@John Vtuber👁️ Asking here since your gacha sperging in the Pippa thread got me intrigued - how hard is it to get into Uma Musume? I've put a lot of time into Blue Archive but I've caught up on basically everything so any real time commitment is usually 12ish hours every 3-4 months. Is Uma Musume comparable? Also, should I bother watching all of the anime thus far or just start with the game?
It's not "hard" at all to get into the series, just try out the game launching in ~9 hours. All of the Uma Musume are based on real horses, the stories are based on real races, plenty of opportunity to pop-in-and-out, or devour every piece of content available, depending on your preferences.
Personally? If you don't want to just give the game a spin for a few days, start with the anime, if you like that, you'll like the game. Season 1 -> Season 2 -> Season 3 -> Cinderella Gray, if you just want the "main" anime series in order of "progression". There's lots of web series, mini series, movie, manga, web comics, and Paka Tube itself, more than enough content to chew through. If you want a singular point to sell you on the series, my recommendation is always going to be Cinderella Gray, which is finishing up its first Cour with Episode 13 - which also gives you the opportunity to follow the series "live", if that's more your speed.
Uma Musume itself is a spreadsheet simulator for horse racing gamblers, where you put your units through various training courses before races, and prepare concerts post-race. Visual Novel story segments, PvP, events, it's not short on content in the least - although it's going to have an accelerated release schedule in Global, until meeting up with Japan however many years down the line. If you want to play casually, absolutely, you can, just go through the main content at your own pace - and you can also *very easily* sink in as much time as you want per day into the game. IRL time management, however, is entirely on you and your priorities!
This is the sort of IP that has more than enough hooks in it to become a hobby for the dedicated, including IRL events and concerts as well (mainly located in Japan, but CyGames has recently started sponsoring the Kentucky Derby with Uma Musume if you're unable to hit Japan). So if you find yourself enjoying it, you'll have a lot to look forward to!
