Watching Uma Musume Pretty Derby: Beginning of a New Era (ウマ娘 プリティーダービー 新時代の扉)

Uma Musume Pretty Derby: Beginning of a New Era (ウマ娘 プリティーダービー 新時代の扉) started screening in Japan's cinemas on 24 May 2024, just more than a week ago. I am not really a fan of this series, but it looked interesting. And when my favourite anime reviewer on YouTube gave it a good review, followed by director Shinkai Makoto tweeting that it blew him away, I dutifully made my way down to catch it.

 

The cinema even had this big banner at its lobby.

 

When the movie started, I immediately noticed that it was using the wider aspect that movies used to be in. Recent movies tend to use an aspect closer to 16:9 since most of them end up on streaming services anyway, so it was nice to see someone actually take the effort to make a movie, and not a TV show that happens to be screened in a movie theatre before being released on a streaming service.

And then I saw the name of the sound director, Tsuruoka Yota, followed by Yokoyama Masaru, who did the music. This really got my attention, since Tsuruoka is the sound director who does Kyoani's works (such as Violet Evergarden, K-On!, CLANNAD, Tsurune, and so on), and Yokoyama Masaru did the music for works like Your Lie in April, Scum's Wish, and even the recent Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night. I was quite certain that this movie is going to be great in terms of the sound and music. It was also a bit surprising since I don't think they have worked on any of the past Uma Musume works before.

Not being very well versed with the characters, and not a horse racing fan, I had no idea who Jungle Pocket or Agnes Tachyon were. All I can say is that the main characters gave me an image of an egoistic lunatic and a mad scientist. The core theme is about wanting to be better, and about being imprisoned by our desire to be better. About losing to others, about that feeling that we will never be as good as someone else. Seeing Jungle Pocket struggle to overcome that inner wall, and how success can both inspire others and curse them, coupled with the amazing soundtrack, moved me to tears.

I really wasn't expecting to cry at a Uma Musume movie, but I did. 😅

I think fans of the series will love this movie, and even non-fans will find the story relatable. The animation itself, with the sound and music, makes it all the more enjoyable. This is definitely a movie to watch on the big screen, and definitely worth spending 108 minutes of your time on it.

 

Official website (in Japanese)