You ever wonder why this isn’t technically “Season 3”?
It’s a bit of a silly reason, but it’s because it doesn’t follow the continuity from seasons 1 and 2. There’s no Spica, but it doesn’t necessarily means it’s a reboot either. All the characters are the same, their stories and personalities are the same, they’re just being configured in a different way.
Which is to say that Road To The Top can fit in the other seasons’ continuity but for the purposes of narrative it isn’t in it.
Road to the Top starts covering the events of and leading to the 1999 Satsuki Sho. It opens with the Yayoi Sho, where Narita Top Road defeats Admire Vega and they swear a rematch at the Satsuki Sho, but their two-way rivalry becomes a triangle when T.M. Opera O loudly enters the scene also.
Except… Opera O doesn’t come out of nowhere, and it’s part of what makes the episode so special.
We get time with every character and you get a really intimate image of each one in the process.
You have Narita Top Road (Or NTR Toppro for short), whose trainer has been with her since she was a kid, in a scene where it’s probably the first time we see child Uma Musume with their parents. Toppro is outgoing and gentle and has the whole class supporting her.
Then there’s Admire Vega (AV Ayabe for short), who’s a kind girl that refuses to reach out to others but is surrounded by people willing to pull her out of her own shell.
Finally there’s TM Opera O. B ut here she’s not the mighty and undefeated TM Opera O yet but just a really promising and cocky girl…
…or is she?
This is one of the bits that the game always leaves implicit and it’s really great to see confirmed in some form.
You see, if you play the game and train Opera O, you always have this impression that when she talks about herself she’s not quite talking about herself. She always gives this image that, internally, she doesn’t think too highly of herself, but when she sees in a mirror she sees someone awesome that she doesn’t want to disappoint, and her whole character is built around trying to live up to what she sees in the mirror.
SO IMAGINE MY SURPRISE WHEN THE OPENING SPELLS IT OUT ALL BUT EXPLICITLY. Not only that but you also see Opera O losing sleep over thinking about training, or all the strain she puts her body through, really selling you the idea of how it doesn’t “just come naturally”.
And this is what sticks out so hard in just this first episode alone, the character work. The animation is so good and so focused on body language big and small. It’s a completely different studio but it feels in many ways like a continuation of Teio and Hayahide’s last race in season 2, like all the lessons learned making that one are continued here… and some by Cinderella Gray while at it.
There’s also a very deliberate contrast at play with the three main characters. Toppro is the kind with a lot of friends, Opera O is the kind with very few friends but the cheers of the crowd, and Ayabe has very few friends but they’re really close.
You even see this at the end. The crowd cheers for Opera O, a few loud voices are cheering for Toppro, and Ayabe is left alone in her frustration.
It almost feels like a deliberate contrast to the other anime seasons so far… because that’s what it’s probably meant to be. As of this writing the actual season 3 is still looming in the horizon and while I don’t doubt it can be capable of serious moments like the other two before it, the existence of Spica means there is going to be a lot of clowning around, so this feels like a means to have a more “serious” story.
In fact, while I could easily spend 1000 more words explainign what’s so awesome about it, I think it’s a disservice to do so at this stage and it’s better to do so when the full picture is painted.
But what is the full picture they’re going for? This is the interesting part where speculation comes in.
In the other seasons they covered a girl’s full career. In season 1 we see Special Week from her debut to her last Nihon Derby, with her retirement showdown with Grass Wonder being relegated to a comment in one of the OVAs. And in season 2 we see Teio and McQueen’s career from beginning down to Teio’s retirement.
I don’t think they’ll be adapting all of Toppro’s career though. I suspect they’ll be focusing entirely on 1999.
Narita Top Road ran until 2002, but his only G1 win came at the end of 1999. But rather than just being the idea of wrapping her career with a neat bow, 1999 was a packed year and the very deliberate choice of those three main characters tells me they intend to put more focus on each of them and portray the insane back and forth of titles that was going on.
For example, episode one ends with Opera O winning the Satsuki Sho, and Toppro saying up next with be the Nihon Derby while Ayabe is left frustrated in her own corner, and spoilers: Admire Vega won the 1999 Nihon Derby.
Aside from that, from a “narrative” side, Admire Vega and Narita Top Road’s career faltered a little after, with Admire Vega retiring after the aforementioned G1 victory of Narita Top Road. Not only that, but the year 2000 was helmed by the rivalry between TM Opera O and Meishou Dotou.
Not gonna lie, if they just decide to make the latter half or a second season of this into the Opera O and Dotou Show I would LOVE that.
OH YEAH, the last race that Toppro and Opera O had in 1999 was the 1999 Arima Kinen, AKA the race where Special Week and Grass Wonder had one last showdown, and it’d be super cool to somehow tie back to season 1 by showing that or something, as a sort of epilogue.