Uma Musume: Pretty Derby - Shin Jidai no Tobira

To be perfectly honest, I couldn't finish this movie. I had already watched the 1st 3 seasons as well as the OVAs and expected this one to be a well produced wild ride of excitement. But as others have said, this is not that. It's well (enough) produced, but the problems are numerous to the point of an Umamusume fan not getting at all what they're used to consuming and likely being disappointed as I was. Imagine always going to Chick-fil-A for a spicy deluxe chicken sandwich and one day they give you a corndog. Not entirely bad in and of itself, but not at all what you were expecting. For one, the painfully noticeable lack of a soundtrack made for awkwardly quiet and tense scenes all over the place. The sound design felt like they forgot to match the visuals with the audio, as several times the MC, Jungle Pocket, would have over-the-top extreme reactions complete with wildly deforming character model yet her voice was only mildly raised. Also, the foot(read:hoof)falls during the races distinctively lacked oomph. It sounded like they were all running on thick carpet wearing slippers. The start out of the gate just sort of "happened". It lacked that explosiveness that it has in the series. The total lack of silliness and humor was another turn off. Again, not a terrible thing in and of itself, but this movie removed one of the main reasons I fell in love with the series. The horse girls are all serious about racing, but they don't forget to have fun along the way. And being all moody and serious as it was, it forced most of the characters into this one-dimensional box of too easy to understand with no complex depth, with the exception of Agnes Tachyon. At one point the scenery was so blood red hued and deeply contrast with black shadows, I felt like I was watching a scene from The Summer Hikaru Died. I for real thought the "experiment" Tachyon was talking about was going to come out a closet saying, "Ed-oo-wahh-dou, a-sou-bou?" At least the visuals were pretty nice, when they weren't getting all acid trippy on you. Tl;dr: right restaurant, wrong flavor.

It's everything I hoped for and more. Coincidentally caught the movie while on vacation in Tokyo recently and was once again impressed by this series. The movie manages to capture in great detail the serious elements seen in S2. I found no pacing issues in it's arguably short runtime. While all of the elements of the movie stood out as amazing, the direction and cinematography particularly during races is to me worth much more than my mere 2000 yen ticket. Even if a new viewer had not watched any previous installments in the film, the movie is presented in a manner that conveys the basic premise extremely well without making the movie difficult for fans of the series.

This is an interesting one to review. If you're most people, this movie is a solid 9/10. Animation is superb, the story is excellent, and the main antagonist is amazing. The only drawback would be the lack of character development for the side characters, despite them being portrayed as important to the story. However, if you're like me and enjoyed the first 3 seasons of the anime and their wackiness, then this movie is kind of a slap in the face. The lighthearted jokes from the original series are completely gone and replaced with moody drama. There's no more hope and optimism. Everything is dark and dramatic. Essentially, they turned an idol anime into a drama shonen anime.

I do want to give some backround. I'm a late comer to the Pretty Derby Franchise. I actually started on season 2, then season 3, the ciderella grey season, and then season 1. If I had to rank the above best to "worst" - Season 2, Cinderella Grey, Season 3, and then Season 1. Season 1 is still worthy of an "8". It's just that the others are so great that it's up against strong challengers. Now where would I rank this movie? Last, easily last. I would give it a 6.5. It's not bad-bad, but it is very underwhelming and it makes me question the choice to make a movie about these characters rather then some beloved characters from the anime that didn't have a lot of spotlight. CHARACTERS Well, the biggest complaint that I have is that Jungle Pocket is not a likeable character. Although the "Cocky newbie who gets humbled early on" niche has been done many times before.....it certainly doesn't help endear the character to me that she keeps up this attitude all the way through the movie without much substance to her. If anything, if she were in a seasonal anime, she would probably be placed in a minor antagonist role to an MC. Tachyon could have been an MC that I would root for. Besides her, Oguri Cap, and Haru.........I really couldn't care less about the other characters. THE ART AND ANIMATION It's largely very good....mostly regarding the environments (school, track, weather, etc). The character models , specifically their facial expressions, feels out of place at certain times when you compare it to the environment. Imagine if you were watching a serious movie and the characters had a cgi-created looney toon facial expression. In season 2 of Pretty Derby and beyond the studios did a really good job of amping the races by the atmosphere of the characters. However, in this movie, it takes it too far. I was watching Tachyon have some sort of delusional vision with twinkly stars and other things for like 20 seconds in the middle of the race and when she snapped out of it, the race was over. But I do want to go back and address the facial expressions of the characters. I have no idea why this movie made Jungle Pocket look like she has a crazed reaction for 90% of the time she's on the screen. That's bad enough, but that same "crazed" facial expression happens in the races. Another aspect of the animation that I didn't like is an old complaint....and that is some animes try to convey "speed" by warping the characters' faces into smudges that no longer look normal. The second half of Naruto vs Pain is a good example of what I mean. STORY It's a typical "I want to be the best" plotline, but without much else.

The Beginning of a New Era looks undeniably impressive: strong lighting, expressive character work, and race sequences carry real visual energy. Yet that’s where most of the praise ends. The core issue is the hollow narrative. The protagonist, as generic as it gets, leaps from seeing a single race to already being elite with almost no development. The drive behind her rise is a vague desire to be “the strongest.” It makes her genuinely irritating to sit through; she repeats her goal so often that it feels like she says it more in one film than Luffy declares he’ll be Pirate King or Naruto says he’ll become Hokage across hundreds of episodes. At one point, I felt that if I had to hear that annoying girl shout she wants to be the “strongest” one more time, I might go insane. Skipping any meaningful journey or relationship with the sport, the film replaces depth with repetitive shounen rhetoric and rivalries that lack emotional or thematic weight. Even attempts at deeper ideas, like injury, sacrifice, or Tachyon’s detached, experimental approach to racing, are brushed aside in favour of louder, simpler messaging. There are flashes of something better. Neatly directed moments, like Tachyon’s final race and the emotional undertow of her arc, hint at a more compelling story, and the subplot about injured racers adds a layer the film never fully explores. But these highlights are surrounded by underdeveloped characters, like Manhattan Cafe, which feels almost like an afterthought, and a sport that emphasises shouting and sudden bursts of speed over real strategy or tension. By the time it circles back to its central message, it falls straight back into generic territory, undercutting its stronger moments. Beyond its production quality, it ultimately feels shallow and unfocused, a visually polished film with very little substance beneath, led by a frankly insufferable protagonist who embodies the most generic shounen tropes rather than anything grounded in a compelling sports narrative.

As someone who watched all umamusume series this movie is true disappointment. The story is poorly written, full of weird moments and sounds, and scenes that were really cringe to watch, the story lacks point of racing and is full of weird behaviour and something you never saw in earlier series. Also putting Oguri, Haru etc as "support characters" is pure nonsense because they barely have 5 seconds of screen time. This is total waste of time if you are Umamusume fan. The only good thing is the animations. It was really boring to watch and i forced myself to complete it.

I'll head this off with a bit of a disclaimer: I haven't seen Pretty Derby the show, Cinderella Gray, haven't played the game, etc. Taking a quick look online, this seems like an "acceptable" way to enter the series but whatever the above sentence makes you feel about my credibility, there it is That being said, I did not enjoy this movie. It has a very weird beginning where Jungle Pocket (our protag, henceforth known as "JP") sees her idol racing and she's like "man, I wanna race!" and then after an OP, we cut to her being trained by her idol and her trainer and JP has already won a race offscreen. To me, it just kind of cuts out all the excitement of seeing our protagonist grow from "man, I wanna do this" to being an actually competent athlete. JP is clearly a competent racer from the jump, the problem is Agnes Tachyon exists and is better and that is never challenged throughout the movie. And I feel like that might be the point but the problem is JP and Tachyon are pretty much the only characters who are worth mentioning. Dantsu Flame and Manhattan Cafe also kind of exist but we only get the barest of table scraps for a personality for each of them. JP's idol and trainer also kind of get some sort of personality but it's as much buildup as your average trainers get. This movie just feels like a poor compilation of a season-long arc. JP forces herself onto Tachyon and insists that, despite being head and shoulders a worse racer, they be rivals. The overarching... arc of the movie is an inherently fine one but within the context of a 2 hour movie, I don't think it builds its characters well enough to care. It kind of sets up the idea that the horsegirls are born to run and they all wanna break their limits and race faster than the fastest pony and I mean, yup, sure. Since they all want the same goal, I feel like it kinda just feels like I should pick a horsegirl and root for them but see above, JP and Tachyon are the only ones that really get all that much of a character and Tachyon's supposed to be the antagonist. We're just immediately thrown into a world where the only person who can theoretically beat JP is Tachyon but she jobs so much, she might as well be Jobber Pocket. The races pre-Derby can be described as JP: "Grrrrr, we're rivals!" Tachyon (slightly amused): "Lol, sure, ok." *Tachyon whips JP's ass* JP: "Grrrrr, I'll get you next time!" An event happens, JP gets depressed, gets over it, and has one big climatic race. The only race that had any sort of tension to it was the final one and it was less of "will this character I like win?" and more of an intellectual curiosity over if they'd go for some sort of bittersweet ending or something. She doesn't even really feel scaled to level for the final race, I don't really believe she is as powerful as the overlord of racing, we're just kind of told that she is. I think that's my biggest issue. JP is already (outside of the very beginning where she isn't even entered in [formal? They mention that she transitioned from freestyle racing but we never see this] racing) super fast and her only problem is that there's exactly One person in her league who's faster. They do a couple scenes playing at her training but I never really FELT that she did anything that'd tangentially increase her speed outside of "wow, she sure is working hard!" To top it all off, it ends with some sort of fanservice concert of the main 4 horsegirls singing which I would imagine would be very good and sweet and cool for the more diehard Uma Musume fans but it just kind of took me out even more. What did I like about it? It's a nice looking movie. It's got a lot of cool looking Stuff during the races. But good God, I could not have cared less about any of these characters. I gave it a mixed feelings instead of a not recommended because this might be up Uma Musume fans' boats, idk how much JP and pals are in the main anime so maybe you already grew to care for them or something. But I did not enjoy this.

One of the best movie I've ever seen BOANE premiered in cinemas on May 24th this year, and I've waited for a chance to see it outside of cinemas, especially with the high praise it got from those who got the opportunity to see it. Even with the high bar of expectation that was set for it, it exceeded it in all metrics. Tight pacing, incredible composition, beautiful colors, fluid animation, wonderful character writing, and acting, and it all meshes in 1 hour and 45 minutes of absolute cinema. It is everything that you'd want in a movie. Everything that Cygames has done in the past is completely outclassed by this movie, for it seems that they took what they've learned from making previous shows like Priconne and bangbangbravern and applied that knowledge to make this movie. Will not go into details so that more people can watch this unspoiled, but I will point out my one nitpick of the movie is Cafe's slightly lacking involvement in the movie, despite being promoted as part of the main 4. This is a nitpick because she did serve her purpose in the narrative and theme of the movie, but I do think it is the time constraint of 1 hour and 45 minutes that causes this, however, this does mean that they managed to focus more on Jungle pocket and keeping the pacing tight, which is definitely the right decision.

Everything about this movie is shallow and mid. I'll try to keep this review short so i wont really get into details i guess. Also mind you this is my first umamusume media. Characters: Where do i even begin? Jungle Pocket our main character is kind off a Luffy clone who wants to be the strongest uma and thats that, she has obnoxious moments(im not talking about that yelling scene it was fun) but overall typical shounen mc. And then there is Agnes Tachyon which is safe to assume why most people are mainly watching for and what can i say She's a stereotypical "mad scientist" and the whole reason for her yandere'ish looks and persona is so that she could be a dommy mommy rather then some boring nerd that you wouldnt let her do dangerous experiments on your balls😏. Now the reason why i explained how her appeal works is because it doesnt, its forced and very obvious from the cringy dialouges and actions. Also they had to make Agnes seem nefarious at first to try to make the movie different then a very typical shounen tournament arc. Story: Racing is the best aspect of the movie,they were all very predictable but they are all very well done and enjoyable. The whole drama about living in Tachyon's shadow is very boring, hell it didnt even makes sense, they made an asspull by first making it seem like it was a serious injury and at the she just wents back to into training? Anyway with all those reasons and some more combined i didnt like the drama but atleast races kinda saved this movie from being very boring. Overall: If you are an umamusume fan or want to be agnes tachyon's slave you'll enjoy it. Decent 6/10

If you’re familiar with Uma Musume as a franchise, you might already know that the series doesn’t shy away from tackling more serious themes beneath its cutesy, idol-like surface. The bright and cheerful character designs don’t tell the full story—and I first noticed this back in season 2 of Uma Musume: Pretty Derby. While I’m not here to discuss the earlier entries, I think it’s important to understand that this movie didn’t suddenly emerge with a deep message out of nowhere. Rather, it feels like a natural evolution—diving even deeper into emotional and psychological territory than the franchise has before. So, what makes this movie feel so deep and thought-provoking? Let’s take a closer look. The core story is actually quite simple—and not unfamiliar if you’ve seen previous entries in the Uma Musume series. We follow our main protagonist, Jungle Pocket, who finds inspiration to pursue competitive racing after witnessing someone else’s passion and determination. However, she quickly realizes that reaching the top isn’t just about talent or motivation—it comes with real hardship. These challenges take many forms: injuries, seemingly unbeatable rivals, or the crushing anxiety of disappointing yourself and those around you. That being said, the message becomes clear from the very beginning: you shouldn’t give up on your ambitions despite the overwhelming fear you might face along the way. Now, the plot summary and message might sound just “alright” to you—but what really sells this movie are its incredible stylistic choices. For the most part, the film shifts into something genuinely unsettling to watch. We get uncanny sound design and disturbing shots of the characters, making them look lost or hopeless. You can truly feel the anxiety the characters experience just by watching. Everything feels unreal, and the characters keep sinking further down, buried in fear, unable to truly move on. In short: the movie takes a simple yet deeper message and turns it into a cinematic masterpiece, balancing hope and despair perfectly. Beyond its stylistic achievements, the film’s emotional core is deeply rooted in the contrasting journeys of its characters—most notably, Jungle Pocket and Agnes Tachyon. These two serve as opposite sides of the same mindset. One faces the fears and challenges that come with high ambitions, while the other runs away in fear, watching others achieve what she truly desires. At the end of the day, it’s up to us to face what we fear. The film suggests that true happiness comes from the courage to keep moving forward, despite doubt and fear. There is, however, a major drawback in the film’s setting and world-building. The Uma Musume universe is introduced rather poorly, which might leave viewers unfamiliar with the previous seasons or the world of horse racing confused. Important concepts like the significance of achieving the Triple Crown or what terms like “G1 race” mean are not adequately explained, making it harder for newcomers to fully grasp the stakes and achievements. Now, moving on to the more technical aspects of the movie: sound and animation. I’ll keep it short—both are outstanding. As I mentioned earlier, the unique sound design plays a major role in creating the film’s unsettling and intense atmosphere, and I can only reaffirm that here. The animation is equally impressive. Given that this is a movie, the higher budget is evident in the quality of the visuals. The colors are vibrant and beautifully chosen, and the movements are fluid and expressive. Interestingly, during the race scenes, the animation sometimes shifts into a rougher, more stylized look, which effectively highlights the tension, speed, and raw energy of the competition. To sum it up, there’s only so much I can say—this is a film you really need to experience for yourself. While the core message may be simple—don’t give up despite fear and doubt—the way the movie explores these feelings is truly unique and powerful. Its portrayal of anxiety and inner struggle feels deeply relatable, especially since most of us have faced moments of uncertainty or fear while pursuing our dreams. The film captures not only the hope and determination needed to keep going but also the very real emotional challenges that come with it. In the end, it reminds us that growth and courage often come from pushing through the discomfort and fear that life throws at us.

After watching this movie i just have to say how insanely banger it was. i don’t know how a studio manages to keep such a high level of quality for so long, and still improve year after year. Uma Musume: Pretty Derby for me is something i simply can’t let go of anymore, and just like all the others, this one stayed banger from start to finish, just like its predecessors and probably like the ones that will come after it too. what an incredible movie. what amazing races. what an unsettling amount of depth. and what an urge it gives me to just go outside and run. this film solidified how good i really think Uma Musume: Pretty Derby (everything about it) actually is, and that’s something i never imagined i’d end up saying. i always had some hesitation before watching it, but now i just feel like all the time i spent away from it was a huge waste. in the end, who doesn’t want to win.

The epitome of sports anime. Since Umamusume's anime debut in 2018, the series has undergone a very noticeable evolution. Initially, what was an easygoing CGDCT with horse girls inspired by IRL racehorses shifted to stories that focused on building drama through more serious narratives and greater emphasis on the sports aspect. This entry is a culmination of how ambitious the telling of these stories gets. Plot: Cypictures creates a simple yet very entertaining story. Our protagonist horse girl wants to become the strongest, and despite feeling the impact of setbacks, she keeps pushing forward to make her ambition come true. Characters: Some characters might be pointed out as the weakest link in this movie - some criticism is warranted given a lack of greater development throughout the movie given their position. This could probably have been remedied by a longer runtime, which also affected other aspects, but I'll put that for later. Despite this problem, they are all fine. Pokke, especially, is very fun. Writers struck an excellent balance between her energetic and competitive personality - without overstepping into exaggerations and cringe -, with a more centered behavior of a normal person that feels appropriate. The depiction of the effects of Pokke's "setbacks" on her performance during the movie feels very real and has subtlety to it. Pacing: The last act of the movie felt constrained by the runtime. This rush had some effect on the delivery of the climax, which could have been more impactful if given the proper extra time. Visuals/Sound/Direction: This last point is what makes this movie shine. The animation is outstanding, nothing short of. This movie delivers one of the best productions recorded in modern anime. The ambitious direction heightens the weight of scenes through a myriad of employed elements: dynamic angles and pan shots, overaccentuated facial expressions, unorthodox soundtracks, visual imagery, and sound effects come together to create an experience that is absolutely unique. Due to the simplicity of the story, some problems with the characters, and a little bit of trouble structuring the final stretch, I don't feel like a 10/10 is quite appropriate for this movie. 9/10

The first part of the film is good, but then it gets really bad. Jungle Pocket is portrayed as a bland character with the "I want to be the strongest" cliché motivation, it wouldn't be a problem if she wasn't the protagonist and this need to have her keep saying that buzzword over and over. Agnes Tachyon is her co-protagonist and she does well in the first part of the film - albeit also being a recurrent type of character in anime -, but they changed the focus in the second part and, for the plot, they force Agnes Tachyon on Jungle Pocket's "character development." It all feels too unnatural, we get some reactions in the film that are similar to what happened in real life - at least from what I could find online -, however the film belittles Jungle Pocket's achievements too much. Dantsu Flame and Manhattan Cafe were also done dirty and felt like they were in the film just to fan service. So what is the point of this film? They have Jungle Pocket as a protagonist, but they completely undermine her achievement; they have Agnes Tachyon as a co-protagonist, but they completely side-track her in the second part. They had a good idea in their hands with Agnes Tachyon history, but they probably felt like they only had half a story to be told, so they decided to shift the POV and have it as a story of Jungle Pocket, but they also don't fully deliver on that front. So to make this film they thought mixing half the story for Agnes Tachyon and limiting Jungle Pocket to what involves the former would make a long feature film, but it ended up being a chimera that doesn't pay homage to neither Jungle Pocket, nor Agnes Tachyon. BTW, on a side note, this film portrays Agnes as a genius, right? I don't think it does the same for Fuji Kiseki, considering both hold the same record: 4 races, 4 wins. I also hate how Cygames didn't manage to get Stay Gold's rights for this and we only get a rip off of her, they don't even mention her name.

The movie "Uma Musume: Pretty Derby - Beginning of a New Era" is basically what would happen if Stanley Kubrick directed one big Uma Musume-fueled fever dream. The sound, animation, atmosphere, and story could only really be described as "airy" and "ominous". The basic formula of all of the other Pretty Derby seasons apply to this movie; horse girls attend Tracen academy and want to run fast to win G1 races. That's basically where the similarities end. The positive vibes of the 3 Pretty Derby seasons are now replaced with rage, fear, and psychosis. The impactful and grounded scenes of the races are now replaced with the most surreal imagery that Uma Musume has ever had. There being no real antagonist to the main character has now been replaced with Agnes Tachyon, who emerges in this movie as Uma Musume's first real actively antagonistic character. She's a sneakily really good antagonist as well. The animation and art design have to be commended for not just thinking out of the box, but long jumping as far away as possible from the box. Even characters in normal dialog scenes are not safe from being completely transmogrified into a blob of indescribable flesh. The racing scenes have Agnes Tachyon and Jungle Pocket rainbow-morph into their sprints so much that it is barely decipherable what is happening to the viewer. Character facial expressions move slickly like wet oil on a canvas. There is also a lot of surreal imagery which is never fully explained that is just there to try to explain the thoughts and emotions of Jungle Pocket and Manhattan Cafe. There is a scene with Tachyon where it straight up looks like she is entering the stargate sequence from "2001: A Space Odyssey". Despite all the radical changes in animation and art design, the largest and worse change has to be the sound design. What made every Uma Musume animation really stand out was their audio; the deep pounding sound of every stomp into the turf, the leg muscles straining to their full potential in the final burst, the loud roar of the hundreds of thousands in the crowd, the bombastic brass instruments, the sharp drums, the shredding guitars, etc. The only time the audio in the 3 seasons of Pretty Derby wasn't hyped up to 11 during a race was when a major event (mostly an injury) occurred, which made these scenes hit harder than my dad after a long night at the bar. Meanwhile in "Beginning of a New Era", the music during the hype scenes are basically just eerie silence with light synth clicks/dips. They lowered the volume and tone of each stomp on the turf from what sounds like a 2000 Lb horse galloping with its life on the line to a 50 Lb kid lightly jogging in the park. There are even some scenes where Uma's are running, but the audio engineer forgot to add any sound fx for it. To summarize, sound is what creates impact for intense scenes. Lack of sound when there should be loud sounds creates tension. In "Beginning of a New Era", there is barely any loud sounds throughout, which creates an atmosphere of unease for the entire runtime. If you are looking for a Uma Musume movie that is more of a good "movie" than a good "Uma Musume" animation, this is for you. If you are looking for the typical positive characters, upbeat music, and sane atmosphere of the first 3 seasons, it ain't here boss. PS Haru Urara got 3 spoken voice lines, which is the only comfort to be had in this movie.

Best anime film of 2024. To start, this film is a loose adaption of Japanese horse racing history using anime girls as stand ins. From that premise you would not expect how it sucks you in. The film makes you care about these horse girls and creates a strong reaction to the trials they encounter. It is amazing that Cygames was able to produce this media to promote their gatcha game but it actually stands as something that is not only animated beautifully but transmits powerful emotions to the viewer. The problems these characters encounter are relatable to anyone who has attempted to compete at anything at a high level. It gives a satisfying conclusion and does not follow a boring narrative.

SPOILER-FREE OVERVIEW --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Umamusume Beginning of a New Era (BOANE) is my favourite entry out of the entire franchise and is a must-watch for fans. Even if one hasn’t consumed any Umamusume content, the movie does a really good job at explaining the basic premise and its characters. That being said, I do not fully recommend watching it in this manner as it takes away from the full experience. Cygames have always one-upped themselves when it comes to the anime. Thus, the best way to experience this movie would be after watching the prior entries so you can understand how much the series has evolved. Umamusume’s stories have always been based on true events and BOANE is no exception, adapting the 2001 classic year of Japanese horse racing. The movie therefore cannot dictate the outcomes it wants. Instead, much of its drama comes from interpreting the spaces between the races which makes this movie all the more impressive. I would like to point out that this is a movie that rewards rewatches. Even on my first watch, I found it difficult to grasp the underlying themes and motivations of the characters. Much of its weight is communicated through recurring visual and sound techniques rather than explicit dialogue. Other than that, its remarkable cinematic language and surprisingly layered themes combine to create a movie that speaks directly to the franchise’s core. SPOILER REVIEW!! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- COMPOSITION BOANE is one of the relatively few anime movies to be filmed in a 2.39:1 widescreen aspect ratio. This works to the movie’s advantage as it allows for wide sweeping shots during the races and generally better framing. My only complaint is that if you watch this movie on anything other than a cinema screen, it just looks off. This is mostly just a me issue and I feel the same to other movies filmed in widescreen. We cannot talk about BOANE unless we discuss the stellar race cinematography. The camera work is incredibly dynamic and makes the races feel almost tangible to the audience. In a way, the camera is part of the race itself. First-person shots place us directly in the character’s perspective while aggressive camera shakes and grounded shots as the earth shatters beneath the spurts makes it feel like the characters are going to break through the screen. With how freely the camera moves, the characters almost seem to resist being contained by the frame itself. Although no one does it better than Agnes Tachyon. Her races are filmed with a strange, almost unnatural rhythm. The camera frequently fixates on her legs, pulls her far into the distance or appears unable to keep pace with her movement. There’s even a blink and you’ll miss it scene where they compare Tachyon’s running to a plane flying over. The cinematography itself seems incapable of containing her. Outside the races is where I believe the movie’s visual storytelling to be the strongest. Perhaps the most jarring example is during Tachyon's retirement announcement. The colour palette shifts into an unnatural dark red while the crowd reacts in horror. The movie communicates that from Jungle Pocket’s (Pokke) perspective, Tachyon has effectively become ‘dead’ as a racer. It is a remarkably effective use of colour to convey emotional loss rather than a literal tragedy. Continuing from this, the movie could end on Pokke’s victory at the Japanese Derby but the movie deliberately lingers on what comes afterwards which creates an atmosphere that feels increasingly unsettling. The subsequent training montages and the festival scene are a great example of this. The movie deliberately lingers on sterile training sequences and empty extended shots to communicate that her victory has left an emotional void. Pokke’s sun catcher prism serves as the movie’s strongest visual motif. Early in the story, particularly in Fuji’s opening race, it catches and scatters reflections (Fuji in this case) brilliantly which reflects Pokke’s sense of purpose. Although it is relatively unsubtle, it feels at home within a movie whose visual direction is already grounded in reflections and projections. After Tachyon’s retirement, the prism becomes increasingly damaged and loses its shine which perfectly mirrors Pokke’s self-doubt and uncertainty. The framing also plays a huge role in the storytelling. One of my favourite examples is during Pokke’s confrontation with Tachyon before the Japan Cup. The two are almost never allowed to occupy the same frame. Even when they do, objects consistently divide them which emphasises the ideological distance between them. The blocking itself communicates that the two characters view racing in fundamentally different ways. I am not an expert on film composition, nor is it something I really pay attention to but BOANE made it hard not to. Nearly every shot, framing choice, and colour decision seems to build characterisation or reinforce the storytelling. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ANIMATION If you have seen Road to the Top, you may have noticed just how much the lighting and animation quality improved when compared to the mainline anime. Thinking it couldn’t get any better, enter BOANE. Whether it be the warm sunsets, the dark rainy night of the Kikuka Sho, the hazy summer beaches or the vibrant festival; the movie uses a very diverse colour palette to make every scene very aesthetic and pleasing to the eyes. The use of squash and stretch was extremely abused throughout the movie and this is mostly why the animation works so well in the races. Every final spurt greatly exaggerates the characters' bodies and when combined with an almost unnecessary amount of impact frames, it gives so much weight to the movement. Everything, just, looks, good. However, what makes BOANE’s animation really memorable is that the ‘hype’ scenes are also crafted to express character. Even a movie about running can be very visually impressive. There are three characters that really steal the spotlight when it comes to oozing style and generating hype. The star is of course, the superluminal princess herself, Agnes Tachyon. You may hear people say that Tachyon stole the show and this is understandable when you see her final spurt. During her spurts, the scene completely dims and takes on a black and golden hue. There is so much going on here: math symbols flowing out of her, her body duplicating infinitely, the film reel burning to symbolise her muscles burning, the multitude of colours surrounding her as if she is becoming light itself; fitting since her name means a theoretical particle that travels faster than light. All of these spectacles convey just how overpowering her running is. Pokke does feel a bit overshadowed in her own movie but she has her moments. I especially love her race at the Derby with Dantsu Flame where both of their auras and bodies seem to morph into each other. It’s a neat way of portraying how much these two are fighting for dominance right after Tachyon’s retirement. Of course, her best moment is at the Japan Cup where she shatters her negative projection and explodes into a rainbow of prisms as she duels with T. M. Opera O. Speaking of Opera, she is another character that can feel like she is stealing the show with how theatrical she is. Opera’s spurt is also dominated by a rainbow of colours, specifically, pink and gold. There isn’t a deep reason for these choices. That’s just a reflection of her narcissistic personality. It’s even more amplified by her victory pose where the animators felt the need to inject 1000 frames into it. Not complaining, I love it, it’s why she’s one of my favourites. It ain’t even her movie but she’s acting like it is. Ultimately, BOANE’s animation feels sati…

This movie must be one of the most successful and beloved entries of the franchise and it's easy to see why, animation and art direction are top-notch, everyone of the main cast have a certain quirk that can make you become a new fan of theirs and the main narrative, while being almost a carbon copy of previous entries, works fine for a spokon. This movie is good, but the reason I don't gave it that much of a credit besides visuals it's precisely because of its narrative, my harshest observation may be my dislike for the main character whom may come as the blandest protagonist of the series, a run-of-the-mill "i wanna be the best and i'll beat ya, believe it!" shonen protagonist that some love it and others hate it, i just dislike it. The second and last harsh observation is its tone, this movie is dramatic, more than any other entry, most of the time for a good reason but there are moments when the main characters just act like POS just for the sake of drama. That being said, i recommend and see this movie as another entry to get you started in the franchise besides the first season of the series, otherwise it may come of as a story already told 2 times before, which isn't bad itself but there's always a limit

And just like that, Umamusume has once again risen from the ashes. I do not play the Umamusume game mainly because I find gacha games very dubious and that I can't really read Japanese. Nevertheless, I was a fan of the first and the second season of the anime series. When I heard of this movie, I was quite hesitant because while it has enjoyable moments, the third series was just a notable let-down in my opinion. I've watched cute horse girls run the shit around loops of grass and soil for dozens of episodes already, I've seen them lose, win, cry, sing, dance, eat piles of carrots, and run around loops of lumpy terrain some more. Surely it would have ran out of steam now, right? Apparently not. This movie is basically a short season of Umamusume, which manages its time well to avoid repeating the training montages which were already plentiful in the series. Compared to the rather down-to-earth protagonists, our main character is the cocky and downright feisty Jungle Pocket who actually give some new flavor to the staling portions of the series. The story kicks up fast... almost breakneck in its initial minutes. Jungle Pocket is no different from any shonen protagonist and while her motivation aint really that compelling, she is much better a protagonist than Kitasan Black. There are scenes involving some characters from past seasons and was always a delight to see them again even when they were just for a few seconds of cameo. HOWEVER, what stood out here in the movie were the rivals. I've loved Gold Ship and always elevates any episode with her in it but goddamn is Agnes Tachyon a bombshell of a character. Her introduction, her personality, her voice, and her motivation was interesting. It would've been enough but the movie had the gall to give her the coolest running sequence in the series. I shit you not, her running animation and specially the sound design was spectacular. She is the best rival figure ever introduced in the whole series and that was not to mention that she is the only horse girl with a default yandere face. Also there is another rival, Manhattan Cafe who is a downright adorable goth with a mysterious affliction and mental condition. Oh and Dantsu Flame... is there. Ok so 2/3 of rivals are actually good but Agnes was just the absolute scene stealer. The best thing in the movie was the sound and art. It just oozes style during its gorgeously animated running scenes specially with the aforementioned Agnes Tachyon scenes. I thought S3's sequences were already peak but apparently it just got ran over with this. Characterization was alright for most supporting characters. The resolution was just alright as well though I suppose this was again based on the real careers of the horses the series based them off. I doubt Umamusume as a whole will top the climax of season 2 but this was a good attempt. In the end, Jungle Pocket was worthy of rooting for, ended with a great dance number, and most of all, I was blessed with a lot of yandere glances in the Umamusume universe. I thought it would never happen However, the movie has janks I just cant ignore. The slapstick humor around Jungle Pocket just...did not work. Her VA voice acting just sometimes does not match the needed energy for certain scenes. Likewise Dantsu Flame was forgettable and barely has presence despite her screentime. I needed to google her name just for me to remind she was part of the movie. It still uses the same athletic anime formula with some tweaks here and there. I still watched girls with horse ears and tails running in goddamn high heels going mach 4 around an arena of grass and soil. Only this time, with prettier graphics, greater sound design, and a new girl with a stare that sees through my soul. Hell, Agnes was enough to see this movie. Watch this with the best audio setup available. The running scenes here are equal or better than most shonen fight sequences. Action-packed, mostly strong characterization, a differently-built protagonist, and Agnes Tachyon. Just as some people adore watching race in an oval for ungodly amount of laps, I will continue to keep watching horse girls run some more dirt tracks. More Umamusume please. And more Agnes. 9/10

Overall Recommendation (Spoiler Free): This movie can be watched with no prior knowledge of the series and is independent of previous installments. I believe it deserves a spot amongst the top anime movies, and would recommend it to anyone intrigued by the premise or who is otherwise a fan of the sports genre. Review (Spoilers Ahead): Thank you for your time, I hope you enjoy reading my review. The depiction of three hard-edged characters with often grave and sometimes almost sinister expressions is a significant departure from the past installments, which feature sweeter, gentler personalities. This change from an established trend whilst holding to overarching themes is a constant of the series and - I believe - one of the reasons it has managed to hold its momentum through so many installments with largely similar premises. This movie marks the biggest such change, so much so that in the first few minutes I found myself wondering “Is this the Umamusume we know?”, yet that change has been pulled off brilliantly. In particular, Tachyon’s permanent ‘V’-shaped smile and disturbing gaze made her instantly unforgettable. A few frames of abstraction were used strategically throughout the first half, such as the hungry grin of Pocket in the classroom as she watches her target draw on the window. The frames wherein the characters literally dissolve in shock were very Bocchi-esque and really sold their expressions. During Tachyon’s change of heart as she goes to leave the stands at the Derby, the use of a geiger-counter-like sound as a build up to Pocket’s victory roar is genius. It ties into Tachyon’s mad scientist themes and has such a powerful impact through the use of sound which the viewer will deeply associate with a great threat: radiation. The accompanying discordant sonar/siren-like sounds in this particular scene were also perfectly chosen and placed as a cue to the viewer that Tachyon’s thoughts and spirit are in great turmoil. The use of sound design to contradict her outward monologue as she climbs the stairs is masterful. These powerful distinct sound elements stand in stark contrast with the general tone of very little background sound and music, particularly during many of the races, which is another departure from past installments in the series. This blank canvas approach allows the race commentator’s passion and the thundering of hooves to take centre stage and heighten the drama. It is also a bold move that relies on the visual and narrative elements of the movie to hold the viewer’s attention but therefore allows creative advantages not normally available to a production constantly backed by an OST. During the trip to the beach which comes as a narrative wind-down from the climactic Derby, the chirping of the cicadas paint as much of a vivid picture of sparkling summer as any music could, and the strains and grunts of Pocket on the leg press at the gym are left unaccompanied to describe her effort, giving a more resonant sense of the work she is putting into her training. The general absence of music allows its use to stand out more prominently, such as when the slow piano piece really sets the atmosphere during Fuji and Pocket’s chat at the festival. The transition from a set of traditionally directed and produced scenes to Pocket’s waking nightmare on the bus is a masterstroke. Realist elements such as the brief close-up on the speeding bus wheels, the single frame of the seatbelt cueing a sensation of being trapped, and Pocket’s increasingly restless legs are merged with visions of an endless chase across a vast grass flat and an unreal Tachyon grin crossing the spectre of Fuji’s face. This all serves to bring the viewer into the episode alongside Pocket herself. These portions of moody brilliance are contrasted by moments of levity throughout the movie which are well placed and serve to accentuate the grand tone, resulting in Umamusume’s signature balance of serious high stakes and feel-good light-heartedness. At times in the past the series has suffered a little from excessive use of the anime trope of ‘power-up shouting’. While there are moments of the classic Umamusume race climax internal monologues with building shouts: the movie also chooses to tell more with its visual and audible effects, as some of the races end with the main characters charging for the finish so intensely that not a word is spoken but for the commentator’s frantic calls. The best example is the Yayoi Shou where Tachyon’s final push speaks entirely for itself as literal mathematical formulae begin to fall from her. As she picks up speed she begins to embody the storm which had overcast the racetrack and the viewer knows in an instant that there is a link to Cafe’s elusive “imaginary friend”. Going back to Pocket’s win at the Derby, there is a long drawn out shot of Fuji Kiseki and Trainer Tanabe talking to one another with their eyes, a conversation that is clearly about Pocket but which the viewer is left out of, masterfully building tension for her roar and Tachyon’s realisation. As usual with Umamusume there is very little if any fanservice or other unpleasant additions so-often included in the name of increasing popularity and sales with degenerates. The movie is unapologetically straightforward in its purpose of telling a story of rivalry, all the nuance that entails, and - crucially - nothing else. Every scene advances the plot or develops the narrative without any filler; all the fat has been trimmed from the storyboard to the final cut in a way that is a hallmark of a great film. This is an example of how an anime movie really can reach heights of direction on par with a Tarantino, in its own way. I also believe the series as a whole demonstrates anime’s unique ability to take a bizarre premise - one that might even be called shallow at face value, particularly because it originated from a monetised mobile game - and develop it into novel, engaging stories that deserve as much appreciation as more conventional concepts. The only two things I could say that don’t constitute total praise were that I was expecting a more conclusive ending and that I felt the idol concert was an unnecessary addition between the epic climax and the credits roll. After watching I went online and learned that Tachyon never returned to racing. Given that the series likes to stay true to history, I therefore feel it is unfair of me to criticise the movie for not including the more conclusive finale I was expecting. Working within the constraints of the truth that they set for themselves, I actually believe the climax couldn’t have been much better. It is remarkable that so much story was packed into a runtime of only 107 minutes. I also cannot criticise the movie for its idol concert ending, as this is an established element of the Umamusume franchise and it is only a matter of taste that I personally would've felt more satisfied with an immediate cut to credits. That being said, the scene did not actively detract from the movie and was well produced. One could go on ad nauseam with ways in which the movie excelled across various aspects: the whole world turning an oppressive red for several minutes throughout the reveal of Tachyon’s retirement, perfectly villainizing her; the breathtaking use of silhouettes and the neon-bright vending machine by a lonely torii gate; the illustrators’ craft taking a mechanism as simple, tried, and true as heavy rainfall during Cafe’s big moment, and raising it to a work of art. But in the name of brevity, I will conclude my review here. I suspect this movie will earn and retain an even higher spot on MAL’s Top Anime List once more people see it. This movie is undoubtedly a technical masterpiece.

They finally released this movie in the states so I finally got a chance to watch it. Jungle Pocket is very interesting because you get to see her imposter syndrome first-hand take place and how it strangles her regarding her losses to Tachyon and how she is unable to overcome them since she has no opportunity to race against Tachyon again and put her apprehensions to rest, which I think is a pretty interesting way to handle a rival dynamic. After I got out of the movie, I saw that the Nintendo Switch version of Pretty Dash was on sale like 70% off, so I bought it up, obviously its just a spinoff, but you know, may as well since I'm in the mood. I wonder if Jungle Pocket's stomach feels ticklish when running, since her racing outfit just has her midriff totally exposed. It would completely distract me if I were running in real life, but maybe it just activates the neurons in her brain, idk lol.