Umamusume: Pretty Derby - Beginning of a New Era (2024)
Directed by Ken Yamamoto
No · Ultra Based
How we score movies →Consciousness Markers
All-female cast, but this appears incidental to the fantasy premise rather than intentional representation. Characters are defined by competitive ability, not identity.
Female characters compete and succeed, but there is no engagement with feminist themes, gender dynamics, or systemic barriers. Gender is simply not part of the film's vocabulary.
Characters pursue competitive success within a capitalist sports framework without critique. The film celebrates individual achievement and victory.
Film is loosely based on 2001 Japanese horse racing events, but presents them through a fantastical lens that precludes any historical revisionism.
No LGBTQ+ themes, relationships, or subtext present in the narrative.
Characters exist in a fantastical, non-racial space. No engagement with racial themes, representation discourse, or historical consciousness.
No climate or environmental themes present in the narrative.
No engagement with body positivity or body image themes. Characters are drawn with idealized anime aesthetics.
No representation of or commentary on neurodivergence.
Film prioritizes sports drama and character competition over any preachy messaging or social instruction.
Synopsis
Jungle Pocket, an Umamusume who has been racing tirelessly in pursuit of becoming the greatest, is ready to take on the once-in-a-lifetime Classic Triple Crown series. However, standing in her way are rivals from the same generation, whose talent may even surpass her own.
Why it received this score
Here stands a film so aggressively unconcerned with contemporary social commentary that it achieves a kind of purity. "Umamusume: Pretty Derby - Beginning of a New Era" presents an all-female cast competing in horse racing without ever acknowledging that gender exists as a category. The characters are not women overcoming patriarchal barriers, nor are they engaged in any meaningful exploration of identity. They are simply competitors, rendered as anthropomorphic horse-girls in a fantastical sports narrative divorced from any recognizable social reality.
The film's refusal to engage with modern cultural preoccupations is almost admirable in its consistency. There is no diversity discourse because the characters exist in a chromatic space that bears no relationship to ethnicity. There are no LGBTQ+ themes, no climate messaging, no wealth inequality critique, no neurodivergent representation, no revisionist historical consciousness. The entire enterprise is a sports drama wrapped in magical realism, and it remains content to stay that way.
What emerges is a film that, by the standards of contemporary cultural analysis, registers as essentially inert. It has not been constructed with progressive sensibilities in mind. It has been constructed with gacha game mechanics and character merchandise in mind. In a peculiar way, this makes it a relief to score. One can apply one's tools without finding much resistance. The film is what it is: entertainment for enthusiasts of a specific subculture, animated with considerable technical skill, entirely indifferent to the cultural battles that consume so much discourse elsewhere.
Analysis generated by our Consciousness Algorithm
Critic Reviews
“Umamusume: Pretty Derby – Beginning of a New Era shines with breathtaking race animation and a compelling rivalry.”
“At once melodramatic, jaw-dropping, and oddly inspiring, Beginning Of A New Era captures the irrational passion of sports in all its hooved glory.”
“Umamusume: Pretty Derby – Beginning of a New Era is more of a self-discovery story with thematically rich narrative.”