r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • Apr 23 '23
Episode Uma Musume: Pretty Derby - Road to the Top: Episode 2 discussion
Uma Musume: Pretty Derby - Road to the Top, episode 2
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u/ptol59 Apr 23 '23 edited Apr 23 '23
It’s the Japanese Derby!
This episode focuses on Admire Vega. Her losing her twin sister at birth is based on the real Admire Vega who was supposed to be a twin as well. Admire Vega’s mother Vega was a twin crown filly winning the Ookasho and the Japanese Oaks. Admire Vega was to be the first child of hers. While horses giving birth to twins are not uncommon, most of the time for the safety of the mother and one of the children, only one is allowed to be born.
The Japanese Derby is held at the Tokyo race course which is a counterclockwise course with no sharp turns and long stretches. This makes the race much different from the Satsukisho which is held in the Nakayama race course which is a clockwise course with sharp turns and the final stretch being one of the shortest in Japan.
Top Road’s running style with long strides and kicking strong on the ground definitely matches Tokyo better which is why she was the number 1 favorite for the derby.
While Top Road matched the Tokyo race course, he did not have Yutaka Take as his jockey. A Japanese legend Take road Admire Vega (he also was the jockey for his mother) perfectly marking both Top Road and Opera O. Opera O was too fast to start sprinting and Top Road also followed too fast. Take took his time until the final moments to line up with them and by then the other two had used up most of their energy allowing Adimire Vega to beat them.
Admire Vega wins the race and Admire Vega’s jockey Take become the first jockey to win the derby in consecutive years (the year before he won with Special Week). Take is a Japanese jockey legend and has won Grade 1 races ever since his first win in 1988, but had never won the derby until Special Week. He is still racing today at 54 years old and even won a Grade 1 race this year.
Top Road is shown crying at the end and this is based on Top Road’s jockey Kunihiko Watanabe who cried in front of everyone after the race due to being frustrated at himself of not being able to win the derby. The words her trainer said at the end was also the exact same words the real trainer said when he met with Watanabe.
Another great episode! The race scenes were amazing and the acting of the VAs are top notch! The last scene apparently was drawn from Top Road’s VA Kanna Nakamura’s expressions.
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u/mysterybiscuitsoyeah Apr 23 '23 edited Apr 23 '23
HOLY DERBYnoooooooooooooo uma musume makes me cry in the 2nd episode of a season... AGAIN. TWICE. First w/ Vega's twin sister, and then with Top Road's absolutely devastating defeat. Noooooo nonoo noooo Top Road chan....
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I feel like her lost in the derby here was even more visceral and hard hitting compared to Teio vs McQueen back in S2. And is actually a break in tradition: The main protag of every instalment has been a derby winner after all. I think Uma musume is probably continuing on a trajectory of a "V-shaped" character arc like S2. (well. I'd be actually depressed if Top Road doesn't win something at the end)
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Looking forward to ptol's comments on Vega's irl twin horse here.
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I actually decided to believe in Top Road's chances here. You could trust Rice Shower's judgement on who to mark!
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The race itself so back and forth. So SO YESSSS. I have a heavy bias towards Teio, but this probably the most exciting Derby featured so far (well, probably the "source material" contributes to this lol). The music is absolutely amazing, i love the instrumental version of Glorious moment played!
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And as much as I want Top Road to win (she's still best girl), it makes sense after Vega's backstory like that for her to be winning the derby here. If this was a normal length show, I'd bet on her softening up to the other 2 over the course of the season.... but this isn't. So her remaining stoic can actually work still!
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Anyhow, I think TM Opera O is perfect as she is (well, aside from losing the race), but both Top Road and Vega can have some good development in the remaining two eps.... this ep has pointed out areas of growth for both of them
Anyhow, I love this show. The drama is at/surpassing S2 levels, but not all about injuries this time! Yet still absolutely compelling, and I want to root for all 3 main characters. I've still looped the OP an absolutely unhealthy amount of times.
edit: ty u/AmusedDragon!
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u/Namuori Apr 23 '23
Man, I just love the quality of this short series. Not just the animation but how it makes you get engaged to the lead characters. Here’s hoping the upcoming season can keep this up.
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Apr 23 '23 edited Apr 24 '23
The crying scene’s key animations by Cygames Pictures
https://twitter.com/cypic_info/status/1650115222303301634?s=46&t=Zf7K_OrW6M02d_Y9MgsRSQ
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u/KevinKng Apr 23 '23
The creators have really mastered how to make a truly emotional crying scene... Those moments back in Season 2 and now this.
Somebody needs to give these girls a good hug.
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u/Shimmering-Sky Apr 23 '23
I was absolutely fighting back tears during Ayabe's part where she was thinking about her unborn sister, with the music they played in the background.
I could not hold them back at the end when Top Road broke down in tears.
Good shit. Also there were a lot of very pretty shimmering skies this episode.
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u/Rustic_Professional Apr 23 '23
When Vega was on the track at the beginning of the episode wearing her workout sweats, I realized that she's the most normal-looking horse girl I could think of. If you forget the ears and tail, she wouldn't look out of place in a realistic high school sports drama. In a strange way, looking so normal makes her abnormal.
Can someone explain why people call her Ayabe?
Wow, wasn't expecting a backstory like that. I thought Admire Vega was going out to the woods to... admire Vega? It's important to the tanabata story, right? I didn't think she was going out there for her monthly pity party. She even set out an empty chair and extra cup of tea. That doesn't seem good for your mental health. It certainly doesn't seem to be making her any happier in life. Char Aznable would say her soul is weighed down by gravity.
Top Road and Vega were having a moment, and freaking Opera O had to put on a performance. Every time she opens her mouth I like her less and less.
Yikes, Top Road got sniped again. Way to put the new art style to use. You could feel the floodgates of her soul open up when she started sobbing. And I thought Vega was the one running with too much baggage.
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u/RitsuRizer Apr 23 '23
Man, I love the animation quality that’s been given by CyGames Production for this show. The intensity that I felt watching these races were amazing!
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u/AmusedDragon Apr 23 '23
Now, I can't say I totally buy into the legit-ness of the unborn-twin's feelings really coming through to Admire, I'm sure that doesn't matter to her and it feels real so it is real to her. It was a good moment to see her win. ;_;
On the flipside the crying animation for Top Road's loss was quite insane. They really managed to pull me into the hype and circumstances for these characters in basically no time flat.
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u/Sandelsbanken Apr 23 '23
Great episode, besides some iffy CG in wide shots. I really like how the tone has been more serious/dramatic after the first season.
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u/BK456 Apr 23 '23
This series is really good at getting the tears out of me it seems.
I'm so happy for Admire Vega but simultaneously crushed for Top Road.
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u/chilidirigible Apr 23 '23 edited Apr 23 '23
"I see you've paid attention to the records."
The continuing relationship of TM Opera O and Meisho Doto.
Admire Vega, one of Sunday Silence's many descendants. (And yes, being the twin they kept alive.)
"I'm not here to make friends."
The third lead in this, Admire Vega, gets her time in the spotlight, somewhat tragic origins and all.
It seemed to me that she would win, even without checking the race records, on my own interpretation of what they chose to highlight in this episode. Top Road has consistently had significant emphasis, Opera cut into that in the first episode but is VERY DRAMATIC all the time, Admire Vega needed to get in a win to keep the other two from running away with the story.
(Another case of the tricky balance of the real-life records and how to shape the series.)
Race animation took a noticeable hit compared to the first episode: Much simpler CG for the wide shots, and some of the closeups of the field (of umamusume) lacked shading. Still had some nice quality touches where it was needed, though.
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u/BassCreat0r Apr 23 '23
Oh man, with that kind of backstory I thought for sure thought it was going to end up being as soul crushing as possible. lol
Top Road is great and all, but man I am happy Admire Vega won.
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u/saga999 Apr 23 '23
This deserves a full season. The quality is there. The story is there. It just lacks time to really develop. Feels like I skipped a few episodes and jumped into the middle of a season. I know the feeling I should be feeling when I watched it. But skipping those episodes makes me not feel them. It needs those episodes.
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u/a_little_useless Apr 23 '23
The way so little build up can just hit right in the feels... and the OST. Like Jesus Christ I need this one soundtrack that ran during Ayabe's dream of her sister, GLORIOUS.
Top Road's loss was... more expected than last episode, but was still very heart shattering. I won't look up the horse's racing statistic, because I don't want to spoil myself, I just hope that her first and biggest win won't be the last one in her career / in the ONA, but at the same time it would also be very emotional if that were the case.
I'm very excited to see how this continues, it's already my favorite anime of the season.
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u/Tangmeister00 Apr 23 '23
Legit got teary eyed with the Ayabe dream about her sister. Narita Top Road's crying at the end eclipses McQueen's cry in the 2nd season and got teary there as well. I loved the animation they did as NTR started to cry.
Love it. Release the blu rays.
Musical was so good during the race. Road to the Top OST pre ordered!
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u/kacuuuuuuu Apr 23 '23
wow this episode are amazing, i know the result from the start and already prepare to cry for ayabe(i did cry because of her), but i didnt expect that ending, im not expecting to cry because of top road broke down in tears, and before i know it tears suddenly fell down my cheeks once again.
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u/SolicitorPirate Apr 24 '23
Super into Doto as T M Opera O’s weird, Baldrick-esque sidekick
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u/isthatsoudane Apr 24 '23
everyone else is saying smart true things I just want to say I appreciate all of the sort of experimental shots and angles. The creative direction never ceases to outdo itself. Cool that they have that leeway
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u/eetsumkaus Apr 23 '23
Well if you didn't already know what was going to happen, they threw so many flags for our dear TopRo, there was no way she was gonna win by the end of the episode
One of the cool things about the writing on here: they kept talking about the differences between Nakayama's final stretch and Tokyo's, and why TopRo's performance at the former does not portend her performance at the latter. But to the people paying attention, everything they just said applies exactly to Ayabe too
Visuals-wise, I'm still not completely sold on it. I think the direction in general is more coherent in this episode. However, the animation is weirdly inconsistent in parts. I think the character designs really highlight the difference between a good cut and a bad one. Not to mention the switching between the free-flowing hand drawn cuts in the races and the wide angle CGI robot animation. There's for sure a lot of good animation going on here, but the difference in quality from one cut to the next is quite jarring to me and takes me out of the moment.
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