Uma Musume: Pretty Derby - Shin Jidai no Tobira

It's everything I hoped for and more.

Coincidentally caught the movie while on vacation in Tokyo recently and was once again impressed by this series. The movie manages to capture in great detail the serious elements seen in S2. I found no pacing issues in it's arguably short runtime.

While all of the elements of the movie stood out as amazing, the direction and cinematography particularly during races is to me worth much more than my mere 2000 yen ticket. Even if a new viewer had not watched any previous installments in the film, the movie is presented in a manner that conveys the basic premise ... extremely well without making the movie difficult for fans of the series.

One of the best movie I've ever seen

BOANE premiered in cinemas on May 24th this year, and I've waited for a chance to see it outside of cinemas, especially with the high praise it got from those who got the opportunity to see it. Even with the high bar of expectation that was set for it, it exceeded it in all metrics.

Tight pacing, incredible composition, beautiful colors, fluid animation, wonderful character writing, and acting, and it all meshes in 1 hour and 45 minutes of absolute cinema. It is everything that you'd want in a movie. Everything that Cygames has done in the past is completely ... outclassed by this movie, for it seems that they took what they've learned from making previous shows like Priconne and bangbangbravern and applied that knowledge to make this movie.

Will not go into details so that more people can watch this unspoiled, but I will point out my one nitpick of the movie is Cafe's slightly lacking involvement in the movie, despite being promoted as part of the main 4. This is a nitpick because she did serve her purpose in the narrative and theme of the movie, but I do think it is the time constraint of 1 hour and 45 minutes that causes this, however, this does mean that they managed to focus more on Jungle pocket and keeping the pacing tight, which is definitely the right decision.

"I wanted to make a caricature of romanticism. Perhaps it got the better of me.
— Maurice Ravel, on "Scarbo"

I would describe this movie as a caricature of sports, specifically racing, as a whole. Not only did the whole cast of staff and voice actors/actresses outdo themselves and any sort of expectations I had, but they blew them out of the water by a thousand fold. Ravel himself would be proud.

Uma Musume as a concept is exceptionally goofy. I won't lie, as much as a I love it to bits. Specifically girls are reborn as real life horses and race to the death in real-life inspired races. ... What the HELL? The beautiful simplicity and the attention to real-life detail is astounding however, this movie itself centering around the real life Jungle Pocket and his racing endeavors in the early 2000's era. My expectations were already high going into this movie, but when I finished, I was speechless with how they managed to get it to this level.

The character development of Jungle Pocket, her rivalries with the surrounding characters such as Agnes Tachyon, and her journey to surpass an insurmountably high wall were all done expertly, condensed to just an hour and 45 minutes. All the races were just the right length in terms of animation, but exciting, entertaining, and even chilling at times, especially the final race. Visually, the animation is fluid, colorful, and adds another layer on top of all the excellent writing done. I have to give credit to the great voice actors and actresses, they were all spectacular and added great personality to this dynamic cast. Even the cameos from obscure characters from the gacha and littler known horses besides the titular and popular ones were handled well, a homage to more dedicated fans. I loved picking them out all the way to the end.

The story of Jungle Pocket is one I'm inspired by myself. A talented and determined racer who is surrounded by abnormal talents who seem to one-up her every step of the way to her peak, but her determination and battle with her own anxiety in an attempt to surpass herself and everyone's expectations is thrilling, satisfying, and heartwarming even. A simple, yet expertly handled and written plot that surpasses Road to the Top, my previous favorite work from Cygames and Uma Musume, which is saying something considering how great that was handled as well. I can't express my excitement for the adaption of Cinderella Gray, where the GRAY MONSTER OGURI CAP can finally shine for REAL.

Beginning of a New Era isn't quite the start of a new time for Uma Musume, but it accentuates and proves again and again to how passionate everyone involved is and it delivers to the fans. This is hands down one of THE BEST works I've seen in 2024 and I've watched a good number of new and old shows. I highly recommend this to anyone, even one who isn't too well versed to this amazing franchise.

I end with this: If you thought Jungle Pocket and Tachyon's battles were close and exuded power, you haven't seen nothing yet. Get the food ready. You're going to need a full on BUFFET.