Time passed week by week, and the anime "Uma Musume" continued to be released at a rate of one episode per week on TV and online streaming platforms.
After the second episode, although not every episode could be called a "divine episode," every single one maintained a very high level of quality from start to finish.
As for the plot, it was mainly adapted from the story of the real-life Tokai Teio.
Her dream of an unbeaten Triple Crown was shattered, and she had to change her goal—from aiming for an unbeaten Triple Crown to simply remaining unbeaten. However, she failed to achieve even this. In the Tenno Sho, during her fated duel with Mejiro McQueen, she finished fifth due to her poor adaptability to long distances, and following that, she suffered another fracture.
Of course, this was interwoven with other storylines, including the plot for Mejiro McQueen, the plot for Rice Shower and Mihono Bourbon, the first meeting between Tokai Teio and Mejiro McQueen, their fierce competition in the Tenno Sho, Mihono Bourbon's Triple Crown dream being shattered by Rice Shower, and Mejiro McQueen's bid for a three-peat at the Tenno Sho being blocked by Rice Shower...
These were all stories based on real-life racehorses, which could be easily looked up. Yet, even so, once transformed into stories within the "Uma Musume" anime, they felt different.
Combined with the anime's extremely high production standards—the visual processing, direction, music, etc., were all fantastic, simply excellent—and the immense popularity accumulated over the first two episodes, the anime naturally maintained a very high level of popularity.
However, the true explosion in the anime's popularity came after the official launch of the mobile game.
On Wednesday, February 24th, the Uma Musume mobile game officially launched.
The game had opened for pre-registration back in 2018. After years of anticipation, plus the anime currently airing, a large number of players flocked in as soon as it went live.
Forums and major social media platforms were abuzz with discussions:
"Finally, I can play the Uma Musume mobile game."
"I really love the anime; I hope the game won't be a disappointment."
"Pre-registration opened in March 2018. I've been waiting since then. After such a long wait, it's finally here today."
"My wallet and stamina potions are ready. I'm prepared to spend money and grind at any moment."
"LSG's games have always been quite good; quality is rarely an issue. Rumor has it that this Uma Musume mobile game could have been released a long time ago, but for various reasons, it failed to meet Lin Zhiyan's standards, which is why it was delayed until now. Since it's finally out, the quality should be fine. I hope it won't let me down."
"Let's go, let's go, let's go! Time to raise some cute Uma Musume!"
"With an anime this good, I'm definitely playing the game."
Before the game even launched, there were already various promotional activities, and after the launch, even more funds were invested in promotion.
The promotional methods were diverse, including TV commercials, inviting voice actors or celebrities to livestream playing the game "Uma Musume", and of course, buying promotional resources on major platforms to increase exposure.
Even Lin Zhiyan himself did a livestream of the game to promote it, attracting a huge audience.
The quality of the game itself was very high, especially with the beautiful girls, which were based on real-life racehorses. Coupled with the popularity brought by the currently airing anime, and the traffic generated by all the various promotions...
Added to Lin Zhiyan's fame and reputation, along with the reputation LSG had built up over years of making high-quality games, all these buffs stacked together meant that as soon as the game launched, it was an explosive hit.
After playing the game, the audience was quite satisfied with the overall quality:
"It was worth the long wait; you can feel the sincerity of the production team in every aspect."
"I absolutely love this game; it feels like LSG has truly mastered mobile gaming."
"It's even better than I expected."
"The anime is great, and the mobile game is very fair; I'm ready to start spending money."
"The Uma Musume are all very beautiful and cute, the 3D is done very well, the gameplay is quite interesting, and since these Uma Musume have real-life prototypes, playing this game can help make up for the regrets of their real-life counterparts. It's really good and worth playing."
With explosive popularity and great word-of-mouth, combined with attractive and cute girls, people naturally can't help but open their wallets to spend money on characters in the game.
As more players spend money, the game's revenue grows, pushing it up various mobile game charts and attracting even more players.
With more people playing the game, the popularity of the anime is also driven up. After all, this IP not only has high-quality gameplay, but the quality of the anime is also excellent.
Besides, having played the game, it would be unreasonable not to watch the anime as well.
Even before the game launched, the popularity and buzz of the second season of the Uma Musume anime were already very high, and after the game's release, they became even higher.
Indeed, this IP is not a national-level sensation like Demon Slayer, which everyone from young to old likes or is willing to watch, and turning racehorses into "horse girls" has indeed made some people with very traditional views find it hard to accept.
Even so, "Uma Musume" Season 2 can be considered the most popular anime of the January to March 2021 season; while it may not have been a nationwide sensation, it was at least a hit within the anime community.
Japan's culture is quite unique in this regard, with the anime and manga fan base accounting for a very large proportion of the entire population, which means the audience for this IP is actually very broad.
More importantly, the audience for this IP is different from that of "Demon Slayer"; they have stronger overall purchasing power and are more willing to spend money, so in terms of value, this IP is on par with "Demon Slayer."
The value of this IP is not only reflected in the game but also in the pre-order numbers for the anime's Blu-ray discs.
With several episodes still left before the anime finished, the official release of the discs was naturally still a long way off. However, it is common to announce the specific release date and open pre-orders for the discs well before the official release.
When the pre-order channel for the Uma Musume 2 anime Blu-rays opened, many fans placed their orders and paid the corresponding deposits, and the number of pre-orders reached a staggering amount that very same day.
As the anime aired and the game's popularity grew, the number of Blu-ray pre-orders climbed day by day, quickly reaching a terrifying level—far exceeding the number of pre-orders for Puella Magi Madoka Magica before its release.
Although Uma Musume Season 2 already enjoyed immense popularity and buzz early on, with only two episodes aired, Lin Zhiyan's fans merely felt that the chances of him achieving his ultimate goal had increased.
By the time they discovered that the pre-order numbers for the Uma Musume Season 2 Blu-rays had surpassed the pre-release record for Puella Magi Madoka Magica, easily breaking the all-time record for disc pre-orders, the probability of Lin Zhiyan achieving his goal had risen to over 60%, causing even more people to grow excited.