First, I would like to point out that Yawara is somewhat similar to One Punch Man and Mob Psycho in the sense that the main guy is too powerful, and highly unlikely to lose. Everyone in the show acknowledge her sheer talent to various degrees. Since we already know the main guy, Yawara is too powerful, how do you make the show interesting? Naoki Urasawa does 2 things. One, he makes the show more about the reactions of others around Yawara. Since Yawara is so strong, her rivals go to great lengths to train themselves to be worthy of defeating her. Two, Yawara is also hesitantto do Judo, the thing where she is all-powerful.

A lot of time is spent on others trying to convince her to continue Judo, and it may seem frustrating as well. I have seen a lot of reviews where people dislike Yawara for this reason. Her being so good at Judo, having so many people expect her to do great things in it, but still rejecting it seems selfish. But it makes sense in a way. Yawara never chose Judo on her own, it was thrust upon her by her grandfather, and she wants to live life in her own way. She also has other reasons to reject Judo, which are revealed later on. However, it is also shown that she intrinsically enjoys Judo, and towards the end has somewhat come to terms with her relation to it and others expectations from her.

Other characters are fine, not bad, but certainly not great. There's her grandfather, who is the one who forces her to do Judo since her childhood, and continues to force or manipulate her into it. Since Yawara is a static character, her grandfather is the one setting things into motion for the most part, and providing comedic relief at times. Then there is the love interest, who recognizes her talent from the first encounter and continues to chase her as a sports reporter, and in time grows in love with her. There is her rival who follows her till the end, and grows strong in the process. There is her friend Fujimoto, who is introduced slightly later and becomes a mainstay, first dragging her into Judo and later supporting her.

The romance aspect of the show is a little weak, because over a span of 124 episodes and one concluding movie we get very little romance out of it, even though it is hinted quite often. It's not a badly written romance, just a very slow one. So whenever we do get romantic scenes, they stand out and feel very good.

Overall, it is a slow show, but one that never feels boring. I am amazed that in a show without any superpowers, plot twists, top comedy, I still never felt the need to skip any scene. It is not a great show, but it does the job well.