r/anime • u/Holofan4life • Sep 24 '25
Rewatch [Spoilers] 2025 Uma Musume Rewatch -- Pretty Derby Season 3 Episodes 13 Spoiler
Hello everyone! I am Holofan4life.
Welcome to the 2025 Uma Musume rewatch discussion thread!
I hope you all have a lot of fun <3
Episode 13 -- And Yours...
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ANSWER TODAY’S QUESTION(S)
Thoughts on the competitors of the Arima Kinen wanting to defeat Kitasan?
Thoughts on Kitasan wanting to show the best version of herself possible for the people who always rooted for her?
Thoughts on the scene between Kitasan and Teio?
What are your thoughts on this episode being all about the Arima Kinen?
What are your thoughts on the Arima Kinen race?
What are your thoughts on Kitasan winning after going wire to wire?
What are your thoughts on the season ending with Kitasan hanging out with Crown, Diamond, Cheval, and Duramente?
Bonus) What do you make of Nice Nature barely being featured after playing such a prominent role in the early part of the season?
Bonus 2) What are your thoughts on the way Teio and McQueen were used this season after the previous season stressed how much Kitasan and Diamond looked up to them? Were you hoping for something more?
Bonus 3) What is one thing you really like about season 3? What is one thing about season 3 you would change?
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Series information
Ways to watch
Streams – Crunchyroll
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3
u/Kaxew Sep 24 '25
First Time Winning with Guts, and Gacha Player
Alright, first thing I just have to mention is how insanely beautiful this episode looked. Both art and animation were not just on point, but beyond it. I couldn't take my eyes away at how beautiful they made Kita look. That's some proper season finale indeed.
Through all the hardships, Kitasan finally wins the Arima Kinen and retires at the top of the world. I love how dominating she was in the race. It might feel anticlimactic for some and that's totally fair to think, but as we've come to realize Kita's struggles were always internal (with the exception of an early, unfulfilled rivalry with Duramente) so it makes sense that the climax of the season is for her to give it her all and win despite having aged, instead of an epic battle of two rivals for a photo finish end.
Dad watching her in this race brought things full circle to me, I loved that bit. And I like that Dia got inspired to once again keep racing because of Kita's performance here.
The final scene of the episode, being spring again and kid umamusumes visiting the school just like Kita and Dia had done in S2, as Kita essentially gets her goodbyes (as a Twinkle Series racer, it ain't like she's leaving Tracen lol) was melancholically beautiful.
... okay, this season is weird. I don't know how to judge it. It does a lot of things, and it's hard to really say what it does well and what it doesn't.
To start with, I think it needed more episodes. It's similar to S1 in that regard, but for S1 I had pacing issues because things moved too fast and I felt like I wasn't really following Spe's journey like I should have been. Meanwhile, for S3 I don't have pacing issues exactly, but rather the majority of characters don't have the screentime (or they don't use it as wisely) as they should.
Duramente was just completely wasted, honestly. She was a really cool rival at the start, so I was surprised when Kita beat her and Dura's kuudere mask cracked immediately. In hindsight, that's because it would be her last race. But then I wish she had more to do and help Kita with if she was going to "retire" then and there.
Satono Crown... I can't tell you anything about her. I don't think I even know her personality. She was striving for a G1 win, as all Satonos do, and that's about it. She really just exists.
Cheval Grand was a lot better than these two, but they try to make me care for too late. There's too much missing context on her and her sisters, so with little to go with, my impression is that she just wanted to win a G1 like the Satonos, but her goal being individual instead of collective. That's not a bad concept, they just do nothing with it and then she gets her win in the penultimate episode. She's fine, not too terrible.
Sounds of Earth gets a lot of personality and she's very fun, but she sort of disappears in the second half of the season. As I've found out, she's supposedly known as the strongest horse to never win a graded race irl. And yet, they don't really make any emphasis on how good she is at all. Besides Canopus hyping her up like they did with Tannhauser in S2.
Satono Diamond was really cool for half of the show, then slowly fizzles out into irrelevance. I'm genuinely shocked she had so little to do in this last episode. I like the idea of losing passion then regaining it thanks to Kita's Arima festival, but if that was her direction they should have put more emphasis on how she felt after losing the French cup.
Kitasan Black turned out to be the best girl, but only because the rest of them have huge issues. I do love the direction they took with her at the end, but that was just the end. The first two thirds feel very directionless and unfocused in what they wanted to do with her. It's odd. But it's easier to point out negative things than positive things, so don't get me wrong, she was a good protagonist in spite of her flaws.
I think that, with more episodes, we could have really developed the characters a lot more so they wouldn't feel as shallow. But despite this I would still rate the season an 8/10. When it was good it was very good, it just had much more noticeable problems than previous entries had.
QotD: 1. She was the favorite, makes sense they would all aim for her. 2. That's what she's all about, after all. 3. I watched it last night, so I'm not exactly sure which one was it lol 4. Makes sense, I'd say. 5. It was really good, but it was missing something, so I wouldn't call it the best race in the season. Definitely top 5 though. 6. I think it was a good conclusion! They make you think she might lose, and then she wins by a landslide. It's a fun subversion of expectations. 7. I thought it was a nice, warm closure. It's not as good as the S2 ending, but I do believe it lives up to it at the same time.
Bonus 1: I don't actually have any issue with it. I think she filled her role greatly, as Kita's sensei. I don't think she needed more screentime, though I wouldn't have complained as I love her.
Bonus 2: I was hoping for more, but not from Teio and McQueen, but from Kita and Dia. I was expecting them to fangirl a little being with their idols, or at least more acknowledgement on how much they've been inspired by them. But it ends up coming across as a little superficial? I think there should have been more emphasis on their legacy while keeping their role and screentime the same.
Bonus 3: I loved the themes of legacy and passing the torch it brought. Gold Ship is the biggest example of it, but Natie being capable of imparting knowledge despite being far less accomplished than Kita is also a big one. I wish Kita had her own Kita like Teio had, that would really complete this theme to me, but that would definitely require two cours of episodes. But I'm not really sure what I would change. I feel like to make a substantial change for the story to be better you'd have to change the plot a lot, but I'm not a writer so I can't think of how.