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*This review contains spoilers.

As a PA Works fan, this was extremely disappointing. Don't get me wrong, either. I wanted to enjoy this, very desperately you could even say.

It is, to my understanding, that this was merely an advertisement for the game based on the same name. There is horse racing, and there is idols. From a Japanese market perspective, this makes sense considering idols are a popular genre. The combination of the two ideas seems creative enough to make a decent and successful show. Rather than horse racing and idol dancing/singing being on the same level, the idol aspect is secondary to the story. ... Although, in the second half of the show, it is entirely irrelevant. This makes it come off as a cheap tactic to get more money, and it most likely is. This would not be such a huge issue if the racing element of it wasn't so mediocre.

The entire plot revolves around racer girls getting random power ups for no explainable reason in order to "overcome" their obstacles and achieve their dreams. Not only is that unrealistic in the manner it was shown, but it is blatantly lazy writing. There was one episode where the show seemed to incorporate some actual strategy, such as when Special Week learned to change her running technique in order to get up a hill and defeat an opponent. This is the moment where the show's potential could have thrived and portrayed our main heroine as a crafty, adaptable, and relentless person. Then it completely disregards that and never uses it again. Additionally, there was a long running comedy shtick of Spe eating white rice - if I recall the food correctly - yet no one seemed to stop her or inform her it would only make her fat? There could have been an entire episode dedicated to the struggle of formulating and maintaining a proper athlete diet, showing us exactly how hard it is to be in top shape and something we could all relate to. But the potential for a well-thought-out approach to an intensive sport was squandered yet again. My frustration only continues from here.

We are introduced to Special Week as our main horse girl. However, my problem with her is that she is too plain. Too boring. She even looks boring, taking on the appearance of a side character as her fellow peers have more flashy appearances. This isn't so much a critique, but it's merely an observation I noticed. I can easily see how her backstory ties in nicely to her look, but my preference would have been something more distinctive. My hope at the start of the anime was that they would build on her character eventually, which they did to a certain degree with her outsider backstory and all. The girl from the countryside narrative sure did a decent job at making it seem like she would come out of no where and flip the entire racing industry on its head, changing it forever. Soon after, it quickly falls apart as she is seemingly unimportant, loses a lot, and whose entire growth only comes from a friendly rivalry with a cliche promise. Don't even get me started on the side characters. They were equally as boring and unimportant aside from maybe two or three. They all literally say the most cliche things. Honestly, who wrote this script? And who keeps writing in that comedy routine of two side characters constantly fighting each other because they're "close" or whatever? That was done to death, especially by the last episode. It's a common writing tactic, which is used to compensate for weak character writing, to portray them as "likable" and "relatable," but it did the opposite effect and only made me hate those two more. This is further proven to be the case considering I don't even remember their names, which I couldn't care less at this point, in such an overwhelmingly huge cast. The continuous addition of supporting roles dilutes their overall impact in an already scarcely fleshed out tale.

While most of these girls had underwhelming personalities, you would think the art and animation would be the strongest part to the show. Well, we were wrong. The art style is painfully generic and emulates a wannabe A1-Pictures idol show but can't seem to get there just yet. This is PA Works we are talking about. We know exactly what PA Works is capable of when it comes to its world building and creation of beautiful backgrounds. My immediate first impression of the show was, "This is not PA Works." And rightfully so, because this leaves a stain on their track record. "But maluhia, you can't go comparing other shows to this one." Well, I can, I did, and I have a good reason for this. PA Works is a very niche studio in the anime industry, just as much as Kyoto Animation is. If Kyoto Animation's quality dropped drastically, everyone would be quick to point out the differences. This is the case as well, and it should be a valid critique in the face of mediocrity. You are called Progressive Animation Works for a reason, so why do you bring irony to your name with subpar work? To make matters worse, much of the running scenes in Pretty Derby include recycled backdrops with the bottom portion of their bodies often being cut out altogether. For a running-sport anime, it's kind of hard to be that without the actual dynamics of running. The dullness of it all only intensifies when the "climax" episodes look like any other predictable race it had previously shown us. There was nothing satisfying about it, yet it tricks you into thinking investing time into it would pay off by the end. To pour salt on the wound, the last race has every other girl being able to keep up with Silence Suzuka, which contradicts Suzuka's entire buildup of character and every event before as if it never happened. Not only was the conclusion pulled out of thin air, but it insults your intelligence.

To wrap it up, the music component was just "okay." If I'm being honest, there's not much to say, and you couldn't really argue otherwise considering the idol portion of the show was unimportant to the story as a whole. The ED did include a small scene of Special Week coming first place in a race, beating out her rival whom came in second, and the rest of their team took the remaining positions. It is possible that this was the end result of the finale race as it was heavily implied by their coach over and over. I guess you would have to play the game if you're interested in more? Not that I would. As for the trainer's romance, it unexpectedly appeared then ceased to exist, much like my hopes for PA Work's latest effort. To summarize Uma Musume: Pretty Derby (TV) in one word, it would be lazy.

Final rating: 2/10.