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Yawara! A Fashionable Judo Girl

Yawara!
Yawaramanga.jpg
The cover of Yawara volume 1.
Genre Comedy, Romance, Sports
Manga
Written by Naoki Urasawa
Published by Shogakukan
Demographic Seinen
Magazine Big Comic Spirits
Original run 19861993
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
AnimEigo (2006-2012)
Original network Yomiuri TV (NNS)
Original run October 16, 1989September 21, 1992
Episodes 124 (List of episodes)
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
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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.


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