Anime: Yawara! A Fashionable Judo Girl 3y6h1d

After a long, but enjoyable mass yawara watch finally done :)

Ok guys, for one I realize that only eppy 1-57 are subbed I also realize that I may not have the BEST Japanese in the world. So if you have zero faith in what I have to say, then don't read the review.

For this review I will talk about the ratings together, but I am going to talk about the plot for the subbed and non-subbed parts separately. I will put it in spoiler tags for things I feel may ruin your viewing experience, so read if you want to.

Plot Summary
Overall Yawara! definitely is an anime that should be considered among the great classics. It is at the bass of everything a very solid and interesting sports - romance - drama - comedy. The plot follows Inokuma Yawara life starting from high school for around 3-4 years. For the most part she is a normal girl, except she was trained for her entire life in the art of Judo by her Grandfather. Her grandfather Jigoro sensei is hiding her to take the Judo world by storm and have her win all the major tournaments. However her talent is discovered by a "third-rate" reporter Matsuda who exposes her to the world, and so the fun begins.

Episodes 1-57
These episodes and the final movie is subbed, thus if you do not know any Japanese this may be a reason to not watch this anime. This first half of the anime focuses on the rise of Yawara in the Judo world. Here is some advice about if you will only watch the subbed episodes:


Eppy 58 and on
So for all of you have been waiting patiently, or do not want to watch the raws. The main thing you miss out on a few main things. Here is what you are missing:


In reality, not a WHOLE lot changes between the middle and the end of the anime plot and relationship wise. However many characters are developed quite nicely and many interesting events do take place. It is definitely worth the watch. If you don't understand any Japanese then, its not possible to watch, however if you have a base and HAVE learned some, it is not that hard to watch the rest without subs. Since for one the plot is quite straightforward and the language they use throughout is NOT difficult by any means. Most of the time even if I couldn't understand some words, the actions easily made up for it.

Ratings

Animation
This is an anime done in the late 80's early 90's, so you can't expect for the best. But in reality it is ACTUALLY quite good. Its nothing close to perfect but it definitely still something that could be shown in this day and age.

Backgrounds
They had quite a few backgrounds throughout the show, since it did take place in various settings. It was interesting to see the stereotypical locations they chose for each different country. I'm not familiar with all the place, but for example when Yawara was in Canada the first scenery you see is TORONTO! with the CN tower and Skydome :). That makes me happy only cause I live there, although it is a bit weird to see my own city animated. However in of the backgrounds themselves they are able and don't intrude into the anime at all.

Motion
This is probably the most surprising part of the anime, they RARELY reuse the same footage for the same fights at all. Or else if they do its not noticeable. I mean seriously? I've seen a ton of sports anime and they are ALL filled with the same stock footage of the same punch or the same swing or throw or w/e. But in Yawara every fight important fight at least are different have their own charm. Not to mention every scene looks quite real and believable. You get to see them move around, counter each others attacks and just watch well a real Judo match. Its refreshing really I wish more sports anime could be like this.

Character sets
Some are good and some are not. Most of the main characters are done nicely, but some of the side characters look pretty ridiculous. Well in particular the two busty chicks and Hanazono, they just look wrong. However for the most part it is quite consistent, you do get some distortion in characters, but its not that evident.

Sound
Some of the sound is quite memorable while others, you wish they could just STFU.

VA
Yawara is voiced by Minaguchi Yuuko, other notable parts include: Videl in DBZ, Akiko in both Kanon series and sailor saturn in sailormoon S. Her voice is quite warm and soothing, it fits really well. She also does a great job with her emotions and depiction of the scenes. Jigoro is voiced by Nagai Ichirou who has quite a record for doing old men/ the weird annoying character part i.e. Cherry in Urusei Yatsura. Honestly this voice he does an amazing job, I think its pretty hard to be able to have to act like an asshole all the time and sound it too. The best part is I eventually grew to enjoy his character because of the way he talks... Just amazing. However, then we get to the side characters I had beef with a few mainly Hanazono, Jody and Matsuda just to name a few. The problem with the voices is many of them get high pitched very easily, and when they do they sound miserable. I don't want to listen to them, just want them to shut up. I know they are try to intensify the situation, but at many points its just WAY too much.

OP/ED
They have believe 4 OP and ED in total. So that is 8 different songs, although in the raws I got they took out the OP and ED so they may of had more I'm not sure. For the ones I heard I actually quite enjoyed all of them. They all had the perfect feel for the anime, the whole Yawara is a normal girl "watch her live her normal life!". It fit well.

OST
The sound track can be summed up in one word predictable. This was a downside, since you knew what was coming when you heard the music. The music was directly related with the things happening on screen, which I guess builds suspense but also loses the surprise feel. This is also one of the parts that made me lower my sound score.

Story
The plot isn't completely out original or special, rather it is simple and average even. However the everyday slice of life feel definitely made me enjoy the anime much more. Throughout the series Yawara is dragged around by people and events and emotions even, but at the end of the day she still chose herself what to do. It was a good ride because sometimes she goes with the flow and sometimes she just does something completely different. So what do I have to really complain about? Well things work out... too well all the time, it seems that no matter what all problems can be solved cleanly and nicely. Its not a bad thing, just is life really that kind? That and the anime really makes everything revolve around Yawara too much, its a bit corny at points.

Characters
With a long series you get a wide variety of characters and with that many things to bring to the table.

Main Characters
I'm not sure how to classify who is a main and who is a side character. But for the purpose of the review I will say Yawara, Fujiko, Jigoro and Matsuda are the main characters. Out of all 4 of them Fujiko actually in my eyes is developed the best and thoroughly. She starts off as just a fangirl, but then stands up and strives for what she wants by herself, she really does change a lot. The least change is obviously Jigoro who, well is the same basically no matter what happens, I think in the anime you only have 1 or 2 instances where something out of the ordinary happens with him. Then you have the last two:


Side Characters
They have alot, many who show up for only a portion of the show. Others who are around for the entire show. Most notably you have Sayaka and Katsamasuri, who are both rivals and love rivals. They add quite a bit of fun and depth to the anime. However, many of the other characters who are ditched, really only get used for a single purpose, and then are never to be seen again. I.e. the high school friends, or some of the first friends Yawara makes in College. Even many competitors are used a few times just to get thrown away, I know this is the reality, but sometimes its just a bit too random. For instance they introduce a strong competitor who gets beaten easily by Yawara then, she disappears forever. Or they are around but, never really matter anymore.

Value and Enjoyment
Can you learn anything? Well you sort of can they do have an important message. For me it is that just doing something doesn't cut it, you actually need a reason and motivation to do it. That is exactly Yawara, she is a genius at Judo, but throughout she struggles to find a place and reason to do it. Thus finding that reason is the most important of all. I DID enjoy this anime very much, if not I would not of been able to watch 60+ episodes in Japanese only. I think it is worth a watch for any anime fans out there. It is pretty refreshing and nice to see the roots of many other animes. It is also the first REALLY famous Urasawa Naoki work who, I'm a huge fan of! Although it definitely is quite different from the works he does nowadays.

I ranted quite a bit in this review, but I hope it useful for those who are considering it. Have fun if you watch it :).

Excellent anime. The main downside is that there are no enlgish subs for episodes 58-124 nor the movie. So I watched episodes 1-57 and the TV special that is the final ending. This is a very refreshing show to watch. The most important thing about a sports anime is having an interesting and enjoyable protagonist. Without that, the show does not work. Yawara is one of my favorite characters even though she seems to always get manipulated. This is a definite watch, but be weary that it may be awhile before it is completely subbed. It was licensed and S1 was released but there is no word on S2.

Animation
I for one enjoyed the animation. It was much more fluid than Ranma (aired the same time) and very realistic. While the fight scenes don't show the moves in normal speed all the way through, I don't feel that I really needed to see that much detail. The animators showed enough detail to get their point across and didn't make the viewer focus on the fights themselves, but rather on the plot behind the fights. The characters were all differentiable and memorable and the various backdrops were enjoyable and well done. No two characters were alike and their bodies fit their personalities for the most part. I am giving it a nine due to the fact that it is outdated and could perhaps use a retry (kinda like Kanon of Full Metal Alchemist)

Sound
Catchy op/ed, good music throughout that really fit the anime. I loved the voice acting for the most part. Yawara was excellently done, as were Katsamatsuri Jigoro, the mom and just about everyone. The only seiyuus that didn't impress me were the reporter and big boob girl (worst character in the show). I ordered the DVD but do not yet possess it, but the Live-evil subs had excellent sound quality that is definitely a good quality for the show.

Story
I don't know of too many sports animes done in the 1980's, but am sure that none were nearly as good as this. It was original in the disinterest for the protagonist, yet her motivation, which they gradually spell out for you over the first season. I can't judge episodes beyond 58, but I really enjoyed the first 57. The main thing that was missing was extended characters for fighting in the tournament, as Yawara seemed to only have "screen time fights" with the same characters over and over. All her matched are enjoyable and manage to pull you in. The show follows the typical sports story theme with tournaments and fighting stronger and stronger characters.

Character
At first I really hated Jigoro-sensei because of his annoying personality and laugh, but I gradually grew fonder of him as he became less antagonistical, sort of. Excellent characters, especially Yawara. It must be very hard to make an anime starring the undiscovered top athlete in the world . I must give props to the director for fluidly developing the characters to a point where you knew how they would react in certain situations and you feel for them. Excellent characters. I just wish there was more character development among any character besides Yawara, Sayako, and Jody.

Value
I am already thinking of watching the first 57 episodes again, though I would rather time watching it for the coming of S2. This show is awesome and definitely has the making of a show that can be watched again and again. It is also very motivational and definitely a worthwhile view. This gets knocked for no fault of its own, but rather due to the unfinished subbing and thus lack of completeness.

Enjoyment
This show was very motivating and enjoyable. There are some very strong and emotional characters that develop over the show. Anyone who likes to watch classical style anime with fluid animation for its time and a very strong and likable protagonist will enjoy this show. I wish I could at least find the raws for 58-124 even though I don't speak Japanese, but I guess I will have to force myself to wait for the subs.