It was past twelve o'clock at night, and episode seven of Uma Musume had already finished airing.
Father and son, Keiichiro Ohara and Yugo Ohara, were chatting about real-life horse racing:
"I remember the race in this episode very clearly. It was the '98 Tenno Sho. Silence Suzuka really was in the first lane, and she was the most popular horse before the race started. Back then, there was a curse surrounding the Tenno Sho for those years. Everyone thought Silence Suzuka would be able to break it, feeling she could easily take first place without any surprises, but in the end, she couldn't escape it."
"What curse?"
"It's the one where 'as long as a horse is the most popular before the Tenno Sho, they will absolutely never win the championship.' It seems it started in '88, and it wasn't until 2000, when T.M. Opera O entered the Tenno Sho as the most popular horse and finally won, that the curse was broken."
"It was like that for so many years?"
"Yes, and too many famous horses fell victim to this race, including Oguri Cap, Tokai Teio, Mejiro McQueen... Oh, that's right, the '99 Autumn Tenno Sho was won by Special Week, but Special Week's record hadn't been very good up until then, so she wasn't the most popular horse at the time."
"I see..."
"The jockey for Special Week back then was Yutaka Take, the same jockey who rode Silence Suzuka later on. After Special Week won, Yutaka Take said in an interview, 'In the final sprint, it felt just like Silence Suzuka was pushing me from behind.' That's probably one of the reasons why this animation chose Special Week as the protagonist."
I don't know how the production team will handle the subsequent story of Silence Suzuka, but I still hope this animation continues to get better. After all, this is the only anime I can watch together with my dad, and I probably won't have another one like it in the future.
As an old horse racing fan, Keiichiro Ohara spoke about horse racing with great expertise.
Although Yugo Ohara had never paid attention to horse racing before, after watching the Uma Musume anime, he became very interested in the real thing, so he listened very attentively.
As a veteran horse racing fan, Keiichiro Ohara could talk about horse racing with great authority.
Although Yugo Ohara had never paid attention to horse racing before, after watching the anime "Uma Musume," he became quite interested in real-life horse racing, so he listened very attentively.
As the two chatted, they naturally drifted back to the race where Silence Suzuka met with an accident:
"The situation right before the accident was exactly the same as in the anime. It ran 1,000 meters in 57.4 seconds. The entire stadium was in an uproar. Then, just before entering the final turn, something suddenly went wrong. It's said that Yutaka Take heard a sound like a bone breaking, but even though it was injured, it still tried hard to maintain its balance. It didn't fall, nor did it throw Yutaka Take off its back; instead, it protected him until it safely carried him away from the high-speed pack of horses."
"Did it recover afterwards?"
"No, the anime changed the ending. In reality, after that race, Silence Suzuka was diagnosed with a comminuted fracture in the upper part of its left front knee. There was no way it could heal, so it was euthanized that very day."
"It died that same day?"
"Yes. That day is known by many horse racing fans as 'Silence Sunday.' On one hand, it's because Silence Suzuka's sudden injury during the race left the audience completely speechless; on the other, it's because the loss of such a horse with immense potential made everyone feel heavy-hearted."
"Hearing you say that makes me feel heavy-hearted too."
"Yeah, that's why it was a good thing they changed it in the anime. If any horse racing fans who love Silence Suzuka watch this anime, they must be very happy about it."
It was already 12:30, which was really quite late. With one person having to go to work the next day and the other having to attend class, the two had no choice but to end their conversation.
However, after returning to his room, Yugo Ohara didn't go to sleep right away. Instead, he turned on his computer and went online to check the discussions about the seventh episode of "Uma Musume."
There were quite a few people online explaining the situation of Silence Suzuka's final race, which was exactly the same as what he had learned from his father, Keiichiro Ohara.
Some people, who had initially been cursing Lin Zhiyan and accusing him of being cruel to Silence Suzuka, began to change their tune after learning the reality. They started thanking Lin Zhiyan and the animation production team for their creative changes, praising the anime:
"I cried. It's the first time I've realized that Old Thief Lin is actually so gentle."
"The change was for the better. Thank you to the animation production team for sparing Suzuka."
"If it had been like in reality where she was euthanized that very day, that would have been too cruel. Just having her suffer a fracture and go to the hospital—although still heartbreaking—is much more acceptable."
"It respects reality, but doesn't stick rigidly to the real-life trajectory. It's really great."
"This is probably the charm of animation. It's just like what Lin Zhiyan said when he was producing 'Your Name': natural disasters in reality are unpredictable and their aftermath cannot be changed, but in animation, they can be."
"I've decided: this anime and 'Violet Evergarden' are my two favorite anime of this year."
Besides that, many people were also discussing the future plot developments:
"Setting aside the reality of the situation, can Silence Suzuka really recover? If she does, what happens to the subsequent races?"
"Yeah, in reality, there are no more races for her to participate in. Will they have to make up a few races on their own?"
"Recovery is definitely going to happen. After all, they've already 'magic-modified' her euthanasia ending, so it wouldn't make sense not to change it thoroughly. As for what to do about the follow-up races, that's up to the animation production team."
"??? Have you guys forgotten who the real protagonist of this anime is? The protagonist is Special Week, not Silence Suzuka. Episodes 6 and 7 focused on Silence Suzuka's races. By the next episode, Silence Suzuka is injured, so the focus of the plot will surely shift back to Special Week."
"Let me guess, Spe-chan will definitely be unable to focus on her races because of Suzuka's injury, so she'll lose several races in a row. Then, after seeing Silence Suzuka working hard on her rehabilitation, she'll pull herself together, have a major breakthrough, sweep aside the likes of Seiun Sky, Grass Wonder, and El Condor Pasa, and become a new legend."
"A legend? You're overthinking it. Unless the animation production team decides to drastically rewrite Special Week's story too, there's no way she can become a legend. When it comes down to it, while she did win many races, almost every single victory was a hard-fought one. She doesn't come anywhere near legendary status."
"It can't be helped. Special Week primarily uses a 'late-charge' running style, which is completely different from a 'lead-escape' horse like Silence Suzuka. Still, even if she can't be called a legend, the real-life Special Week was quite capable of winning, so there should still be plenty of highlights to look forward to."
"Special Week is the protagonist, not Silence Suzuka. Episodes 6 and 7 focused on Silence Suzuka's race, but by the next episode, Silence Suzuka gets injured, so the plot's focus will definitely shift back to Special Week."
After browsing for a while, Ohara Ugo couldn't help but post a thread about "Uma Musume" on the internet:
"My dad never used to watch anime; he'd only even heard of 'EVA'..."
After browsing for a while, Yugo Ohara couldn't resist making a post online about Uma Musume:
"My dad never used to watch anime; he'd only heard of EVA but never actually watched it. But we're both really enjoying Uma Musume; he's already been following it with me for four weeks now. While it has something to do with him being a horse racing fan in the past, I have to say, Lin Zhiyan's anime this time is truly impressive.
I wonder how the animation production team will handle the subsequent storyline for Silence Suzuka, but I still hope this anime keeps getting better and better. After all, this is the only anime I've been able to watch together with my dad, and I doubt there will ever be another one like it."
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