Uma Musume: Cinderella Gray Season 2

Episode 20

We had a lot of fun with the goofy little Caps last week, but now it's time to get serious again. The Arima Kinen, as reinforced by several characters in this episode, is a big deal. It is described as "The Final Showdown"—a place where any horse can leave a lasting mark on their legacy and the overall racing institution. And with all the players this second cour of Cinderella Gray has rather gracefully assembled, it's positioned as the climax of this whole season. Forget the outcome as far as who's going to win, I'm wondering just how many episodes long this race is actually going to be!

The Arima Kinen hasn't actually kicked off by the end of this episode, which is, as I indicated, more lead-in like last week but even more laser-focused on the sheer weight of the occasion. There's a bit of teasing at first as to why this "Final Showdown" might be even more final in these circumstances. Tamamo Cross has something happening; she discusses with her trainer as weighty flashbacks crystalize how far she's come in her career. Oguri Cap reflects on her rivalry and her interactions with others, and then Tama hits her with the bombshell: this will be her last race, and Cap's last chance to race against her.

The nature of Uma Musume is such that the circumstances of competitors can turn as swiftly as they do for athletes in real life. Audiences can check a wiki page if they want to glean exactly what sort of prescribed condition might be motivating Tamamo Cross to step down, but the fact of the matter is that it's happening. It's a similar narrative to the arc of Kitasan Black, burning bright and retiring early in the anime's third season, to say nothing of the struggles against the jerky God that affected Tokai Teio and Mejiro McQueen's careers in the second season.

That is, in the moment, this sort of plot twist can feel abrupt, but working within that framework has always been part of the secret sauce of the Uma Musume anime. For one thing, dropping this reveal this way fully recenters Oguri's role as the focal character, as she suffers this mental blow at the same time as the audience. She is the viewpoint into this world for those watching at home, and so Tama's decision to retire must be coupled with her status as Oguri's rival. It adds another layer of urgency to the countdown of the season coming to a close: now, Oguri's chance to win against Tama at all is on a time limit.

Cinderella Gray reinforces that central role for Oguri by using the suddenness of this situation to interrogate the places of those who have played rival to her thus far. Once again, the re-relevance of Fujimasa March was calculated, as it's thinking about leaving her behind that leads Oguri to the realization that rivals come and rivals go in this business. Running parallel to that comes Dicta Striker, who reveals how hard she's been considering Oguri her own rival. Dicta uses Oguri to measure her own opportunity to prove that she didn't peak early and still has relevance, and can still strive for another peak, as in cap.

But even though that's the background noise of Dicta's motivation, it doesn't wholly define her relationship with Oguri as far as Oguri is concerned. This interaction, and the little dress-rehearsal race that Dicta takes her on, is all about getting Oguri to mull over the question of what a rival is and how it affects her motivations as an athlete. This, too, is part of Uma Musume's meditations on sports storytelling. Rivalries can be drummed up by the press and audiences, but ultimately, they're perceptions athletes have of each other to help them aspire to new heights. The "rivals" in Cinderella Gray are all codified by their relation to and perception by Oguri Cap. Considering that this episode is a strong way to reflect that concept for the overall franchise and to reconfirm Oguri as the main character in this installment, especially after the narrative was previously about her potentially getting lost in the shuffle of all the other competitors. It's all also just a very funny thing to do around a horsegirl who was previously a single-joke background character.

This is all without getting into the point that Oguri's near-breakthrough is based on her realizing that her constant comparing of herself to other rivals might be what's keeping her from unlocking her true potential. But with the symbology of The Zone cracking through, that will almost certainly come through fully in the climax that is the imminent Arima Kinen. For a serious episode about foreshadowing those breakthroughs, though, this is a strong entry, especially for someone like me who loves analyzing the sensibilities of sports storytelling in Uma Musume (as if you couldn't tell). Also, it's cool to get more info on Dicta Striker. She's a Tomboy Horse with a look to rival my fave Vodka, and she gets to make some wonderfully unhinged faces this episode. It sets the stage and the stakes for what a Big Deal the Arima Kinen is, and as many episodes as it might take to finish, this makes me feel like Cinderella Gray's bets could pay out very well.

Rating:

Uma Musume: Cinderella Gray Season 2 is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.

Chris backed the horse girls before they were cool, and he's so happy they've spurted off the way they have now. You can follow him reskeeting fanart of Vodka, Michelle My Baby, and the other cool ones over on his BlueSky.