Impressions: '100 Meters' Wants to Be a Kamen Rider
I would like to write down my impressions of the works I watched via streaming during the New Year holidays.
Today, I am writing about the animated film currently streaming on Netflix, '100 Meters'.
It is a film adaptation of the serialized debut work by Uoto, who had a breakthrough with the manga
'Orb: On the Movements of the Earth'.
At first glance, this work might be classified as a sports anime centered on the 100-meter dash. However, what remains strongly after watching it is not the exhilaration or sense of accomplishment of sports. Rather, what is depicted there is a drama of human obsession, asking, 'Why do people go to such lengths to seek something?' a drama of human obsession.
In the sense of a drama where two rivals grow while competing against each other, it reminds me of recent hits like
'Look Back' and 'BLUE GIANT', or perhaps 'Kokuhou'. The almost manic intensity of 'losing something in order to gain something.' The structure in which that intensity is depicted while swapping the winner and loser, the front and back of the two people, seems to resonate with '100 Meters' as well. However, if there is a decisive difference, it is that what is being competed for in the aforementioned works is 'art.' Evaluation is left to the audience and society, and victory or defeat is swayed by 'personal sentiment'—in other words, it is a worldview where the development of
'winning the match but losing the game'
is possible. But what is competed for in '100 Meters' is the 100-meter dash, a sport that is all too simple and all too cruel. The rules are clear. The one who reaches the goal first wins, and the one who is late loses.
There is no room for interpretation there, and there is absolutely no ambiguity in evaluation.
That is precisely why I believe the drama of this work arises not from the outside of the competition, but from the inside of the competitors—that is, their
ideology and philosophy
that emerges.
■ A sports movie that is unlike a sports movie
General sports works almost always have two axes.
One is the axis of logic, where one approaches victory through tactics, training, and ingenuity.
The other is the axis of the story of growth through teamwork and human relationships.
However, '100 Meters' shows almost no interest in these.
The 100-meter dash is a sport where tactics are difficult to intervene. There are no teams, and the race ends in an instant. There is no room for 'winning by strategy' or 'coordinated play' to enter.
And the backgrounds of the protagonists, Togashi and Komiya—family relationships, romance, affiliations, relationships with coaches—are depicted only to the minimum extent necessary.
In other words, this work begins from a state where the narrative devices that sports movies inherently possess have been intentionally stripped away.
Instead, what emerges is the philosophical question of
'Even so, why do you run?'
■ The consistent philosophy of the author Uoto
This questioning of the self can be said to be the very philosophy of the author Uoto.
In his masterpiece
'Orb', the philosophy of heliocentrism is depicted.
In 'Orb', heliocentrism is:
・ An 'error' in the society of that time
・ A dangerous ideology that could cost one their life
・ Zero immediate reward
Yet people do not stop thinking. This is
in '100 Meters'.
・ Running with no guarantee of winning
・ An obsession that no one understands
and completely isomorphic. In 'Orb', individual characters die, and only the ideology remains. In '100 Meters' as well, the structure where
・ Records
・ Philosophy
・ Reasons for running
are passed on to the next generation is emphasized over the glory of the individual competitor. Uoto consistently
does not heroize the individual human.
The ideology remains, but the person disappears. A non-romantic perspective of continuing to believe in an unproven correctness is common.
Also, in 'Welcome to FACT (Tokyo S-Ward 2nd Branch)', the dangers of groups that uphold social justice and great causes are depicted.
'FACT' depicts
social justice
movements
groups that uphold correctness
while depicting the danger that they easily turn into violence or self-satisfaction. What Uoto is doing here is a critique that
'the more people talk about grand meanings, the more they look away from their own inner selves.' Similarly, in '100 Meters',
national honor
for the team
an existence that gives dreams
such external values are almost never spoken of. Thoroughly, only
'Why do you do that?' is asked. In 'FACT',
Whose ideology is more radical?
Whose words move people?
These are what drive the story.
In 'Hyakum.', this is established as a worldview where
the strength of the philosophy one speaks = the persuasiveness of the match
, meaning that it is not physical ability or the amount of training, but
which ideology one fully believes in that determines the outcome.
■ A Single Thread Running Through Uoto's Works
If I were to summarize the philosophy that runs through these three works in one sentence, it would be this:
The world is unreasonable, and no meaning is provided for it. Even so, people have no choice but to think, choose, and bet on something.
'Chi. (About the Movement of the Earth)' = Betting one's life on the pursuit of knowledge
'FACT' = Placing oneself in a mindset that doubts justice
'Hyakum. (100m)' = Betting one's life on a meaningless competition
Though the forms differ, all depict the agony of 'individuals who take responsibility'. It is an extremely existentialist stance.
In an actual 100m race, victory or defeat is determined by physical ability. However, in the world of 'Hyakum.', it is depicted as if the ideology with which one approaches the competition, the
intensity of that conviction, determines the outcome.
More than speed itself, it is the desperation of the answer to the questions, 'Why do I want to be fast?' and 'What meaning am I giving to this run?' that permeates the running.
The competition here is a collision of bodies, and at the same time,
a clash of philosophies. In other words, this is a mental battle disguised as a sport.
■ Resonance with Yokokazu Shibata's Works
Reading this far, I could not shake a certain sense of déjà vu. It is not about the genre of 'sports' or 'competition,' but a déjà vu regarding the very worldview where
victory or defeat is determined not by technique or rationality, but by the 'intensity of a fully believed ideology'.
This feeling is not unique to the author Uoto. Rather, there is an author in Japanese manga expression who reached the same point in a more explicit and naked form.
That is Yokokazu Shibata.
In his masterpiece 'Air Master', it is not technique or tactics that determine the outcome of a fight. A worldview unfolds where the characters accept themselves as people who cannot help but fight, and those who fully believe in that impulse are the ones who win.
In his latest work, 'Tanzaburo Higashijima Wants to Become a Kamen Rider', that structure becomes even more extreme. Tanzaburo Higashijima is neither a chosen being nor a rational one. Yet, he continues to believe, 'I am a Kamen Rider.' The purity of that ideology bends reality to his will.
Even in Yokokazu Shibata's works, the world does not move by logic or correctness. The reality within the work is persuaded only by the pressure of a fully believed ideology.
I feel that this structure is depicted with a vibe extremely close to 'Hyakum.'.
■ Why Do We Seek 'Destructive Passion' Now?
As we have seen so far, what 'Hyakum.' depicts is not the outcome of a sport. What flows consistently through Uoto's works is the figure of 'a human who, in a world where meaning is not guaranteed, still takes something upon themselves'.
This structure resonates deeply with Yokokazu Shibata's works, and if we broaden our perspective, it seems that the same magnetic field is at work in recent hits such as 'Look Back' and 'BLUE GIANT' and 'Kokuhou'.
What these works have in common is that they depict characters who pay almost no regard to ordinary happiness or a stable life.
They are people who,
with no guarantee of success,
with no certainty of social reward,
and in fact, with a higher likelihood of losing something,
still dedicate themselves to something.
So why are we so drawn to these kinds of stories now? I believe it has everything to do with the sense of stagnation that defines the Reiwa era.
If you work hard, you'll be rewarded; if you chase your dreams, the future will open up—we can no longer honestly believe in stories like that.
It is an era where rationality and cost-performance are demanded, and a 'life without failure' is spoken of as the optimal solution.
That is precisely why, paradoxically, the figure of
the person who does it anywayemerges with
a powerful sense of reality.
What Uoto and Yoshinori Shibata depict are
not successful people,
not wise men,
and not exemplary people who have adapted to society.
What they depict is
the figure of a person who knows
'this might be meaningless'
or 'this might not be rewarded,'
and yet chooses to do it anyway.
The runners in 'Hyakumemu.'
do not change the world.
They do not improve society.
They do not save anyone.
Yet they run.
To convince themselves.
That figure
thrusts a dangerous allure at us,
who are exhausted from stacking up 'correct choices.'
—Even so, can you choose something?
—Knowing you will lose, is there anything you are willing to bet on?
'Hyakumemu.' is a work that hurls that question at you over the shortest distance of 100 meters.
It is not their legs that are running, but their philosophy.
And what this work depicts is
not the glory of victory,
but the dark desire to choose the life one has taken on.