The animated feature film " 100 Meters ", based on the serialized debut work by Uoto , who is also known for " Orb: On the Movements of the Earth (Chi: Chikyu no Undo ni Tsuite), " which was adapted into a TV anime, was released on September 19th. The film is based on the 100m (meter) track and field race, and depicts the madness and passion of those who are captivated by the fleeting brilliance of the 100m, a mere 10 seconds, and put everything on the line. Why did Uoto about the behind-the-scenes story of the work's creation, his own Uoto leading up to the serialization, and his thoughts on the animated feature film.
◇The ultimate tension-packed world of 100m The uncertain six months before the serialization
In 2016, Uoto won an honorable mention in the May 2016 Magazine Grand Prix of Weekly Shonen Magazine (Kodansha) for his rap-themed story "Punch Line," and published the one-shot story "100m," which became the precursor to "100 Meters." He says that he became interested in the 100m sprint after watching the live coverage of the 2016 Rio Olympics.
"I was casually watching the 100m race, not knowing anything about the rules, when I saw an athlete get disqualified for a false start. It made me think, 'So a false start can lead to disqualification. Does this person's four years of hard work go to waste because of a momentary wavering? Is the next one four years from now? Or what if this was this person's last Olympics?' I realized this was a world of extremely concentrated tension, and I wanted to portray that horror."
His one-shot "100m" won a special encouragement award in the Weekly Shonen Magazine Newcomer Manga Award. After that, his published one-shot "Honorable Mention" was selected as a finalist for the same Newcomer Manga Award, and Uoto decided to seriously pursue his dream of becoming a manga artist, so he dropped out of university. However, he experienced setbacks when it came to creating a storyboard for his debut serialization.
"At first, I wanted to create a serialization plan for ' 100 Meters' but it turned out that sprinting isn't suited to long-term serialization, so I decided not to do it. From there, I tried drawing karuta stories and doing various other things, but I thought to myself, 'This isn't interesting.' Every day I would take things that I thought were 'uninteresting' to publishers and get told they weren't interesting either, so I wondered what I was doing... I dropped out of university and thought, 'This is it.'"
Uoto said that the six months during which his name was not accepted were the most difficult period of his life.
"It was really tough. I really couldn't see the future, and I couldn't write the second or third episode (of the serialization). I was exhausted after the first episode. I didn't have a format, I had no convictions, I didn't really want to do it, and I was thinking, 'Why did I fail the 100m sprint?' so I was in a really bad state."
Meanwhile, he receives an offer to take part in a competition for a short, intensive serialization in Weekly Shonen Magazine.
"It was a competition for a short, intensive serialization of one volume of comics. The problem with the 100m sprint was that the story wasn't expanding, so we thought, why not finish it in one volume? That's how we came up with the prototype, which connects the current first chapter of ' 100 Meters' with the working adult arc to make a single volume."
After that, the name creation went smoothly, but it didn't pass the competition.
"They wouldn't approve it at first, so I took it to another publication within Kodansha. However, since we were in the same company, they must have told me, 'The girl who won your new writer's award brought it to us,' and then they suddenly decided to serialize it, and I was like, 'What?! Thank goodness!' (laughs)"
As a result, "100 Meters" was serialized on Kodansha's web manga app "Magazine Pocket (Magapoke)," and Uoto won his serial debut with a theme that he thought "I want to draw" and "I find interesting."
◇The moment when two complete strangers face the same direction: The life behind 100m
There were many twists and turns before the series was serialized, but Uoto believed that there were things that could only be depicted in the 100m sprint. He says that the theme he put into "100 Meters" was "We're born and we're all going to die someday anyway, so if there's something you want to do, then you should try it," and "Why not just try sprinting at full speed for once?"
"When you run 100 meters, of course there is skill involved and you might think, 'I've overtaken you,' or 'I'm in the lead,' but it's over before you have time to think about it. It really is a blink of an eye. So maybe it's not the length of time that makes it entertaining. It's a world where there are ultimately only rules and no games. What exists in such an extreme world is not entertainment, but a kind of divinity. It's like the limits of humanity, and you're risking your entire life for 0.001 seconds. But as I said before, the actual match itself is only a blink of an eye. The time spent preparing and the time spent in the actual match are ruthlessly different. But that's just how life is. I feel that way. I think the moments in life that can be called the real thing are definitely decisive moments. I don't mean sports or anything like that so-called "real thing," but the feeling of the wind blowing, or the enjoyment of a movie you just watched - whether you can see those moments as decisive in your life. I think there is all the other time we have to face those moments, to make our own decisions at that time. By using the 100m sprint as my subject, I thought I could portray everything, including the movements of the human heart, human drama, and feelings of emptiness, so I thought it was a great theme. I think it's a sport that's completely different from other sports, so I wanted to wrap it up as a human drama."
"100 Meters" features two main characters: Togashi, a "talented" runner who is naturally fast, and Komiya, a "hardworking" runner who becomes obsessed with the 100m sprint after meeting Togashi. Regarding the relationship between the two, he states, "I think there is definitely no emotional connection between them."
"When I was drawing ' 100 Meters,' what I kept in mind was that the characters weren't good friends, but complete strangers who knew absolutely nothing about each other. But I thought it would be great if these strangers could run facing the same direction just for the 100m sprint. When people with no emotional connection whatsoever act in the same way, bound by those rules just for that moment, there is the possibility of human solidarity that is separate from ideology. If it were a really long distance, people might look in different directions, but for this moment, surely all humans would look in the same direction? As a metaphor for that, I wanted the two to symbolize true strangers."
As Uoto says, even in the society we live in, there are moments when people who are usually separate come together towards one goal. Perhaps it is precisely because "100 Meters" condenses the essence of human life that it captures the hearts of so many people.
Incidentally, "100 Meters" has a period in the title, just like "Orb: On the Movements of the Earth (Chi: Chikyu no Undo ni Tsuite)." Regarding the period in "Chi.", Uoto previously said, "It's a metaphor for the shape of the Earth itself, and the period signifies the cessation of a sentence. The "100 Meters"?
"I just like the period for no reason. I like the feeling that when you add a period to something like Rintaro or Morning Musume, it makes you wonder what kind of sentence you think it is!? I just really just felt that way. I could back it up with a theory, but that would be a lie (laughs)."
◇The animated film that expanded the possibilities of "100 Meters"
Uoto says that "100 Meters" is "a work that gave me confidence as a writer." "I was able to do what I wanted to do. If I had done something I didn't want to do, I think I would have been really disappointed in myself, but that wasn't the case. It's a work that made me want to continue as a manga artist," he says, expressing his belief that "there is no point in doing this job other than doing what you want to do, what you like, and what is interesting."
Regarding the animated film, he said, "I saw the footage and it was really good. It's really amazing to see the pictures you drew moving. I'm the only one who can feel this, so I'm really happy."
Finally, we asked about the highlights of the animated film "100 Meters"
"I would like everyone to see the long take that depicts the national championships held in the rain. The 100m race itself lasts for just a moment, but the long take captures the tension before the race begins, the runners entering the track, being introduced, taking their positions at the start, and everyone gradually settling down. I wanted to do something like that in the original work, but it's difficult in manga to keep a series of still images from dragging on. It was a possibility for the work ' 100 Meters,' but the film did something that the manga couldn't, so I was very happy."
