🔗 Share this article

Plenty has been written about the art of running, a healing activity with ability for therapeutic unburdening. In the sphere of competitive games, though, the stress of contests can cause individuals to overlook of this ultimate goal. Adapted from the same-named comic, Kenji Iwaisawa’s enthralling anime transcends prizes and accolades to investigate the core impetus that spurs an competitor’s aspiration.

Plot Overview

100 Meters follows Togashi and Komiya, childhood friends whose life paths diverge when they go pro. Previously the speediest young pupil in Japan, Togashi guides the less confident Komiya with the basics. As the duo progress into their teens and their 20s, Komiya consistently improves up the leaderboard of elite competitors, while Togashi is trapped in a decline; both confront fears and doubts. Encompassing more than 15 years, the story follows their psychological barriers, laying bare the struggles of an athlete’s life, caught in a loop of media attention, result pressures and endorsement requirements.

Creative Merits

Perhaps it’s because of the base story, but the movie’s approach to these complex dilemmas is somewhat facile; time and time again, a protagonist’s uncertainties simply disappear after a lengthy conversation with a peer or a senior. But what the anime is deficient in narrative subtlety and pacing, it redeems itself with in dazzling visuals. Using rotoscoping, in which cartooning is superimposed on live-action footage, the film creates remarkably precise running sequences. The physical exertion of a dash is visibly evident, and the pain and the joy of contests are imprinted on the protagonists’ forms.

Unforgettable Scenes

One notably pivotal race ends in the downpour, with cascades of monochrome brushwork that overwhelm the scene. Apart from conversation, these flourishes of artistic excellence encapsulate the near-transcendent euphoria the film aims to inspire.

The Sprint Film is released in Britain from the 16th of November.