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A thread titled “Anyone remember that manga YAWARA!?” popped up on 5ch’s Nanidemo Jikkyo G (a general live-commentary board), drawing a wave of nostalgia for Naoki Urasawa’s judo manga “YAWARA!” Debate broke out between posters annoyed that heroine Yawara refuses to commit to judo in the early chapters, and others defending her, pointing out that’s a natural reaction given her family circumstances. Meanwhile, plenty of posts praised the “Best Present” arc as “one of the top 100 chapters in manga history,” and rival character Sayaka Honami also had her fans. Replies also gathered around the trivia that real-life judoka Ryoko Tani’s nickname “YAWARA-chan” actually originated from this manga.
What people said
Too creepy for me 😅
That's the take of someone who never actually read it
Same, I remember thinking 'just go do judo already.'
Might hit different if I reread it now though
The manga clearly shows why Yawara doesn't want to do judo — saying 'just go do it already' means you're really bad at reading manga
Go read Dokaben instead (a straightforward baseball manga where the hero just plays ball, no messing around)
Read it properly
I read every single volume
She's been steeped in judo since she was little, and then finds out it's her fault her family fell apart — of course she wouldn't want to do judo anymore. Sayaka and Fujiko don't have some sad judo backstory like that
But I'm genuinely irritated regardless, you know?
There's no scene of Matsuda rushing in to cheer her on when she wins the match
The exam-day present
The unbeaten legend
The best present
Forever…
I love this run of episodes
I like Kazamatsuri 🤗
I hate Yawara 😡
It's a masterpiece because they paired up Lady Sayaka and Kazamatsuri 🥴
Both Sayaka and Kazamatsuri have trash personalities. Impressive that you can actually like them lol
The anime forced itself to a rushed ending.
In the manga, Yawara's long-lost father turns up as an opponent, she sinks into despair and tries to quit judo (she actually forfeits a match, ending her win streak), and Matsuda tries to pull her back but it doesn't work out, leading to a falling-out between them — until Yawara finds his scrapbook of newspaper clippings and decides to make her comeback (that's the 'Best Present' episode mentioned earlier).
And then the showdown with Sayaka Honami is the ultimate climax
Guess I'll skip it then
It's more like it follows one woman's life in between the judo matches
I'd say it's still about 70% judo
Manga these days pair people up way too fast
Uh, they do end up together, though?
They should've just made the nickname 'Ucchan' stick instead (a reference to comedian Uchan of the duo Uchan Nanchan, who she was also compared to)
Getting thrown by a 5-year-old must've been a shock, but just vanishing after that is hilarious
If your parent disappears when you're 5 and it's your fault, that's gonna leave a trauma
Was she the model for YAWARA?
YAWARA came first
So she just got called that on her own?
She doesn't look anything like her though
The public thought so too
Even though she used to only get compared to Ucchan from the comedy duo Uchan Nanchan
Blame the media
It wasn't just some random nickname
She went and pitched herself, saying 'I'm the real-life YAWARA-chan!'
herself
By the final volume, Yawara's just permanently expressionless with zero internal monologue — it's basically become a manga about how Sayaka and Marceau keep challenging her
She'd be ugly whichever parent she takes after
So Koga riding on Sanshiro's fame is fine then? (referencing judoka Toshihiko Koga, nicknamed after the classic judo story Sugata Sanshiro)
I think he just sensed she was drawn to Matsuda and found that threatening
Yeah, there does seem to be a decent number of Lady Sayaka fans
Background and Key Points of Debate
“YAWARA!” is a judo manga by Naoki Urasawa serialized in Big Comic Spirits, which also got a TV anime adaptation. The thread split over how to read heroine Yawara: some found her early reluctance to embrace judo “irritating,” while others argued it’s a natural reaction given that judo caused her family to fall apart in childhood. Also drawing attention was the origin of real-life judoka Ryoko Tani’s (née Tamura) nickname “YAWARA-chan.” According to posters, it reportedly began when she pitched herself as the “real-life YAWARA-chan” — a detail suggesting the nickname wasn’t simply the public noticing a resemblance, which makes for a surprisingly little-known bit of trivia.
※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Nanidemo Jikkyo G) thread “Anyone remember that manga YAWARA!?“
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