“40% And Below! Tracen Academy Special Make-up Exams”
What They Say:
The horse girls are back to charm you in this special, bite-size anime. Umayon comes alive as a cute and eye-catching anime! At a school-turned-training facility, the girls will race, perform, and train… but that’s not all! Saddle up for a short-form anime that displays the laidback school days of the horse girls! Aaaaand, they’re off!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Serving as the cute spinoff series of the main one that has a second season coming, I’m going into this show with almost no real knowledge of the original. But short-form shows like this tend to be about being cute and silly and that’s easy to figure out. This opening episode focuses on a “make up exam” for some of the characters done with commentary, which gives us a look at the main cast that are involved in this. The designs are cute and the personalities are pretty standard fare and it’s amusing to watch the comical tension rise up as they take their tests while every stroke of the pen sounds like a hoofprint. Playing the make-up test like it’s an actual race definitely gives it a surprisingly good bit of tension while still mixing in some comedy.
In Summary:
I have little idea as to what to expect from the show as it gets going but the opening plays to some of its comical strengths pretty well. It’s not a show that’s going to revolutionize anything but it’s going to hit the short-form comedy side pretty well as it’s got horse-girls going through their lives in chibi form. How can you go wrong with that? It’s well-animated with bright and bold colors that will definitely make it appealing and with it being just three minutes it’s an easy palate cleanser.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.