It’s that ole classic love-hate rivalry.

A mean, self-centered, usually at least borderline psychotic person, has their worldview shattered by a rival they cannot control through money or power or sheer force of will.

Typically, the hero/ine is wholly unaware of their “rival’s” feelings. Often they are unaware that they have a rival at all. No, the strong emotions live one-sidedly in the teeny little obsessive heart of the evil rival. Let’s face it, A-ko never gives B-ko a second thought.

In Yawara, A Fashionable Judo Girl, Inokuma Yawara is uninterested in her rival, Ho’onami Sayaka – indeed, she’s largely unaware of her until Sayaka makes her presence un-ignorable.

For old-school Yuri (and Yaoi) fans, this kind of relationship is full of nostalgia. Before we had actual GL and BL couples, we had this. And that was pretty much it. So, for a lot of reasons, slipping Volume 1 of Yawara into my DVD player was pretty nostalgic. That, and seeing AnimEigo’s logo being rained on. Anyone who started watching anime in the late 90s knows what I mean.

Yawara is from about 1989 and is mind-bogglingly based on a manga by Urasawa Naoki, better known now for such adult-focused series as Pluto, Monster, and 20th Century Boys. Everyone has to start somewhere, eh? :-)

The story follows Inokuma Yawara, a high school senior who wants, more than anything, to be a “normal” girl who goes shopping with friends and has a boyfriend. Unfortunately for her, her grandfather and guardian is a former national Judo champion who has trained her to international levels of skill. Yawara doesn’t really like doing Judo and has no interest in competing, but forces combine to bring her into the public eye.

In Volume 1, Yawara comes to the attention of rich girl Sayaka who has always excelled at everything she’s ever done. What she needs, she knows, is a real rival – someone to pit herself against in order to force her to strive. When she learns of Yawara she’s determined to make Yawara that rival – so much so, that she turns women’s Judo into a media circus just to force Yawara out. She even sets up a national Yawara “boom” in order to hound Yawara onto the mat with her. But the “way of Yawara” isn’t that easy for either girl and Sayaka’s just going to have to wait her turn.

The title of the series is a pun, by the way. “Yawara” (柔) is the same word as the “ju” in Judo, which means the way/path/road of gentleness. Yawara is a gentle girl with killer Judo skills.

For me the best thing about the series – other than the not-quite-hot rivalry – is the actual Judo. The techniques are well-animated and identifiable. There’s even a little booklet with description of the techniques mentioned. The martial artist in me loves that.

The worst thing about the series is Yawara’s grandfather who is a typical impolite monkey of a grandfather. He’s not a pervert but he is an asshole. His assholishness is supposed to be funny, but it isn’t really. There are also panty shots, which *really* makes me wonder about you guys and your obsessive need to look at women’s crotches that extends even to animation.

Other than Jigoro, this series has pretty great characters, which is a pleasure. The reporter who “discovers” Yawara really believes in her, Sayaka’s coach; who is a well-known playboy finds her skills fascinating; the president of the Judo club at her school is a great big, sweet lug and her friends look and sound like actual human beings. Even her mother, when she shows up, turns out to be awesome, reminding her that doing Judo does not make her less feminine, women should be strong and that any guy that disses her for doing Judo deserves an ippon.

The one physical extra is a booklet that contains all the notes for the episodes (which are also included separately on the menu for each episode) and the Judo techniques that are discussed in the series. The video menus are decidedly old-school – after each episode, you’re transported back to the main menu to choose the next episode. After you choose the episode, you’re offered scenes, then language choices. The soundtrack (finally!) defaults to Japanese with full subtitles.

Subtitles are a story all of their own, as it happens. They are taken from a fan translation done in college, I believe, by someone you already know – the translator of Strawberry Panic!, Ana Moreno. The same Ana M. who is our Okazu Superhero here AND the very same Ana M. who is the sponsor of today’s review. So, triple thanks to you Ana for allowing us to share in your fannishness!

Overall, this series is a lot of fun. It was back in the day when I first watched it and it’s no less fun now, if you can manage to stand characters that don’t look 6 years old and act their age.

Ratings:

Art – Old school 7
Characters – Also old school 8
Story – Typical sports anime 8
Yuri – 1
Service – 3

Overall – 8

Aside from everything else, it’s great to have a real sports anime with a female lead over here. Fergit all those baseball and basketball series – *this* is Japanese sports, with lots of style. If my Gift Guide had included anime, this 40-episode collection would have been included. It would make a great gift for anyone into sports stories, strong female leads, old school anime or anyone interested in Urasawa’s early work.

Quick, name an all-female anime/manga version of the Chinese Epic, Romance of the Three Kingdoms. No, wait – quick, name three.

Last year we were ‘treated’ to Koihime Musou, one of several gender switch versions of the historical epic Romance. This year we have the debatable pleasure of a sequel, Shin Koihime Musou, currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

The sequel begins with the appearance of the real Ryuubi since, as you may remember from last season the guy we thought was Ryuubi was not. The real Ryuubi is a bit of a ditz, but is, of the entire cast, probably the most sane.

Having thus met the third of their triad, Kanu and Chouhi renew their vow of sisterhood, just in case we forget the whole vow under the peach tree thing.

The three, and a few of the others, head off to something something which in this case is get Ryuubi’s sword back, have adventures and eat – a lot. An inordinate amount of time is spent watching the travelers eat. In the meantime, the story veers off to follow three sisters who turn themselves into pop idols through magic.

There’s also a mad dash to squeeze in a bunch of new characters, to round out the cast.

Sei’s Yuri quotient has dropped significantly along with her screen time – one of the side effects of too many characters, so older ones are used less effectively.

For Yuri we’ve got Kakuka who is obsessed with Sousou and frequently has explicit fantasies about her. (Please note: “Perverted” does not apply. Sexual fantasies are not “perverted.” They are completely normal. I’m freaking sick and tired of seeing the word “pervert” misused to describe a person having a fantasy. Not having sexual fantasies is far weirder than having them.) I’m really rooting for Kakuka in this. I think she and Sousou would make a fun couple, much better than Sousou and Kanu.

This season is no better or worse than the first season. It’s all much of the same – silly things that have nothing to do with the Romance take center stage, while important political things are pushed to the background. Breasts still bounce, clothes are still silly, the writers are clearly hungry and stuff happens.

For what it is, it’s fine. I turn my brain off and watch the pretty colors move around the screen. :-)

Ratings:

Art – Meh, but what can you do
Story – It’s in there somewhere I’m sure
Characters – There’s a lot of them
Yuri – Go! Go! Ka-ku-ka!
Service – Are Us

Overall – 7

I *really* don’t remember Guan Yu falling for Liu Bei in the original. But it’s such a prevalent theme in these anime/manga/game bastardizations that I’m now beginning to wonder if I was just blind to the obvious. I’m going to have to re-read that and see if I can read between the lines more. :-)

How rich the irony. I did watch the 2002 Kanon anime, but I have forgotten all but a very few things about it. I remembered that Yuuichi was a “nice guy” (a term used around my house to describe a particular type of man that is in no way pejorative. A “nice guy” is nice.) I remembered that I didn’t remember a thing about any of what passed for a plotline, but that it didn’t matter because the whole series was not meant to be enjoyed as an stand-alone anime, but as homeopathic porn.

And, I remembered Saiyuri and Mai.

Saiyuri was the cute, talkative one. Mai was the taciturn one, a quality that reads “butch” in a hyperfemme show like this. And I remembered that Yuuichi’s existence did not separate the two in any way. (In the anime, at least. I have no doubt that in the original game/Visual Novel, he had sex with at least one, probably both. No need to educate me on this, I really, honestly, don’t care.)

There was nothing openly Yuri about Saiyuri and Mai, just the sense that they were, *obviously* meant to be together. Mai, being the butchier of the two was “clearly” (when Yuri Goggles were turned up sufficiently) in love with Saiyuri. Turn those Goggles up another notch or two and Saiyuri “obviously” returned her feelings.

I did watch the whole 2002 series and this was basically all I retained from it. Not having been captivated by the original porn version, I failed to retain the sense of profound joy the anime apparently brought to those fans – as a result I was boggled that such an utterly dull series warranted an even longer, even duller remake. Nonetheless, I braved Kanon, 2006.

All of the storylines are given depth in this new version. This newer, longer version explains almost everything – including *why* the bulk of the cast has no memories. And yet, I found my time with these characters to be akin to sitting in a Doctor’s waiting room. Not really unpleasant, but not really pleasant, either.

I was watching it solely for Mai and Saiyuri. And in the end, I was most disappointed by their storyline. Try as I might, no matter how high I turned the Yuri Goggles, they remained friends. Plain old best friends without the vaguest hint of unreasonable affection or secret desire. Meh.

If I had loved the original game, and eagerly watched the 2002 series and waited breathlessly for this series, I’d have to say that this anime was pretty good, if ridiculously sentimental. But because all I wanted was Mai and Saiyuri to be more of a couple, not less of one, it was an epic failure. lol No, not really. For everything else, it was really okay. Except one thing. Which was so horrific I have to comment.

When I saw the girls’ character designs I actually screamed. Good god! You moe fans – does this REALLY look good to you? They look like their are wearing plastic heads over their real heads! It’s absolutely horrific! In a stunning display of personal retconning, I convinced myself that the original designs must have been better, because aaaaugh! Of course, after I took a second to check, I had to laugh at how utterly wrong I was. LOL The best things about those hideously huge-eyed, giganto heads is that they are *way* better than the original art. Which says something profound, I’m sure, but I couldn’t tell you what. lol

For the record, my lack of memories also has an explanation. You’ll just have to read all my posts here to find out why. :-)

Ratings:

Art – 3 I’m just not getting it, guys. They look stupid.
Story – 7 Sentimental, syrup-y romance
Characters – 6 One signature sound does not a great character make
Yuri – 0
Service – In one sense, Infinity. In another – 5

Overall – It was a 5 most of the way through, but the end was *so* goopy, I’ll give it a 7.

I bet this series is why Love Plus is selling so well – all those guys played Kanon when it was a VN and are disappointed that women are more complex than that, now that they are grownups.

Everlasting thanks to Okazu Superhero Dan P. for his contribution to my inner Fanboy, which has rejected this and is willing to send it back. ^_^