First Impression: Uma Musume: Cinderella Gray

Kitahara Jo is looking for a star—a racer that fans can see themselves in and cheer on to victory in the world of uma musume or horse girl racing. But he’s probably not going to find her out in exile at the regionals, right? Meanwhile, it’s the first day of school at Kasamatsu Tracen Academy, a training school for uma musume, and Belno Light is pretty excited about the new world opening up to her. It’s only a matter of time before she and all her new friends will be racing in the Nationals, right? Wrong. Seems that the most these academy kids can hope for is the regionals—apart from maybe scholarship ace Fujimasa March or possibly social media queen Norn Ace (definitely not her two clench-jawed henchmen though!). Wait, who’s this mysterious ashen-haired, dirty tracksuited girl with an appetite large enough to shut down the school cafeteria and impoverish her single-parent household? Whoever she is, she’s the perfect prospect for a new friend (for Belno)—or fodder for bullying (for the queen bee and her henches). After attempts to both befriend and bully her fall flat, her backstory unfolds: A childhood condition left her barely able to walk, but the dedication of her mom massaged life back into her failing knees, and now she can run. And run she does! Like no other. Until, that is, one of the henches unties her shoelace just as the first race of the school year, attended by scouts and trainers (Kitahara Jo among them), is about to kick off. Are her prospects for a shining future full of all-you-can-eat buffets and a life of luxury for her mom over before they even began? And who is she exactly, anyway?

“Horse girls?!” you may be thinking, or “Another high school girls’ club/sports series?” Well, I’m here to tell ya to hold yer horses, par’dner, before riding writing this one off, cause we may just have struck gold here. The Uma Musume franchise has been around for a while, with the first anime in 2018 by P.A. Works, and spinning off into other media. As a slightly unusual CGDCT series, it’s found its fandom and introduced Japanese horse racing to the world (each girl is named after an actual, historical racing horse, complete with some elements of its backstory and personality). But something special happened a couple of years ago when CygamesPictures took over the franchise with Uma Musume: Pretty Derby ROAD TO THE TOP, a 4-part mini series and double film feature: It got really good! This new series, Cinderella Gray, kicks off a whole new storyline and cast of characters and so far, seems set to showcase what makes the CygamesPictures iteration of the franchise so great: Sharp writing, tragic backstories, and most of all, stellar animation with its signature forced perspective hero-making shots and golden hour training sequences. Honestly, go watch the mini-series if you haven’t already, because if this is what we’re in for with Cinderella Gray, then you’re not going to want to miss it, assuming you’re a fan of good storytelling and stunning art. (Though this episode is a great entry point into the franchise on its own and doesn’t require familiarity with the main series.) Also, the ashen-haired girl is an absolute cinnamon roll, as is her mom, and, as Kitahara Jo knows well, who doesn’t love a likable underdog story? Does this opening episode hit many of the usual “first day of high school” tropes? Yep. But is there enough here in terms of characterization, humor, and worldbuilding to keep tuning in? Absolutely. And that, with the promise of the animation to come, has me excited for this one. 

  • Kitahara Jo is living his dream…

Uma Musume: Cinderella Gray is streaming on YouTube, via It’s Anime powered by REMOW.

claire
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