Yet you, like previous me, would be making a mistake skipping Uma Musume. Empirically, you are probably okay to skip shows with either one of those qualities so you’d think you can skip one with both.
At the surface, there are a lot of reasons it seems likely to fail-the biggest being 1) girls with animal ears and tails and 2) game source-material. I can’t lie, I made the mistake of writing off Uma Musume as a show to be skipped up until just a week ago when I tried starting the first season. Music is just pretty much the same ear-punching goodness carried forward, and I'm fine with this season cutting out the Winning Stage for the horse girl winners entirely since it only existed to promote the game back when Season 1 aired, otherwise this is no right to exist in this season since the characters play the integral part this time around.Īll in all, for a pretty competitive season, Season 2 brings a pretty compelling story to say the least, and top it up with some needed improvement in the animation spectrum, you have a sequel that is the same as the last, but leaps and bounds better for a nice touch. Nonetheless, this could've been a double studio cooperation work, but I understand why Studio Kai (which only existed to produce Netflix anime) is chosen as the lead animation production studio. Works didn't really do a great job on the production of the horse races in Season 1 with everything being 2D. With the improvement in the 3DCG camera work of the horse races to make it look more realistic and appealing, it's largely for the better since P.A. Works have established (it's still helping in production cooperation). For the most part, it's as what you'd expect if you've watched Season 1, nothing is new here, and I'm fine with it since the characterization has been carried forward with minimal changes and such.Īs anyone would've guessed, when a replacement studio comes in, there's bound to be some legitimate worries, but I can safely say that Studio Kai has kept everything that P.A. Included are the horse girls from Team Canopus: Ikuno Dictus, Nice Nature, Twin Turbo and Matikane Tannhauser, and individuals like Mihono Bourbon and the underdog Rice Shower to give some semblance to the "antagonist" story feature that Season 1 lacked with in the rival segments of the show. New to Season 2 are more characters from the game, and adding to what is already an extensive list of the Uma Musume character roster. Friends-cum-rivals, winners or losers, lead or support, do or die, there's traits that will keep all engrossed in the tight loop of experiencing emotions like a true horse race of smiles and cries to the breaking point of bets earned or lost. For the most part, both Teio and McQueen have been very competitive horsegirls, from Teio bearing the exact same story basis of Season 1 with Tracen Academy's Student Council President Symboli Rudolf and looking up to her as the inspiration of being a horsegirl, to McQueen bearing the prestigous family name to uphold high standards. This sequel season changes the main roles from Special Week and Silence Suzuka to Tokai Teio and Mejiro McQueen, and for the most part, the character story established here is indefinitely stronger than just the student-teacher relationship of Spe-chan and Suzuka. In a nutshell, if you remembered what went through in Season 1 all those years ago, the same plot templateĬan be found here: 2 central horsegirl characters, accompanied by their own team with rival teams and horsegirls, and most importantly, staying true to the history of their legacy and remitting the exact same emotions and feelings of the former.
Fast forward the same time to Winter 2021, and it was even a surprise that Uma Musume would get a sequel season with almost everything intact from the story basis to the characters, albeit the only change now is with a new studio. It's been almost 3 years ever since CyGames' Uma Musume came out, and while Season 1 back in Spring 2018 only garnered moderate attention, it was enough to make it stand out amongst the other shows that aired in the similar time period.