Umamusume Movie Review Finds Feral Heroines and No Fan Service
The review frames the film as a rare sports anime that lets its female cast be physically powerful and visually feral without undercutting them for a presumed male gaze.
Reporting from 1 sources: Anime Feminist.
Anime Feminist reviews the 2024 film Umamusume: Pretty Derby - Beginning of a New Era, now in English release. The review says the story of rookie runner Jungle Pocket works as a standalone entry. It praises the hand-drawn animation for capturing raw physical power and notes the female protagonists are allowed to be intense, sweaty, and off-putting. The review finds no leering fan service and calls the emotional core solid despite the absurd premise.
The Umamusume franchise has been expanding fast, with the mobile game's global release and the film pulling an estimated $900,000 in its U.S. opening weekend. That context makes the Anime Feminist review worth a close read. It argues the movie does something unusual for a gacha-based property: it sidelines cuteness and idol appeal in favor of sweat, snarls, and sheer physicality. The animation warps the air around the runners and tears up the track under their feet. The review calls the lack of fan service matter-of-fact, not a marketing bullet point. For a franchise built on horse-girl idols, that is a deliberate choice.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.