Anime Vice News

Want All of Urasawa's Yawara! Anime? Too Bad!

AnimEigo can't finish the last 84 episodes of the show.

I hate posts like this-- like when FUNimation announced that they were not going to be licensing Big Windup! season two. Now word is that AnimEigo, part of the old guard of anime companies with titles like Gainax's Otaku no Video and InuYasha creator Rumiko Takahashi's Urusei Yatsura, will not be able to license the entirety of Yawara!: A Fashionable Judo Girl.

 "Is it over yet?"
 "Is it over yet?"
Now, I have never watched Yawara! or read its original manga, but I've always wanted to-- largely because it's by Naoki Urasawa, famous for titles like Monster, 20th Century Boys, and Pluto. But AnimEigo licensed Yawara in 2006 and released the first forty episodes in 2008. There are 84 episodes left in the series which will remain unloved.

But between the Monster anime adaptation airing on SyFy, the release of Pluto and 20th Century Boys in English, the live-action 20th Century Boys movies being released in North America, and also hints at a possible Pluto live-action movie? Well, Urasawa's stock has risen high-- so even though AnimEigo hasn't said anything, I'm betting that Yawara! didn't sell well enough to justify whatever price the Japanese licensors demanded.

I find this particularly sad because I'm so curious to see Urasawa with a female lead. Not that his female characters have ever lacked in strength, but for the most part his protagonists are male-- Dr. Tenma in Monster, Kenji in 20th Century Boys, and both Gesicht and to some extent Atom (both male-seeming robots) in Pluto. Though of course 20th Century Boys shifted focus to a female character later on, so I guess that'll have to do for now.


Unless someone licenses the manga! Anyone? Bueller?    
Karkarovon April 29, 2010 at 6:33 p.m.
I just wish they would release the second monster box set.  I sometimes wonder about these japanese publishers.  I suspect they don't really get what the word reasonable means and ask for pretty crazy things with these licensing agreements be they streams or dvd rights.
newaveon April 30, 2010 at 12:14 a.m.
it probably didn't sell cuz it was really pricey.
Chibi_Kajion April 30, 2010 at 11:40 a.m.
@newave said:
" it probably didn't sell cuz it was really pricey. "
Yeah, thats honestly the reason I never checked the series out.
newaveon April 30, 2010 at 7:57 p.m.
@Chibi_Kaji: yeah same here...cuz it dose look like something i would get into

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