Yawara! | |
The cover of Yawara volume 1.
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Genre | Comedy, Romance, Sports |
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Manga | |
Written by | Naoki Urasawa |
Published by | Shogakukan |
Demographic | Seinen |
Magazine | Big Comic Spirits |
Original run | 1986 – 1993 |
Volumes | 29 |
Live-action film | |
Directed by | Kazuo Yoshida |
Produced by | Yukio Sakamoto Hitoshi Ogura Toshimine Kobayashi Hiro Oda |
Written by | Ikuo Sekimoto |
Music by | Ken Yajima Kaname Kato |
Studio |
Toho Doga Mycal Group |
Released | April 15, 1989 |
Runtime | 97 Minutes |
Anime television series | |
Yawara! A Fashionable Judo Girl! | |
Directed by | Hiroko Tokita |
Produced by |
Masao Maruyama Michihiko Suwa Satoshi Suzuki |
Written by | Hiroyuki Kawasaki Toshiki Inoue Yoshimasa Takahashi Yoshiyuki Suga |
Music by | Hideharu Mori Yasuo Uragami |
Studio |
Madhouse Kitty Films |
Licensed by | |
Original network | Yomiuri TV (NNS) |
Original run | October 16, 1989 – September 21, 1992 |
Episodes | 124 |
Original video animation | |
Yawara! Soreyuke Koshinuke Kizzu | |
Directed by | Hiroko Tokita |
Produced by |
Masao Maruyama Michihiko Suwa Tatsuya Mukai |
Written by | Toshiki Inoue |
Music by | Yasuo Uragami |
Studio |
Madhouse Kitty Films |
Released | August 1, 1992 |
Runtime | 60 minutes |
Game | |
Developer | Sofix |
Publisher | Sofix |
Platform | PC Engine CD-ROM, Super CD-ROM² |
Released | October 1, 1992 |
Game | |
Yawara! 2 | |
Developer | Sofix |
Publisher | Sofix |
Platform | Super CD-ROM² |
Released | September 23, 1994 |
Anime film | |
Yawara! Special - Zutto Kimi no Koto ga | |
Directed by | Morio Asaka |
Produced by |
Masao Maruyama Michihiko Suwa Toshio Nakatani |
Written by | Toshiki Inoue |
Music by | Hideharu Mori |
Studio |
Madhouse Kitty Films |
Released | July 19, 1996 |
Runtime | 110 minutes |
Yawara! (also stylized as YAWARA!) is a Japanese manga series by Naoki Urasawa which ran in Big Comic Spirits from 1986 to 1993. In 1990, it received the 35th Shogakukan Manga Award for general manga. It was adapted in 1989 by Toho as a live action movie directed by Kazuo Yoshida, starring Yui Asaka in the main role and singing the main theme, "Neverland".
In the same year, Yomiuri TV began broadcasting an anime adaptation titled Yawara! A Fashionable Judo Girl!, which ran from October 16, 1989 through September 21, 1992 for 124 episodes. Each episode ended with a countdown of days remaining to the start of the Barcelona Olympics. The anime, produced by Kitty Film with animation by the Madhouse studio, aired on Japanese television contemporary with Kitty's Ranma ½ but achieved higher ratings than Ranma ½, despite the latter series being better known outside Japan. AnimEigo licensed the TV series for North American distribution in August 2006. However, as of April 2010 AnimEigo has been unable to license the remaining episodes of the TV series for North American distribution.
Yawara Inokuma is a girl who aspires to an ordinary life but due to her innate talent is forced to practice judo by her authoritarian grandfather, Jigorou Inokuma, with the aim of achieving the championship in Japan and the gold medal in the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games. Because of the pressure from her grandfather she has a generally bad attitude about judo, avoiding it as much as she can. However, over time she comes to understand why her grandfather loves judo and appreciates it more.
The series was published in Big Comic Spirits from 1986 to 1993.
The series was collected into 29 volumes between June 1, 1987 and December 1, 1993. A 19 volume edition was then released between July 17, 1998 and March 16, 1999.