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\". Yawara becomes the interest of Matsuda, a sports report, who happens to see her stop a purse thief by using a judo throw. Being a fan of great sports legends (Which he believes Yawara has the capacity to be) and also a reporter looking for a scoop, he persues her and eventually becomes interested in her. In a chance encounter, Yawara and Jigorou meet Sayaka, the snobbish daughter of the powerful Hon\'ami family. She is also a famous sports figure who has become the best in whatever sport she has entered. She\'s is bored now, since she can\'t seem to find her equal. Jigorou sees this as perfect oppourtunity to give Yawara a rival, so he throws Sayaka giant bodyguard. He also mentions that there is a girl about Sayaka\'s age who\'s even better than he is. This sets things in motion and Sayaka enters the Judo world. During a bus ride, Matsuda tries to get more information from Yawara. After becoming quite rude, he is thrown from the bus by Kazamatsuri, the playboy ^_^. It\'s love at first sight for Yawara and Kazamatsuri takes her to out for some coffee. What Yawara doesn\'t know is that Kazamatsuri has just become Sayaka\'s Judo coach. Yawara is also haunted by the possibility that her throwing of her father, Koujiro, the current All Japan Judo Champion at the time, when she was five years old was the cause of his disappearance.