Yawara!
 

If that recent posting on the list is Fashionable Judo Girl Yawara, then I'd recommend it to most people....especially if you have a fondness for the best of the older "completely hand-drawn" anime, or if you're into sports anime.

I myself don't like all the cliches that seem to go with nearly all sports anime, but Yawara avoids most of them.

Also, this anime was pretty popular when it came out, and some would group it with the "classics". I wouldn't. :D It's on the Kempis Good Anime List, though.

-k


And Yawara is so cute! :)

I agree! Yawara is an *excellent* series! It's too bad only like 40 episodes are available fansubbed. =/ I heard Animeigo once thought of picking it up but they never did. -.-;; I really hope it get's licensed though! >_<

I like Yawara! :D

The anime looks somewhat dated but the story is interesting. Obviously a very character-driven series. I like Matsuda... played by my favorite voice actor ever.

I also enjoy Yawara immensly. It always brigtens my day when a new bittorrent comes out. It has some really endearing characters and superb voice work. This show is so much better than 85% of the stuff that's out there currently and I'm being generous!

Well, I'm a pretty big sports anime fan..so I of course like this series a lot. However, it does focus a lot on the main character (Yawara's) life, and doesn't just focus on sports, so it is probably appealing to a larger audience base. 120+ episodes though...going to be another year or two before they can get this anime subbed completely....

UMMMMM, I can only find the first 13 eps. If you know where the rest up to 40 are and who did them then in the name of all things good tell me. I saw the first couple of eps and I was hooked.

The episodes up to 40 are available on VHS fansubs. ^_^;

I actually am worried about the incredible number of episodes for this anime.
I really liked the first 13 eps (or so) of a couple of looooong anime: Ranma 1/2. Naruto. One Piece. Dragon Ball Z. Also, some long ones get a startlingly bad story arc or two and then come back to being great anime, like Naruto or Kodocha.

If Yawara does start repeating itself then I'll have to say. "Bleah, how disappointing!" but so far it hasn't. If it did why did you watch the whole set? Even during my most anime-starved college SLP VHS fansub days I stopped watching an anime series I didn't like.

-k

curious

I haven't watched this show yet, but I noticed this show is by Madhouse, just like Hajime no Ippo, and from the description it sounds really like Hajime no Ippo except with a female lead and Judo instead of boxing.

I'll give it a try...

The author of the Yawara manga, Naoki Urasawa, is far and away my favorite mangaka ever, but I must say that Yawara is also far and away his least interesting work. It's good if you like really insubstantial, fluffy stories that are heartwarming and cute, but if you seek even the smallest amount of challenge in your anime it will be a dull experience.

Personally, I am really really looking forward to Madhouse's Monster anime to be aired next year. Now that is some spectacular Urasawa material.

Umm, Madhouse makes all kinds of anime, from bloodiest of the bloody shounen like Ninja Scroll to pinkiest of the pink shoujo like Card Captors Sakura. I always thought that Yawara! had more of a shoujo feel. Unlike Ippo, Yawara doesn't like her sport and doesn't want to be a champion. I don't want to make it sound like it's all angsty. On the contray, Yawara is one of the nicest, sunnier anime girls. And her grandfather is a riot

Try it anyways. It's lovely. It was broadcasted right besides Ranma and routinely used to beat it in ratings. Yawara's voice actress has a really nice, distinctive voice, completely different from your usual ear-bleeding young girl.

Besides the 140+ TV episodes, there's a 90 min. TV special "Road to Barcelona" also fansubbed. I have seen a low quality VHS rip floating in Streamload.com. It would be a nice addition to Animesuki's own torrents even if it's only 352x240, 15 fps DivX 3.11

Yawara is a great great series--a shoujo sports anime, yes. :) I've watched all the episodes that were subbed on VHS, and highly recommend it. If neither sports anime nor shoujo anime appeals to you, well, it may not be what you're looking for. :)

It seems to be often mistaken, but Yawara is actually a shonen series.

Well, depends how you want to look at it, I suppose. I'd consider it more of a shoujo series because of the romance angle(s). I guess I should rephrase what I said above as saying that this is a romantic comedy and sports anime. :)

If you go by the original publication's target audience, it's neither shoujo, nor shounen, but seinen.

Remind me what seinen is again. :(

-k

The seinen target audience is men of college age or older. Typically more sophisticated and mature than shounen. Yawara bears few resemblances to an average seinen manga/anime but it ran in Big Comic Spirits, which is a seinen magazine.

*nods* As it happens with other media like comics, many people equate "mature" with violent, edgy, openly sexual content, but that's not always the case. Another manga aimed at the seinen audience is Oh My Goddess, published in "Afternoon". Mind you, I have forgotten the last time Belldandy raped and disembowelled Keiichi :eyespin:

As I said earlier, Yawara! was broadcasted right after (or before, I forgot) Ranma, and a case can be argued that Ranma is not as "all ages" friendly as Yawara! considering all the nudity, yet Ranma (manga) ran in a boys magazine.

Yawara licensed by Animeigo
 

http://animeigo.com/Art-JPG/yawara_banner.JPG

It's official Animeigo have licensed the very long 124 episode series Yawara.

Animeigo have not made a new aquisition since they licensed Macross in year 2000.

Anyone else happy?

Yawara got Licensed O_O

http://www.animeigo.com/