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Plenty has been recorded about the practice of running, a healing activity with ability for cathartic release. In the sphere of elite athletics, though, the strain of rivalry can make people lose sight of this primary objective. Adapted from the same-named comic, Kenji Iwaisawa’s enthralling anime looks beyond awards and honors to investigate the core impetus that drives an sports star’s dream.

Narrative Summary

100 Meters follows Togashi and Komiya, childhood friends whose life paths diverge when they enter elite competition. Once the fastest grade-schooler in Japan, Togashi guides the less self-assured Komiya with the fundamentals. As the duo move through their teens and their 20s, Komiya consistently improves up the leaderboard of top athletes, while Togashi is mired in a rut; both struggle with anxieties and insecurities. Covering more than 15 years, the story follows their internal hurdles, laying bare the challenges of an athlete’s life, trapped in a loop of public scrutiny, performance expectations and endorsement requirements.

Visual Highlights

Maybe it’s down to the source material, but the animation’s answer to these intricate issues is a bit simplistic; time and time again, a character’s inner doubts just vanish after a lengthy conversation with a fellow athlete or mentor. But what the anime lacks in narrative subtlety and pacing, it makes up for in dazzling visuals. Employing trace-over animation, in which drawn art is traced over live-action footage, the feature creates exquisitely intricate sprinting scenes. The bodily strain of a race is on full display, and the pain and the joy of rivalry are engraved on the athletes’ physiques.

Memorable Moments

One especially significant race ends in the storm, with cascades of charcoal lines that engulf the screen. Apart from conversation, these bursts of artistic excellence embody the almost spiritual high the animation aims to evoke.

100 Meters is showing in the United Kingdom from 16 November.