Uma Musume: Pretty Derby (2021)

[ウマ娘 プリティーダービー]

Season 2

Director: Kei Oikawa
Studio: Studio Kai
Starring: Machico, Saori Onishi, Koji Okino
Episodes: 13

Synopsis:
Tokai Teio pursues her dream of becoming an undefeated Triple Crown winner.

Impressions:
In this season the focus shifts from Special Week and Silence Suzuka to Tokai Teio and Mejiro McQueen. I do like that we're focusing on characters with more distinctive personalities with far rockier career paths. The lows are lower and more frequent, but that makes the characters' perseverance all the more admirable. I'd say the approach in the first season works well for introducing you to the world and now we get to do more with it. I didn't mention it in my review for the previous season, but one of the standout features of the series is the generally excellent sportsmanship demonstrated by the characters. It's so much more satisfying to watch than the many sports stories with their one-dimensional antagonists. The string of hardships may feel like contrived drama, but I need to remind everyone that this is based on a true story and fairly accurately represents what the racehorses the characters are based on really went through. It's not as light of a watch as the first season, but it's definitely worth seeing. Check it out.

Rating:
Watch It