a stupidly long long long blog on k.s.miracle (umamusume)'s story and why she's special to me

k.s.miracle has probably one of the most heartbreaking stories for umas that are yet to be released in global. after reading her story four times (reviewing her dialogue and reviewing this blog) she became one of my favorite umas, ever. i write this blog to share her story, analyze her and talk about the parts of her that resonate with me deeply.

i should mention that most of this blog will be talking about kei-chan (which i will use to refer to her and to not confuse her with hishi miracle) as a character. keiba (jp horseracing) will not be discussed in great detail but parts of it will be mentioned since they are loosely adapted in her story. this article is really long-winded because there's simply a lot to talk about, and i designed this article with readers who know umamusume but don't know a lot about kei-chan in mind. this is also for people who wish to understand kei-chan better, want to read up on her story again (and reference this article with it side-by-side), or simply wish to hear a new perspective on her story themes.

this covers her major plot points and some minor details that are important setups for conflicts that happen from her story, so if you'd rather read her story in full instead, please read her trainee + career stories on umareader.idsmile.xyz. because of this there are a lot of screenshots of dialogue because i feel i will be missing important context if i didn't add what was necessary. i also chose not to put the dialogue text into alt text and instead implemented them as captions, because it's very easily dismissed on google sites unlike alt text on say, bluesky for example.  there will also be translation notes. i will also have important disclaimers like for page/ event skips. there are many aspects of her character and her backstory that touch on existence and what it means to find your purpose in life. knowing the subject matter, some parts of this article will also get a little tangential and personal.

with all that said, we can finally start talking about kei-chan.

kei-chan is a very determined yet kind-hearted umamusume. she can be rash at times (as evidently through our first interactions with her of hurriedly asking us to scout her), but overall, she's a sweet kid.

being hospitalized all of her childhood, she feels greatly indebted to all the people who have sacrificed their time to help her, and wants to repay them through her running. 

she has incredible running power and speed... but many trainers and staff of tracen academy fear that such explosive power will ultimately cost her life, especially given that her health and body still needs extra attention. to be her personal trainer is a great undertaking, and a horrifying one. her burning determination doesn't help her case either.

in spite of knowing she'll be rejected, that burning determination of hers lets her keep on pushing. she has been waiting to debut... she has applied for many scrimmages to strengthen herself and get a better chance at being scouted. that's the first thing that stuck out to me about her. her unrelenting determination.

seeing the overwhelming kindness and determination from her, we offer to become kei-chan's trainer! we try our best to provide for her, give her nutrients where we can, take breaks as often as possible, but before that... she makes a request:

there are sprinkles of this throughout her career but, remember this conversation, and take note of her behavior for later. it's going to be important talking about her flaws and eventual growth.

we also need to establish the importance of kei-chan and daiichi ruby's rivalry. they're roommates, and race each other a handful of times in kei-chan's career story (as well as irl). ruby comes from a prestigious family of racers that hold even political presence in their sphere. ruby in turn is pressured to perform at her best to make herself befitting of that same prestige, and she takes herself and her condition very seriously. because of this she also has a "tough love" demeanor and seems to act cold at times... but she overall still cares about other people, just not in the most approachable or conventional of ways. her silent confidence in that she can succeed and perform the best she can be worthy of her family title is what makes her, for the lack of a better term, her.

it's implied in text that ruby is romantically interested in kei-chan, though tbf a lot of uma rivals are written like this. for what it's worth, i love keiruby a lot. it's a ship that's inherently compelling knowing that they have rough upbringings. ruby has to live up to the expectations of being the daughter of a prestigious racing family, and kei-chan feels the need to repay the people she loves through her racing...  both kei-chan and ruby also have conditions that impact their racing; kei-chan being born frail and needing a lot of attention, while ruby has asymmetrical/ misshapen legs. they parallel each other and inspire each other.

kei-chan and ruby have important interactions later on in the climax... and they mean to each other a lot. so this all is worth mentioning, i think.

ruby gets a phlegmon and forced herself to take a break for the rest of the classic year. after a convo with her, ruby invites kei-chan to her mansion. she tells her that she watched her debut race in secret (without her other friends knowing). it's here that ruby asks how kei-chan can sprint with all her might, to which she answers that it is her life's purpose to do so. it struck smth in ruby.

ruby, for a moment, laments that kei-chan has a greater resolve than she does. she then vows to kei-chan that she will be the great successor of her family, as they watch the sunset together.. beneath the burning crimson sky. ruby isn't really open about her feelings like this too, it's a rare sight to behold.

after some time, kei-chan gets a medical checkup and her physician reports that she's in great condition! our efforts have paid off, her body is developing really well thanks to the supplementary feeding! she's a light eater, so she's encouraged to have small nutritious meals after training. along with strength and endurance training, kei-chan can start training with no problems. everyone congratulates her.

kei-chan then tends to the hospital children much like every visit she does, while we're treated to morning coffee by her parents. her mother then explained that, kei-chan was the one to bring up that she wanted to race as a child, inspired by the umamusume on the hospital tv. running is definitely something kei-chan has been thinking about for a long time now... her dream. 

it then explains why kei-chan is so rash in her decision making. her determination gets in the way of her rationality.. running is something that she's been working towards her whole life, not only because she's an umamusume but also because it's the only thing she feels like she has going for her. to her the greatest repayment she could give everyone is through her racing, and that's why she got so nervous, asking for us to scout her. this interview and our remarks also speaks volumes about her character.

her insecurity of wanting to give back because she felt she never reciprocated anything greater in return also seeps into her general demeanor; how she feels happier for others than she does herself, and desperately wants results because of that. this isn't even acknowledged as an insecurity until much later.

it's simply hard to ignore the uneasiness we feel throughout kei-chan's career. she indeed has a deep sense of resolve, and is very selfless.. perhaps too self-sacrificing. even when she has countless people loving her and caring for her, she can never feel satisfied with herself.. which is a genuine shame. she can only describe the care and love she receives as plain "kindness". achieving results should not come at the cost of herself and her own health.

after the hakodate sprint stakes, she talks to herself for a bit... my heart broke for her so bad here. this poor girl...

during the classic year summer camp, fellow sprinter and rival yamanin zephyr also noticed that kei-chan is indeed getting tired. it's hard to admit for kei-chan but it ultimately is true. she's wringing herself dry but she's too desperate now to see that. it's clear that from here the tides will turn into something much more gruesome. a storm is indeed coming.

ruby then also comments on kei-chan's weight after summer camp...

...immediately after running the keeneland cup, she requests that we take on the centaur stakes, but because of growing concerns and the emergence of dangerous patterns, we try to stop her... but she relents. for the first time we see this kind, soft-spoken girl fight back, and it feels like a hopeless situation. 

you must wonder what kind of mental weight kei-chan has on her shoulders. to feel so indebted to others the only way she sees herself as worthy is to repay the favor. she can't be told to simply live as she is now, because that is never enough to express her gratitude. it devoids her of purpose. she sees herself as being "spoiled" and can't live with that. she genuinely blames herself for bringing her parents turmoil they never had to live through if she wasn't so frail.

there isn't a lot we can do in this situation. as a trainer your priority is to make sure that your trainee is happy, that they're running the way they choose to & that you have their full support. if you've read or watched any of the other material you will know this is a challenge for all trainers. the first anime touched on this... cinderella gray touched on this... star blossom is going to touch on this too (which i have unfortunately been lightly spoiled on). we too blame ourselves for not having the courage to tell kei-chan to take things slowly, that it takes time to bear the fruit of labor that she wants to see. she rushes through each objective and runs haphazardly on the track, and while that certainly brings us results... it's ultimately going to cost her. and yet we pushed her on because we simply didn't have the foresight nor courage to say "no".

immediately after the centaur stakes kei-chan requests we go straight to the sprinters' stakes. again the progression of these races breaks my heart every time. i'm still unsettled just from reading it, i can't imagine what the global localization will look like when she releases in 2027.

honestly, knowing that these tragedies and stories in the main career storyline are based off of real-life events (with some creative liberties) makes this so much more grim. i know it's probably not as serious as i make it, but knowing the surrounding circumstances you can't help but wonder, no? these stories have to be written, then to be approved by cygames higher-ups, then be approved by the horse owners afterwards (or maybe they don't need to?).. again i'm surprised that a gacha game (franchise) with a diverse female cast can send shivers down my spine and care for characters like this, as i do shrug off most gacha games... they don't have the greatest records out there.

then again umamusume is supposed to be a representation and celebration of japanese horseracing through an alternative history and universe, for better or for worse. it's definitely in the best interest of cygames writers to at least get the essence of the characters right, and i'm grateful for that.

back to the story, we ultimately decide against kei-chan running in the sprinters stakes, abandoning her wishes and betraying her. ughhhh it's such a hard read too because, we didn't even want this to happen, but knowing the circumstances now, it has to.

kei-chan then, snaps back. she knows she's risking her life, but she believes this is the best way for her to go about things. kei-chan strives to be kind, but conflates kindness with self-sacrifice and self-harm. to shield others and put danger her way instead. she understood that this came with its consequences, that bad things were going to happen. placing most of the burden of herself, not fully understanding that it will affect the people closest to her... she feels remorse but she has to keep going, to keep her only dream alive. it's at this point where i believe her selfless ideals ultimately turn into self-serving ones, no matter how righteous she makes herself here. it screams desperation.

she then grasps the application forms, and tries to submit them herself. as her trainer we couldn't possibly let that happen, and we clasp onto her.. but even at our (plural) lowest like this, she still chooses to not hurt us. she could never want to hurt us physically, that simply won't do.

i again should remind you that this is based on the umamusume character alone and not opinions based on the actual stallion. what happened to the irl k.s.miracle is very different, but if you know a lick of keiba you would also know that his last race was indeed at the 1991 sprinters stakes, where he was euthanized. obviously in this story she doesn't end up taking part in the sprinters stakes, and falls unconscious instead. that doesn't make this moment any less heart-wrenching though. she was so fixed on running, but she has reached both her peak, and her limit. this is as much as her body will allow her to.

kei-chan now knows that too.

it's a cool theory because it brings the inner workings of the umamusume universe into question. in a bluesky thread on stay gold (which was so much shorter compared to this) i talk about how only a few umamusume can peek into our universe and how that forms the way they think about the world, but now i'm wondering if the "soul" of an umamusume is innately "connected" to the "souls" of actual racehorses, or if this is a bunch of hokey that i'm going on about. ...shouldn't it also be really frightening for umas to get comas like this too? i get it's a fictional universe but y'know, cygames doesn't just let their characters outright *die*. that's crazy. i wonder if they simply avoid death altogether (ignoring previous ancestors)? actually, now that i think about it.. special week's maternal mother is known to be deceased. maybe i was wrong on that point. they wouldn't let their *main* cast of characters die is what i meant to say.

kei-chan's physician even admits that not much is understood about umamusume, at least on a medical standpoint. but then i also begin to wonder how advanced medical studies have been thanks to the anatomical similarities between humans and umamusume. beyond the obviously baffling animal features and the amplified animal strength, obviously.

...what if they found the cure for cancer? >_>

anyways, enough with the theorizing.

ruby then steps up and asks if what we witnessed happen to kei-chan is true. unnaturally silent, she somehow understood the situation, and knew exactly what to do. she asks the others to leave the hospital, and asks helios, bamboo and zephyr a favor.

kei-chan... still doesn't wake up. they're running out of time.

they have to arrive at ruby's before sunset. by coincidence an accident occurred nearby the hospital and the roads are jammed with car traffic (yes, this genuinely does happen. so cliche. but i can't even begin to care rn). sunset approaches, they need to move.. now!

...helios then proposes that they move kei-chan by handcart and sprints there. unorthodox, but that's helios for you. i love her so much.

helios, bamboo and zephyr then soar into the ever setting sun with us on a simple handcart, and a still unconscious kei-chan. the first time i read this i was genuinely so confused. "wtf is happening? what are we doing? what am i supposed to imagine in my head rn??" but now that i've read this sequence so many times now it is as bonkers as how i imagined it. umamusume has these touching moments yet also never fails to add comedy into the tension for the release to massively pay off, it's like the comedy supplements these tenser moments. particularly they do this very well in the first umamusume anime, the one that came out before the game released in japan.

because of the simple premise of horse girls achieving superhuman feats there is no lack of funny-serious moments like this one. ijbol thinking about it again. maybe i simply don't engage enough with animanga, but this series' stories will never fail to make me feel enthralled, sorrowful, happy, and yet so in awe at the same time. in particular, in such a precarious moment like this one, the trio find themselves running and laughing together moving the handcart. sometimes there's beauty to find in tragedy. even if the "tragedy" here is admittedly, really, really absurd.

also very neat detail: helios being a front runner pulls the cart while zephyr, a pace chaser, and bamboo, a late surger, push the cart from behind. maybe it's because they want to have helios shine here, but again, this is a detail i feel like many people will miss if they don't know each of the trio respectively. it's cute.

they inevitably tucker themselves out, so now it's our turn to carry kei-chan. in contrast to the umamusume, we as a human trainer do our best to carry her, despite the obvious lack in strength and physique. umas and their trainers share very sweet bonds in a myriad of ways, this is one facet of many and i will forever appreciate the importance of teamwork and synergy being emphasized in these stories, and how the trainer is emphasized as half of the union of trainer and trainee to make things work. 

and on a related note: it is a little predictable but i do think cliches like this are very much a tired debate topic but i still think they're important. to shrug off the "power of friendship" as something overdone. it simply reminds us of who we are as human beings and how we're supposed to treat each other. the world today is so deprived of kindness and forgiveness it feels like these basic ideas are points that should be made. to teach people how to love and to care for each other, to build community and find solidarity together.