100 Meters

Based on the hit manga of the same name, 100 Meters follows the story of two runners - the gifted Togashi and the man who would become his rival, Komiya. The story begins as the two meet in childhood for a brief time in which a gloomy Komiya transfers to Togashi's school and the two bond over their need to run. Over the following the years, the two will meet again, each inspired by the people around them to do their best and beat the odds, as well as each other.

It's not an unusual formula for a sports story, the gifted against the hungry, though I have to admit I'm not usually much of a sports anime fan, which means a lot of the tropes in the film aren't as well-worn for me as they might be for others. 

Togashi (left) and Komiya face off as youngsters

Director Kenji Iwaisawa makes his feature film debut here, following up his avant-garde ode to punk, On Gaku: Our Sound. It feels like all good directorial debuts should - experimental, guarded, careful and carefree, just a pure expression of the directors voice through a medium teeming with possibilities, all of which should be sampled with a view to eventual mastery. There are times where you can see corners cut (mainly static background characters) but equally the rotoscoped movement of the main characters is natural and weighty, giving a level of realism to the events on screen that ultimately draw you in. There's nothing over-the-top in terms of the ways in which the characters act, just youthful enthusiasm, nervous energy and eventually a considered tone as the characters mature and learn to look at life through the lens they've created through their own experiences. It's a lot to take in, but it keeps your attention even when the characters are monologing.

It's worth noting that none of the characters seem to find love, their minds and bodies completely devoted to their singular sporting passion. As such it feels both sad and isolating despite the thousands watching the competitions as they race. When the races do happen, they're wonderful to watch - facial expressions, body movement and the relentless pounding footfall make each an adrenaline-fuelled experience, the story never making it entirely obvious who will win and when. It's often in these moments that the animation reaches a peak in terms of style, but there's plenty of interesting and unusual animation techniques that capture your attention outside of them.

Take Komiya's mental block when running in his younger years, the animation showing his unease by gradually increasing the amount of wobble in the lines of his legs until they look distorted - it's a great way to show where his doubts lie and the way in which it affects his confidence. Likewise, after suffering a devastating loss in another race, the film switches to black and white, the rain that fell through the race increasing in volume until Togashi literally vanishes into the downpour. It's a wonderful manner in which to convey the sense of devastating loss, the character literally disappearing into the torrent of water, washing him away. 

The race in the rain is arguably the film's best sequence

The characters they meet along the way sadly don't develop much life of their own - their elders in the sport, each of which find themselves approaching the same 10-second battle for their own individual reasons, seem to exist only to guide or compete against the younger pair, their personal lives a complete mystery. Most disappointing was Aoi Asakusa, a girl who runs the high school track team and persuades a reluctant Togashi to join. She seems like a central supporting character who encourages a disillusioned Togashi to run again, but after a time skip to his adult life there's no sign that he keeps any contact with her. We do see that both she and her fellow track member attend his races or watch on TV, but there's never any indication if he knows or cares that they're supporting him. He lives alone, even at the end of the film, and has no close friends, coaches or personal connections to help him deal with his struggles. The film suggests that the lives of professional athletes are both lonely and depressing, life only experienced with any joy when on the track, against other lonely and otherwise lost souls.

By the end, the constant monologues by each racer were starting to grate, only being profound in the sense that they applied to themselves and how they saw the world around them. It's hard to care when not a single character was racing for anyone or anything outside of their own ego. Subsequently it all feels very insular and shallow, but maybe that's the point.

While the story isn't one you'll want to watch repeatedly, the animation is often spectacular, the bulging eyes, muscles and inventive ways in which they're portrayed is incredibly expressive and certainly worth seeing, it's just a shame that when the film ends with the final race, it feels no more consequential than any of the other races in the film. There's no closure or happiness to be found anywhere except for those 10 precious seconds when they each feel alive, as showcased by the final frame of the film. And despite the smiles, that just left me feeling sad.

What's left is a shallow but often spectacular animation that I can't help but feel would have been better served by a full series. It really needed to allow the wider cast to provide more emotional and substantive context to what's happening on the track. For all the misery in Togashi's life by the end, it almost feels wrong to root for him at all - perhaps his life would have been much happier and more fulfilling doing literally anything else.