At first glance, this seems like a story told in a billion anime before. A peppy transfer student arrives, joins a dead or dying club, and revitalizes it into a top-tier competitor with a real chance to win “the big competition.” What's different about Give It All is that the aforementioned “peppy transfer student” is not actually the main character of the film—rather, she's the catalyst that gets our main character's story started.

Our heroine is Etsuko, a dispirited high school girl. Growing up has hit her hard. She had her growth spurt young—which made her physically superior to all her peers regardless of gender. She was a school celebrity, the fastest/strongest kid in school. But when the other kids got their own growth spurts (and then went through puberty), she was left behind. She went from the strongest to the weakest. No matter how hard she trained, she couldn't beat natural talent with hard work alone. Rather than accepting her limitations and playing for the fun of the game, she simply gave up on all physical activities completely.

It's through this lens that the film focuses on the physical side of growing up and how it affects a young person's developing personality. Etsuko starts the film as a teen with the mindset that trying hard is pointless. Why waste the energy if you have no chance of winning? The moment that victory seems impossible, she simply shuts down.

Yet, after being forced to join the rowing team, she has that moment where everything just clicks—where she and her teammates are working in unison, the runner's high hits, and she's exactly where she wants to be. Suddenly she is trying hard for the simple joy of doing so alongside everyone else. Even when the other team members get better and better—and her own physical limitations start encroaching on the team's success—she learns that technique can make up for a lack of strength.

But when a mixture of bad luck, teenage hormones, and some questionable decisions hit her all at once, all the old ghosts come back in force. She feels she's not just unable to do what needs to be done at the level needed, she's holding everyone else back—making the team objectively worse.

This is a fantastically realistic depiction of how a mental hang-up like this stays with a person. Even when we think we've conquered our doubts or inner weaknesses, they can still come back again and again in new forms when we're at our most vulnerable. There is no simple cure. And more than that, sometimes, no one else can do anything to help—you just need the time and space to get over it on your own. This film is a well-executed look at a person going through this journey that speaks to the heart of the matter in a way everyone can understand.

On the visual side of things, Give It All is a fully 3D animated movie and isn't trying to be a 2D one. Instead, it uses 3D nature to full effect. There are tons of non-conventional camera angles and movements—ones that would be impossible in the real world. The character models are full of tiny animated details, from hair movements to fluttering fabric, and the lighting and shadows are spot-on. So, while it's obviously 3D animated, it certainly doesn't look or feel cheap.

The best parts of the music aren't the score (which is decent enough) but rather the diegetic songs from within the fictional world. We hear songs over store radios or sounds that bleed from Etsuko's earphones—and it just adds an unexpected level of realism to the world on the screen.

In the end, Give It All is the story of a girl looking for meaning in sports beyond the joy of winning—finding a reason to give it her all despite her own physical limitations. It's a story that works hard to stay grounded throughout for the sake of its message—to never give into narrative tropes that would pander to the audience and, in doing so, stray from the realism it's looking to portray. It's a solid film with an equally solid moral—and it's one that many of us could stand to apply to our everyday lives.