A review of Season 3 from a long time Uma Musume fan!
(spoilers ahead!)
Uma Musume always has a message that is consistent in almost every form of media the series has:
A series that is based off animals that have once lived or are living in the real world often has to meet these ideas: especially one based on thoroughbred horses. Nothing was ever perfect, some often lived a tough life, and we can only interpret how these animals felt during their highest high, lowest lows or their middling middles.
Despite how high the expectations Season 2 of Umamusume sets, how we felt every setback and triumph Tokai Teio that led to her Cinderella ending, I felt that Umamusume Season 3 doesn't match those dramatic climaxes.
As a fan of the series, I was disappointed by how pedestrian season 3 felt to its predecessor. I let my thoughts about the season brew before I wrote this review, through participating in discussion about the anime and even with fans who have watched Japanese horse racing and have gone to watch Kitasan Black race when the real horse was active from 2013-15.
And through this discussion and thinking, I always come back to what this series excels at: Every character has a story to tell.
When I think about Kitasan Black, her story in the anime, her real life background and what the horse meant to fans who witnessed his greatest moments live, I realize the story that Studio KAI has given wonderfully tailors the story of Kitasan Black. A plucky horse never meant for anything exceeding their circumstances, no matter how flawed they were.
Uma Musume often remarks that all horsegirls run for different reasons, and it's no different here. From Duramente, a stoic and terrifyingly strong that was born to win, to Satono Diamond, a character that is hoisted by the hopes that her family has in hopes of breaking some long time superstition; its clear what each character's motivation is throughout the season. For our main heroine Kitasan Black, it's not a story that is meant to match what Tokai Teio felt, what Special Week achieved or the hardships that Narita Top Road faced. Its her story, and while Kitasan respects who came before her, each episode pieces together the motivation of Kitasan and her will to run. Through her greatest triumphs, and her harshest defeats, we learn with Kitasan what it means to run and compete, and how do we define ourselves and our legacy.
Obviously there are some issues I do think is separate from this: Season 3 had a bloated cast of main characters that while help carry the overall theme of the story this season, these characters often faded in and out of the background and sometimes were thrown to the side, with some of their important events happening off screen. Covering a story that focuses on 4 main characters and spans almost 3 years (especially one where its based on real life horse races and events), is hard to fit inside a 13 episode season, where often events were rushed or skipped that felt noticeable to even anime watchers that did not know the real life events and results.
Regardless of these shortcomings, it was still a great watch for any Uma Musume fan, but I would go in with different mindset/expectations about this season. Kitasan and her story was meant to separate herself from the rest of the main characters Uma Musume has had, and knowing this will make you appreciate what the show has to offer. While not matching the dramatic highs Season 2 delivered in spades, the journey from gate to wire Season 3 offers is well worth it.
