Umayon

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, is what they say, this also applies quite well to short anime made out of quick skits to enjoy as a appetizer for the bigger shows, and in this case as a quick advertisement for Uma Musume's second season. This short series is definitely aimed for those of us who already enjoyed the original shenanigans of the Team Spica along with a handful of other side character already presented in the original and new characters that might become regulars in the sequel. The chibi-like flash artstyle make the quick gags with limited animation shine on what is meant tobe blazing comedy not to be taken too seriously or overthink it. If you already liked shows like Teekyu this is one to watch in between or just binge in one sitting.

I was a bit afraid of Umayon. The humor of Uma Musume missed a lot of the time for me, so a series that was just jokes seemed like a death sentence. But fortunately Umayon is silly and cute little scenarios with enjoyable jokes sprinkled in. Considering both “seasons” are basically the same, this review counts for both of them. The only difference is that the first 12 episodes are 3 minutes per episode and the latter 12 episodes are 2 minutes. It doesn’t seem like that big of a difference, but unfortunately the latter episodes felt noticeably shorter. The first half’s episodes were the perfectlength to click through, but the second half’s episodes left me wanting more. These short runtimes also include the EDs, though they do change several times each “season”. The EDs are even sometimes are intertwined with the episode itself, which is nice. The episode plots are fun slices of life that feature a large variety of horse girls. At best they offered a good look into the horse girls I wasn’t familiar with and gave me some insight into their personalities. At worst, unfamiliarity with the horse girls didn’t ruin the bite-sized experiences. You could perhaps watch Season 2 first, but I don’t think many horse girls from that are featured too much anyway. Considering the whole experience will take you less than an hour (and feels like a lot less), I don’t think there’s a reason to not watch Umayon if you’re interested.

A fun and cute uma musume little side gig. The episodes were short and sweet. I honestly preferred this art style to that of the normal show. Everything was visually clear and not muddied in the way I found the original show to be. The show had its funny moments, but as a whole wasn't as witty as it could have been. Most of it was self referential with the gag being these horses eat a lot. Garupa Pico is this but way better, and coming into this show having seen that before, I felt they did the genre much better than this one did, even thoughit had the same amount of potential. If you are coming into this not having played the game or watched the first season, you are not going to get anything out of this show.

Just when I thought there was nothing left to get out of Uma Musume, I came across this lol. After watching the main anime, the movie, and the spin-offs, I find these super fun and well-made shorts — simple stories, but really enjoyable. And I finally understood where the Tokai Teio jump scare and TM Opera memes came from lol. If you’ve watched the main anime and want something light and quick to watch, I totally recommend Umayon. I’ll definitely be watching Umayon Shinsaku. The shorts I liked the most were episodes 2, 4, 5, 7, and 12 — but the others are great too.