I just want to throw this out there as a recommendation. I’m currently reading Naoki Urasawa’s Yawara! manga series and it’s been perfect for my current level. I don’t understand 100% of the sentences but I’m able to follow along really easily being at Level 25 on WaniKani and nearly done with N3 on 文プロ.
It’s a manga about a teenage girl who is basically raised by her judo master grandpa and she’s a freakin’ judo prodigy but all she wants more than anything else in the world is just to be a normal girl and do normal girl stuff.
It does use some specialized vocabulary specific to Judo but honestly it’s not that much and most of the stuff is body part related, and simple verbs like throwing and what not.
It’s great. 10/10 would read again. And once I’m done, I’ll probably do just that and read it again but going through to translate and do more active studying. Right now I’m reading it more as passive studying and general enjoyment.
Great to see some Yawara! love : ) I think Judo is a perfect subject for manga - especially shonen, there are even ‘power levels’ and special attacks that you can shout out.
There are even enough titles that ‘girls judo manga’ is a category of its own. As a Judo fan, the only problem I have with Yawara! is that the heroine doesn’t want to do Judo!
Two of my personal faves that are similar to Yawara!:
Sobakasu! - About a school-girl who is absolutely mad about Judo, but isn’t terribly good at it.
Joshi Judo monogatari - This time the heroine likes Judo, is pretty good, but tends to get discouraged. (Written by an olympic medallist and drawn by classic artist Kobayashi Makoto).
Mou Ippon! - This is a new one about a judo club, I’ve bought a few volumes but I haven’t read any yet.
Ahh!! Thank you for the recs!! I will admit, I am a huge Naoki Urasawa fan but hadn’t been able to find Yawara anywhere so I hadn’t read it. And then I got a little inspired by the brother sister judo duo from the olympics this year and finally took the plunge and ordered the series online. And through all that I’m getting more and more interested in judo in general. I’d love to check these others out once I’m finished with Yawara! I just finished book 21 out of 29 so a little ways to go, still!
