Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
Lim4aid
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, adapt…
Read at the sourcesussywtf
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.
Read at the sourceDanteDemonZ
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 mea…
Read at the sourceRedlinkkid
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 complete…
Read at the sourcecurvedtree
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 F…
Read at the sourceDrinkTillDeath
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…
Read at the sourcebackind
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…
Read at the sourceKulikitakati16
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…
Read at the sourceMasta_Don
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 tim…
Read at the sourceSupersonic_Pain
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 t…
Read at the sourcetoxicgreen777
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 movi…
Read at the sourcearmycat23
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…
Read at the sourcePunished_Persona
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.
Read at the sourceSomeRandomDood
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.
Read at the sourceSatoruSho
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…
Read at the sourceundamoth
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 re…
Read at the sourceFrankRebin
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…
Read at the sourceCalebeS
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…
Read at the sourceVinZentVanDough
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…
Read at the sourcePhAnT0M_Alt
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.
Read at the source