Yawara! (1989)
April 15, 1989Release Date
Plot.
Where to Watch.
Cast & Crew.
Yui Asaka
Yawara inokuma
Keiju Kobayashi
Jigoro inokuma
Bunta Sugawara
Kumajiro inokuma
Hiroshi Abe
Kosaku matsuda
Reiko Hirayama
Fujiko
Akira Maeda
Koji Ishizaka
Yôsuke Naka
Details.
Wiki.
Yawara! (also stylized as YAWARA!) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoki Urasawa. It was serialized in Big Comic Spirits from 1986 to 1993, with the chapters collected into 29 tankōbon volumes by publisher Shogakukan. A live-action film adaptation directed by Kazuo Yoshida and starring Yui Asaka was released by Toho in 1989.
That same year, Kitty Films and Madhouse began an anime adaptation titled Yawara! A Fashionable Judo Girl!. It was broadcast on Yomiuri TV 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. Two animated films were also created in 1992 and 1996. AnimEigo released the first 40 episodes of the anime in North America in 2008, but were unable to license the remaining episodes.
In 1990, it won the 35th Shogakukan Manga Award for general manga. Yawara! has over 30 million copies in circulation, making it one of the best-selling manga series in history.