🔗 Share this article

Plenty has been documented about the art of running, a therapeutic exercise with capacity for cathartic release. Within the context of competitive games, yet, the pressure of contests can lead athletes to forget of this fundamental aim. Transposed from the original graphic novel, Kenji Iwaisawa’s enthralling anime goes past awards and honors to explore the core impetus that spurs an competitor’s aspiration.

Plot Overview

100 Meters chronicles Togashi and Komiya, early-life buddies whose personal journeys split when they go pro. Formerly the fastest grade-schooler in Japan, Togashi assists the less self-assured Komiya with the basics. As the twosome move through their youth and early maturity, Komiya consistently improves up the leaderboard of top athletes, while Togashi is trapped in a decline; both confront worries and uncertainties. Spanning more than 15 years, the story tracks their mental obstacles, revealing the challenges of an competitor’s existence, caught in a pattern of media attention, result pressures and commercial obligations.

Artistic Strengths

Perhaps it’s due to the source material, but the animation’s answer to these intricate issues is a bit simplistic; repeatedly, a protagonist’s uncertainties just vanish after a extended discussion with a peer or a senior. But what 100 Meters is deficient in story nuance and rhythm, it makes up for in breathtaking graphics. Employing live-action tracing, in which cartooning is superimposed on real-life video, the film produces remarkably precise dash moments. The bodily strain of a sprint is visibly evident, and the pain and the joy of competition are imprinted on the characters’ bodies.

Impactful Sequences

One notably pivotal race ends in the rain, with sheets of charcoal lines that overwhelm the screen. Apart from conversation, these flourishes of creative mastery encapsulate the almost spiritual high the film aims to provoke.

The Sprint Film is released in Britain from November 16.