Yuri Quickie: Uma Musume Pretty Derby Season 3 (2025)

I admittedly got lazy with this one not because I lost interest but just felt like a breather. Eventually I felt the urge to finish the season and here we are. I imagine some might ask “Why a Quickie and not a G-View?” Read on and find out.

Check out my G-Views of the previous two seasons:

• Season 1
• Season 2

WARNING! This look at Uma Musume 3 will contain minor spoilers of past seasons.

WARNING 2! There is an ultimately meaningless fanboy gripe midway that does not affect my feelings on this series overall but only to let it out once and for all.

Put simply Uma Musume Season 3 felt similar to Season 2. Before fans get uppity this is not me saying it was bad, far from it. I do not want to use the phrases “more of the same” or “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” because those may be interpreted as it being a less than stellar season. Not at all. In fact, S3 solidified the anime about mostly gay horse girls as my favorite women’s sports anime series of all time. Something I initially thought Birdie Wing had claimed. Nope. The gay horsies still reign supreme while the crazy gay golfers are at an extremely close #2.

So back to my description. S3 is another season about the ups and downs of horse girl racing mainly centered around our main heroine pair, the previously adorable pony fangirls now turned beautiful mares Kitasan Black and Satono Diamond. In my mind the second best main couple of the series topped only by Special Week X Silence Suzuka. Their journeys for the most part felt like what Tokai Teio X Mejiro McQueen’s could have been were both not plagued with injuries. Besides their personal goals it felt like a romantic rivalry fueled by equality, a desire to push themselves to be at their best against each other and the feeling of being at the top of their game only against each other. This and BW made it clear that this is the 2nd best kind of sports Yuri ship or romance out there. The other being passionate tag teams. Come to think of it. This season gave viewers the best of both. KitaSato are a passionate tag team and romantic rivals. Not going over the trials and tribulations our heroines faced. All I will say is by the end this show did it to me AGAIN! Even when I felt lazy for no good reason I knew my love for the gay horsies show was no fluke. It is very real.

Besides the personally engaging stories of our heroines the supporting cast were solid. The main reason S2 remains the best in the series for me is not because of the narrative as both are excellent but the overall cast, old and new, were the best the second time around.

Duramente: Super adorable when serious, which is all the time. Not mocking her seriousness at all. What I mean is how serious she is about her #1 goal and looks when telling others about is cute. She is not a tsundere as she feels there is nothing to hide.

Satono Crown and Grand Cheval. Crown is fun while I like Cheval’s hat. That is all I got. They play their roles well and have cool side-stories for sure but neither blew me away. They are fun new horsies. Simple as that.

Now Sounds of Earth. That is what I am talking about! This mare was tres magnifique and I loved every scene she was in…

Maybe it is because the writers did not know what else to do with her beyond stealing the scenery in small doses. Maybe it is related to her namesake not having a stellar enough career to base an episode on. Then why pray tell make her so damn awesome!?

It is Hishi Amazon all over again. Why create the sexiest kemonomimi ever conceived and torture me by having her career highlight BEING A DAMN GOALPOST!? Again it may be related to her namesake but do I look like someone who cares about that!? Yes I am being selfish but how can I not be?

Possibly to quell my fanboy rage they gave the 2nd hottest mare in the series, Air Groove, more to do as a senpai. You are forgiven Uma Musume anime writers.

This goes back to my point. As fun as the new side-horsies were to me the best parts outside of the main plot mainly featured the S2 side-horsies, especially one Nice Nature who went from a fun side-horse last time to one of my favorites. Then again it should not surprise me because Tam Canopus are the second best group in the series, second only to our beloved Team Spica.

Speaking of Team Spica I hope the writer who decided to finally reunite “Special Silence” got a pay raise.

Do not get me started on the return of the peak couple. This Quickie might as well just be a G-View if I keep going.

At the end of the day Uma Musume 3 is awesome and solidified this as my favorite sports anime of all time. Everything that made the previous two seasons good are here and accounted for. S1 was pretty good but had some things that held it back from being great. S2 is the Diddy’s Kong Quest of the trilogy while S3 is DKC1. This show still holds a special place in my heart with its exciting races, wonderful horse girl antics, drama and sports anime gayness. That being said I do not know what to expect from the upcoming movie but I will give it a chance. Maybe it will be as good as the two OVAs (BNW no Chikai and Road to the Top.