Despite ostensibly appearing as a 'sports anime' this anime really has very little to do about sports. Judo is just used as an elaborate plot device or setting for Naoki Urasawa to tell a character driven story about the intertwined interest of Yawara and the various people in her world. The whole schtick of Yawara being a genius Judo practitioner can be easily be replaced with being a talented painter, a beautiful model, an amazing singer or hell, even a tofu delivery driver. Whether this is a good thing or bad thing is subjective and completely up to each individual. For me at least, I did not really care about Judo. I am happy with great storytelling, good vibes and nuanced characters to root for. Or simply for the just banger music of OP and EDs.
What can I say? I am a sucker for retro Japanese city pop.
The early episodes of Yawara! were pretty good in its execution. Great comedy, a likable protagonist and in general just casual light hearted fun. Naoki Urasawa definitely has great patience in his conveying exposition, something I feel is a lost art in comparison in today's fast paced consumer culture. This patience and subtle exposition really paid off for me as I was hooked on the comedy but grew exponentially attached to the characters and curious about the backstory to the point despite having a real slow and weak middle section of the story I continue on watching at least a few episodes a week. The binge worthy-ness of this series starts of well in the beginning but gets bad in the middle only to peak towards the end.
After the strong initial part of the series definitely felt great to watch because of the comedy but starts to get little slow in the middle where the story shifts on a more character stories. The character arcs in the middle section of the anime is pretty much a hit or miss either providing strong nuanced character development or basic and predictable character plots that felt unnecessary. But those strong narratives persist throughout the end and felt really satisfying to experience. ALMOST every character towards the very end is given a proper conclusion towards their arc, especially our main girl Inokuma Yawara and the hardworking boy Matsuda.
This scene here where he says what everyone was too ashamed to say just made me so damn happy. What he said? its a major spoiler and I won't say.
The mad lad actually has the balls to be upfront about not only his feelings but the feelings of everyone supporting Inokuma Yawara. Everyone flocks around and supported Yawara for the most part from a place of genuine love and care wanting her to shine and succeed as a Judo superstar. But each and everyone of them fail to be honest about their deep rooted selfish intentions for doing so. And this subtle dishonesty is blatantly hidden from each and every main character (except one 'joke' character). that is why when Matsuda said that line to support Yawara, I felt a burden being lifted from my conscious as he owned up to the dishonesty that not only everyone that supported Yawara was reluctant to face but also myself as a viewer. Definitely one of the greatest moments in writing I have experienced.
