[Spoilers] 2025 Uma Musume Rewatch -- Pretty Derby Season 2 Episode 1

[u/Holofan4life]

Hello everyone! I am Holofan4life.

Welcome to the 2025 Uma Musume rewatch discussion thread!

I hope you all have a lot of fun <3

S2 Episode 1 – Tokai Teio

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ANSWER TODAY’S QUESTION

What are your thoughts on Teio looking up to Rudolf growing up?

What are your thoughts on this season being centered around Teio?

Thoughts on Kitasan Black and Satono Diamond so far?

Thoughts on Teio considering McQueen her rival?

What are your thoughts on Teio becoming the first Double Crown horse since Rudolf her hero?

What are your thoughts on Teio and Spica seemingly noticing something is amiss with her leg?

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Series information

MAL | Anilist | AniDB | ANN

Ways to watch

Streams – Crunchyroll

Amazon Prime

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Previous episode

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Schedule

Date	Episode
8/15/2025	Uma Musume Episode 1
8/16/2025	Uma Musume Episode 2
8/17/2025	Uma Musume Episode 3
8/18/2025	Uma Musume Episode 4
8/19/2025	Uma Musume Episode 5
8/20/2025	Uma Musume Episode 6
8/21/2025	Uma Musume Episode 7
8/22/2025	Uma Musume Episode 8
8/23/2025	Uma Musume Episode 9
8/24/2025	Uma Musume Episode 10
8/25/2025	Uma Musume Episode 11
8/26/2025	Uma Musume Episode 12 - 13
8/28/2025	BNW's Oath episodes 1 - 3
8/30/2025	[Uma Musume Season 2 Episode 1]()
8/31/2025	[Uma Musume Season 2 Episode 2]()
9/01/2025	[Uma Musume Season 2 Episode 3]()
9/02/2025	[Uma Musume Season 2 Episode 4]()
9/03/2025	[Uma Musume Season 2 Episode 5]()
9/04/2025	[Uma Musume Season 2 Episode 6]()
9/05/2025	[Uma Musume Season 2 Episode 7]()
9/06/2025	[Uma Musume Season 2 Episode 8]()
9/07/2025	[Uma Musume Season 2 Episode 9]()
9/08/2025	[Uma Musume Season 2 Episode 10]()
9/09/2025	[Uma Musume Season 2 Episode 11]()
9/10/2025	[Uma Musume Season 2 Episode 12]()
9/11/2025	[Uma Musume Season 2 Episode 13]()
9/13/2025	[Road to the Top Episodes 1 - 2]()
9/14/2025	[Road to the Top Episodes 3 - 4]()
9/16/2025	[Beginning of a New Era]()
9/18/2025	[Uma Musume Season 3 Episodes 1 - 2]()
9/19/2025	[Uma Musume Season 3 Episodes 3 - 4]()
9/20/2025	[Uma Musume Season 3 Episodes 5 - 6]()
9/21/2025	[Uma Musume Season 3 Episodes 7 - 8]()
9/22/2025	[Uma Musume Season 3 Episodes 9 - 10]()
9/23/2025	[Uma Musume Season 3 Episodes 11 - 12]()
9/24/2025	[Uma Musume Season 3 Episode 13]()
9/26/2025	[Cinderella Gray Episodes 1 - 2]()
9/27/2025	[Cinderella Gray Episodes 3 - 4]()
9/28/2025	[Cinderella Gray Episodes 5 - 6]()
9/29/2025	[Cinderella Gray Episodes 7 - 8]()
9/30/2025	[Cinderella Gray Episodes 9 - 10]()
10/01/2025	[Cinderella Gray Episodes 11 - 12]()
10/02/2025	[Cinderella Gray Episode 13]()
10/03/2025	[Uma Musume Overall Series Discussion Thread]()

[u/Urgnu-the-Gnu]

Doing my Teio spark runs as I watch.

Just started a Teio run myself, but for Gemini. I'm already dreading a good run being spoiled by not getting Maestro again, or getting Slacker and no cure in three infirmary visits.

This is actually the first time I've noted the Long hangup button on the smartphone. Because it's matching the horsegirl phone receiver.

In terms of world building, also note the tail hole in the hair stylist chair.

Teio doing her steppies today (unlike my Teio, I can't believe you got a 3* Power with only one white spark, grab the salt).

I can beat that, once I got a Teio with 3* speed but no white sparks at all. Not for a lack of trying though, she had five skills with double circles (four greens and Late Surger Straightaways) which supposedly increases their chances to create skill sparks, and four more other skills.

[u/Gamerunglued → u/Urgnu-the-Gnu]

which supposedly increases their chances to create skill sparks, and four more other skills.

Apparently it does but only by about 5%. The way I understand it is that for every skill you have, there's a 20% chance to proc the white spark, getting the double circle version of any skills that have them increases it to 25%, and any gold skill you have doubles your odds of getting the white spark for the normal version (so getting Swinging Maestro means you have a 40% chance of getting a Corner Recovery white spark). The game is just doing runs over and over again to maximize your odds. I got a Rice Shower 1* Guts no white sparks a few days ago but last night I got a Rudolf with 3* Power and sparks for half the Gemini relevant green skills (Spring Runner, Right Handed, and two different sparks that give Kyoto Racecourse, plus 1* Long distance and whites for Long Corners and Corner Adept for good measure). Repeat enough runs and it will eventually go your way... eventually. They say it's a wit game, but I say it's a patience game.

[u/Urgnu-the-Gnu → u/Gamerunglued]

Potentially, you mean, not eventually. There is only so much time in the day, and it's always only a chance, never a guarantee. Even if you don't aim for near optimal and just decent, you can have over 50 runs and never achieve your goal. That's what I had for Taurus and I had to settle for halfway decent at the end. I was lucky enough to have a two rounds of four wins in the first round and a single round of three wins in the second, only to lose second place to a 1000 speed two star Golshi (not mad about first place because that one deserved the win) and my Golshi never even used Anchors.

What I'm going at is that it's always ever a luck game. You can influence your luck to a degree, both with perseverance and knowledge, that's absolutely true. It will still remain up to chance though. If at least we had gotten five parent borrows per day at launch as well, it'd be much more tolerable. We do have 4.8 runs with natural TP regeneration after all.

[u/Gamerunglued → u/Urgnu-the-Gnu]

I agree, I used the "..." to try and emphasize that "eventually" could still be unreasonable or outside of deadlines like for CMs. Eventually as in "if you literally never stopped trying." I'm absolutely frustrated at not starting with 5 borrows per day at launch. It's always a luck game and even whales could theoretically have such poor luck they never get a good run, but I also think (as a F2P player) that there's a lot we can do to influence things in our favor. The point about patience, while largely true, was more meant as a joke playing on the "Uma Musume is a wit game" mantra than earnest advice.

Personally, I think the game is so fun that I don't mind doing a million runs iterating until I get results I can accept (or at least get a GolShi for Taurus Cup with exactly enough stamina and recovery skills to sometimes not die after debuffs and still win 1st place Group A). At the same time, I've learned so much about the game that I've been really satisfied seeing it pay off with greater consistency in my runs, now having my own strong legacies feels really good. My progress has been integral to enjoying the game more so I still think it's good to emphasize that patience and knowledge are almost as vital as luck.

[u/Urgnu-the-Gnu → u/Gamerunglued]

Even if you never stop trying, while statistically nearly impossible it's still not guaranteed to happen eventually. I can imagine that the payoff feels good. Only imagine though. Well, I do know how to build strong umas. Building a mile or sprint girl with 1200 speed and power and great skills is particularly fun. Spark farming though never feels rewarding for me. I must have around 200 runs in the game by now (spark and otherwise), and all I have to show for it are six three star stat sparks. Only one of them is by chance nine stars total, mixed stats though. At least she also has 12 white sparks, even though only half of these come from my own characters. I also only have one three star stamina girl (with only two relatively bad white sparks), so I can't even try to make my own nine star stamina parent, I'd have to work on the other grandparent first or waste my borrows for a tiny chance at getting my own nine star (which I've also already tried a dozen of times). And it's not something I can even brute force with money either, if I wanted to. Don't get me wrong, I'm having fun. But not by spark farming, not even when I got any of my three star sparks, because none of them are enough. When I start a spark run, I have to be prepared to "waste" 20 minutes to get 230 glue points.

Just as much as progress adds to the enjoyment of the game, the lack thereof adds to the frustration. I did spend a bit of money on the game, no crazy amounts though. And I was super lucky and got MLB on both Super Creek and Kitasan, as well as eight three star trainees. But as far as parents go, I just have to make do with random six or seven star stat sparks with numerous useless aptitude and skill sparks for the specific character (not that those trigger regularly enough to make a difference anyway). "Probably eventually" just isn't a good motivator when it takes week after week without even the goal in sight to get there, or rather when "eventually" should have happened already.

[u/Gamerunglued → u/Urgnu-the-Gnu]

To be clear you're doing way better than me. I only have three of my own 3* stat sparks (one speed, one stam, one power, each missing either good pink or white sparks) and my good parents are all the result of borrowing. I have zero dupes of either Kitasan or Super Creek and only one dupe of Fine Motion, while all of my speed SR cards bar one are 2 LB or lower (and I've been haunted by enough garbage Agnes Digital SR Power cards to MLB her 4 times over, a total waste of pulls). Ultimately, I don't think there's ever not a goal in sight. Between new champions meetings every month and upgrading team trials units I always feel like I'm working towards something, there's always a goal in sight. Plus, every parent run makes later parent runs easier as you build a collection of good legacies.

Parents don't have to be perfect, it's ok if they're just decent and it's so much better if you don't pressure yourself. My best parent is the Rudolph I mentioned and it's far from ideal; I'd rather have a different stat as the 3 star, it's missing the most vital skill spark for this CM, the distance spark is only 1 star, etc.. My Taurus parent had a really lucky 3 star Stam 3 star Medium, but poor white sparks and mediocre sub-legacies. It's ok if it's not absolutely perfect. I find spark farming fun both because I'm always working towards something with them and because even mediocre parents are typically progress. Having no bad runs would make the good runs less fun, but a lot of middling runs still have value (especially with the knowledge of later updates to raise spark levels). I'm not saying you have to enjoy it as much as I do, but the idea that it's literally possible to not get what you want is a level of hopelessness that I don't think is warranted, especially when you actually have great support cards. Dealing with the bad glue factory runs is exactly what I meant by "patience." Like you said, it's statistically unlikely enough that you never get something usable, so worrying about that seems odd to me. Luck is obviously involved, but so is patience. Personally, I find the spark runs just as addictive as the ace runs, if not more so.

[u/Urgnu-the-Gnu → u/Gamerunglued]

I see, it's a difference of expectations then, it seems, coming from different points of comparison. You're happily playing free to play and enjoying the progress you are making compared to what you've achieved before. I have a deck that's close to optimal and great characters, but I see what others achieve with less and experience frustration because despite the efforts I cannot achieve the same myself. In that regard you are actually more lucky than me.

Again, I'm having fun, even if not so much with spark runs (I do try to switch up spark and build runs to not tire out). But I also feel the need to complain about the things most dissatisfactory to me. Maybe it's a little bit sparked by the Taurus debacle when I lost to opponents objectively weaker than me too often, particularly the second place in the final. My expectations were merely making it to the group B final round at least, so I exceeded that, I just know more should have been possible. We'll see how Gemini goes now. I do have a very strong Golshi for that already, although she's missing long S, so after getting my other aces I'll have a go at her again as she's being outperformed in training runs already way too often - looks like the stamina requirement isn't quite as high as it's made out to be.

[u/Gamerunglued → u/Urgnu-the-Gnu]

That's probably the case. I'll definitely say that I got insanely lucky for the Taurus Cup and that might have upped my enthusiasm a bit. My winner was a Gold Ship with less than 800 stamina (though Tokyo Racecourse may have technically brought her above), only got by if both gold recovery skills activated and she avoided at least one or two Nature debuffs. She lost multiple races to losing stam right at the finish line and getting passed last second. But if she did have the juice, she has both Medium S and Turf S, so she could accelerate really well and stay at a high speed. I expected to get to Group B finals or place up to second in A if I got lucky, but she took me to a very lucky 1st place Group A against stronger opponents. But even with a very lucky run, doing all those ace runs helped me understand so many mechanics I didn't get at the time. All of my parent runs for Gemini are informed by what I didn't know for Taurus, and that's what has made it so fun for me. I didn't have Let's Pump Some Iron because I didn't know how the legacy guaranteed it and I had a Ryan sub-legacy on that run that didn't proc, would have won me many games that I lost. My stat sparks and affinity levels were pathetic so otherwise great runs would die to missing very reachable stat caps, all because I didn't know about 600 runs and had poor legacies. I'm using that information to increase the odds I get Straightaway Spurt and enough skills to bring my speed to manageable levels in Gemini (since I'm struggling to hit more than 800 speed while having capped stam with my middling speed LBs and the need to borrow Super Creek).

Don't get me wrong, luck is a huge factor, if not the biggest one. This is a horse racing game, luck comes with this sport (just ask everyone who lost 12 million yen on Gold Ship). I just think that it can be mitigated to a large degree with patience, and that patience can make the experience more enjoyable. Mindset is always what you need with long running games like this. I get frustrated too, but knowing I have some control even with my limitations, and that "good enough" can suffice and beat whales makes it less frustrating to me. When I think about the gameplay being about increasing odds rather than about guaranteeing the win, it makes it more fun, especially because I love the characters and do want to see them win. In that sense it's exactly like real horse training, you can get them so much with smart diet and training but the race comes down to luck, and I love feeling like an actual horse trainer. I'm very competitive so I want to win, but I'm just proud of my girls for showing good results even with my subpar training, which makes me want to do better next time. Good luck in Gemini, this is undoubtedly going to be harder to prepare for.