100 Meters: Review

A hard-cutting phylosophical titan, disguised as a track and field anime unexpectedly rises up to show all the other sports anime with protagonists that face and solve no real challenges the brutal truth: »There is always someone better than you and at the end of the day, you have to ask yourself, what are you doing all this for«.

100 Meters is a 2025 anime movie directed by Kenji Iwaizawa, based on a 2018 sports drama by the Japanese manga artist Uoto. The author has received praise for his thought-provoking and intricate storytelling, as well as detailed artwork. He started out drawing and submitting one-shot manga to contests, finally making his official debut in 2017 with Honorable Work, for which he received a Newcomer Manga Award. In Japan, the term “one-shot manga” refers to a comic presented in its entirety with no continuation whatsoever. Such stories are usually written for contests and, if successful, can later receive a full-length visual adaptation (much like TV pilot episodes in Western culture). 100 Meters marked his final one-shot manga before reaching critical success with his other seminal work, Orb: On the Movements of the Earth, a series so thought-provoking it warrants its own review.

For those unfamiliar with the story, it follows Togashi, an elementary school kid with a natural talent for running. He becomes known as the best sprinter at the school, becoming a huge inspiration to the newly transferred pupil, Komiya. Unlike Togashi, Komiya possesses no running skills, has weak form, is the slowest in class and has never won a race. However, seeing his commitment to running, Togashi approaches him, and they bond over their desire to keep running, despite their different motivations (one naturally loves running, the other wants to set a 100-meter national record). Togashi agrees to train Komiya after school, even setting aside other opportunities to socialize with peers, instead opting to run with his new friend. Komiya starts improving, going so far as becoming obsessed with progress, even at the cost of his (physical) health. At the next school Sports Day, both of them compete against other classmates separately. Togashi wins effortlessly and - to everyone’s surprise - Komiya also wins his race, despite falling towards the beginning. Later, Komiya challenges Togashi to a 100-meter race and wins, but ends up injuring his leg in the process. After the victory, Komiya says goodbye to his shocked classmate and transfers schools. Togashi couldn’t have known he’d accidentally created his biggest competition that would last him for the rest of his journey.

One of the crucial aspects of movies is creating an environment where the audience can immerse themselves into both the characters and their struggles – 100 meters executes that perfectly, not just through visual display of competition pressure, but also stunning animation and insanely detailed artwork. Although animation alone is never enough to make a compelling movie, the “rotoscoping” animation truly enhances the racing experience, especially during the national high school championship final, where the camerawork and the rain-soaked slow-motion shots make you feel like you’re participating yourself. If your eyes won’t be glued to the screen every time our main cast participates in the championship races, then I’m afraid that watching races is not for you. Moreover, this film will resonate with anyone who has ever performed in a competitive environment (work or hobby-wise), felt overwhelmed with expectations of the outside world or questioned the purpose of persisting in a certain field of interest. It might not be the most original socio-critical message, and there are other anime series out there that developed such themes into stories that had more time to breathe (most notably Masaaki Yuasa’s Ping Pong: The Animation). On the other hand, to package such difficult-to-develop themes into a well-paced stand-alone movie is a feat in itself. The insane camera angles and constant movement do at times exceed their welcome (sort of a “too much of a good thing” situation), but still don’t hinder the overall impact of the story.

Now for the spoiler part of the review: While some focus and themes overlap with the side characters, we spend the most time with Togashi. Both he and Komiya have interestingly opposing life trajectories: Komiya starts at the bottom, working only on his running, eventually becoming better as he graduates from elementary school kid to an adult athlete, disregarding the importance of anything else in his life, even his physical and mental health. In contrast, Togashi starts at the top with nothing but running going for him, until he succumbs to pressure, his performance declines and is eventually forced to consider retiring (his breakdown at the playground is heart-wrenching). For Komiya, running started of as a form of escapism that just grew over time, while for Togashi, running offered less and less of an escape the more pressure caught up to him. It is worth noting that while both of them had various levels of terrible mentorship (I have yet to hear more self-destructive advice than to disregard mental health and focus on the results, instead), they were both confronted with the right questions at the end. Togashi makes Komiya realize the importance of running for yourself. As the final race ends, the winner is left ambiguous; all we know is that both of our heroes cross the finishing line smiling. We don’t know who won the race, but they sure won at life, as in that moment, everything else became irrelevant. It’s delightfully poetic how in a story about results, the best outcome was a race with an unknown resolve and racers “winning” with no care for victory. 

One of the world’s many ugly realities is that there will always be someone who outperforms you in what you love doing most. Record achievements aren’t immutable and merely relying on earning trophies doesn’t make for a fulfilling existence in the long run. In the grand scheme of things, you should engage and nurture your interests for yourself, despite who you will or won’t please. And just like for Togashi and Komiya, the biggest reward you can win in a race is winning at life – by experiencing all the worth it has to offer, no matter how short it lasts... Even if it is only for how long it takes to run 100 meters.

Rating: 4/5

- Philip