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 participate in 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.
