“Wow, the main character sure looks like Rafal from Orb: On the Movement of the Earth,” I thought during 100 Meters‘ opening few minutes, where young protagonist Togashi tutors his classmate Komiya in sprinting. Turns out that the movie, directed by ON-GAKU: Our Sound‘s Kenji Iwaisawa, is based on a manga by Orb‘s Uoto. Upon initial publication in 2018, 100 Meters‘ five-volume manga was Uoto‘s big break into publishing, and follows the stories of two athletes from elementary school all the way to their professional careers in their mid-twenties. It’s a far cry from Orb‘s meticulously researched, dark, and dramatic historical drama. There’s an intensity to 100 Meters and its characters that do feel of a piece with Orb‘s, however, and they help to make this a magnetic film, throughout which I was transfixed.

Undoubtedly, the best sports anime film of the past few years is Takehiko Inoue‘s The First Slam Dunk, whose remarkable basketball game was visualized using advanced rotoscoping techniques. Rotoscoping can be divisive, especially amongst anime fans – just look at the incredibly mixed reaction to 2013’s Flowers of Evil, but there’s no argument with The First Slam Dunk – that movie utilized its techniques to maximal success. 100 Meter’s Iwaisawa is no stranger to the use of rotoscoping – his prior work, ON-GAKU, was a rotoscoped film based on his own self-published manga, and animated by amateurs. Iwaisawa took what worked with that film, and with a larger, professional team, applies it magnificently to the intensely competitive world of professional track and field.

There’s a combination of anime stylization and grounded, naturalistic look to the way that characters move in 100 Meters that manages to avoid that uncanny valley effect that sometimes plagues rotoscoped animation. In particular, there’s a profound sense of weight, of sheer muscle-shredding, teeth-grinding effort during the running scenes. They bring to mind Takeshi Koike‘s Animatrix short World Record, as the runners almost transcend reality for a scant few seconds as they chase practically superhuman record times.

If there’s a theme to the film, it’s “why do you run?”, and that answer is very different for each of the characters, and sometimes, when they lose sight of that, they fail. While some characters view each other as bitter rivals, in the end, what they are running against is themselves. I particularly liked older runner Zaitsu, who gives a speech to the younger pupils at school, giving hilariously awful, completely nihilistic advice, to the teachers’ horror. The thing is, it actually helps deuteragonist Komiya overcome his deep-seated anxieties, and drives him to succeed, though perhaps not in the healthiest of ways…

We learn very little about our characters’ lives outside of their love for the track. Protagonist Togashi is a quietly intense lad who is mindful of others, initially confident in his own abilities, and is wary of the fame he achieves relatively early in life. We see him struggle through crises of confidence, including one particularly brutal scene where he breaks down and cries in front of a pair of utterly bemused kids, great globs of tears and snot dripping onto the concrete beneath him. We’re left in no doubt about the meaning that running brings to his life, and the possibility that his future may be stolen from him by an injury is heartbreaking.

Komiya’s more of a mystery, a haunted-looking lad more in the vein of Death Note‘s L, with his dark eye shadows and awkward personality. As the story leaps across years, the characters change and grow physically, and it can be a little hard to track who is who. On more than one occasion, I mixed up one character for another for several scenes before I was able to confidently identify them accurately. I wonder if the source material had to be significantly edited to fit five entire volumes into the space of a single movie? Sadly, the manga is currently unavailable legally in English, so I can’t check.

By far the most impressive scene comes just over halfway through, at a rain-drenched athletic competition final. Comprised of a single long take filmed in live action, but meticulously painted over frame by frame, backgrounds and all, it’s a spine-tingling experience, full of motion, with a certain roughness, and brutal physicality to it. Togashi, standing alone in disbelief at the end, as his silhouette gradually disappears into the pouring rain, is a potent image. I shudder to think of the insane amount of work it must have taken to complete this scene.

The detailed backgrounds have the appearance of oil paintings, all-natural, almost photorealistic colors. Other, slow-motion shots look more pastel-like, and certain clever scene transitions, such as time-skips during running, are remarkable. The overall atmosphere is significantly enhanced by an excellent soundtrack, and I especially enjoyed the urgent, upbeat ending song Rashisa by Official HiGE DANdism, which suits the movie’s tone and subject matter perfectly.

My favorite character is Kaido, who we meet later in the movie as an adult athlete. His mirror shades never come off, and his full face beard makes him look a lot older than his fellow competitors. His characterization is immeasurably enhanced by voice actor Kenjirō Tsuda, whom Orb fans will recognize as the voice of the terrifying inquisitor Nowak. His line delivery via low-pitched drawl suits Kaido perfectly, and I love the role he plays in the story.

At first glance, 100 Meters‘ seemingly ambiguous ending may seem a little disappointing to viewers keen to learn which of the main characters ultimately “wins”, but that’s to miss the point of this story. As they each contend with their own motivations and those of their rivals, the ultimate answer to why they run is not to win, but “for us to give our absolute all, we need nothing else.” It’s a profound examination of the athlete’s psyche, and a refutation of the constant drive to win at all costs, while grinding opponents into the dust. That kind of mindset is shown to be harmful and unhealthy. Yes, winning is great, but what more can be asked of a person than to do the absolute best they can? Director Iwaisama clearly expended a great deal of time and effort to make this excellent film, and he should feel proud of achieving his best work so far.