YAWARA! a fashionable judo girl!

Yawara! is a sports anime laced with comedic and romance elements. It starts off with Yawara Inokuma, a high school girl who is most interested in doing the things that your average Japanese high school girl does. However, she has been trained in Judo for years by her grandfather, Jigorou (A former Japan Judo Champion), who has much grander plans in store for her as a Judo superstar. He manipulates matters so that Yawara ends up having to perform in matches and tournaments. His final plan is for Yawara to "Win the Gold Medal in the Olympics and be awarded the Nation Medal of Honor".

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Touch 78%

101 eps · 1985

Same bittersweet triangle of childhood friends chasing a sport and each other, just with baseball instead of judo.

Chihayafuru 77%

25 eps · 2011

Trade the dojo for a karuta hall and you still get a determined girl, a love triangle, and real athletic stakes.

Ranma ½ 76%

18 eps · 1989

From the same era, this one takes martial arts and turns the romance into slapstick chaos instead of quiet longing.