At 12:30 AM, after the second episode of the anime aired, the internet was already abuzz with discussion:
"I only thought the second season of 'Uma Musume' would be sad, I didn't expect it to be this much of a tearjerker."
"Yeah, the emotional buildup in the second half was done so well."
"The first part was fine, but that scene later on—even though Tokai Teio wasn't competing, the other horse girls were all giving their all, running as if she were there. That part was truly moving."
"I cried when I saw that. It's the first anime this year that's made me cry."
"'We must not lose to Teio! We are stronger than her!' When that line came out, it broke me."
"The plot, dialogue, and direction are all incredibly strong. It wasn't until I finished it that I realized there was so much foreshadowing, including the training in her imagination and the words from Nice Nature."
"The first season already gave a great impression, but based on the two episodes aired so far, the second season can simply be called stunning."
"I knew that in reality, Tokai Teio's real-life counterpart couldn't compete in that Kikuka Sho due to injury. Watching the first half, I thought the production team might pull a rewrite like they did with Silence Suzuka in the first season. I didn't expect them not to, and even without the rewrite, despite her not competing, they created an effect even more moving than if she had. It's really impressive."
***
Too many people are hyping up the second episode; after all, it really is strong in every aspect.
Of course, there are also quite a few people sharing trivia with the audience, such as:
"In reality, Tokai Teio rested for almost a year before making a comeback. In the anime, she wanted to return in just half a year, which is really too dangerous. Some racehorses are treated with great caution and rested for about three months even for minor inflammation."
"The Japanese Triple Crown is limited to three-year-old horses, so every horse can only participate once in their lifetime. If they miss it, they can never obtain that honor again. If Tokai Teio hadn't been injured that year, she would have essentially been a lock for the Triple Crown, and an undefeated one at that. She would have joined her sire, Symboli Rudolf, to become the world's first pair of undefeated Triple Crown father and son; it's truly a great pity."
"The second episode mentions some treatments that help Uma Musume recover faster, such as acupuncture, changing running shoes, and hot spring therapy. These all exist in reality, except in the real world, the 'changing running shoes' treatment actually refers to replacing the horse's horseshoes."
"The real Tokai Teio was the offspring of Symboli Rudolf. As the Emperor's eldest son, she was called the 'Emperor' from a young age, and because of her excellent temperament, she was also known as the 'Noble Prince.' As a foal, it was discovered she had incredible flexibility. Once, she jumped over a fence more than a meter high to run around the pasture, and when she'd had enough, she jumped back over the fence herself. This flexibility could be said to be her greatest weapon, but it was also her greatest weakness; the reason she suffered fractures was because of it."
***
Whether it's normal informative content or pure hype, it's clear how much everyone loves the *Uma Musume* Season 2 anime.
The first episode could already be called high-quality, but the second episode was even better, to the point where some people are calling it a "divine episode."
On N Station, they even went so far as to label both the first and second episodes as "divine episodes."
Relevant hashtags have also appeared on Twitter.
Although only two episodes have aired so far, in terms of popularity, critical acclaim, and buzz, this anime can be considered unrivaled for the season in Japan—it could arguably be called a "chart-topping work."
Crucially, it's not as if there aren't other strong anime this season; on the contrary, there are quite a few. Given this, the fact that *Uma Musume 2* is still topping the charts shows just how strong it is.
With the release of the second episode, those who have been following Lin Zhiyan's goals and know him well are feeling even more confident about him achieving his ultimate objective:
"As long as they can maintain the quality of the first two episodes and throw in some mobile game cards, it really feels like they could break the average volume sales record of *EVA*."
"The primary focus for LSP this year, an anime that Lin Zhiyan is paying close attention to—do we really need to worry about the quality going forward? While I can't say it's a sure thing that it'll beat *EVA*'s average volume sales, looking at this level of quality, it definitely feels like there's a great chance."
"Actually, in this era, if you want to break the per-volume sales record of *EVA*, you definitely can't follow the conventional path. Adding the 'King's Power' of a mobile game is indeed the only way to potentially break its record. In other words, the animation quality doesn't necessarily need to be exceptionally high; the key is to serve as a commercial, attracting a large number of people to start playing the mobile game. And looking at the current situation, once the mobile game launches, its popularity is expected to explode, so Lin Zhiyan's goal this time might actually be achievable."
"The mobile game was pre-registered a long time ago, just waiting for it to launch. It was originally scheduled for the winter of '18, but it kept getting delayed until this year. There's definitely no need to worry about the game's quality; after all, given LSG's attitude, they wouldn't release the game if the quality wasn't satisfactory. With both the game and animation being of high quality, it will surely form a super IP, and breaking the record is quite possible."
"I'm already starting to get excited. I hope that when the time comes, I can really see this animation break *EVA*'s per-volume sales record."
***
In the president's office at Produ.
Lin Zhiyan looked at the various data reports for the second season of the *Uma Musume* animation and was very satisfied with the results.
Although he only had a relatively clear understanding of the animation's performance in another timeline, and not a particularly comprehensive one, he could now be certain that the results of the animation in that other timeline could not compare to the results in the current one.
Having already gathered such immense popularity in the first two episodes, all that remained was to wait for the mobile game to launch, which would take the IP's popularity to the next level.
As some netizens rightly pointed out, while the quality of the animation itself is important for breaking the average volume sales record of *EVA*, the key actually lies in the popularity and quality of the mobile game. Without the "King's Power" of the mobile game, no matter how high the quality of the animation, it would be impossible to break *EVA*'s average volume sales record.
However, Lin Zhiyan was not particularly worried about the mobile game.
In this timeline, the *Uma Musume* mobile game was developed by Games, not Cygames, but the key people in charge were roughly the same.
Originally, according to the initial plan, the game was supposed to launch in the winter of '18. Even if it had been delayed, it should have been released by '19 at the latest.
The reason it was pushed back to 2020 was that its quality didn't meet Lin Zhiyan's standards, and it had been undergoing various tests ever since.
Now, there was absolutely no need to worry about the quality of the game. Even though the original version from the other timeline could be considered excellent, Lin Zhiyan was confident that his version would be just as good.
It all came down to the results the game would achieve and the positive impact it would have on the popularity of the anime.