100 Meters ひゃくえむ。Review: Kenji Iwaisawa’s Engrossing Rotoscoping Animated Feature of Uoto’s Manga Series Explores the Existential Depth of Sprinting

In general, the 100-meter dash in Kenji Iwaisawa’s 100 Meters a.k.a. Hyakuemu covers the shortest sprint event in outdoor track, requiring one’s trifecta of speed endurance, skill and balance. There’s no room for error since precision matters from the moment the runners set their feet on the starting blocks with hands on the ground of their assigned lane, before the call is made to get ready for sprinting.

Iwaisawa, who directed Yasuyuki Muto’s adapted screenplay from Uoto’s five-volume manga series of the same name, originally published between 2018 and 2019, uses this sprint event to encompass not only the technicality of the sport but also serves as an existential basis for exploring the meaning of life and purpose. The animated feature gets off to a mesmerising start in a sprinting montage summarising the importance of covering a distance.

The story then details two protagonists from the same junior high: Togashi (voiced by Atsumi Tanezaki) and Komiya (Aoi Yuki). The former is a gifted sprinter and a natural athlete who rules the 100-meter dash effortlessly. But the latter is a polar opposite, an introverted transfer student who may lack the precise technique and training that Togashi has in his skills. And yet, he’s a fiercely determined individual who treats running like a tension release to escape from reality. He even runs like hell as if his life fully depends on it.

The contrasting personalities between these two characters are what make them interesting. Soon, we see them become friends as Togashi recognises his raw talent and decides to train him. It’s easy to see where this is going as friendship turns into rivalry, but 100 Meters doesn’t confine itself to a typical storytelling beat, opting to go deeper on how time and circumstances shape their lives. This is especially true with Togashi’s arc from his junior high era before moving to high school and finally reaching adulthood. His time during high school marks a significant turning point from joining a track-and-race club run by two female athletes, Asakusa (Rie Takahashi) and Shiina (Yuki Tanaka), to facing Komiya in a race.

The latter is easily the anime’s most memorable scene — a sprint event that takes place on a rainy day as Iwaisawa builds the anticipation as the runners prep themselves at their designated lanes. The camera tracks and even circles around them in a seamless, unbroken take, while Hiroaki Tsutsumi’s propulsive guitar-driven score strums to feverish heights, embodying the feeling of hope, expectation and the mounting pressure associated with the sprint event. Further credits also go to Iwaisawa for making the best use of the rotoscoping animation, allowing a more naturalistic movement of these runners as they hit the stride across the track.

He even pulls all stops to mimic the intensity of the sprinting, combining everything from brush strokes to slow motion and even the first-person POV. The impeccable sound design also plays a part during the race, like the stride of the runners’ feet touching the ground. The only gripe I have about Iwaisawa’s animation style is the close-up facial expression of a runner looking too exaggerated for its own good.

100 Meters also includes several minor characters, namely the older competitive top-ranking runner Saizu (Koki Uchiyama), and kudos to Iwaisawa for not merely incorporating as placeholders but actually developing them for a reason without losing sight of Togashi and Komiya’s perspectives. The anime finally culminates in an inevitable third act that may seem divisive for some audiences looking for a more conventional thrilling finish. But personally, I like how the anime chooses to go for the ambiguous structure in depicting the fate and conflict surrounding Togashi and Komiya’s rivalry that isn’t just about a standard expectation of winning or losing the 100-meter dash.

As much as I was enthralled by Iwaisawa’s unique animation approach and the metaphor-heavy theme of sprinting, the anime doesn’t exactly bring a fine balance to delving into Komiya’s arc. Although we learn that the former uses running as a form of mental and physical diversion before Togashi’s teaching changes his perspective to use it as a goal to break the record, I can’t help but find Komiya’s character journey is rather one-dimensional, lacking the much-needed depth compared to the well-developed character angle seen in Togashi.

Speaking of the latter, the only time I find Togashi looking uncharacteristically awkward is when he suffers from an emotional breakdown in front of the kids during the crying scene. It just feels over-the-top, where I’m not sure whether to feel pity or laugh at him for trying too hard to lay bare his accumulated emotion bottled up within. Still, even with the shortcomings, it doesn’t deter 100 Meters from earning its spot as one of the best animated features I have come across this year.