Tokai Teio is an interesting character to highlight this time. In Season 1 she was very one-note, with her adoration of Rudolf being the entirety of her character. So while I wasn’t really excited to have her be the star of a whole season, it was also nice that she got properly developed. I think Teio’s a weaker main character than Special Week because Teio’s character felt like it was pushed forward by the events around it more than itself. (Essentially, Teio probably could’ve been swapped out for anyone, sans one instance.) But at the same time, I think those events create a more focused and interesting plot thread this time around.
How secondary/tertiary characters are handled in this season felt like a double-edged sword. The downside is that 5/7 members of Team Spica get minimal spotlight, but the upside is that other new characters get fleshed out. I had mixed feelings on this. After all, I’ve grown to like Team Spica and want to see more of them. Plus, Teio gets put in a lot of situations where she needs support, but doesn’t get a lot of it from her team like you’d expect. And when the team’s limited appearances do happen, they feel more mandated than natural. However, I do understand that time needed to be spent on the other characters instead to make them work.
And I think it’s worth it. We already got a good amount of Spica in Season 1 and there are a lot of horse girls us non-mobile game players want to get to know, so it makes sense to spend time highlighting other characters. And while it’s only a handful of other horse girls that get an actual good amount of character development, I do think they end up more memorable than a lot of Spica did in Season 1.
Team Canopus (Twin Turbo, Ikuno Dictus, Nice Nature, and Matikane Tannhauser) have the most focus among side characters considering they appear constantly throughout the season…though they don’t get too much actual depth. I’m most pleased by Rice Shower getting a big, impactful character arc. Bourbon’s character development is also satisfying despite her being given less time. And I was pleasantly surprised how much Mejiro Palmer and Daitaku Helios got highlighted; their gyura shenanigans and racing strategy were a treat. While other horse girls show up, these ones stick out the most besides the main two in Spica.
And of course Satano Diamond and Kitasan Black constantly showing up as kids to cheer for their favorite horse girls is adorable. The two no-name NPCs that show up alongside them every time is also funny.
My main problems with this anime are the jokes and some of the lessons. Mainly, a lot of the jokes felt too juvenile and/or “cute” to land with me. While jokes like these are common throughout the whole season, the plot picks up in the second half and becomes interesting enough to dilute it. This is why I found the first chunk of episodes hard to sit through. Even after that hump, some running gags overstay their welcome. Granted, not all of the jokes and gags are bad; I laughed a good amount! But the bad ones spoiled the experience enough to be worth highlighting.
Likewise, a good chunk of the drama can be heavy-handed. I still think the payoffs are worth it, but some of the mopey scenes and flashbacks should have been cut down to help keep focus. Plus, there are a lot of times where the lessons can get repetitive, especially when the characters themselves repeat them. It feels patronizing at times. Similarly, there’s really only one thing that causes big trouble for the horse girls across the whole season. Even though I don’t mind too much because I think it’s important to highlight that danger to people, your mileage may vary.
Despite my annoyances with some of the writing, it became obvious why I liked Season 1 so much when it started happening again and again and again here: I was constantly getting emotional. I was tearing up a lot, and even actually cried during that big part in the Tokai Teio Short Performance. While the writing drops the ball often enough to be problematic, it makes up for it by hitting hard during the big events and meaningful scenes. And thankfully there are a lot of them in the latter half of the episodes, so the experience as a whole left a big impact.
Plus, I do like the “rival” theme this season has. While it’s laid on thick sometimes, it’s a nice focus and central theme that allows a lot of duos to shine more than they would have on their own. And who knows, maybe it could be a helpful life lesson, too!
I think this anime lives or dies by how likely you are to get emotional. Even if you don’t like to admit that you do cry when watching things, I think you’re likely to get a memorable experience out of this. But if you aren’t, I think you’ll just get annoyed by the asinine comedy and constant sadness.
