That was a clever misdirection. They make it looked like as if Oguri was racing in Nippon Derby. I genuinely thought the immovable Japanese would actually do an exception for Oguri, that's just how goated she is, but alas, reality is often disappointing. I guess there's only one thing that can stop Oguri Cap, and that is Japanese bureaucracy. Though the journalist effort wasn't in vain, they were able to make the organizers to change the rule to enter Nippon Derby, even though Oguri still wasn't allowed to enter in the name of fairness. Stand proud Oguri Cap, your presents actually change Japan.

Even with the misdirection, I was pretty invested with the race. They actually highlight Oguri's rival and classmates pretty well. Sucks for Dicta Striker not performing well because of her injury, she was my favorite (what can I say, I love tomboy).

There's actually several hints before the reveal. Like how Oguri rather than wearing a costume like the other horse she wears her gym clothes. When Rudolf reminiscing her racing age, we can see a newspaper just outside the focus with Sakura Chiyono O on the cover (probably covering her winning Nippon Derby). When they do a sweeping shot, Oguri Cap couldn't be seen in the pack. Also when they do a transition from Dicta Striker to Oguri Cap the transition time actually far longer than the others because it was on a different track.

Can't wait for the next episode titled peak! They can't stop peaking

That was rough! Not only had Yachiyo been stranded for millennia, but she also no longer had her original body. Didn't know a robot could go through a rebellious phase. I guess a by-the-book robot like Yachiyo would go through a lot after seeing such changes to her routine.

Meanwhile, Ponko has grown into such a beauty. She even got a boyfriend.

You really can't never predict what will happen next with this anime. We haven't seen the rest of Ponko's family after the timeskip, I wonder what they look like now.

Bro, where's the continuation

If you're okay with Movies:

• Liz and the Blue Bird: (technically part of Hibike Euphonium but works as a stand-alone) A masterpiece film by Yamada Naoko, about a timid girl's struggle with her relationship
• The Colors Within: Another Yamada Naoko film about finding your own color, super low stake drama, more on feels good anime
• Silent Voice: Yet another Yamada Naoko film about forgiving yourself and finding strength through each other (CW: suicide attempt)
• Look Back: The love and struggle for doing art
• Uma Musume Pretty Derby: Beginning of a new Era: (Just finished this one) An anthropomorphized race horse's struggle to rise to the top, beautiful animation and drama

As for series:

• Hibike Euphonium: band drama
• Hyouka: a highschool detective solving mundane every day life through clever deduction, more character driven story
• Keep Your Hands off Eizouken: about making animation (not a real life representative, lean on the whimsical and creative aspect of animation)

Finally, they animated the super-high-speed Kanshi suffering. I've been waiting to see it animated since they teased it in the opening. God speed, Kanshi, this is only the start of your many more suffering 🙏.

What?! They can't just leave us like that. They shouldn't put a cliffhanger on my comfort anime T^T. Stay safe Yachiyo, I hope Ponko and the rest will be able to rescue her

I'm not ready when Yachiyo will learn about humanity's fate. They keep brewing just like this episode.

This was a great premiere. The animation was great, and the joke was stupid as the manga. Can't wait to see all the shenanigans Nico will bring with her magic. The visual on the OP is amazing, it was filled with many references for future events with a really smooth and fast-paced animation. I don't really vibe with the song, might need to listen to it a couple of times to vibe with it. The soundtrack during the anime was pretty rough, felt a little too generic. Overall, a great start for the anime.

Any anime with Kensuke Ushio as the composer, most notably Silent Voice and Liz and the Blue Bird with prepared piano. He also composed the soundtrack for Dandadan and Devil May Cry

No, Ave Mujica was great. You can criticize its direction, but please don't call it AI works because there are real people involved behind it, who took a lot of care in composing, screen write, and animate it. They did a great job experimenting the format, incorporating horror element on a band girl anime. Especially, when there are worse anime out there made by people who know nothing about animation, e.g. Ex-arm.

The animation in half the scenes is like 12 FPS (because they couldn't be bothered to wait for a full render)

That's like the standard fps for an anime. Anime was animated in what they called on-2 (a picture holds for 2 frame in 24 fps), so any other anime also animated in 12 fps. They left it as stylistic choice, and I didn't find the lower frame making the anime feels stiff or awkward

The characters lips move like goldfish eating flakes whenever they speak/sing.

That's also the standard in anime, they only have mouth animated with 2-3 frame open and closing. Ave Mujica did a great job at making it emotive despite that limitations

They appear to have used stock mocap for the characters playing instruments and couldn't be bothered to match up their movements to the music.

They actually took their VA performance's motion capture with actual experience playing their instrument. Like any Bang Dream anime, Ave Mujica has a real band counterpart and you can see their live band performance on bandori channel. I think they did a great job to emote the performance and still keep it in sync.

So, please stop comparing it with AI

What I will probably watch next season:

• Witch Watch: I've read the manga, it was written by the same author as sket dance, so its humor sit just right with me.
• Hibi was Sugiredo Meshi Umashi: Another P.A. Works original anime featuring working women like shirobako, sakura quest, and aquatope. I always enjoy their comfy SOL with some light drama.
• GQuuuuuuX: I've never watched Gundam before, but the visual and character design pique my interest. I'll give it an episode or two before deciding if it's worth the time.

I'll definitely miss Ave Mujica, there isn't seem to be another anime that can break me every week.