General Impression: Uma Musume: Pretty Derby

Synopsis

In a world where there exist “horse girls”, there is an academy where only the best go, Tokyo’s Tracen Academy. It is in this academy that horse girls train their hardest with the goal of becoming both racers and idols. One of these girls is Special Week, a high school horse girl who had transferred from the countryside.

Special Week is more than excited to be entering the school as she aims to become the best horse girl in Japan as a promise to her mother. On the way to the school, however, she makes a pit stop at a race track and discovers Silence Suzuka, a top racer, and idol. Inspired by her style she becomes determined to race on the same team as her.

First Impression

The concept may seem strange but the episode’s execution of it is well done. The characters are cute and have a solid introduction to them and the animation is solid. The problem with the episode is that there are clear tropes for the characters and the idol concept is a weird add-on for the series. Basically, the episode introduced some good characters but it just has some predictable and off points to it.

General Impression

The character designs are fun, the animation is solid and the character development is pretty good. However, the story development and character arcs are just all over the place. One moment we’re following Special Week in her overcoming the challenges of derbies and the next we’re looking at other characters and their own struggles. It’s nice that we get to explore different characters but it results in the story coming off as a mess.

The characters all have well-rounded stories to them so far, but the execution of these stories could have been done better. Outside of the character designs, animation, and character development, the comedy is also a fun part of the series. It isn’t the largest aspect, but it works.

Conclusion

The concept, art, animation and character work are something to enjoy with the series. However, the story execution just seems all over the place. It does well in exploring the characters and their stories, but the arcs seem all over the place. The flow of the story just seems to jump from one character to another for certain episodes and in turn, it feels like something is missing for some of the characters. It’s not large but it’s there.

Rating: 7/10