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Plenty has been documented about the practice of running, a healing activity with potential for emotional liberation. In the sphere of elite athletics, yet, the stress of contests can lead athletes to forget of this fundamental aim. Transposed from the original graphic novel, Kenji Iwaisawa’s enthralling anime transcends awards and honors to investigate the core impetus that spurs an athlete’s ambition.

Plot Overview

100 Meters traces Togashi and Komiya, childhood friends whose career trajectories split when they turn professional. Once the quickest elementary student in Japan, Togashi helps the more uncertain Komiya with the basics. As the twosome move through their adolescence and adulthood, Komiya consistently improves up the leaderboard of elite competitors, while Togashi is mired in a rut; both confront worries and uncertainties. Encompassing more than 15 years, the narrative tracks their mental obstacles, exposing the challenges of an competitor’s existence, locked in a cycle of media attention, result pressures and endorsement requirements.

Visual Highlights

Maybe it’s because of the base story, but the film’s response to these complicated problems is a bit simplistic; repeatedly, a protagonist’s uncertainties just vanish after a extended discussion with a peer or a senior. But what the anime is deficient in narrative subtlety and pacing, it redeems itself with in breathtaking graphics. Using rotoscoping, in which drawn art is traced over real-life video, the feature produces remarkably precise dash moments. The bodily strain of a race is clearly shown, and the struggle and triumph of contests are etched on the athletes’ physiques.

Memorable Moments

One notably pivotal race concludes in the rain, with cascades of grey strokes that engulf the screen. More than any dialogue, these bursts of stylistic brilliance embody the almost spiritual high the animation aims to inspire.

The 100-Meter Anime is in UK cinemas from the 16th of November.