Another Yawara! Milestone

After more than a decade, the Yawara! Blu-ray project has reached a significant milestone: all 124 TV episodes, as well as the movie and the Atlanta special, are subbed. Our plucky heroine has been tricked by her grandad, misconstrued Matsuda's intentions, and thrown her trademark Ippon Zeoi, for the last time in anime form.

It's been a long journey, and I've written about it at several points along the way. In addition, kokujin-kun has written an excellent summary of the whole extended enterprise. So extended that, last year, I began to despair of ever seeing the show finished. I threw a tantrum in the staff channel and said that if the show wasn't done by the end of 2025, I was quitting the project. Whether because of that ultimatum, or a sense of impending doom after the US elections, the last 25% of the project was done in less than a year, whereas the preceding 75% had taken more than nine years.

At this point I've seen (and edited) all the episodes once, and about half of them twice, plus the movie and the special. The show is a cross between a sports shounen and a romcom. Judo phenom Inokuma Yawara wants to quit; her conniving grandfather Jigoro schemes to get her to be in more tournament; Yawara trounces everyone. Sports reporter Matsuda moons over Yawara but ruins his chance with her by focusing on her judo instead of her feminine charms. Yawara's eternal rival Honami Sayaka vows to be revenged on Yawara for previous losses; Sayaka's coach and unfaithful fiance Kazamatsuri fantasizes over running away with Yawara. Stir and repeat.

I've already provided CVs for seiyuu playing the primary and secondary roles, so I won't repeat them here. Likewise, I've written about the wonderful colleagues whom I worked with on both the DVD and Blu-ray projects; kokujin-kun as provided a comprehensive summary, including the original Live-eviL project, in his release post.

The staff evolved over time, as inevitably happens in such a long project. That led to some lapses in continuity and consistency, so there will be quite a few fixes needed in the batch release. But they're all minor. If you want to watch Yawara!, the current set of episodes are just fine. And I - who dislike both sports anime and shounen anime - think you should watch the show: for the characters, for the comedy, for the romance, and yes, even for the judo. It's hard for me to explain why I like Yawara! so much. Perhaps I've grown accustomed to her face.

So let's leave off at this point, with Yawara striding determinedly toward her next challenge.

On behalf of the entire team, thanks for watching.