Uma Musume: Pretty Derby - Shin Jidai no Tobira

Running in the highest level of horse racing, the Twinkle Series, is the dream of many horse girls. Although she has only taken part in freestyle racing before, horse girl Jungle Pocket discovers that very same aspiration after she witnesses Fuji Kiseki's tremendous victory on a grand stage. Equipped with unwavering self-confidence, Jungle Pocket is quickly able to accumulate a few victories, allowing her to participate in higher-level races.

When Jungle Pocket takes part in her first G1 race alongside another rising racer—the highly intelligent and eccentric Agnes Tachyon—she realizes the enormous gap in their abilities. However, that only motivates Jungle Pocket even further as she resolves to get her revenge against Tachyon by winning the honored Triple Crown Classic title the following year. Although the world of horse racing is never predictable or easy, Jungle Pocket is determined to take down Tachyon and herald the beginning of a new era.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Agnes Tachyon Main

Uesaka, Sumire Japanese

Manhattan Cafe Main

Ogura, Yui Japanese

Jungle Pocket Main

Fujimoto, Yuri Japanese

Dantsu Flame Main

Fukushima, Haruna Japanese

Oguri Cap Supporting

Takayanagi, Tomoyo Japanese

Rice Shower Supporting

Iwami, Manaka Japanese

T.M. Opera O Supporting

Tokui, Sora Japanese

Haru Urara Supporting

Shutou, Yukina Japanese

Daiwa Scarlet Supporting

Kimura, Chisa Japanese

Meishou Dotou Supporting

Watada, Misaki Japanese

Mizoguchi, Kan Producer

Yamamoto, Ken Director, Episode Director, Storyboard, Animation Director, Key Animation

Tsuruoka, Youta Sound Director

Fuchimoto, Shuuhei Episode Director, Animation Director

Reviews

May 30, 2024

PhAnT0M_Alt

Recommended

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.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Aug 2, 2025

armycat23

Mixed Feelings

Funny

I do want to give some backround. I'm a late comer to the Pretty Derby Franchise. I actually started on season 2, then season 3, the ciderella grey season, and then season 1.

If I had to rank the above best to "worst" - Season 2, Cinderella Grey, Season 3, and then Season 1. Season 1 is still worthy of an "8". It's just that the others are so great that it's up against strong challengers.

Now where would I rank this movie? Last, easily last. I would give it a 6.5. It's not bad-bad, but it is very underwhelming and it makes me question ... the choice to make a movie about these characters rather then some beloved characters from the anime that didn't have a lot of spotlight.

CHARACTERS
Well, the biggest complaint that I have is that Jungle Pocket is not a likeable character. Although the "Cocky newbie who gets humbled early on" niche has been done many times before.....it certainly doesn't help endear the character to me that she keeps up this attitude all the way through the movie without much substance to her. If anything, if she were in a seasonal anime, she would probably be placed in a minor antagonist role to an MC.

Tachyon could have been an MC that I would root for. Besides her, Oguri Cap, and Haru.........I really couldn't care less about the other characters.

THE ART AND ANIMATION
It's largely very good....mostly regarding the environments (school, track, weather, etc). The character models , specifically their facial expressions, feels out of place at certain times when you compare it to the environment. Imagine if you were watching a serious movie and the characters had a cgi-created looney toon facial expression. In season 2 of Pretty Derby and beyond the studios did a really good job of amping the races by the atmosphere of the characters. However, in this movie, it takes it too far. I was watching Tachyon have some sort of delusional vision with twinkly stars and other things for like 20 seconds in the middle of the race and when she snapped out of it, the race was over.

But I do want to go back and address the facial expressions of the characters. I have no idea why this movie made Jungle Pocket look like she has a crazed reaction for 90% of the time she's on the screen. That's bad enough, but that same "crazed" facial expression happens in the races.

Another aspect of the animation that I didn't like is an old complaint....and that is some animes try to convey "speed" by warping the characters' faces into smudges that no longer look normal. The second half of Naruto vs Pain is a good example of what I mean.

STORY
It's a typical "I want to be the best" plotline, but without much else.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Sep 17, 2025

Masta_Don

Not Recommended

Funny

To be perfectly honest, I couldn't finish this movie. I had already watched the 1st 3 seasons as well as the OVAs and expected this one to be a well produced wild ride of excitement. But as others have said, this is not that. It's well (enough) produced, but the problems are numerous to the point of an Umamusume fan not getting at all what they're used to consuming and likely being disappointed as I was. Imagine always going to Chick-fil-A for a spicy deluxe chicken sandwich and one day they give you a corndog. Not entirely bad in and of itself, but not at ... all what you were expecting.

For one, the painfully noticeable lack of a soundtrack made for awkwardly quiet and tense scenes all over the place. The sound design felt like they forgot to match the visuals with the audio, as several times the MC, Jungle Pocket, would have over-the-top extreme reactions complete with wildly deforming character model yet her voice was only mildly raised. Also, the foot(read:hoof)falls during the races distinctively lacked oomph. It sounded like they were all running on thick carpet wearing slippers. The start out of the gate just sort of "happened". It lacked that explosiveness that it has in the series.

The total lack of silliness and humor was another turn off. Again, not a terrible thing in and of itself, but this movie removed one of the main reasons I fell in love with the series. The horse girls are all serious about racing, but they don't forget to have fun along the way. And being all moody and serious as it was, it forced most of the characters into this one-dimensional box of too easy to understand with no complex depth, with the exception of Agnes Tachyon. At one point the scenery was so blood red hued and deeply contrast with black shadows, I felt like I was watching a scene from The Summer Hikaru Died. I for real thought the "experiment" Tachyon was talking about was going to come out a closet saying, "Ed-oo-wahh-dou, a-sou-bou?"

At least the visuals were pretty nice, when they weren't getting all acid trippy on you.

Tl;dr: right restaurant, wrong flavor.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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'Uma Musume: Pretty Derby - Shin Jidai no Tobira' Unveils Additional Cast, Staff, Theme Song, Trailer

The official website of the Uma Musume: Pretty Derby - Shin Jidai no Tobira (Uma Musume: Pretty Derby - Beginning of a New Era) anime movie unveiled additional cast,...read more

Mar 22, 2024 9:51 AM by Hyperion_PS | Discuss (1 comment)

'Uma Musume: Pretty Derby' Anime Movie Announced for May 2024

The 13th and final episode of Uma Musume: Pretty Derby Season 3 announced an anime movie titled Uma Musume: Pretty Derby - Shin Jidai no Tobira (Uma Musume: Pretty D...read more

Dec 27, 2023 8:38 AM by Hyperion_PS | Discuss (11 comments)

	Poll: Uma Musume: Pretty Derby - Shin Jidai no Tobira Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 ) IzanaSolos - May 23, 2024	75 replies	by Ohayotaku »» Jan 15, 7:12 AM
	Confused on how to watch this? mechian - May 7, 2025	12 replies	by »»
	Does Cygames hate Opera O? Dragevard - Oct 23, 2025	10 replies	by WaterMage »» Nov 1, 2025 11:23 AM
	crazy eyes deg - Jul 14, 2025	8 replies	by FutoiOtaku »» Jul 15, 2025 5:05 AM
	can this be watch as a standalone story or you need to watch the prequels? deg - Nov 26, 2024	6 replies	by Vi- »» Jun 8, 2025 8:30 PM