Yawara!

Description

Yawara Inokuma is a talented judoka raised and trained by her grandfather Jigoro. Her grandfather says she's supposed to become the hope of Japan's judo team in Seoul in 1988, but she has different plans: to finish high school and find a boyfriend like all her friends. But being a normal girl and an Olympic champion are two different things. Which path will she choose to follow?

Note: Won the 35th Shogakukan Manga Award for general manga in 1990.

Type

Manga

Related Series

Jigoro! (Prequel)

Associated Names

Tiểu Thư Nhu Đạo

Yawara

ヤワラ

以柔克刚

Groups Scanlating

N/A

Latest Release(s)

N/A

Status in Country of Origin

29 Volumes (Complete)
19 Bunkoban Volumes (Complete)
20 Kanzenban Volumes (Complete)

Completely Scanlated?

Anime Start/End Chapter

Starts at Vol 1, Chap 1 (TV)

Ends at Vol 25, Chap 278 (TV) Some differences / Vol 29, Chap 331 (TV Special) Abridged with similar events at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics

User Reviews

N/A

Forum

1 topics, 1 posts

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User Rating

Average: 8 / 10.0 (114 votes)

Bayesian Average: 7.64 / 10.0

24%

17%

23%

22%

Last Updated

November 21st, 2025 5:00pm PST - 3 weeks ago

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Genre

Comedy Drama Martial Arts Romance Seinen Slice of Life Sports
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Categories

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Recommendations

Author(s)

Artist(s)

Year

Original Publisher

Shogakukan

Serialized In (magazine)

Big Comic Spirits (Shogakukan)

Licensed (in English)

English Publisher

N/A

Activity Stats (vs. other series)

Weekly Pos #755

(-8)

Monthly Pos #1537

(-312)

3 Month Pos #3186

(+116)

6 Month Pos #3454

(-400)

Year Pos #3875

(-1297)

List Stats

On 607 reading lists

On 684 wish lists

On 75 completed lists

On 46 unfinished lists

On 254 custom lists

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Forum Posts Click to view the forum

Thanks TAMACHAN!!!

17 years ago

User Comments [ Order by time added ]

Wonderful stuff.

by pearlesque
18 years ago

Rating: 9.0 / 10.0

I'm really grateful to Tama-Chan Scans for sticking with this project. After reading Urasawa's heavier work, I was surprised at Yawara's lightness -- but never fear, Urasawa brings his trademark storytelling to this tale of sportswomen and innocence. What I loved about this manga was its warmth. It's obvious how much Urasawa loves his characters in this, even the really minor ones. Little details and bits of dialogue are done to perfection. Everyone feels so real.

So even though this is light-hearted compared to some of Urasawa's other work, that shouldn't stop you from reading it. The key word with Yawara is charm -- the story grows on you, and Yawara herself charms her way into your heart. Surprisingly thrilling matches and judo tournaments are interspersed with little gems of comedy and gentle humor.

Please give this a try. You won't regret it!

... Last updated 18 years ago

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Irritating Main Character

by zeusosphere
13 years ago

Rating: 6.0 / 10.0

Note: I've only read up to Vol. 5 at this point. Who knows, it might improve.

Just as the editor says in the last editor's notes in Vol 5, Yawara is friggin' irritating. She has this great talent, great coach, and all sorts of proof that people are mainly interested in her for her judo (which she doesn't dislike all that much either, as Matsuda finds out), and she keeps going on and on and on about wanting to be 'normal' - by which she means free to fall in love with all the pretty-boys she likes. Sayaka Honami is so much more interesting as a character! Despite her vanity and manipulation, she actually has ambition, determination, and tenacity. Watching all these people trying so hard to get Yawara to compete when she's so ambivalent about it - and then for her to win with such ease despite her complete lack of interest - is completely offputing. There's also a complete lack of suspense because Yawara is built up to be so strong that there is no doubt she'd win, probably without any difficulty.

That said, Jigoro's character is fairly entertaining and there are some funny bits here and there, even if some jokes (such as

Sayaka's continually falling false tooth ) get old fast. I definitely won't call it a must-read, but if you've got time to waste there are worse series out there.

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masterpiece, love it

by Mi Ku Chan
11 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

I don't know what I have to say.. when I read this manga for the first time, the story make me curious what will happens next to the main character.. when the scene look like it will be happy the trouble things or the vandals come and destroy.. when the main character get the true happiness? ..what way will she choose? to be a ordinary girl or be a superstar as yudoka ..can they be together as a couple? ..its very addicted to read every chapter to find the answer.. overall I think this manga is GREAT.. very moving, so touching, and lovely pure romance ^^ LOVE IT

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The first Urasawa's work that I read

by rayculz
15 years ago

Rating: 9.0 / 10.0

Hmm, when I read this one. Its memorable when I was in Junior High School, rent and read Yawara! Its funny, comedic and this is a human drama. But at the time, I didn't recognize how wonderful "Naoki Urasawa"'s work this day.

The bad news is, the publisher doesn't continued released this book and stop at volume 9 or 10 (I forget it) and then ... this story is forget able because I don't have the book (just rent at that time) until I recognized his work on Monster and 20th Century Boys and search on internet .. and I surprise Yawara! is one of Urasawa's work. Ah, the 2nd bad news ... only 5 volumes from 29 volumes I've found on scanlation (Thanks to Tama-Chan). But, I wish read it to finish this work from Naoki Urasawa.

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From Yawara's Vietnamese fan...

by natasha03
16 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

Thanks Tama-Chan Scans for continueing this project. Many thanks to KUWA-JIJI, NEITHAN-KUN... especially GP for doing your great work in YAWARA series. I love Yawara when i was a child, but it was difficult to find a full series of this manga with english in Vietnam. Now i am very glad that you are willing to continueing this project. I always look forward to the next chapters and your funny notes at the end of each.
Finally, i'd love to thank our late Urasawa Naoki to creat our great manga!

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everyone agrees!

by Hell_Clues
16 years ago

Rating: N/A

This story has charm. I don't know how else to put it. It's individual elements work well together. It isn't a burning passion shounen story, nor a shojou, wall banging, story either. Its hard to pinpoint why you should try this manga. It has humour, the characters are likeable enough. I've seen some elements that it has in other manga but its the right combination of ingredients that make something palpable.

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It's Urasawa, need anyone say more?

by Crenshinibon
17 years ago

Rating: 7.0 / 10.0

Reading Yawara has fundamentally been an interesting experience for me. Even in Happy!, Urasawa uses a lot of human drama and doesn't rely very much on his comedic edge, but despite that he's quite witty. Yawara has made me laugh out loud a few times, and the characters are all sort of endearing thanks to their quirks. More importantly, however, there's a sense that the characters could be types that you would see in reality. Their thoughts never tread outside of something plausible. This makes the series into something more than just the quaint little sports story that it initially sets out to be, and I honestly don't think you can ask for much more than that when it comes to entertainment. I look forward to reading more.

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Good Yet Irritating

by Molenir
16 years ago

Rating: 7.0 / 10.0

The story is a good one. Entertaining, charming characters. Or rather charming main character. The main male lead however is irritating. Primarily because of how he is nothing more than a pathetic loser boy, without any balls whatsoever. That this great girl falls in love with this stupid coward, and eventually reaches a point where she herself can't win unless her love interest is around, is beyond irritating. Why she couldn't have found a man, rather then the pathetic loser she picks is truly sad. Even the playboy would have been a better pick for her then the girlyboy Matsuda. It wouldn't have been so irritating if she would have had a friend who would smack her upside the head whenever she started obsessing about her love interest. Instead we're forced to watch her dwell whenever Matsuda isn't around for one of her matches.

Overall its a good story, but when it starts to focus in on Yawara and Matsuda, the story goes off the rails, and becomes more of a chore to read then it is entertaining. Good until they head to Yugoslavia, then just skip to the end.

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Please, just quickly finish this awesome manga

by crissio
15 years ago

Rating: N/A

I don't care, i'm in nerd rage mode because i really don't understand why they still hasn't been finishing this manga since what? 6 years ago? damn, seriously , are you guys at manga scanslation project really want to finish this scanslation or not? if not, just drop it , and please do not give us ( readers) a false hope. Thats all. For manga itself, i don't have any opinion i gave it 10 / 10 . Reason? i leave that to your imagination.

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