ideologies is also off the table \u2013 so PETA is very likely in violation of some clauses.\u00a0Since the organization is nonprofit, it’s not quite clear whether the clause on commercial use will apply in this case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given these circumstances, fans aren\u2019t only angry about their favorite game being name-dropped as part of PETA\u2019s activism, they also see it as something Cygames could potentially get in trouble for with partners, thus jeopardizing the game. In addition, people have pointed out that the criticism is unjust given that Cygames has on many occasions donated and helped raise funds<\/a> for the care of active and retired racehorses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related:<\/strong> Umamusume: Pretty Derby devs share rules for not stressing out racehorses when visiting real-life ranches<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why does Umamusume: Pretty Derby have specific rules against sexual or violent fanart?<\/strong><\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Umamusume: Pretty Derby fans suspect PETA’s recent X post is in violation of several Cygames guidelines related to derivative works.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":54790,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-54787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nPETA uses gory Umamusume: Pretty Derby image to raise awareness about horse racing, sparking outrage among fans\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Umamusume: Pretty Derby fans suspect PETA's recent X post is in violation of several Cygames guidelines related to derivative works.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/peta-uses-gory-umamusume-pretty-derby-image-to-raise-awareness-about-horse-racing-sparking-outrage-among-fans\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"PETA uses gory Umamusume: Pretty Derby image to raise awareness about horse racing, sparking outrage among fans\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Umamusume: Pretty Derby fans suspect PETA's recent X post is in violation of several Cygames guidelines related to derivative works.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/peta-uses-gory-umamusume-pretty-derby-image-to-raise-awareness-about-horse-racing-sparking-outrage-among-fans\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-11T04:04:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-11T04:04:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251210-54787-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1275\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"716\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"PETA uses gory Umamusume: Pretty Derby image to raise awareness about horse racing, sparking outrage among fans\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","description":"Umamusume: Pretty Derby fans suspect PETA's recent X post is in violation of several Cygames guidelines related to derivative works.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/peta-uses-gory-umamusume-pretty-derby-image-to-raise-awareness-about-horse-racing-sparking-outrage-among-fans\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"PETA uses gory Umamusume: Pretty Derby image to raise awareness about horse racing, sparking outrage among fans\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","og_description":"Umamusume: Pretty Derby fans suspect PETA's recent X post is in violation of several Cygames guidelines related to derivative works.","og_url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/peta-uses-gory-umamusume-pretty-derby-image-to-raise-awareness-about-horse-racing-sparking-outrage-among-fans\/","og_site_name":"AUTOMATON WEST","article_published_time":"2025-12-11T04:04:06+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-12-11T04:04:09+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1275,"height":716,"url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251210-54787-header.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Amber V","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_site":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Amber V","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/peta-uses-gory-umamusume-pretty-derby-image-to-raise-awareness-about-horse-racing-sparking-outrage-among-fans\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/peta-uses-gory-umamusume-pretty-derby-image-to-raise-awareness-about-horse-racing-sparking-outrage-among-fans\/"},"author":{"name":"Amber V","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/fdc6517a00e35b6917ffdb02e8b574d9"},"headline":"PETA uses gory Umamusume: Pretty Derby image to raise awareness about horse racing, sparking outrage among fans\u00a0","datePublished":"2025-12-11T04:04:06+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-11T04:04:09+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/peta-uses-gory-umamusume-pretty-derby-image-to-raise-awareness-about-horse-racing-sparking-outrage-among-fans\/"},"wordCount":526,"commentCount":6,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/peta-uses-gory-umamusume-pretty-derby-image-to-raise-awareness-about-horse-racing-sparking-outrage-among-fans\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251210-54787-header.jpg","keywords":["News (Japan-related)"],"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/peta-uses-gory-umamusume-pretty-derby-image-to-raise-awareness-about-horse-racing-sparking-outrage-among-fans\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/peta-uses-gory-umamusume-pretty-derby-image-to-raise-awareness-about-horse-racing-sparking-outrage-among-fans\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/peta-uses-gory-umamusume-pretty-derby-image-to-raise-awareness-about-horse-racing-sparking-outrage-among-fans\/","name":"PETA uses gory Umamusume: Pretty Derby image to raise awareness about horse racing, sparking outrage among fans\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/peta-uses-gory-umamusume-pretty-derby-image-to-raise-awareness-about-horse-racing-sparking-outrage-among-fans\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/peta-uses-gory-umamusume-pretty-derby-image-to-raise-awareness-about-horse-racing-sparking-outrage-among-fans\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251210-54787-header.jpg","datePublished":"2025-12-11T04:04:06+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-11T04:04:09+00:00","description":"Umamusume: Pretty Derby fans suspect PETA's recent X post is in violation of several Cygames guidelines related to derivative works.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/peta-uses-gory-umamusume-pretty-derby-image-to-raise-awareness-about-horse-racing-sparking-outrage-among-fans\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/peta-uses-gory-umamusume-pretty-derby-image-to-raise-awareness-about-horse-racing-sparking-outrage-among-fans\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/peta-uses-gory-umamusume-pretty-derby-image-to-raise-awareness-about-horse-racing-sparking-outrage-among-fans\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251210-54787-header.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251210-54787-header.jpg","width":1275,"height":716,"caption":"Silence Suzuka in Umamusume: Pretty Derby"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/peta-uses-gory-umamusume-pretty-derby-image-to-raise-awareness-about-horse-racing-sparking-outrage-among-fans\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u30db\u30fc\u30e0","item":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"PETA uses gory Umamusume: Pretty Derby image to raise awareness about horse racing, sparking outrage among fans\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","name":"AUTOMATON WEST","description":"AUTOMATON is a website that covers the Japanese gaming world. We bring you the news on video games from Osaka and Tokyo.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization","name":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","width":374,"height":190,"caption":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/AUTOMATON_ENG","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCabvYnvuUUbbGUrxkaFRgSA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/fdc6517a00e35b6917ffdb02e8b574d9","name":"Amber V","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","caption":"Amber V"},"description":"Editor-in-Chief since October 2023. She grew up playing Duke Nukem and Wolfenstein with her dad, and is now enamored with obscure Japanese video games and internet culture. Currently devoted to growing Automaton West to the size of its Japanese sister-site, while making sure to keep news concise and developer stories deep and stimulating.","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/amber-vjestica\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54787"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54787\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54792,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54787\/revisions\/54792"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}