The Happiness of the Pursuit

10 seconds.

A sixth of a minute may seem fast, but to some...

A champion, a winner, a world record.

All within reach in a mere 10 seconds.

But behind those few seconds were years of dedication and hard work.

You overlook a lot of stuff leading up to that moment.

Just like how you might have overlooked this anime.

Togashi is a born sprinter, naturally gifted with speed.

In sixth grade, he's crushing everyone.

While Komiya...

He hyperventilates and looks like he's about to die every time he runs.

These two are the complete opposites.

They even have different outlooks on running.

Togashi runs because he is fast, so it's instinct that he runs.

While Komiya...

runs to escape reality.

He's not built like Togashi.

He sucks at running and it hurts to run.

But if that could distract him from the world,

then that's all he needs.

Togashi hears that and goes,

Well, that's dumb as fuck.

Dumb, you say?

Uh, I mean...

Your mom's kinda hot.

I have no friends, no Robux...

and no idea on how to solve the problems in my life.

So, I run.

Even though I know it's dumb.

yeah that is dumb as fuck

There is only one rule in this world that I believe in.

That your mom's kinda hot?

That running the 100-meter dash faster than anyone else can solve almost anything.

well that's dumb as fuck-

Togashi and Komiya become homies.

Komiya sucks at running, so Togashi trains him like a Pokémon.

And now Komiya has a new found reason to run.

To be faster and win a gold medal at school.

It's kinda wholesome.

You see two buddies bond over a sport.

Togashi pushes Komiya to achieve his goal.

But what's Togashi's goal?

We know that Komiya wants to win, but we don't really know why Togashi runs.

In fact, he himself doesn't know the reason.

He doesn't strive to win.

There's no grand ambition or goal.

So while one of them is putting his life on the line...

the other doesn't really give a shit.

They eventually race each other and Komiya chases him with the grit of an abusive husband.

The outcome was expected,

so there wasn't really a need for Togashi to go all out.

And Komiya ends up face-palming himself at the end.

Hyperventilating and limps off to the horizon.

That was the last time Togashi ever saw Komiya.

A few years later, Togashi's now in high school

and you would think he's on path to be the next Usain Bolt but...

Togashi's washed up.

The guy who once won every single meet he was in

now gets excited over bread.

What happened to our prodigy?

What is a national-level athlete doing at a normal high school?

Some say he's injured...

health problems...

but deep down...

Togashi's given up.

The fear creeped in and Togashi's set on a new chapter of his life, away from running.

Until the huzz shows up and he's like;

Boom, he's reignited the fire.

100 meters is a movie that you got to watch at least two or three times

to truly understand what it's about cuz...

there's a lot of subtext and nuances that you will overlook on your first watch.

The story doesn't pause for you to take it all in.

😏

You need to keep your eyes and ears peeled to really catch what they're saying.

Some are practically Socrates incarnate,

parting wisdom so dense

you don't even know what he just said.

But if you lean closer...

you can hear the fourth wall start to crack

and the conversation becomes personal.

If you've watched the movie, you know what I'm talking about.

But if you haven't...

I know where your eyes have been looking.

You've been focusing on it for the past minute.

100 meters is a five volume manga

written and illustrated by the same guy who made-

The movie was animated by Rock'n Roll Mountain.

Haven't heard of them?

Yeah, cuz it's like their second project

with the first one being this-

this went on for 30 seconds

Kenji Iwaisawa is the founder of Rock'n Roll Mountain

and the backbone of his studio.

The first anime they took on,

man I don't even know what this shit's about.

But this hour-long movie only had five people working on it.

And if you look closer, Kenji took on every possible role.

Animating over 40,000 frames alone.

Taking over 7 years to finish the film.

And if there's one thing about Kenji is that he loves his rotoscope-

Rotoscoping is a technique where animators trace over live-action footage to create a scene.

No.

If you think rotoscoping is just drawing over an image,

you're not wrong to think that.

But it's not just copy-paste animation.

A lot of people think it's lazy, but some fail to realize

that it actually takes more time to rotoscope than a normal key animation.

You still got to draw every frame and make it look good.

The anime industry does not like this technique.

They say it's not very "anime" like which...

I kind of agree.

Some of these scenes reminds me of those AI filters

you know the-

The industry does not approve of it.

The people are not really fond of it.

You gotta like own your own animation studio for this to even work.

10 years after high school and Togashi's still nowhere near Bolt.

He even almost got cut from being a pro runner.

I don't get it.

He's the main character.

He's supposed to win and be the champion but...

an hour into the movie, you realize it's not that kind of show.

From the start of the movie,

from the start of this video...

you never really knew why Togashi runs.

He lacks ambition and commitment.

He even comes to a point where he breaks down crying after saying defeat is a part of life.

That's a tough pill to swallow.

At some point, your mind starts thinking...

"this isn't about running, is it?"

I have read story after story that uses sports as a disguise,

but in reality...

it ends up being a life lesson.

Togashi, Komiya, Nigami, Zaitsu, Kaidou

are all runners that run on the same track but

each for different reasons.

You're gonna relate to at least one of them.

One's running to chase records.

Another's running because he believes in himself.

Another's been on the top for so long that it becomes lonely.

Ultimately, as long as you understand why you're running,

that's all that really matters.

Because running the 100-meter dash faster than anyone else can solve almost anything.

When you give your best to something and believe in yourself,

everything just starts to shine and you feel the world is yours.

It's the same principles I take to creating content.

I'm not chasing views or subs

or increasing my Patreon members.

I run because I want to.

Because I LOVE to.

It's not the pursuit of happiness, but the happiness of the pursuit.

There's no greater feeling than investing in myself and seeing myself grow.

It gives my life meaning.

Togashi never went all-in against Komiya because there was no meaning to it.

He knew he was faster, so to him...

the race had already ended before it even started.

But if you're gonna run like that...

don't be surprised when someone else overtakes you or

20 years later, you end up regretting not giving it your all.

YOU GOT TO WANT IT.

YOU GOT TO UNDERSTAND WHY YOU WANT IT

and pace yourself because if you don't...

you might just lose yourself in the race.

It took our characters 30 years to figure out why they run for 10 seconds,

but for you...

hopefully,

just an hour and 46 minutes.

So...