After watching the first 21 eps of Yawara! I have to say I don't care for the series.
Yawara! stars Yawara Inokuma, a normal girl who is unusually strong at Judo. The series is about her journey to becoming a famous Judo Idol and discovering love. My issue with this show is that Yawara just wants to be a normal girl, wear pretty dresses, and fall in love and it doesn't let her do that. She doesn't have any agency, all the people making decisions for her, claiming that they know better are male. Her grandfather is determined that she's going to win the Olympic gold medal in Judo despite the fact that due to a childhood issue, Yawara doesn't want to compete in Judo. She's forced to fight due to the actions of a newspaper reporter and the sleazy coach uses the fact that she has a crush on him to get her to do stuff.
There are pieces that kept me going for a while until the urge to hit the guys got too great. Yawara teaching the Judo club and caring about what was happening to them was great. That was something she did because she wanted to and was challenged by it. Sayaka was great at the very beginning but then went all crazy over the coach guy which didn't make any sense for her character.
Animation is gorgeous and the characters are interesting but it is a very frustrating watch.
Yawara! stars Yawara Inokuma, a normal girl who is unusually strong at Judo. The series is about her journey to becoming a famous Judo Idol and discovering love. My issue with this show is that Yawara just wants to be a normal girl, wear pretty dresses, and fall in love and it doesn't let her do that. She doesn't have any agency, all the people making decisions for her, claiming that they know better are male. Her grandfather is determined that she's going to win the Olympic gold medal in Judo despite the fact that due to a childhood issue, Yawara doesn't want to compete in Judo. She's forced to fight due to the actions of a newspaper reporter and the sleazy coach uses the fact that she has a crush on him to get her to do stuff.
There are pieces that kept me going for a while until the urge to hit the guys got too great. Yawara teaching the Judo club and caring about what was happening to them was great. That was something she did because she wanted to and was challenged by it. Sayaka was great at the very beginning but then went all crazy over the coach guy which didn't make any sense for her character.
Animation is gorgeous and the characters are interesting but it is a very frustrating watch.