🔗 Share this article

Much has been documented about the art of running, a healing activity with ability for therapeutic unburdening. In the sphere of professional sports, yet, the stress of competition can cause individuals to overlook of this fundamental aim. Reimagined from the same-named comic, Kenji Iwaisawa’s spellbinding anime transcends trophies and medals to investigate the inner motivation that spurs an sports star’s dream.

Plot Overview

The 100-Meter Film follows Togashi and Komiya, youth companions whose career trajectories split when they go pro. Previously the quickest elementary student in Japan, Togashi guides the more uncertain Komiya with the fundamentals. As the duo move through their teens and their 20s, Komiya progressively advances up the leaderboard of premier sportspeople, while Togashi is trapped in a decline; both battle fears and doubts. Encompassing more than 15 years, the tale follows their psychological barriers, revealing the challenges of an sports professional’s journey, locked in a cycle of media attention, result pressures and commercial obligations.

Artistic Strengths

Maybe it’s down to the original work, but the animation’s answer to these intricate issues is somewhat facile; repeatedly, a character’s inner doubts simply disappear after a extended discussion with a fellow athlete or mentor. But what 100 Meters lacks in narrative subtlety and pacing, it compensates for in breathtaking graphics. Using rotoscoping, in which cartooning is drawn atop live-action footage, the film produces remarkably precise running sequences. The physical exertion of a dash is on full display, and the pain and the joy of contests are imprinted on the athletes’ physiques.

Impactful Sequences

One especially significant race ends in the downpour, with sheets of monochrome brushwork that engulf the scene. More than any dialogue, these flourishes of creative mastery embody the almost spiritual high the film aims to evoke.

The 100-Meter Anime is showing in the United Kingdom from 16 November.