Famous racehorses that have left behind worthy legacies, unique as they can be, are reincarnated as horse girls in a parallel world. In this life, they start their journey anew as they continue to race and perhaps relive the success they once lived through.
Aspiring to become the best racehorse in Japan, a horse girl named Special Week moves to Tokyo to enroll in the Tracen Academy—an institution that nurtures horse girls like her to become better racers. There, Special Week witnesses the sophisticated running style of Silence Suzuka and is inspired to become a racer like her. Shortly after, Special Week finds herself recruited into Silence Suzuka's team, Spica. From there, she begins her path to the top—one lap at a time.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Comentários
Karhu
Sometimes I just really fucking love Japan. This time is that time. Welcome to Uma Musume, show about horse-girls. Ever since the masterpiece of sports anime, Keijo, ended, I have been eagerly waiting for another series that treasures the beauty of sportic anime ladies. This time they have animals ears, tails and are so goddamn happy all the time. It's great. The characters are the selling point of this anime. Special Week (yes, that's an actual name of the main character) is super positive and energetic. It's almost as if there is no reining day in her life.(heh, pun). Unless someone sexually abuses her legs. Makesure to never go behind a horse girl or she might just kick you!
Silence Suzuka on the other hand is perfectly sportic. She was born to run. Whenever she trots away I find myself sitting on the edge of my saddle in awe. Amazing. This is what Sports series should be like. Forget that seasonal 'Megalo Box' and see what true sportsmanship is all about.
These girls have a dream to be the fastest horse-girls in the universe (by universe I mean within this anime because this type of shit doesn't exist anywhere else). How do they achieve this then? By going to horse-girl school and eating food like a.... well like a horse, but also with the power of friendship (the polar opposite type of friendship than you see in my little pony, I swear). Pretty neat.
Some say these characters should have been centaurs. Pfff. Centaurs are the worst mythical creatures ever invented. Why? Because they have 2 backs, but can't lie on either. Must be worse than hell. The best choice was clearly to make them human-horse hybrids.
The animation is great, everyone looks sexy and the sounds match the series like tail matches a pony. Just truly a stable production (heh pun v.2.0).
This series obviously won't work when watched seriously. The best way to enjoy this is to take all the silliness in it with open pastures. Gallop to your closest Crunhyroll and give it ago because this type of greatness should be witnessed by all.
BlondeFox
Even though I enjoy the game and franchise as a whole, the first season isn't particularly compelling. Some of the aspects of their world that are normal but to us are horsey are fun, but underutilized. The sound was frequently mixed weird with glitches and bad balancing. The art felt manufactured and soul-less which unfortunately made it visually unappealing and didn't play into the fun designs the horse girls have. As a sports anime, it missed that sparkle that good sports anime have. The outcomes were pretty predictable and I never felt the stakes. The idol aspect of winning the races feels like a weird afterthought innearly every case.
Agent_Redacted
The first thing that comes into my mind when I hear the word "horse girls" are those forbidden videos that you probably encountered at some point when you were watching porn. That's right. I'm talking about those ones. Just the idea of thinking about it makes me want to puke. Those videos changed my perspective of horses in a heartbeat. I found this anime yesterday when one of my friend added it into his/her's PTW list. The thumbnail of the anime looked enticing so I decided to click on it and it brought me to the information page. I first thought that this show wasa show with fox girls. However, I was wrong. This show was a show with horse girls. Horse. Girls. That first word.. It makes me want to puke. The past experiences I've had with horses in Pornhub and XVIDEOS.. They're terrible. They're terrible! But I decided to start this anime anyways because they looked like a fox.
The story of Uma Musume is pretty simple. Horse girls racing. They win. They lose. Repeat. That's the plot of the story. We're simply just seeing cute horse girls racing each other. However, the simplicity is the gem of this show. It's not too edgy. There's nearly. Actually. No fan service at all. It's just pure entertainment and joy. This show is the ideal show for whoever's bored and doesn't really know which know they should watch.
P.A. Works' art and quality still stands tall and strong. Powering the enjoyment of the show to the utmost. Though I have a small hope that it could've been better if they made the effects when running better. P.A. Works never fail with their art style and quality. Maintaining their status as one of the best anime producers out there. I approve!
There's really nothing much for me to say about the sounds except from the fitting background musics that perfectly fits the scenarios. They're really good. I even cried. More than once. Not lying. Aside from the background musics. Everything else is pretty much already perfect and balanced so I have no negative comments.
This also applies to the characters. They are likable and I especially like Silence Suzuka because she looks "the most" like a fox. Aside from my preference. The character developments are awesome and realistic. Losing is the key to success, and through hardwork, one becomes stronger. This anime also changed my perspective on horses. The memories of those terrible experiences had been completely cleansed by the pure kawaii horse girls of this anime. Ah, I have been enlightened.
I really enjoyed this anime. It was relaxing to watch. Well. To a certain extent and it also calmed down my depressing emotions from a previous anime I've watched in which gave me depression. I am all happy again thanks to this anime!
Anime really is amazing. Anything can become possible so long as it's anime. Cliche! But that's the point, isn't it? Heh. Anyways. If you want to see something that is relaxing and intense at times and is guaranteed that it won't give you depression. If you want to see kawaii girls running. If you want a little motivation. Then this anime is exactly just for you.
Pipe
Each season PA Works delivers an enjoyable series, this time Uma Musume: Pretty Derby. The anime deepen values such us the need to improve no matter the adversity and the friendship. It is great seeing they did not resort to the fanservice or the boring and the repetitive plot ideas of the average sports series. The simple story carries a diverse set of characters and exploits their various personalities. Furthermore, the idea of moving forward keep us the viewer entertain until the end of the series. The main story is about horse-girls and their struggle to be the best. They suffer, cry, smile, joke, they arerivals, and are good friends. The story follows Special Week and her dream. In the beginning, we can feel her character a bit generic. As the story progresses, her role increases the complexity showing her emotions and fitting the story development. Special Week is the center of the story. However, the other horse girls aren’t left behind, and all the characters advance with the story and develop their personalities. For example, Silence Suzuka, her reasons for competing, and her values. The story pacing is excellent. For a sports anime, they do not prolong the tracks in an annoying loop. The direction focuses on both aspects, the sport and the slice of life of this horse girls. It is pleasing how these girls keep fighting to improve and to be the best but in a very healthy way and not the annoying, pedant rivalry from other series.
On the other hand, the horse-girls names came from real horses. Perhaps, some of the details in the story are from real events, but those do not spoil the plot. Furthermore, the story has comical events executed are a perfect time and are used to boost the interest in the characters. The anime tried to mix the horse-girl idea with the idols. I am not entirely sure if they succeeded, but the idea is not intrusive with the whole story and adds some dynamism at the end of each race.
Another remarkable aspect from this series are the characters. For me, they are the most enjoyable part of the story. They do not need the fanservice or the idolizing theme to gather the viewer's attention. The plot helped the characters to evolve and to show their values, rivalry with some comical events each episode.
Finally, I consider Uma Pretty Derby an acceptable series that could bring some entertainment that some viewers will find enjoyable and funny. You should give this series a try and maybe support the video game in the nearby future when released.
Lyree
Uma Musume tells a story of horse girl idols, attending horse girls' school, participating in races and giving concerts afterwards. Just how abstract does this concept sound? As weird as it might seem, Uma Musume is an outstanding show that exceeded my expectations. Let's start with characters, which to me play the most important role in this case. All the horse girls are based on real race horses and their designs are all connected to their real life equivalents. I love the character designs - they are all so detailed and the connection to the actual horses makes them even more interesting. All girls are unique,both physically and in terms of personality. And I love them all. With a cast this broad, it's amazing that all characters stand out in one way or another, and I think everyone watching this show will find a horse girl they'll love. Honestly though, at first it was hard for me to choose a favourite. But among all the lovely ladies, I think it's the elegant Suzuka that I love the most.
It's also worth noting that the characters have the names of the actual horses, and these can be a bit quirky, yet - in my opinion - really cool.
Now onto the races. They are also based on the races that actually took place, and their outcomes are also inspired by how it was in real life - now this is a unique kind of fanservice! My advice is to read a bit about the horses and their stories. You might spoil yourself a bit, but it makes watching this anime all the more interesting, since you know what is about to happen. And it increases the emotional impact. Not everything goes like it was in real world, though - and I'm especially happy about one thing that got changed. So happy that it made me burst into tears.
The races are exciting and well done, I enjoyed watching them, and the fact that I actually care about the characters made watching them race even more enjoyable for me, since I was cheering for my favourites.
Aside from racing, we see how the characters train, get stronger mentally and physically, develop friendships, face their fears and make their dreams come true. And as much as I get bored of regular slice of life, I enjoyed such kind of scenes in this anime. The comedy scenes are actually funny, there are some unique gags in Uma Musume which get repeated throughout the series but don't get old or unfunny. Uma Musume made me laugh many times. About as many times as it made me cry. I didn't expect a show about horse girl idols to make me this emotional, but Uma Musume did have an impact on me. It was funny, it was sad, and it was heartwarming.
As I said before, our horse girls shine not only on the track, but on the stage as well! The songs are nice and catchy. And if you like them, I recommend checking more of the characters' songs, not only these that were included in the anime. Still my personal favourite is Silent Star, which we get to hear at the end of one of the episodes.
Uma Musume both sounds and looks good. As I said, I love the detailed and diverse character designs, and the artstyle and animation are of good quality too.
To wrap it up, Uma Musume turned out to be a great surprise for me and I enjoyed it in every aspect. I highly recommend it, no matter if it's the slice of life, the races, the horse girls or the comedy that you're looking for. I hope you will love my horse girls as well!
Haru_Kobuchizawa
Uma Musume 10/10 Did you say horse girls? YEAAAAAAAH ... this is what we have. This wonder became one of the most exciting animes of the April 2018 season, when I watched it, due to its very well run races having all the excitement of the audience and remarkable moments that surprise. With each race we are in expectation of what could happen, if there would be an accident or who would win, nothing in them is predictable. Despite the rivalries between the teams the girls are super friends and together they are motivated in order to continue their careers. When I saw that P.A.Works was goingto adapt the anime, I was excited. The character design is captivating and the color palette quite excellent. The dynamics of the storyline are consistent thanks to the races. The anime is clearly aimed at those who want to watch a more traveled and comedic storyline with lots of waifus for all sides! at the time I was anxious because there were rumors that the game would finally come to life. But that would only happen after a few episodes of Season 2, in 2021 ... and that will be for the Reviewn of Season 2. Well ... finally, I highly recommend this wonder. You can watch without mercy hahahahahaha.
ADelicateOrange
There are some anime that should not be as good as they were: Uma Musume is a golden example of that instance. Uma Musume is an anime derived from a mobile game about Horse Girls racing. If you happen to beat your opponents, you get to set up and start fulfilling your dream of becoming an idol. If someone were to tell me that premise, half of me would think that it would sell extremely well and the other half would believe that person is out of their mind. Yet, this anime works so well. The foundation of this anime is in its great storytelling abouta girl by the name of Special Week going from, essentially, inferiority to idealism. The story is by no means original, but that doesn't matter when it is executed as well as it is. There is plenty of foreshadowed plot points that are complemented by quick resolutions, which keeps the pacing of this series upbeat. The storytelling of this anime is very textbook, and I think its through that rigidity that viewers get offered a substantive story, instead of an anime studio taking the low-ground with CGDCT fluff.
The art design and sound of Uma Musume doesn't really give much to be desired. The biggest problem that I can see people having is that the CGI racing girls don't really blend well into the colored backgrounds. Having that drastic switch between digital art into CGI is not really a harsh criticism, but it can be a little jarring to see clean digitial art movement that gets quickly shifted into CGI. I think that could have been cleaned up a bit more.
However, I don't think anyone can talk about this series without talking about how cute the girls are and how their outfits are fantastic to look at. I sincerely hope the costume designers had fun creating those outfits. The racing outfits were all the same, but when it came to individual stuff, I think it was really good looking.
Uma Musume is one of those once in a few years anime that was made to break expectations. It is by no means the best anime of its season. However, to call it less than a top 10 anime for that year, I think would be a great disservice to how well executed it was. Please give this series a watch. I don't think you'll regret it.
lightning_larz
I saw this anime back in spring, but didn't have anything to watch it on. Once i found it on VRV i remembered that i wanted to watch this so i gave it a watch and holy crap i freaking love this anime. Everything about it is very lovably. First the Story. The story follows Special Week, a horse girl wanting to be the best horse girl racer in Japan. Along the way she meets other horse girls like Silence Suzuki who Special Week looks up to and following Team Spica as they all race towards there goals. The story was very nice and easy tofollow. It also motivates you to want to do something like them. Weather that be running or just working on something you really want to.
Next the art. The art style of this anime is very unique and colorful. This anime could of had blan colors, but it chose colors that would pop to the viewer and want to keep an eye on because with most anime today having the same art style it is very nice to see this anime not follow the norm and create visually stunning scenes for the entire anime.
Next the sound. The sound was spot on with every movement either the characters made or what the area around them does. What i really liked was when any of the girls were running or multiply were running at a time it made it sound like an actually horse was running, but then remembering it was horse girl running made it even more enjoyable because they paid attention to details and made sure everything was correct.
Next the characters. The characters for any anime are the make or break for a series. For this anime every single characters was lovably and enjoyable to watch. Even the background characters had some personality to them which i dont see in anime that much. For this show to give a personality to all the characters you see on screen is a warm welcome for me.
Finally the enjoyment of the anime. I loved this anime all the way from the beginning to the end. This is one of those shows where you say i want a second season so badly. I laughed when scenes were actually funny, i was worried and excited for the characters during there races, the encouragement each of the characters give each other is very sweet and makes me feel like one of them sometimes. Overall the enjoyment for this anime is through the roof. I will say that this anime is suppose to be taken in a fun way. You want to have fun with it and go in trying to find something sad.
Overall this is one of the best anime i have watched in some time. If this got a second season i would be all over it just because of how much i enjoyed it. Hopefully i get to see more of them because it was so much fun watching this and always having a smile to my face.
piekku
I first started watching it as a joke, but fuck, I think I fell in love with this anime. I never expected for an anime about a group of cute girls who sing and dance and do sports to be this good?? Not to mention it's just a promotional anime for a mobile game. First of all, it's such a bizarre concept but it just works. They go all the way with its weirdness and embrace it. The amount of references and easter eggs related to real life racehorses is incredible and just shows how much dedicated and truly passionate the team behind this project is. Theanimation is vibrant and fun, each character manages to have a unique and interesting design, and that's incredible considering there are like 60 horse girl characters in total.
Another aspect I like about it is that it isn't a fanservice anime at all, like what I first thought it would be. It's very lighthearted, and at its very core it's just a well portrayed sport anime with themes of friendship and accomplishing goals. I was worried about the whole idol part but it doesn't feel annoying at all, it's barely used in the anime and I believe the whole reason it's tacked on to begin with is just because it's gonna be a part of the game. If you're expecting Love Live but with horse girls then you're gonna be disappointed.
Anyway,the experience of watching this is just pure joy and I loved every second
PyraXadon
Progressive Animation Works. P.A. Works. Over the years I've come to anticipate and fear the kinds of projects they bring to light, seeing both the potential and missed potential of their primarily original works. So, what's their follow-up to Sakura Quest? A series that for all intents and purposes was a return to form for the company's standard style of storytelling? Why it's a mobile game adaptation of course! I'll be honest, was not expecting that one. Story: Uma Musume: Pretty Derby takes place in a world where special girls are birthed as horse girls, girls who are capable of running at incredible speeds and largely participatein the sport of 'horse girl racing' and go to specialized schools for the sport. Here, we follow the story of 'Special Week', a horse girl from the sticks who dreams of becoming the number one horse girl in Japan, and her fellow members of Team Spica as they train, race, and run their way to victory.
A typical road to success story, Uma Musume is primarily a box standard example of the story trope, detailing primarily its main protagonist and her journey alongside the rivals and friends that she makes along the way. The story isn't really much to write home about as you could probably discern what goes on from episode to episode in terms of results to chronicle the character's journey, but does do its job well enough to create a plot that being based on a mobile game of all things, is actually commendable.
But despite that, there are a few issues that bog down an otherwise decently-crafted road to success story. The first and main of which is pacing. Uma Musume has HORRENDOUS pacing, to the point that each successive episode feels less and less impactful because every episode has various horse girls do race after race after race after race after race. There's little to no emotional investment put into each race as typical sports tournament arcs have, as regardless if Special Week or any other relevant character loses or wins the last one, very little (or usually hardly enough) time is spent on the fallout of each race before we're thrown into the next one. With an average of two races per episode, it's easy to see how this becomes an overwhelming problem. Time issues doesn't stop there, as the show consistently uses jumpskips or some variant of time fast forwarding in order to get to the next race or plot point, making it so that nothing really sinks in, which is primarily where emotional attachment for characters forms.
Another problem is the content. The show focuses on three aspects: cute high school girls (who are also horses, so we also get the kemonomimi crowd), idols, and horse racing. While the show gives us heaps of racing and a fair chunk of the high school stuff (even though all they do is basically gym), anything idol related is almost none in the grand scheme of the show despite being one of the core aspects of the mobile game that make up the series' identity, as it acts as each race's ' post-game show' with the top three girls in a race singing a song.
All in all, Uma Musume: Pretty Derby is a show that despite focusing on Special Week's journey to become the best horse girl in Japan, is bogged down by rushed pacing that devalues each race and character moment in the show that muddles the show's attempts at an honest, cohesive story, which is honestly a shame considering at first glance I had almost no hope for this show when I first saw that P.A. Works was responsible for it.
Overview:
+ Half-decent main narrative
- Horrible pacing
- Pacing brings down the story's quality as a whole
- Idol aspect feels underwhelming
Characters:
Being characters from a mobile game, specifically a gacha 'waifu collection' game, much of the cast of Uma Musume focuses on quantity over quality, ultimately creating a largely one-dimensional cast where each girl fulfills a 'niche' without stepping over their own character boundaries.
But of course, we still have a protagonist, and that protagonist is 'Special Week', or 'Spe' by everyone else in the series. Named after an actual racing horse of the same name, Spe doesn't really have any defining traits about her aside from being the cheerful dreamer that's kinda ditzy and cute for the majority of her screentime. She is ultimately defined by her desire to fulfill her dream, but finding anything beyond that single characteristic is difficult since the show mostly shows racing or training montages for races, so time devoted to explore more of her personality are basically zero to none.
Then there's Silence Suzuka, a girl who is also named after a real racing horse, who serves the part as Spe's role model and best friend to give the series a 'close rivalry' to fuel Spe's desire to do better. Largely a more kuudere and relaxed version of Spe, Suzuka largely plays the same role as her protagonist counterpart, with the only difference being her demeanor towards the world around her, having more reserved character traits be the defining way she reacts and responds to everything around her. She does get her own episodes to help explore her character, but those parts as with the nature of a show with massive rushing don't get enough time to fully sink in the necessary impact.
The rest of the cast features at least two dozen separate horse girls, each about as important and difficult to remember as the last since the show just loves throwing every possible combination of waifu bait at the audience in hopes that one of the more than eighteen 'main' girls in the series gets your attention. They're all also named after real racing horses, so there is an explanation for their weird names. But that doesn't mean that the show will introduce them at an even pace, as more than likely, half of the existing horse girl cast will be thrown in randomly in one scene, leading one to ask 'Who?' when a new girl with a convenient name-tag on the side of the screen shows up. Aside from them, the actual human characters don't have much to them, and more than likely represent the 'player' character in the mobile game, since Team Spica's trainer for one doesn't actually have a name, and is referred to as 'Trainer' by the girls for the entirety of the series.
Overview:
+ Waifu bait (Because I know someone will)
- One note cast
Art:
Produced by P.A. Works, Uma Musume sits squarely in the middle for the company's usual track record of animation quality, which I find very strange considering how a mobile game adaptation has better art than some of the company's better works. Regardless, the art for Uma Musume is very much the typical P.A. Works's 'marble' design, having a nice glossy and rich color palette that is honestly way better than what I expected for the series.
But really where the art for the show truly shines is in its races, for multiple reasons, both good and bad. For starters, this is pretty much where all the animation budget is funneled into. Each race, and there are many, uses a lot of repeated frames that when put together into one racing scene actually visually makes them appealing to watch, when up close. From far away, it's very easy to see that the show utilizes CGI in order to cut costs for far away models. It makes sense from a production standpoint, but it's so obvious from the angles they use them in that it bothers me personally as a viewer.
Overview:
+ Above standard art quality
- Use of CGI is not very well hidden and quite obvious
Sound:
Now given how this show is also considered as an idol show, both the OP and ED are sung by the seiyuus for the members of Team Spica, resulting in a pair of idol-based tracks that to me sound too generic for me to really bother analyzing them. Sure they're alright, but nothing too standout as far as I'm aware.
Personal Enjoyment:
The never-ending journey to watch every P.A. Works show that releases is a weird one to say the least. I've been pulled from watching two idiots lusting after their music teacher while solving convoluted mysteries, to a melodrama involving people from the sea, to a mech show between aliens and people from feudal Japan. So really, I guess it was only a matter of time before they did a waifu racing series featuring horse girls named after and having the records of actual race horses from Japan.
The show is definitely not my favorite project from the company, but it is far from the worst. It's a harmless show that despite having a major flaw that ultimately drags everything else with it, has a consistency about it that makes it at least enjoyable to watch. It's definitely not for those who aren't fans of horses, racing, sports, moe, or idols, but does serve something for those niches and does it well enough to elicit some form of enjoyment.
For me though, I found the show to be average, but harmless. If nothing else, it's another step towards my never-ending crusade to watch every P.A. Works show ever made, and definitely not one of the more offensive ones towards my viewing experience. So really, it could be worse, and that by itself is a compliment considering Glasslip's existence and infamy.
JiangHaoyi1979
A fiery horse (girl) with the speed of light, a cloud of dust and a hearty HIYO SILVER!!!!Now that this anime has been competed , I can say for sure that it was good, since it isn't always that the cast who portrays around here were a bunch of horse girls, who were competing to be on top in some overly rated track and field, now that polt maybe the usual main character who enters such competition to make it to the top, It now alway something new was added in what can be say as the usual girls with cat ears, dog ears andthe most common rabbit ears and now we have horse ears with matching horse tail. On the Character category, so ok them horse girl were name after famous real life racehorses in Japan, but let's not focus on that, rather let's focus on them horse girls' relationship were we can't deny that there was this shoujo-ai involve but was hidden in some way like the relationship of Special Week and Silence Suzuka in a form that SpeChan want to race her, Gold Ship and Mejor McQueen in a form of GolShi's Bullying on McQueen that often backfires Scarlet Daiwa and Tokai Teo whose relationship can be compared to that of two bitches duking out and liking it as well well, either way it was funny and touching as well especially when we talk about the background on them as real horse in real life were it pretty much match up if you'll look on the details of those real horses . Now on the Art category of this anime there was the usual knee high socks and every horse girls were sporting it, so cosplayer will have something to go for it but when it comes to them horse girls racing attire, I sure them cosplayers would have a lot to choose from . When it come to this anime's enjoyable it was quite intense on the last episode when we see all them racing for the Japan Cup only to not know who won since studio P.A Works is saving this for the game that Cygames wants to produce via Android or IOS...so my verdict:
Story-Good 7: Since we get to see something usual but diffrent when we talk about something that was related to the real horses of Japan.
Art-Fair 6: I'm sure them cosplayers are gonna have a heck of a time when choosing an outfit of them horse girls in thier racing outfit, plus the knee high socks were all over the place. Btw no panty, no bikini services around here and none of that big bouncing melons around...too bad no joystick playing around.
Sound-Fair 6: Nice opening theme and the song in the last ep. and that's that.
Enjoyment- Very Good 8: feels like you're in areal race.
Overall- Very Good 8: I need not say more.
Yas-
Back when the Spring season originally started, Uma Musume was memed in the anime club I'm at as being “just another beast show” and one that would fizzle out of popularity and quality very soon, I tried the first episode anyway expecting a train wreck, what did I get in return? One of the most fun shows I've ever seen. Period. There's a lot of reasons as to why this show is just so fantastic and I have noted down most of them in this review of a show that defied all odds, all expectations and gave us one hell of an epic anime. First off,one thing the show was excellent in doing was the way it accurately portrayed the original history behind the horse girls. To those of you who are unfamiliar, the names of the horses aren't made up, these are real life Japanese horses who raced in the '90s and have been anime-ified as being horse girls while maintaining a 95% historical accuracy rate. Why 95%? It's because one of the horses had a dark backstory which was toned down in the anime, although you'll see it, it won't be as dark as the harsh reality was which is pretty much understandable because Uma Musume isn't such a show in the first place. Nevertheless, apart from that, from start to finish, Uma Musume maintained a healthy accuracy rate (in fact, it's 100% in terms of who won and lost the race) throughout its entire run. Pun intended.
Despite its accuracy, most of the people who watched the show may obviously not have knowledge of the original Japanese horses and their races, so this helps to bring suspense to the table, but this is not all. Uma Musume knows a lot of things, and it knows damn well how to control the element of surprise as well as the suspense it brings with it. What am I talking about? You can never predict who'll win in the race, not even when the race is going on. You might think this is easy but if you look at most sports anime they don't have as much suspense or any suspense at all because they always show the main characters as Shounen as possible who will work hard and defeat the opponents no matter how difficult they are to beat.
What Uma Musume makes us realise (that most other sports anime don't) is that hard work and teamwork alone won't give you the win you think you deserved. It shows us the harsh life lesson that hard work doesn't always get rewarded and you won't always win, and this is shown by making the protagonists lose at times. “Is that all? There are a few anime that show the team of character lose” you might say. As with most things in life, losing isn't the end of the story. It's what comes after that. The lessons you learn from it, Uma Musume knows and shows just that, such as by characters coping with their loss, starting to work even harder, not be too overconfident and take proper measures and be grounded. Beware, if you expect this anime to be all wins and celebrations 24/7 you're in for a surprise. This seemingly kiddish show (I really feel sorry for those who think that) has a lot of lessons to teach, like friendship. In particular we got to see the friendship of Special Week and Silence Suzuka build up. At first Suzuka was admired by the rookie Special Week but after becoming roommates it all changed. For the better. Making new friends, interacting with your friends, having fun, this is all the joy of friendship and we saw all of this excellently shown by Progressive Animation Works (or P.A works to you acronym fans).
On the other side of the spectrum friendship also brings with itself, rivalry. And this was also evident although not as much. We saw Special Week and Silence Suzuka cheer each other on along with challenge each other from time to time. This is very important to show since most friendships have these (to those of you without friends, please find some and discover the joy of friendship and rivalry) and this ends up as yet another plus point for the show, rivalry isn't always hating each other, it can also mean friends battling each other for who comes out on top and having a nice laugh about it later. That's friendship. That's rivalry. No. That's friendly rivalry. Or wait. That is the true spirit of friendship itself isn't it? Apart from having someone to challenge we also have the hardships. What happened to one of the two was horrifying and though it wasn't as dark as the reality was it still left a crushing impact on most of the viewers and many were devastated (or at least the characters in the anime were). That's where the hardship struck. The friend rushed in tears to save her best friend and neither could function properly since they were so worried about each other. This is what hardships in friendship can be sometimes. And we should support our nakama and try our hardest to overcome the obstacles that lie ahead.
Coming back to the previous point of suspense, we got suspense because we saw our favourite characters lose. When we see someone not maintain a 100% win rate, we start to get tense when we see their next race because there's a possibility that they might lose, and this is evident in every real life sport (and a few anime). No team will lose forever, no one will win forever, both will happen to everyone albeit in different ratios. And another important thing is that victory isn't always achieved with working alone, or to be more accurate, it mostly doesn't work. Victory is gained through teamwork, and no, not the Shounen type. Teamwork is helping your friends do better, share your ideas, cheer each other on, encourage friendly rivalries. These are all what makes us achieve victory, and although we can't always win we still learn important lessons and realise that we had fun working with our friends. And this spirit is what people should follow.
Uma Musume didn't show us everyone working alone, despite being an anime about racing, a primarily single-person sport, it showed us how all the girls helped each other gain the edge and have fun racing. This is what Special Week embodies, this is what sports should embody. Sports is fun and when it stops being fun, you quickly drop out and this is what was evident with Silence Suzuka. She couldn't find racing fun and Special Week taught how to have fun while racing.
On the topic of racing we cover the artstyle as well. P.A Works knocked the ball out of the park with this one (been a long time since I made a sports pun). The bright colourful palette cheered me up and the animation during the races was much like the rest of the plot, serious yet cheerful. Uma Musume might show it's characters being playful and lazy at times as with every sports person outside the field but when you step into the field finally, it's a battle. And P.A Works knew it, which is why the races themselves are taken very seriously. You don't see hilarious stuff happening while the race is going on. You see the characters fixated on that finish line and have to keep moving forward, which is pretty reminiscent of P.A Works’ name itself, to move forward. Think of it like a two sided dish. One has the playful nature of friends meeting each other and messing about and the second, which has everyone become serious because of the situation and obstacles ahead. If it wasn't obvious, the artstyle even while they're racing takes a serious yet excellently designed turn.
And speaking of the races themselves, I've never enjoyed watching a race where people run. Car races and the like are fun but P.A Works made running enjoyable, which is also a huge plus point to the show. Despite it's unique aspect and nature of the show (horse girls based on real horses racing), Uma Musume does a fine job of making it's premise easy to understand, heck it's TOO easy to understand. Just run as fast as you can while making sure you don't waste stamina. Train too hard and you lose, train too less and you're unprepared. Finding the balance is what's necessary. And this concept may feel simple because it is simple, it's surprising how many anime haven't done this as easily. To cover another good point and to make another pun about the anime’s plus points, we have the pacing (:P). Surprisingly, it's not fast paced. The pacing is done such that it's easy to understand what's happening without having to go back and on the other hand it doesn't drag on. We saw a race in most episodes and it was a breeze to smooth over them without issues.
A large cast left me concerned since I thought not everyone would get development and unfortunately this was what I found as a problem in the anime. The show was too focused on Special Week and Silence Suzuka to focus on even the other Spica horses, let alone Rigil. I felt we could have seen much more if this show was a 24 episode series since that could mean we'd see development for them as well. Another problem I felt was that at times Uma Musume felt repetitive. This was in the earlier stages of the anime, namely it's first 4 episodes before it went with one proper varied formula and stuck to it. As a final point, yet another positive one, the show had a fantastic soundtrack. Apart from the catchy OP and ED, the BGM (or background music to those who don't know) hyped me up and oh the music that played when the races were on, especially the way the tone of the music went even higher in the last corner of the race. It left chills on my spine. Never been so hyped for such a show before.
So overall, Uma Musume is a show that started off a bit slow, but it later (after the third episode in fact) steps up and excellently continues it's run to the finish. It teaches us lessons about friendship, hardship, rivalry, loss, teamwork and whatnot, and still manages to hype over it's viewers with it's brilliantly done racing segments and soundtrack. If a bright cheery anime with important life lessons is your type of anime to watch, then Uma Musume will be sure to leave you satisfied and wanting for more. Although the anime was mainly for marketing and engaging interest for the Uma Musume mobile game, the Anime’s quality itself far surpasses what people would expect, all thanks to P.A Works.
The Spring season had a lot of interesting anime but only two came out on top for me. Hinamatsuri and Uma Musume. If this review gauged your interest in trying out the anime, please do so, for you are in for one heck of an awesome show at the Starting Gate!
P.S: Without spoilers, that last episode has got to be one of the most legendary ones I've ever seen. Why? It's one hell of a FANTASTIC send-off to a lovable series. It embodied everything that made the show great from it's previous episodes. The final race and the end credits made it feel like I was watching a big budget anime movie, and that's exactly how the artstyle was, but it was EVEN MORE EPIC in the last episode. Uma Musume is definitely a show I'll miss a lot.
Nexis09
This show is what I can only describe as a pleasant surprise. The premise sounds really weird but I encourage you not to be put off by the fact that they are horses, especially when characters like cat girls are common place now in a lot of modern anime. Story: The plot is simple, it follows a bubbly young protagonist called Special Week on her quest to become the best horse girl she can be. Its pretty straight forward but there's some twists thrown in there to keep you watching. History: Believe it or not Special Week is actual a real horse and the show does a great jobat recreating their races into a sports anime. If you are fan of the real life races, you will surely be appreciated of the level of detail they put into making the environments match real life. To further this point, even background characters have unique designs based off their real life horses and they also follow the story lines of their real life counterparts. This really shows that the people who made this show have a passion for horse racing.
Characters:
I don't think I disliked a single character here. All of them were uniquely designed (especially their outfits which are amazing) and had their own traits, even if most of them didn't go through much development, they were still fun to watch and had funny interactions.
Additionally, I especially liked the main character. At first, she seems like the basically go lucky young teenage girl protagonist but as the show goes on you start to realize she has her own problems that she's hiding away. I also loved her relationship with the other lead Suzuka, the interactions between them were so nice to watch and they had lots of chemistry together.
My only complaint would be that since it's based off a gacha game, a lot of characters are introduced at once and it can be a bit of an overload at the start.
Sound
I love the music in this show. The opening and ending especially I keep going back to listen to, it's so catchy. Background music also always felt like it fitted.
Sports:
I've never been a fan of sports anime but the races in this show managed to not bore me due to their fast pace. I really thought the outcomes would be predictable but unless you have knowledge beforehand, its really hard to know who the victor will be and at some points I genuinely had no idea how the episode would end.
Fan service:
If you are looking for this, this is not the show for you.
Conclusion:
While this might not be the most profound thing you will ever watch I highly recommend giving it a try. You are likely to love at least one of the characters in this colorful cast and you can enjoy the mostly wholesome, sometimes somber atmosphere.
Skysweeper
This animation is part of a larger project from Cygames which also includes comics, upcoming mobile game and of course merchandise. Knowing that, one could think of this anime as a longer advertisement for the game and not expect much. That's what I thought at first, but it turned out to be a really enjoyable show. In japanese animation, there are lots of combinations of female characters with animal traits. Wolf girls, monster girls and probably most popular cat girls. Uma Musume Pretty Derby is a show about horse girls. But not just random girls with horse ears and tails. They are named after real-life famousrace horses. The story is also based on actual races. After watching Uma Musume, you may not only be interested in playing the mobile game from Cygames, but also want to know more about horse racing.
Big part of the Uma Musume project is that the characters are also performing on stage like idols. Some people may think that it's trying to appeal to broader audience, but personally I think it's really interesting combination and works rather well in a world of horse girls, where they are already racing idols.
Story 9/10
It could be an advertisement, boring race sequences and the same introductions repeated for different girls in every episode. Instead, what we got is a great show about joy and sorrow, friendship and rivalry, defeat and victory.
Art 9/10
Animation is just great. Races are dynamic and detailed character design really sets apart different girls. There are a few moments of 3D animation but the models and movements are really similar to 2D, which is nice.
Sound 9/10
We can hear only a couple of original songs from the game. In the future Cygames will probably release more. Sound effects during racing sequences work nicely and sound similar to actual horses running.
Character 9/10
Every horse girl has unique traits. They have their own uniquely designed outfit for races. During the 13 episodes we can also witness development for main characters.
Enjoyment 9/10
Some cliches are inevitable, horse girls may not sound promising to everyone, but I highly recommend watching Uma Musume Pretty Derby if you are looking for something light to watch. My score may be a bit high, maybe because of lowered expectations, but I have seen much worse shows that did not try to sell me something.
tenchimuyo1990
I would like to start by saying while I gave this a 7, I did not enjoy the series. But the quality and polish is without question. The story: plot is that a horse-girl, Spe-Chan, wants to be the best horse girl of Japan. The setting is completely wonky with the idea of horse-girls. Are there horse-boys? We don't know. Do horse-girls have professions that arent racing? Not that we see. Why do horse-girls do idol performances after a race? To say thank you to the fans. We don't know a lot but horse girls are the most popular thing of Japan in this world. Whydid I rate this a 7? Because they fucking based the plot off of IRL race horses and races. And they did their homework for this show. They took the actual stories of race horses and put them into girls bodies and made an anime off of it. Even more, this is based off a gotcha mobile game.
S1 follows Special Week and Silence Suzuka. I think they characters relationship is unhealthy and awkward. I think nothing makes sense in this setting, but the characters frustration is really well written.
The art is a stupid well polished aspect of the show. Who the hell puts so much effort in facial expression, backgrounds, dirt flying, ect for a freaking gotcha game anime about horse-girls no less? Apparently those who worked on Uma Musume. While I don't think the art is groundbreaking, it is consistent, well done, outfit designs are unique, and the animation is of superior quality. Even if you hate this anime, there is little to criticize.
Similar to the Art, the sound also cut no corners. While the music isn't my style, every character can sing (season 2 literally has a song with over 32 characters singing). The music is up-beat and catchy. The sound editing and sound effects are also on point. It really does have a very high quality.
Characters: Well, the characters are based on actual horses. And once again, the studio did their homework on the personalities of the horses. I don't love the characters, except for Goldship. Goldship is best horse-girl. But we have a rather large cast of characters that while not fully flushed out, do have the potential. Considering the season is only 13 episodes, we get a lot. Some of you will love every character. I did not like most of them, but I can't help but give credit where it's due.
My enjoyment was rather meh. I watched this because a friend of mine loves it. I did not love it. I didn't even like it. I couldn't get over the hurdle of horse-girls are idol athletes who everyone loves and they may or may not be the equivalent of Rome's gladiators, loved by fans, but also have no other option but to fight. I like sports anime, but this was not what I wanted.
Overall, I think the quality speaks for itself. If you don't enjoy this, it's certainly not an issue of the quality. I can't say this anime is for everyone, but there is something to be admired for the show.
TheScarletCutter
One of the better Gacha adaptations in my opinion is Uma Musume. Technically, it’s not a Gacha adaptation since the anime came first before the game but I supposed the anime is used as a potential buildup for said game. Uma Musume is very interesting for surprisingly a lot of reasons. From the looks of how the series designs its characters; it’s another animal girl show in the modern years. Like, you have girls that have horse parts, mainly the ears and the tail. But don’t be fooled about that part, it has an interesting history where it’s based on real times. With that inour heads, how does the show tackle its ideas? Well, only one way to find out.
The premise behind this series is intriguing. It’s about horse girls who work as both students and idols and race during horse race events, as well as win in order to appear as icons. The school they study in is called Tracen Academy which is located in Tokyo. The main horse girl we’re following here is Special Week. Her goal is to be a top horse girl in order to spread her popularity and promise her mother. Something interesting to note here is that this is based on the history of Japanese horse racing from 1998 to 1999. The horse girls are based on Japanese horses, looking at both their silhouette and their color schemes, and certain of them based on this season’s choices appear as they’re also based on their IRL counterparts’ histories. This is interesting because of how this show presents its own take on horse-racing history. The horse girls are students on certain things they’re assigned to and they’re idols while they’re still based on their IRL horses and therefore, racing each other in order to reach their spotlights. How well does this show tackle these things?
To that, I answer, very well surprisingly. Sure, it’s quirky and comedic but the first season of Uma is both competent and relatively philosophical with its own ideas. Uma Musume shows the tension of racing. The horse girls will try their damn best to keep on getting stronger until the day they enter a competition. There are two different types of racing events. One is normal racing which, while it still results in who will appear on top of the leaderboards, is still a testament to how strong a horse girl can get. The other is grand racing which will serve as something like an assessment of how skilled and competent you are in a race. You need to work hard if you want to appear on top. If you lose, you need to wait for weeks or even months until another grand race will happen. These races are executed well because not only are they fun but they also show both the fighting spirit and knowledge of each horse girl. Not only that but it also wants you to prove how worthy you are at racing. Even if you lose, you can still work harder.
Another aspect that has been done well is the worldbuilding. The direction of this season is consistent. It shows us the buildups of events and what a character will do in there. The touring in Tracen Academy is very endearing, to say the least. We actually see what the academy looks like and how each location serves its purpose. We have the main building, cafeteria, library, training rooms, you name it. While they seem basic from initial looks, we actually see certain character buildups before they perform the big stuff like racing each other, allowing for consistent character writing which we’ll get into later. The years in the school are kind of confusing but then again, every character doesn’t really have a confirmed age (and we’re not counting the ages of IRL horses here) so that’s kind of a whatever. The racing places look sick and I don’t think I would touch on that more since I already tackled the racing aspect. Not just those but we also tour around other places where we see our favorite horse girls do what they like to do in their casual times.
There’s one major flaw to this, however, and that is how this show uses comedy. That isn’t to say that comedy in this series is bad or even run-of-the-mill. The comedy here is actually very good. There are jokes that are handled well. My personal favorite of the bunch is Rudolf cracking up dad puns for a living. It’s just that Uma uses it a little too much for how philosophical its storytelling is. It’s not overwhelming per se but somewhat half of the time, comedy is this show’s secondary tool whenever the story sometimes runs out of ideas. While it doesn’t hold the series back, it’s still a relatively big problem we need to address. Another problem is, surprisingly, the racing. Going back to that aspect, there’s something a little wrong. Again, the racing in this series is handled well. It’s just that there isn’t a lot of strategy to be found. There is almost little involved which is still okay since a lot of the horse girls can have the same type of strategy depending on their individual pros and cons. So while the racing is still engaging and directed nicely, it can be a little repetitive at times.
Also, the idol aspect is a somewhat important addition to the series and sadly, it’s not utilized to its full potential. There are some idol performances and they’re great but for the most part, it’s treated as fanservice. Then again, though, Uma Musume as a whole is about showing the ideals and messages of how complex and enticing racing can be so I guess this aspect doesn’t matter as much.
Let’s talk about characters which might be the weakest aspect of this season but that doesn’t matter since it’s still solid. We’ll start with our main horse girl, Special Week, who’s determined and wishes to appear on top of the leaderboards. Spe is a good protagonist and better written than people would like to admit. She shows how dedicated she is to her journey, she has good chemistry with certain characters, and she’s a great introduction to how competent the series is with its cast. She also does the "protag who knows nothing about the world" trope done right. Just one problem, though. Her obsession with Suzuka is kinda annoying and this is shown in most of the middle portions of the show. Speaking of, Silence Suzuka, Spe’s racing mate, is also a good main character for similar reasons, although she’s a little better written than Spe could ever be.
The side characters are decent. You have Teio, you have Rudolf, you have McQueen, and so on. They fulfill their characteristics well but the best side character here is Gold Ship. In fact, she’s arguably the best part of the show. She’s quirky, she’s wacky, and yet, she’s very dedicated. Even if she’s written as a side character, she’s more developed than any other character in this season because of how much fun this season had with her. Shoutouts to the duo of Vodka and Daiwa too. Those two characters are also very endearing with a very good chemistry with one another.
Now then, what about the animation? The animation for the most part is well done. It’s not groundbreaking but it’s straight to the point with how it conveys the action of racing. The character designs, even for this series’ standards, are criminally overlooked. The aesthetics lean towards a great blend of simplicity, style, and how they fit well with each character. The music is also underrated. Each track nicely matches with each sequence. And who can forget about the voice acting? Most of the voice acting is great, with the best one being Gold Ship’s energy.
And those are my thoughts on Uma Musume season 1. I’m sure there are more aspects I can talk about but I elected to discuss the ones that are the most important. The first season is overlooked. It has more things about its story that aren’t just cute horse girls thingy. It shows the complexity of racing, it has great worldbuilding, and it shows respect for its characters. The only problems are that it can tone down comedy just a bit, it would have opened more variety of how the horse girls race, mainly picking up more strategies, and it could use more on the idol aspect. But alas, the first season is just the tip of the iceberg. We’ll talk about season 2 at another time.
AnimeSpaceBR2
- Finally my review of Uma Musume Pretty Derby, beginning with the story that is simply one of the most different stories I've ever seen in an anime, at least in its theme; the story in general is nothing from another world, it is just different but at the same time it gives a very interesting message about friendship, and, moreover, Uma Musume has an excellent direction that without a doubt is one of the greatest positive aspects of the work; Finally, about the story does not have much to say, it is a different story but at the same time, simple, fun, interesting messagesand of course great to accompany.
- On the technical side, A Pretty Derby Musume is simply the second best anime of the year so far in the technical part, only losing to Violet Evergarden; in short, the technical part of Uma Musume is simply stunning, it's all very colorful and well done, plus a great animation, that's quality P.A Works; there are some moments that come to be unbelievable so good that it is the technical part; now on the soundtrack, it could have been better, but it's still a great soundtrack, especially in some moments that the soundtrack was highlighted by giving more depth in some scenes.
- Now talking about the characters, who are simply captivating and charismatic, especially the main protagonist, seriously, I loved the Special Week, no doubt my favorite character of that year so far, however leaving that aside, in fact the cast of Uma Musume is simply sensational, one more charismatic than the other, besides the excellent development of the protagonists; without doubt the cast of Uma Musume, is one of the greatest positive points of the work.
- Conclusion, A Pretty Derby Musume may even have some minor problems here and there, but its qualities are much greater in my view; the anime features a different but interesting story, plus a dazzling technical part, an excellent cast of characters, and a first-rate direction; no doubt A Pretty Derby Musume is my favorite anime of the spring season 2018, and also my second favorite anime of the year so far, and without a shadow of doubt, I recommend to all this magnificent anime that is A Pretty Musume Derby !! 😍💜😉💛 !!
Yorudan
Uma Musume: Pretty Derby *****May Contain Spoilers**** Run Spe Run! Pretty Derby as it is commonly called is a 2018 Spring anime by P.A. Works, which brought us Angelbeats. In my personal opinion I think this show might be some of it's best work yet. The show gave us something we didn't know we needed, until they brought it to life in this anime. HORSEGIRLS!! Story: Ok, so Pretty Derby is about a world where all the great race horses that have passed away in our world are reincarnated in this new one as horsegirls. Which as essentially just normal girls expect they have tails and ears of ahorse, as well as their speed and endurance. The main story revolves around Tokyo's Tracen Academy, a highschool for horse girls hoping to moving on to fame and fortune as both racers and idols. (The top three winners of each important race have to preform on stage in fancy get ups to sing and dance) That is for those who are not familiar with idol anime.
*Spoiler* The horses in this show are ones that actually did exist in real life, main characters and all. The races are real events that happen in Japan and the ones around the world mentioned in the show. If your curious you can look up all the horses and see what made them special in real life. but that will basically make the show less exciting because they list all the races that each horse has ran. As someone who grew up around horses and race horses in particular I can really appreciate the design and the characteristics that have been Incorporated in characters.
The story centers around Special Week a horse girl from the countryside, who has just transferred to Tracen, and she's determined to fulfill her promise to her mother to become the best horse girl in Japan. On her way to the school for the very first time, she takes a pit stop at the race track and instantly falls in love with Silence Suzuka's style, becoming determined to race on the same team as her.
Winning the races is the main point of the story but the writers did an amazing job of portraying every single race as important in its own way for the characters develop. I was on the edge when Suzuka just went from world record breaking speed to slowly decelerating, limping one leg after the other, barley being able to still keep going. Wow was it immersing. Weather it was Suzuka's loss and hospitalized race, to Special Weeks win at one the G1 races, to El Condor Pasa's vistories in Europe. Each and every race had a meaning and I honestly think that is one of the main reasons why the show is so popular.
Characters:
I thought the idea of incorporating the real life horses into horsegirls was a little strange at first, but it quickly grew on me. Special Week and Silent Suzuka are probably the two who develop the most in the series. They both find a kinship in one another through racing. Not just to win but to inspire others to shoot for the stars, and that anyone can achieve their dreams. I found it be a endearing relationship that built upon each other. Special Week never gave up on a crippled Suzuka. Suzuka never stopped believing that Special Week could become the best horsegirl in Japan.
The rest of the characters while important were unfortunately not touched up in a series manner like the other two. I will say that the fact that this show never took itself too seriously is what makes the show great and a cut above a lot of others. Still it would have been a little nicer to have gotten to know more of the main teams characters like Vodka and Scarlet better then just them comically competing over everything. Then again, that is one of the points that makes the show funny. Yes school work is still important as well as training but whenever everyone is around there friends go out of there way to make themselves laugh and have a good time.
Animation and Sound:
The animation is actually cutting edge in it's own right. I am not an athletic person and when I am in the mood to exercise running is probably my least favorite sport. This show actually puts a very good spin on the race, trying their best to not make it look like NASCAR. That's even with the frilly dresses that logically one could not run that far in. Specifically when Special Week, Suzuka, Pasa, or Air Groove really start running they form air that is not something you see in real when people run but you can see it when horses run. The detail in the movements is extremely lifelike, with Suzuka the best way to hold out her hands when she's running and the way that they "kick" off to make their move to steal first place. This puts the world in a realistic perspective that I'm sure took a lot of hours of watching the Olympics.
The music is geared towards the target audience which I would say is preteen- teen girls. It defiantly isn't bad. The idol aspect is really undermined, but it was kind of ridiculous to begin with. I think they just liked the idea that everyone can look up at the winners dancing and admire them to the point where they will want to push themselves.
In conclusion:
This anime is probably one of the best of 2018. It's funny, its endearing, shit it even makes running look fun (Run at your own risk). As I've stated in my previous comments the show is successful because it does not take itself too seriously. You can sit back and enjoy this show without having to worry oh who's going to die, who is going to cheat on who. It's pretty realistic in nature of the way people interact with one another. Quite possibly the way we wish our friends would treat us in the real world. If you looking for something to entertain yourself and have a good laugh with every episode I would give this anime a try.
Score: 8
BlackCicero
Uma Musume: Pretty Derby is an interesting hybrid sports anime. It's basically track & field under the guise of horse girls. Initially this show was one of the ones that I thought I would drop after an episode or two but luckily that wasn't the case. The Idol aspect of the show that popped up in the first episode didn't take up too much time and also wasn't a main focus for the remainder of the series thankfully. Also there was a race happening almost every episode so I think there was plenty for a sports anime fan like myself to enjoy even if Ididn't particularly care for some other elements of the show.
The story is your standard one that you'd find in some other sports anime, a new character arrives at a new school/town with dreams of being the best. They then compete, find new friends and rivals along their journey. So in that respect, the story is average with the high points coming from the emotions you would feel watching the races and the low points being the slice of life moments between the characters in my opinion.
I think the best aspect about Uma Musume: Pretty Derby is definitely the art. I loved the character designs and always thought that there was a lot of thought that had to have gone into color coordination because while everything is very colorful it never once feels like it was obnoxious. The animation was okay but maybe it wasn't the style I had in mind for when I want to watch track and field.
The soundtrack was pleasant and when the idol moments did happen, the songs were nice. I had a minor gripe with the sound effects as I thought the audio balance may have been off a couple times and they were too loud as a result.
The characters were good and I liked the main character pairing of Special Week and Silence Suzuka. The show did a decent job of getting the audience invested into what each of these characters desired. The cast of side characters are good as well but the big problem was that there was so many of them that at some point you just end up not caring for most of them after a while.
While I recognize that Uma Musume: Pretty Derby is a very good show, there were a couple things aesthetically that took away from my enjoyment of the series. Nevertheless I still think that this anime is worthy of a recommendation.
