Kitasan Black has a problem. It’s not that she isn't fast—she's incredibly fast—but she’s living in the shadow of a literal god. Watching Uma Musume Season 3, you quickly realize this isn't the same sparkly, idol-focused romp that the first season hinted at years ago. It’s heavier. Honestly, it’s a show about the crushing weight of expectations and the terrifying reality of what happens when your physical peak starts to crumble before your eyes.
Produced by Studio Kai, this third installment shifted the lens away from the Special Week or Tokai Teio eras to focus on the neighborhood favorite, Kitasan Black, and her sophisticated rival, Satono Diamond. If you followed the 2023 release, you know the community was split. Some people wanted more of the high-octane heartbreak of Season 2, while others appreciated the slower, more philosophical look at a horse girl who simply wants to be "the people’s horse."
It’s about the grind. The actual, soul-sucking repetition of training for the Tenno Sho or the Arima Kinen knowing that, eventually, your legs are going to give out.
The Kitasan Black Dilemma: Can You Succeed Without a "Miracle"?
Most sports anime rely on the "miracle." You know the one. The protagonist is down, they think about their friends, and suddenly they break the laws of physics to win. Uma Musume Season 3 tries something different, and frankly, it's a bit gutsy. Kitasan Black is depicted not as a "chosen one" with mystical talent, but as a tireless worker who is deeply afraid of being mediocre.
Her relationship with her mentor, Tokai Teio, adds a layer of tragic irony. Teio was the "Miracle Girl" who overcame three fractures. Kitasan looks at that and thinks she has to match it. But Kitasan’s struggle is more mundane and, in many ways, more relatable: she’s just trying to stay relevant while a new generation of monsters like Duramente enters the fray.
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Duramente is terrifying here. The way the animators at Studio Kai handled her debut—that raw, aggressive speed—made it clear that the power scaling in the "Uma-verse" had shifted. While Season 2 was a medical drama disguised as a horse race, Season 3 is a story about the passage of time. You see the veteran girls starting to talk about retirement. You see the anxiety in the locker rooms. It’s a sports story that actually respects the concept of an "era."
Why the Satono Diamond Subplot Divides Fans
Then there's "Dia." Satono Diamond’s journey is the classic "breaking the family curse" trope. The Satono family, despite their wealth and prestige, famously struggled to win a G1 race in real life (the "Satono Curse"). The anime translates this into a heavy psychological burden.
Some viewers felt Dia’s arc was rushed compared to Kitasan’s. I get that. When you’re trying to squeeze two legendary careers into 13 episodes, something usually hits the cutting room floor. However, her victory in the Arima Kinen remains one of the most visually stunning sequences in the franchise. The use of CG for the racing can be a hit or miss for some, but in the heat of the final straightaway, the blending of 2D expressions and 3D kinetic movement is basically the gold standard for the genre right now.
Realism vs. The "Horse Girl" Aesthetic
We have to talk about the history. This is where the show gains its "Expert" status. Every single ear twitch, every sweat drop, and every tactical decision on the track is based on actual races from the mid-2010s.
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If you look at the real 2017 Tenno Sho (Autumn), it was a muddy, grueling mess. The anime recreates this atmosphere with painful detail. You feel the weight of the sodden turf. You see Kitasan’s stamina bar—not a literal UI element, but in her staggering gait—hitting zero.
- Fact Check: Kitasan Black’s real-life owner is the legendary enka singer Saburo Kitajima.
- The "Festival" theme in the anime is a direct homage to Kitajima’s performances after Kitasan’s victories.
- The rivalry with Sounds of Earth (the perpetual runner-up) provides the comic relief that keeps the season from getting too depressing.
People often dismiss this show as "gacha bait." Sure, Cygames wants you to pull for the new characters in the mobile game. But the writing team clearly has a borderline obsessive love for Japanese horse racing history. They treat these real-life athletes—who have long since passed or retired to stud—with a level of reverence you don't see in other media.
The "Lower" Stakes of the Final Episodes
One of the biggest criticisms of Uma Musume Season 3 was the ending. People wanted another "miracle" finish like Season 2. Instead, we got a bittersweet, realistic fading out.
Is it satisfying? That depends on what you want from your entertainment. If you want a shonen jump-style power-up, you’ll be disappointed. But if you’ve ever played a sport and realized your body just can’t do what it used to, the final episodes will hit you like a freight train. The choice to focus on the "ordinary" nature of a legend's departure is what makes this season stand out in a crowded anime landscape.
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The series acknowledges that for every winner, there are eighteen others who lost. It spends time with the losers. It shows the girls who finish 10th and have to go back to the dorms and figure out what to do with their lives. That’s the "human" element that keeps the fans coming back.
How to Actually Experience Season 3
If you're jumping into this now, don't just binge it in the background while scrolling on your phone. You’ll miss the nuance.
- Watch the real race footage first. Go to YouTube and search for "2017 Arima Kinen" or "Kitasan Black Tenno Sho." Seeing the actual positioning of the horses makes the anime's choreography ten times more impressive.
- Pay attention to the background characters. The show is packed with cameos from previous seasons (Special Week, Silence Suzuka, Gold Ship). It builds a sense of a living world where time actually moves forward.
- Listen to the lyrics. The insert songs aren't just J-Pop filler; they usually reflect the specific mental state of the character during their training montage.
The legacy of this season isn't just about sales figures or game downloads. It’s about how it handled the end of an era. It told us that it's okay not to be a "miracle" as long as you gave the crowd a hell of a show.
For those looking to dive deeper into the lore, start by comparing the tactical differences between Kitasan Black’s "front-runner" style and Satono Diamond’s "mid-pack" strategy. Understanding the physics of the track—how the inner rail offers a shorter path but riskier congestion—changes the way you view the racing sequences from simple sprints to high-stakes chess matches. Keep an eye on the official Blu-ray releases as well; they often include "Umabi" shorts that flesh out the daily lives of the supporting cast, providing context that the main 24-minute episodes simply don't have time to cover.