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「あなたの為に」 (Anata no Tame ni)
“For You”
Well, not anything, if you have a long-term goal, the most meaningful motivation behind it might not be to make a friend proud or do your friend justice. That’s something that Special Week learns as she loses the latest derby with Silence Suzuka in mind. She was so focused on winning the same race Suzuka did, making Suzuka proud by following her footsteps, and emulating Suzuka’s success that she didn’t bother to find the true motivation behind why she raced in the first place. Spe-chan was there for her mom, but Suzuka’s recent injury made her focus too much on the idea of arriving as Suzuka in spirit that she didn’t bring her A-game to the race, and that really made Grass Wonder angry. It took the trainer’s words to realize this, but the effort she did to match Suzuka didn’t do her racing abilities justice when her clouded thoughts dwelled deeper on her friend’s recovery and legacy than trusting her own abilities.
Speaking of Grass Wonder, she turned out to be an interesting character in this episode as we see from her perspective frequently this time around. Since she was in Suzuka’s shoes earlier in the series with her injured leg, this was the first time in a while that she was able to channel all of her energy and determination into winning. Most of all, because of her point-of-view as a formerly injured horse, she brought her A-game to challenge Spe-chan to use all of her effort as well. Grass Wonder is fascinating in that she was deliberately provoking Spe-chan by trying to encourage her to race at her best, and then call her out for not even giving her best when she got second place by a long shot. Because Grass Wonder spent all of this time injured, her reaction to Spe-chan losing felt like a slap to the face when this is what she was greeted to after getting back in top shape following her Tokyo Derby loss. While many of the girls in the series have been supportive and understanding, Grass Wonder is the first rival that aimed to antagonize Spe-chan to get her to do better.
Suzuka’s recovery is another plot point in the episode where we see her rehabilitation coming along smoothly. By the time the episode ends, she has the ability to go on a jog to train with the other girls, but we see the long and steady process it does take for her to regain the ability to walk normally without a wheel chair. Between takes of her trying to walk with support and the cast being replaced with therapeutic pads, there’s no expense spared in showing the lengths it takes for Suzuka to get to the point where she could even stand on her own two feet again. It is far different from the horrid fate that often meets injured horses, but it’s nice that they didn’t make horse girl injuries as true to reality as the other allusions the show does to real-life horse racing, and that Suzuka’s injury didn’t end up being a death sentence. For now though, Spe-chan needs to find a way to allow Suzuka to heal while also getting her groove back by remembering the motivation her mother gives her to be there, racing and winning against the best.
Is it just me? It seemed Grass Wonder had that “notice me
senpai” vibe towards Special Week, especially when they had lunch with Silence Suzuka. That “What about me?” came out of nowhere.Yeah. Spe needed a wake up call, but Grass’ behavior was yandere territory. She’s kinda crazy, that girl.
There’s also the fact that, with the way Special Week was SO focused on Suzuka 24/7 and seeming to blow off everyone and everything else to focus on her, it could definitely give the wrong impression that Special Week (secretly) doesn’t really consider anyone else (at least outside the team) as worth her attention, and it would only seem more so during a race where she clearly isn’t bringing her best, so it could seem like she’s not putting in the effort because she doesn’t see anyone but Suzuka as worth going all out against.
Take in mind, this Girls are mostly Humans.. or do they have the same Bone structure like an Horse? So i think the leg injury heals like an normal Human bone would do. Just give it time
Well, even is Suzuka-chan never reach 100% again. even 95% is fast enough to run away from the others… It is important that she regain her stamina first, then her Speed. and when she is happy with her own performance, let her fine tune both for Stamina + Speed = 98% (or to compare it with All Mighty) some seconds of her old self that put an strain on her fraction that she can only go seconds on 100% like in the old days
That should be fast enough, okay her pride is a little bit hurt
Well Grass-chan proves it, they have Human bones and can recover from an Leg injury (this is an Anime..), you should bend some laws into your favor for the fans.. not against them (only for Drama and Death flags)
Also, even if real Life race Horse can not run anymore because of an injury. I do not think the owner will “kill” him or her. No i bet the owner will use her or him as Breading “Horse”
If Spec-chan want to become the best Horse in Japan, then she will beat one day even here idol Suzuka-chan…
Good that Trainer-san remind her about her Anchors of racing
The show follows real life so she will never beat Suzuka. I’m pretty sure she has to find what “being the best horse girl in Japan” means for her. It can’t be just about being the fastest horse. That wouldn’t make any sense.
IMO the fact that Suzuka’s still alive means that real-life races aren’t strictly followed. Also, from what I’ve read, IRL El Condor Pasa didn’t race against Special Week in the Nihon Derby (as depicted in episode 5).
Actually that race with El Condor proves my point. In real life Spe won that race but El Condor didn’t participate in it. On the other hand, El Condor never lost to Spe in real life. In order to avoid contradicting history, they had to end the race in a draw.
So, they can make changes but the ultimate result can’t contradict real life. That means that if Suzuka and Spe ever race each other, the result will also be a draw.
The point is clear: Spe-chan was distracted. I found it a bit off when she was obsessed over spending all her free time tending to Suzuka, and that was making her forget her actual goals. So far the only success we ever saw her achieve was tying with El Condor, she hasn’t actually won a race fair and square, and I agree with Coach that it’s getting frustrating. I know she will win by the end of the season, and that will only make me wanna hug her more.
Win, Spe-chan! Do it for the real Special Week’s memory!
Glass Wonder has been darting ice glares at Spe-chan this whole episode. She’s a cold ice queen.
Coach is turning into my fav character. He’s tough, lays down the line hard, yet never raises his voice, is very loopy sometimes, and has a superiority complex in how great he is and is constantly knocked down a peg.
She won her first race (ep 2), and against Seiun Sky early in ep 3. Those were fair and square victories, even though Queen Berry was playing dirty.
I digress. She’s pretty amiable TBH, but got miffed when Special Week brushed her off (albeit unintentionally). Think of it from her point of view: she recovers from an injury, trains hard to get back to winning form, only to see her next opponent not training as much, then not giving her all during the actual race. I’m already hearing some character (from another franchise) say: “I’m disappointed in you.” 😀
Ep 09:
– In Short, this Episode was just “Golden!”.. All is good, even the soundtrack “I can’t stop!”, right on spot 🙂
– Also Trainer-san, you know your Horse girls.. Trainer is not only for build up their Body, no he is also training their “mental state”
An good one