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Plenty has been recorded about the act of running, a healing activity with capacity for therapeutic unburdening. Within the context of competitive games, however, the pressure of contests can lead athletes to forget of this ultimate goal. Reimagined from the same-named comic, Kenji Iwaisawa’s mesmerising anime goes past trophies and medals to examine the existential drive that spurs an competitor’s aspiration.

Plot Overview

The Sprint Story traces Togashi and Komiya, early-life buddies whose career trajectories diverge when they turn professional. Previously the fastest grade-schooler in Japan, Togashi guides the less confident Komiya with the fundamentals. As the duo move through their adolescence and adulthood, Komiya progressively advances up the ranking of top athletes, while Togashi is mired in a rut; both battle worries and uncertainties. Spanning more than 15 years, the tale tracks their psychological barriers, exposing the difficulties of an sports professional’s journey, locked in a cycle of public scrutiny, achievement demands and commercial obligations.

Visual Highlights

Possibly it’s due to the original work, but the movie’s approach to these complicated problems is somewhat facile; repeatedly, a protagonist’s uncertainties just vanish after a prolonged talk with a peer or a senior. But what the film lacks in story nuance and pacing, it makes up for in stunning imagery. Using live-action tracing, in which drawn art is drawn atop real-life video, the feature produces remarkably precise dash moments. The physical exertion of a race is on full display, and the suffering and elation of contests are imprinted on the athletes’ physiques.

Impactful Sequences

One particularly momentous race concludes in the rain, with sheets of charcoal lines that overwhelm the frame. More than any dialogue, these bursts of stylistic brilliance embody the quasi-enlightened elation the film aims to evoke.

The Sprint Film is showing in the United Kingdom from 16 November.