Posted on: May 27, 2009 Posted by: Jay NeuFutur Comments: 1

Yawara! A Fashionable Judo Girl! was created by Noaki Urasawa, who was attached to Monster and Master Keaton. The show starts off with a young female named Yawara, who has been forced into learning judo through the exhortations of a grandfather that sees Yawara’s tremendous talent. Other characters, such as Yawara’s rival Sayaka and Yawara’s coach Shinnosuke, further pad out the cast. Beyond the humor that I present in the episodes, there are bits of drama and suspense strewn throughout these first forty episodes, ensuring that viewers of all stripes will be able to find something that they can easily appreciate.

Yawara! is important not only because it was such a fixture on Japanese television in the late eighties and early nineties, but also because it was so influential in regards to shows that would follow it. Anyone that finds themselves a fan of anime will see the countless pieces of Yawara that have been taken off at some point by other shows, be it in parody (Ranma ½) or in spirit. This is a good start for anyone that wanted to get into Yawara, as it provides viewers with practically one-third of the series’ initial run (it ended with 124 episodes). Where a number of these hug boxed sets do not have anything in the way of additional features, Animeigo has added a tremendous amount of additional to keep viewers interested even after they have finished all 16+ hours of the feature presentation.

This means that there are character biographies present that go into tremendous detail , perhaps illuminating bits and pieces about each character that would not normally be known, while the image gallery has a number of snaps of the most memorable moments from this section of Yawara. A similar set of biographies is also present in the 72 page booklet that comes with the set, but focusing in on and the cast and crew that were tapped to create the series. There is a judo handbook present here as well that goes into detail about the martial art, while the educational notes that round out these bonuses add a different dimension than is typically present in anime boxed sets.

Rating: 8.5/10

Yawara! A Fashionable Judo Girl! / 2009 AnimEigo / 1000 Minutes / http://www.animeigo.com

1 people reacted on this

  1. I enjoyed the DVD set 1. When is the next DVD coming out. Hate to think I wasted money on 1/3 of a series that will never be shown.

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