Episode 2

Featured Character: Special Week

**The Debut Race out of Nowhere** (いきなりのデビュー戦, *Ikinari no Debyū-sen*) is the second episode of the Uma Musume: Pretty Derby anime.

## Summary

Special Week is told by Trainer that she'll make her race debut next week, who is then reprimanded by the other Team Spica members. Now dark out, Special and Silence Suzuka walk together and briefly talk with each other until they reach the dormitory area. There they're greeted by Fuji Kiseki who informs Special that not only is her room ready, but as it so turns out, her roommate is Suzuka. In their room, an elated Special drafts a letter to her mom, but stops mid-way to cordially detail her appreciation and how her hopes to work well with her to Suzuka.

Special has a dream about racing a small bird when she was a child until she's awoken by Suzuka informing her she'll be late for class. Panic stricken, Special gets dressed and rushes to the academy. During class, Seiun Sky and El Condor Pasa correctly answer the questions asked to them by their homeroom teacher, while Special struggles to take notes. After the class, Air Groove informs Special that the student council president wants to speak with her. In the student council office, Symboli Rudolf introduces herself and the two talk about various subjects including the academy, Special's background and mother, as well as how Symboli's debut race went. To give Special a better understanding of her school environment, Symboli assigns Tokai Teio give her a tour of the place. Before Special leaves, Symboli points out a framed quote that says "Eclipse first, the rest nowhere" and asks her if she understands it as it's the school motto. Unfortunately, Special doesn't understand it, but Symboli doesn't hold it against her. That settled with, Special leaves the office as Symboli reflects on the meeting of the motto.

The first place the two visit for their tour of the school is the library and then the pool area. Outside of the academy they talk about Special's goal and her opinions on the student council president. Teio holds the president in high regards detailing how she wants to become just like her one day. Special recalls her own dream to be like Suzuku, which inspires her to earnestly try her best in preparation for her debut race. Later, Trainer has Special and Vodka play a game of Twister as it helps them build flexibility and endurance.

The following day, the contestants to Special Week's debut race is released. Although her friends are excited for her, Special is anxious. By dusk, Special diligently trains with her team. Back at the dorms, an exhausted Special heads back to her room, while Fuji requests a favor from Suzuka concerning Special. What Fuji asks of Suzuka is to look after Special in the dorms. Fuji's reason for her request is because of Special's unique background living with no other horse girls where she was from. Accepting the task, Suzuka finds Special sleeping on her desk seeing that she fell asleep while trying to write a letter to her mother.

Eventually, Team Spica discuss the plan for their debut race and Special is told to simply run to her heart's content. Hearing this advice has Special feel unsettled and it's shown when she's in her room performing maintenance on her shoes. Recalling Fuji's request, Suzuka asks Special is something wrong, to which, she brushes off. However, Suzuka has a heart to heart with Special concerning her dream and during this it's revealed that Special has two mothers. One who died sometime after giving birth to her and the other who raised and trained her to be the best race horse in Japan.

On the day of the debut race, Special messes up her introduction by falling down on stage. Conveniently noting how he "Forgot" to give Special her race bib, Trainer has Suzuka deliver it to her. In the tunnel that leads to the race track, Suzuka meets and gives Special her race bib, while also giving her some inspirational advice. Moved by the words of encouragement, Special thanks Suzuka and runs off to the tracks. During the race, Special makes it to 5th, but is soon surpassed by Queen Berry who tries to fling dirt at Special, who deftly dodges the oncoming piles. Reaching the fourth corner of the track, Queen Berry takes the lead only to get into a neck to neck race with Special. At the finish line, Special manages to win the race. After the race, Trainer briefly talks with Hana about Special and Suzuka.

That night, Special along with Queen Berry and Bamboo Memory perform the winning concert.

## Characters

* Special Week
* Vodka
* Gold Ship
* Daiwa Scarlet
* Silence Suzuka
* Fuji Kiseki
* Tazuna Hayakawa
* Seiun Sky
* El Condor Pasa
* Mr. C.B.
* Symboli Rudolf
* Narita Brian
* Air Groove
* Special Week's Mother
* Tokai Teio
* Mejiro McQueen
* Taiki Shuttle
* Hishi Amazon
* Narita Brian
* Grass Wonder
* Haru Urara
* Misato Akasaka
* Junko Hosoe
* Sunday Pillow (Mentioned)
* Queen Berry
* Sara Pool
* Victory Wild
* Last Century
* Hana Toujou
* Bamboo Memory