Matsuda the sports reporter, who has been relegated to writing about scandals, encounters an mystery girl who takes down a thief with a judo move in public and tries to track her (Yawara) down. Kamoda, the photographer partner of Matsuda, was only able to take a photograph of a faceless girl in white panties throwing the thief. After Jigoro (Yawara's grandfather) finds out that Yawara has a crush on the school idol, Nishikimori, he spreads rumors about Nishikimori to a gang of school ruffians, leading them to track him down for a beat-down. Nishikimori runs away and meets Matsuda, and the gang beats up Mastuda, who tries to defend the cowardly Nishikimori. Yawara comes to their rescue, but afterwards Nishikimori runs away every time he sees Yawara because he has been traumatized by the encounter and is afraid of her.

Jigoro finds Yawara's dedication to judo lacking, and he blames it on her lack of a worthy rival. One day they are almost run over by a Bentley carrying Sayaka Honami, a rich spoiled sports superstar who has mastered and is bored with multiple sports (e.g., tennis (including a defeat of Martina Navratilova in an exhibition), riding, skiing, gymnastic, swimming, fencing, figure skating, etc.). They are invited to Sayaka's mansion for dinner, and Sayaka decides to take up judo as her next sports quest when she sees Jigoro throw her hulking body guard Kamata, a 5th kun judo practitioner, with ease. However, Jigoro refuses to take Sayaka as a student by telling her there is a girl who is much stronger. Sayaka trains hard for a month and goes to the Inokuma residence, but is rebuffed and thrown by Yawara as an afterthought; in the process Sayaka reveals her secret false tooth, which had fallen out, but also finds out that Yawara is the "strong girl." She endeavors to train as hard as she can to defeat Yawara. Later, Yawara and Sayaka, in her 3.5 million yen kimono, both attend a festival, and Sayaka is held at knifepoint by a kimono slasher/pervert; Yawara easily disarms the slasher but leaves the media credit to Sayaka. Sayaka sees this as an insult and vows to defeat Yawara.

Yawara receives a fortune from her fellow classmate that she will meet a "gorgeous man" in the next 24 hours. Later, on the bus home, she is accosted by Mastuda, who reveals that he knows her identity as a judo genius, which Yawara denies. Mastuda is then thrown off the bus by a good looking young man (Shinnosuke), who mistakes him for a molester. Shinnosuke then takes Yawara to a cafe and charms her with flattery. Shinnosuke is later shown to be admiring himself in the mirror in his underwear and listening to various voicemails from women beseeching his attention. In her debut Sayaka wins a women's judo tournament with ease and publicly announces that she is dissatisfied because her real goal is to defeat Yawara. Meanwhile Yawara pays no attention as she concentrates on perfecting beef Stroganoff as a dish that she wishes to cook for a future boyfriend, but is dismayed by Sayaka's public challenge. Shinnosuke, who has been hired by Sayaka to be her judo coach, is revealed to have severe stage fright when he runs off to in a bathroom to hide from reporters at the tournament press conference. Later, Shinnosuke discovers that Yawara might be the "strong girl" that Sayaka is obsessed with and also the granddaughter of his judo idol Jigoro Inokuma (Shinnosuke keeps Jigoro's book "Judo Is Not Built in A Day!" at all times.)

Shinnosuke is intent on confirming Yawara as the "strong girl" and goes on a date with her. Seeing elbow scrapes on Yawara that could be caused by judo exercise arouses Shinnosuke's suspicion even more. However, Yawara shows no interest in judo and instead talks about bargain sales and beef stroganoff; even when he puts judo moves on her, Yawara shows no reaction (which she intentionally represses). Later, Yawara has a chance encounter with a member of her high school's judo club, and kindly offers to wash their soiled judo uniforms; the judo club is run by Hanazono, a big senior student who is very emotional and cries easily. Hanazono is upset that Musashiyama high school's judo club has fallen by the wayside and now only has weaklings as members, with another practice match coming up with the rival Ganryuji high school, which has a habit of belittling his team. Jigoro befriends Hanazono and cooks up a scheme to have Yawara "join" the judo club by kidnapping a member of the judo club and inducing Yawara to drop off the judo uniforms. When Yawara arrives, she is conscripted to be a temporary placeholder member for the judo club by Hanazono, who does not know her judo abilities initially. The practice match is changed to a elimination arrangement, forcing Yawara to participate reluctantly as a placeholder in the match; Yawara is worried that she will miss the bargain sale that she had previously arranged to attend with her friends. The rival Ganryuji team agrees to the change in match arrangement because they want to have a chance to wrestle a girl.

During the practice tournament, all of the Musashiyama members are defeated quickly, and even Hanazono is able to defeat only one opponent. Yawara is forced to enter the tournament for real, and the Ganryuji judo members are all excited by the prospects of wrestling a girl. While she has decided to "lose quickly," Yawara nevertheless easily defeated the Ganryuji judo members using different judo moves, all the while distracted by thoughts of missing the bargain sale with her friends and also by wrestling without a t-shirt underneath her judo uniform. She even defeats Ganryuji's captain, Sasaki, who is supposed to be ranked #3 in Japan (high school judo), by pinning him. Meanwhile, in parallel Yawara's friends and others are having their own wrestling matches at the bargain sale. Matsuda and Yamoda, who had been spying on the tournament, are captured by Jigoro and locked up with the hapless kidnapped Musashiyama judo member, foiling their big scoop again.

After defeating the Ganryuji team, Yawara is carried home by Jigoro because she had injured her foot during the match; Jigoro discloses that Yawara has been trained by him with the goal of capturing the National Achievement Award and the 1992 Olympic gold medal, but ask the tournament members to keep it secret for the time being. Later, Yawara and Shinnosuke go on a date at a park, which is constantly disrupted by his spotting Sayaka and other other love interests at the park. Shinnosuke later simply runs off when he spots Sayaka again at a cafe. Jigoro goes to a TV station with a grandiose "3-part plan" for the media debut of Yawara, but is rebuffed by the station because of his unreasonable demands; Jigoro also seems to be using the opportunity to promote his own biography as much as Yawara. At the end of the day, while having an argument with Jigoro about judo versus a normal life, Yawara takes down an intruder who happens to be Shinnosuke; however, Matsuda and Yamoda are also hiding in wait and snap the pictures they need for the big scoop.

The media exposure invades every aspect of Yawara's daily life, though her friends and Hanazono try to protect her. Meanwhile, Matsuda is having second thoughts about the trouble he has caused her and rescues her from the media hounds on a motorcycle. Shinnosuke tells Sayaka that she cannot beat Yawara for the time being; Yawara seems equally upset by this as by Shinnosuke's possibly romantic interest with her rival. Sayaka manipulates her dad to invite Jigoro for dinner and to hire him as her judo coach; however, Jigoro is only interested in scoring a free meal at an expensive French restaurant, at which he ate a huge dinner and even took doggie bag home. Meanwhile, after being rescued by Matsuda on the motorcycle, Yawara cooks beef stroganoff for him at his untidy bachelor's apartment and confides in him about her history with judo--she has been a judo child prodigy but really only wants a normal life as a girl. Matsuda tells her he has the opposite life experience, that he has dreamt of being a sports star all his life but has failed at every sport he has tried and finally ends up being a sports reporter instead.

Yawara spends the night at Matsuda's apartment, and Matsuda is awakened in the morning (having slept outside his apartment) by Yawara's daily morning judo exercise. On the news, it is falsely announced that Sayaka is hiring Jigoro as a coach, which surprises and saddens Yawara. In fact, Jigoro has refused the Honami offer with his usual excuse that he does not teach "weaklings." The refusal shocks the Honamis but does not faze Shinnosuke, who finally secures Jigoro's autograph on both his book and jacket. Meanwhile, seeing that Yawara is upset by the false news concerning Jigoro, Matsuda takes her to an amusement park, where they also cannot escape strangers who bother Yawara due to her new celebrity status. To help Yawara, Matsuda cooks up a scheme in which his newspaper would set up a match against the heavyweight judoka Yuki Tohdoh, who weighs 20 kg (44 lb) more than Yawara, in her debut; they believe that if Yawara intentionally throws the match, the loss will cause the media to dismiss her as a judoka and henceforth leave her alone. At home, Yawara is relieved that Jigoro is not "abandoning" her to be Sayaka's coach, but is troubled by her omission of not telling her grandfather that she intends to lose at the upcoming public debut match. Matsuda reveals their scheme to Yamoda after drinks and tells him that his dream of vicariously living through Yawara the judo superstar will be dashed after her loss.

As the media buildup over Yawara's debut continues, Matsuda is instead trying to find out more about Yawara's mysterious father, Kojiro, who won the 1974 Japan Judo Championship but then inexplicably disappeared afterwards. Yawara works extra her in her "final" practice with Jigoro, throwing him several times, with the guilty knowledge that she will lose the match and also quit judo afterwards. Yawara tells Matsuda that her mother has been looking for her father after he disappeared, and only returns home a few times a year. Despite the losing scheme, Matsuda is still having dreams of fans cheering for Yawara. Jigoro and Yuki Tohdoh, who talks, eats, and looks like sumo wrestler, have a udon eating contest as they boast by turn how few seconds it would take for the contestants to defeat each other. Yawara's friends are concerned that she will be hurt or killed in the match (not knowing true abilities), and urge that she just needs to "cry to stop the match." They also try to make her more fashionable by tying a yellow ribbon to her head. The match begins and Yawara is quickly thrown for a yuko (5 points) on her way to intentionally lose the match.

As the match continues, Yawara discovers that Yuki Tohdoh is actually very weak despite her heft, and she has trouble faking the loss. Meanwhile, the ignorant reporters present at the match vacillate between thinking that Yawara is faking a loss or covering up her own weakness, despite "expert" opinions from Hanazono, Shinnosuke, and Gohzoh Yuutenji, the Saikai College judo coach, that Yawara for some reason is not showing her true strength. As Yawara continues to fake her way through the match, Jigoro becomes suspicious and finally realizes that Yawara is trying to lose; Matsuda for his part is unable to continue watching the fake defeat and decides to leave, meeting an unknown woman on the outside asking about the match. As Yawara is about to "lose" the match, she spots her mother (the unknown woman) peeking through the windows and reflexively throws Yuki Tohdoh in a split second for an ippon win. After the match, Shinnosuke cannot stop his womanizing ways and invite Yawara's three friends for more discussion about judo over coffee. Yawara and mother flee from the reporters after the victory, which was not known to Matsuda until the reporters confront him about helping them flee (Matsuda up until then had been intending to resign and go back to work for his family hostel at Yamagata). Yawara and her mother, Tamao, return home for dinner, and Tamao tells Yawara that it does not matter whether she does judo or not, and that there are other ways to be strong. Jigoro joins them, and Tamao bribes him with his favorite foods whenever he argues with Yawara about judo or food (Jigoro derisively calls beef stroganoff "strong combo"); Tamao also shares alleged pictures of her husband, who might have been spotted in the northern country near Hida Takayama.

Musashiyama High School is excited about the publicity over Yawara's debut, and the principal asks Yawara to start a girls' judo club and is surprised by Yawara's outright refusal; Yawara announces that she wants to go to a home economics college instead. The pathetic judo team members are shown playing video judo games rather than practicing, and they panic when they see an overflow of students wishing to join the judo club. Sudoh, a red-haired freshman, comes to challenge the judo club and look for Yawara. After school Yawara's three friends reveal that Shinnosuke had sweet-talked each one of them in turn when they had coffee, and they are interrupted by Sudoh, who grabs Yawara's butt and moons the girls before running away. The next day Sudoh attacks Hanazono, who had injured his leg after "honorably" rescuing a cat, by kicking his injured leg. The judo club members run off to Yawara, seeking her help; she flat rejects them. Sakai College's judo coach Yuutenji tries to recruit Sayaka for his judo club, but she refuses after hearing that the college is also interested in recruiting Yawara. She asks Shinnosuke to accompany her to Paris. Sudoh continues to harass Yawara by peeking into her bathroom and crank calling, as well as making fun of her on the bus. Yawara becomes angry and decides to help train the judo club.

Yawara intends to secretly train the weak judo team members so they can stand up to Sudoh, as well to avenge Hanazono (who has been hospitalized after Sudoh's attack) and herself (she does not intend to personally grapple with Sudoh). Sakai College tries to recruit Yawara, but she needs a track record of official matches to be admitted. To that end, Jigoro demands that Coach Yuutenji set up a big televised tournament match for Yawara. Sayaka trains in Paris, while Shinnosuke habitually romances the women there. Yawara sends a letter of challenge to Sudoh, who mistakes it for a love letter; Hanazono for his part believes the duel challenge was done for him. Sudoh demands that if he beats the judo club, he gets to have a date with Yawara; however, the formerly weak judo clubbers serially defeat Sudoh, having absorbed her lessons. Sudoh is also thrown by Yawara after telling her she is just a girl; he gains respect for her and organizes the members to ask Yawara to join and coach the club. Jigoro reveals his plans for Yawara, who does not agree and tricks him by switching herself with an old woman. Sayaka appears at a French judo tournament and throws the French champion.

On her return to Japan from France, Sayaka complains about the commercial airlines' first class food (it had "caviar that even my dog Charles wouldn't eat"), after their private jet broke down. She disarms and throws a would-be hijacker with a gun, which impresses even Shinnosuke. Sayaka also uses the ensuing media attention to publicly challenge Yawara again. In an attempt to motivate Yawara, Matsuda takes her shopping for feminine clothes and then to Hayami, where they see Sayaka training hard with Shinnosuke (including running with steel sandals while carrying a tire on a rope), and Shinnosuke helping Sayaka after she fell. Seeing this depresses Yawara and she returns on her own on bus. Matsuda realizes he is jealous over Yawara's feelings for Shinnosuke and becomes distracted, crashing his bike into the ocean. Afterwards, Matsuda asks Shinnosuke to persuade Yawara to enter the tournament, which is overheard by Sayaka despite Shinnosuke's attempt to keep it a secret from Sayaka.

Yawara is compensating for her depression over being "dumped" by Shinnosuke by overeating, which her friends notice (however, one of her friends, Kyoko, is interested in Shinnosuke herself). Shinnosuke approaches Yawara one day, not knowing they are being observed secretly by Jigoro, Sayaka, and Matsuda. Shinnosuke casually badmouths Sayaka to flatter Yawara, which Sayaka overheard. The three take over a bus to chase after Shinnosuke and Yawara, who end up talking near the ocean. Shinnosuke tells Yawara that "You shine most brilliantly when you do judo," and tries to kiss her, but Yawara pushes him away and runs off before their 3 pursuers attack him serially over his attempted love-making. Shinnosuke defends himself by claiming he is only doing Matsuda's bidding by trying to persuade Yawara to enter the tournament, though he is also taking advantage by trying to kiss Yawara. At her house, Yawara encounters the entire judo club (which now includes Sudoh), with Hanazono hiding behind a light pole, begging her on their knees to continue coaching them. Sudoh implores that he wants a chance to "shine brilliantly." Yawara rebuffs them for their own self agendas. Yawara tries to ask her mother for advice, but is interrupted by Tamao's news that her father might have been spotted in Shikoku; she also tells Yawara that judo did not split up their family, but that she and her husband got together because of judo, and that Kojiro Inokuma "shone most brilliantly when he did judo," echoing what the others have said. Later, during the rain that began hours ago, Yawara discovers that the judo clubbers are still kneeling outside her house in the rain. Moved, Yawara tells them she will start coach them again. Jigoro returns home to find Yawara practicing judo on her own.

Dozens of would-be new members join the judo club because of their attraction for Yawara, but they all soon quit because they cannot take her rigorous training. Sayaka visits Musashiyama High School to tell Yawara to keep her hands off of "her" Shinnosuke, and is offended by how shabby and dirty it is. Sayaka insults Hanazono as an "Eastern Island Stone Face man," and Sudoh as a "street gangster." When Sayaka boasts that she is Number One in judo in Japan, Sudoh rushes her but is thrown in an instant. Sayaka accuses Yawara of delaying her decision over the tournament to "entice Shinnosuke," but Yawara replies that she has decided to enter the tournament "just this once to find out if she shines brilliantly in judo." In a "testing range," Yawara puts on a black belt for the first time and easily defeats another black belt; Jigoro boasts to others that Yawara is at least already a 6-dan, and challenges a 5-dan to a match before Yawara quickly squelches the idea. Yawara and the judo club discover that their respective tournaments occur on the same Sunday, and Yawara promises to finish her own tournament quickly so she could coach the judo club next. Shinnosuke reflects his experience so far coaching Sayaka, which includes being given a Ferrari not yet sold in Japan and an offer of a permanent position in the Honami Group (with an implied offer of eventual marriage to Sayaka). Matsuda likewise reflects on his mixed feelings for Yawara, who he loves but also believes that she will soon be "unreachable" for him as she becomes a judo superstar.

The national tournament is about to begin and Sayaka insults Yuki Tohdoh in the waiting room by calling her a "she-gorilla" and "todo" (sea cow). Yawara is almost late because she is giving last-minute coaching tips to the judo club members, and Sudoh ferries her by bicycle to the tournament hall; he also promises Yawara that he would not use judo in fights anymore. On his way back, Sudoh is waylaid by some hoodlum acquaintances, who beat him up on accusations that he had hit on their girlfriends (he was handicapped by his promise to Yawara). As Sudoh is unable to participate in the tournament, the team risks losing by default and Hanazono recklessly chainsaws the cast off from his half-healed leg to enter in Sudoh's place. Matsuda acts as a messenger carrying Yawara's taped coaching tips to the team members. Yawara, Yuki, and Sayaka all win easily in their two preliminary matches.

Sayaka and Yuki struggle in their semifinal match (Yawara having already won her match with another quick ippon), as Sayaka is distracted by seeing Shinnosuke standing next to Yawara and holding her shoulder. Each wants to fight Yawara in the finals, Yuki having gained 10kg for the match, and the match drags on, much to Yawara's impatience as she wants to go help her judo club and is imagining the worst. Sayaka is pinned by Yuki, but drags the two of them out of bounds to escape. Motivated by her jealousy over Shinnosuke and an perceived insult from Yawara, Sayaka flips the giant Yuki and is able to pin her for the required 30 seconds as Yuki unsuccessfully tries to maneuver out of bounds. Meanwhile, Matsuda is stuck in traffic and receives a traffic ticket from speeding and reckless driving, and is at risk of missing out on Yawara's finals match. At the same time, the Musashiyama judo team is also struggling mightily, losing the first match quickly but eking out a victory by the smallest judoka, Kohno, who keeps to Yawara's training advice. Hatakeyama, another team member, lost after a long match and the score is now 2–1 in favor of the rival high school Todoroki-dai, with the next member Yasui shaking in fear.

Before the finals match, Jigoro sees a man that might be his son Kojiro at the arena. Matsuda arrives just in time to witness Yawara's 1-second ippon takedown of Sayaka, a complete anticlimax that stuns the whole arena to silence. Before leaving hurriedly to the high school tournament and abandoning the award ceremony in the process, Yawara returns Sayaka's fallen false tooth to the fallen Sayaka. Sayaka consoles herself by claiming that Yawara took her down before the "begin" signal, which was disproved by the timer and video playback. Sayaka abandons the award ceremony in disgust. Meanwhile Yasui defeats his opponent, and Hanazono is faring badly due to his injured right leg, which his opponent has also discovered. Matsuda drives Yawara at breakneck speed to the high school arena in his moped which has no brakes. Hanazono is about to give up in his match before seeing Yawara running to his aid; following Yawara's precise instructions, he is able to reverse pin his opponent in a Jigoku Zeme ("hell attack") on his back, winning the match in the prelim tournament for Musashiyama High. Jigoro gladly accepts the first prize in Yawara's place, but claims that Yawara is still a diamond in the rough and needs much more sharpening. Sayaka and company discover that the enigmatic mystery man is Kojiro Inokuma, and Sayaka orders an all-out effort to track down Kojiro and learn all of the Inokuma judo secrets.

On his wife Kaneko's 15th year death anniversary, Jigoro reminisces about their lives together. In 1934, Jigoro arrives from the countryside, having beaten 230 kumas (bears) in matches; after befriending an aspiring novelist, he arrives at the Kyuudou-kan Dojo, only to find the resident Ushio-sensei deceased and the dojo being run badly by the sensei's daughter Kaneko, with whom Jigoro falls instantly in love, because of unpaid debts from usury. Simonji, the rich creditor, has proposed marriage to Kaneko but is repeatedly rejected. Jigoro tries to run the dojo but runs off the remaining 2 students due to tough training methods. Jigoro is beaten up by hired goons from a rival dojo because he promised Kaneko he would not use judo to fight them, and Kaneko is forced to marry Simonji after he makes further implied threats. As the wedding ceremony is under way, Jigoro rushes to interrupt the ceremony a la The Graduate, using judo to defeat various opponents; however, Kaneko punishes him for breaking his promise by knocking him unconscious with a judo flip. Saimonji is frightened by Kaneko's display of power and falls into a fountain, ruining the paper debt contract. According to Jigoro, the novelist was Yoshinokawa Eiichi, who later published the classic Miyamoto Mushashi. Yawara objects to the story as a lie, as a different version had been told by Jigoro on the previous occasion, with a different cast of characters and literary references.

Hanazono's leg injury finally heals after receiving Jigoro's bonesetting treatment. On being shown multiple colleges' interest in Yawara, Hanazono confesses a desire to join Yawara at Sakai College, assuming she will go there. However, Yawara's first choice is a women's college, Mitsuba, which lacks a judo program, the implication being that Yawara is giving up on judo for the time being as she concentrates on passing the college exam. Accompanied by Sayaka is being trained in Europe by Pornalef, a judo expert who also happens to idolize Jigoro. Pornalef reveals that there are 4 strong judokas who are waiting to make short work of Yawara: Kim (fierce Korean), Teleshikova (robotic Russian), Belkins (Belgium model), and Jody Rockwell (Giant of Canada). Matsuda sees Jody at an airport while on another celebrity scandal assignment; she apparently has cancelled all her scheduled matches and come to Japan to challenge Yawara. Later, Jody heroically saves a mother and child in the streets from falling steel beams without waiting for any thanks. Jody goes to a noodle shop and shocks the five Musashiyama judo members eating there when she asks for five portions straight off. Jigoro visits Sakai College and pronounces it up to muster for Yawara. At the end of the episode, Jody arrives at the high school's dojo demanding a fight with Yawara.

Jody, perhaps knowing more Japanese than she lets on, yells "Tanomou!" ("I challenge you!") at Yawara at the dojo, frightening everybody, especially after Hanazono reveals that Jody is a world champion. At home, Yawara is upset at the news that Jigoro has "decided" to enroll her in Sakai College, and she vows never to go there. Jody arrives at the Inokuma home, and Jigoro is to serve as her first opponent. His powerful fighting aura scares Jody into submission, causing her to cry "Mairimashita!" ("I give up!") before they even begin; she, however, can. Jigoro decides to keep Jody on as a student and workout partner for Yawara. Jody, a fiend for training, pushes Yawara hard, which makes her fearful that she might not pass her entrance exam for Mitsuba College from lack of studying time. In Belgium, Sayaka fails to find Belkins, but defeats her "alternate" Stelkes at a ballroom dance. Possibly on Jigoro's advice, Jody "raids" the high school and defeats four ruffians when they pick a fight with her over their smoking. Yawara hurts Jody's feelings by telling her to go back to Canada, and Jigoro reveals Jody has been staying up at night to study Japanese in addition to waking up early to train. Realizing how hard Jody has been working, Yawara apologizes to her and they become friends, as well as finally settling on a match.

Fighting seriously for the first time in her life, Yawara has a long evenly matched competition with Jody until Jody injures her right arm, which disappoints Jody who wants to continue fighting. Matsuda and Yamoda sneak into the Inokuma compound and are conscripted by Jigoro to be referees; Yawara extracts a promise from Matsuda that he would not print a word about the match. Yawara promises to fight Jody again, and both admit their match was the first time they had "fun" doing judo. At the post-match dinner, Jody mistakenly refers to Matsuda Meanwhile, Sayaka challenges the South Korean judoka Kim Yonsky, and they fight to an exhausting draw both physically and with mutual verbal insults. Sayaka leaves the match "hating" Kim, in contrast to Jody and Yawara's warm friendship.

Jody returns to Toronto, and Jody again refers to Matsuda as Yawara's "boyfriend." Jigoro surprises Jody on the plane before takesoff with a "Certain Victory" banner to cheer Jody on for her next match against the Russians, before being thrown off the airplane. Yawara and Matsuda meet Sayaka and Shinnosuke at the airport as "couples," and Matsuda boasts about Yawara's match with Jody, while Sayaka boasts about her global training and matches. After eavesdropping on the conversation, Jigoro tells Sayaka she can challenge Yawara at any of 10 tournaments in the next 4 months in preparation for establishing a track record for fighting Jody in a World Tournament. Yawara decides to try to study for her college exam AND train for the tournament so that she can fulfill her promise to Jody, though this will mean pulling exhausting all-nighters. As the tournaments go on, Yawara begins to sleepwalk through them, which concerns Matsuda, who has been keeping a vigil by the Inokuma resident (without Yawara's knowledge). Yawara still keeps Shinnosuke's picture in her drawer, and Shinnosuke still watches Yawara's matches even as he fools around with other women.

Finding Yawara's performance in the four previous tournaments to be deteriorating (though she still won all her matches), Jigoro confiscates Yawara's textbooks and forbids her from studying. Yawara meets Shinnosuke at a bookstore and she confesses that her poor performance was due to not sleeping from studying all night; Shinnosuke offers to tutor her at his condo. Matsuda spies on them out of jealousy, and they have a blowup over Yawara; Matsuda threatens to tattle to Sayaka. Matsuda then tries to follow suit by "tutoring" Yawara, but to his humiliation it turns out he knows less about school subjects than Yawara. In his tutoring, Shinnosuke tries to woo Yawara with English love poetry, while trying to cover up evidence that he is seeing other women. As Shinnosuke tries to juggle different women calling and visiting him while tutoring Yawara in his condo, Sayaka finally walks in on them.

Sayaka walks in on Yawara and Shinnosuke as they are finishing their tutoring session, and Sayaka accuses Yawara of being a "dorobo-neko," a "cat thief" trying to steal Shinnosuke from her. Sayaka discloses that Shinnosuke has been offered (and accepted) an executive position with the Honami Group and will take it over in the future, and that Shinnosuke is her "fiance" (which he does not dispute). Matsuda, who has been staking out Shinnosuke's condo, sees Yawara run out crying, and interprets that Shinnosuke has having done "something heinous" to her. Sayaka shows up at a post-victory press conference for Yawara and tells her that she will enter Yawara's next tournament to defeat her. Jigoro calls Shinnosuke a "kazammidori" (weathervane) for dating so many women. Jigoro and Yawara find out in the news that Jody will be fighting the Russians in a televised tournament, but Yawara almost does not make it back to watch the match after being whisked away by Shinnosuke, who lies to her about his relationship with Sayaka. During the match, the robotic Russian Anna Teleshikova uses "dirty tactics" to disable Jody's knee and defeat her; Jody leaves with a serious injury (tearing her left knee ligament).

Jody has suffered a seious injury that will take at least 6 months to recover from and puts her future judo career at risk. Matsuda shows Teleshikova's post-match press conference interview to Yawara, in which Teleshikova says she would not consider herself the best until she defeats Yawara. In response, Yawara seems to withdraw further until Tamao unexpectedly returns home to tell her that she had heard that Kojiro might have come to see her previous match against Sayaka. Shinnosuke sends Yawara flowers to ingratiate himself, and Sayaka for some reason also invites Yawara to her 18th birthday party but telling her it is a "casual wear" occasion. When Yawara arrives in casual clothing, Sayaka makes fun of her because all others are in formal attire (except for Jigoro, who has crashed the party for the free food). At the party, Sayaka's father announce that the Kazamatsuri Brewery (to which Shinnosuke is the sole heir) is merging with the Honami Group and that he is engaged to Sayaka (both decisions with Shinnosuke's parents' blessing). Shinnosuke is unable to object, and Sayaka takes the occasion to issue another challenge to Yawara, who runs away from the party.

Even with the news of Shinnosuke's engagement to Sayaka, Matsuda is unable to convince Yawara that Shinnosuke is a no-good playboy. Shinnosuke is seen hooking up with another girlfriend from his regular stable (Hiromi, Mayumi, Mieko, Mariko, et al.) and claiming that he loves the girlfriend at hand and was "forced into" the fiance arrangement. Yawara arrives home to tell Coach Yuutenji, who has been meeting with Jigoro every month to reinforce the Sakai College connection, that she is attending Sakai. Seeing that Yawara is depressed, Matsuda tells Shinnosuke to cheer her up despite his own feelings for Yawara and that he would cover for him with Sayaka. Shinnosuke has a date with Yawara and tells her more lies (i.e., being "trapped" and he only loves her), but they are chosen as the "couple of the day" on a TV program, which is seen Sayaka. Sayaka pursues Shinnosuke and Yawara while Matsuda runs interference.

This episode is about Hanazono's unrequited secret love for Yawara in contrast to Sudoh's bolder approaches. Hanazono has trouble confessing his feelings to Yawara, whereas Sudoh has trouble keeping himself from pestering Yawara for dates. Jigoro tries to prevent Yawara from going on dates with either of them, but is foiled by his craving for food from keeping watch. Yawara goes on a double date with both Hanazono and Sudoh at an amusement park, and tells them that she is quitting judo. While Hanazono is so disappointed by her decision to quit that he runs off, Sudoh believes that she should just do whatever she wants. Sudoh encounters former delinquent friends, who want to beat him up again, especially if he involves the judo club. Sudoh submits a "retirement letter" to the club in order to protect the members, but they show up anyway to intervene in the fight/beating. Hanazono swallows the retirement letter to nullify it, and Jigoro shows up to "persuade" the delinquents to desist with a timely judo throw and some accidentally spilled porno videos.

Jigoro intentionally tries to burn application materials for Mitsuba Women's College in his continuing opposition to Yawara's decision to attend Sakai. Jody writes a cheerful letter (in Japanese and Kanji, but with some mistakes) to Yawara saying that she will recover and fight again, and warning that Teleshikova is a strong opponent. The lecherous newspaper editor (Matsuda's boss) assigns an "extra" rookie photographer to Matsuda, the excitable, coarse, bespectacled, and buxom Kaga Kuniko who dresses in revealing tights. Matsuda is upset to be saddled with her, but has no choice as Kuniko uses hysterical crying on command as a weapon to get what she wants, in addition to spreading false rumors. Shinnosuke is too craven to cancel the engagement, which he is rehearsing mentally, as Sayako discusses how many expensive dresses to buy with her mother and a designer. Kuniko appears to have a crush on Matsuda having perceptively sensed that he has feelings for Yawara; Kuniko disrupts a meeting between Yawara and Matsuda by claiming to be his "girlfriend," which unexpectedly upsets Yawara, who did not previously realize that she might have feelings for Matsuda as well. Yawara feels inferior because she does have Kuniko's big boobs or overt sexiness. Jigoro cuts a deal with Yawara: he would approve her taking the Mitsuba College entrance exam in exchange for her entering the upcoming Zen-ooki judo tournament. Yawara gladly agrees because her grandfather's approval is actually important to her (despite her saying otherwise), and because she misunderstood the deal to mean that Jigoro would approve her attending Mitsuba, not just taking the entrance exam for it.

Kuniko continues to pay unwanted attention to Matsuda, and when he objects, she cries to coerce him. She gets Matsuda drunk and takes him home, trying to sleep in bed with him (Matsuda ends up sleeping outside). She clings to him whenever he is meeting with Yawara and/or Jigoro, arousing equal measures of jealousy and disgust in Yawara. At the critical Zen-ooki tournament, Yawara was so distracted by the presence of Matsuda + Kuniko and Shinnosuke + Sayaka that she almost loses the first match (the men have no idea how much they are distracting her, whereas the women are there intending to distract her). During the final match, Yawara is again distracted but earns a victory by spraining her right wrist in the process, possibly disabling her from taking the entrance exam the next day (apparently she cannot write left-handed).

Jigoro puts his special frog balm on Yawara's injured hand, assuring her that it will take away the pain so that she could take the exam (in fact, he purposely gave her wrong medication (for hemorrhoids) so that she would fail her test). Yawara is desperate as she is unable to write, but her injury is discovered by a concerned Matsuda, who sneaks into the testing site to check up on her by skipping out on an important assignment to cover "Mike Bison" (a stand-in for Mike Tyson). Yawara initially distrusts Matsuda and rebuffs him rudely, and it is only after he confesses a "personal interest" in her that she allows him to fix her hand with a makeshift handkerchief (allegedly borrowing from an injured tennis player's technique). Yawara asks her mother if she was "attracted to many men at the same time" when she was younger. Mistaking her surprisingly good mood for having given up on Mitsuba College (because she must have failed the entrance exam), Jigoro takes her to visit Saikai College to visit Coach Yuutenji and the college president, but Yawara bursts their collective bubble by categorically stating that she will not attend Saikai. She goes to the newspaper office to return Matsuda's handkerchief, but meets Yuniko who lies about Matsuda being out and pretends to take a message for him. As she leaves, Yawara is fooled into thinking that Kuniko might be a good person after all. Meanwhile, Shinnosuke wakes up after bedding a new woman and delightedly reminds himself that he can sleep with both Sayaka and Yawara once they enter college.

Kuniko shows Matsuda's handkerchief by mistake, and Matsuda presses her about what Yawara had left as a message (by exchanging a dinner date). Hanazono, Sudoh, and Jigoro all show up to see Yawara's test results (but to the wrong site, the one for junior high test results), and Shinnosuke casually appropriates Yawara (who had been hoping to see Matsuda) when he sees her, after finding out that she has passed the test he openly lusts after her upcoming sexual availability as a college girl. Yawara and Mastuda are forced to have dinner and drinks with Shinnosuke and Yuniko, the latter trying their best to ruin Yawara's perception of Matsuda with lies and false innuendos. Yawara compensates by over-drinking. The only good news is Matsuda's revelation that Jody is getting out of the hospital. Later, Matsuda gets to be alone with Yawara, but is unable to explain the truth about himself, being genuinely conflicted between being happy for Yawara for passing the Mitsuba exam and his dream of being able to follow her career as a judo superstar. When Matsuda cannot suppress his enthusiasm for a possible cover story about Barcelona championship match between Yawara and Jody, Yawara becomes upset and throws the clueless Matsuda. Yawara leaves thinking that Matsuda does not care about her as a person and only sees as a walking sports news scoop.

Jigoro refuses to entertain the possibility that Yawara would go to Mitsuba Women's College, and not even Tamao's food inducements can change his attitude. After hearing Jigoro's opposition, Hanazono and Sudoh offer to help Yawara change Jigoro's mind by first plying with food at a restaurant. When that fails, Jigoro makes a judo bet with them such that if they even throws him even once in any way possible, he will allow Yawara to attend Mitsuba. Despite various unorthodox attacks, the two inevitably fail. Yawara's friends buy a red dress as a college present for her, and by chance they find Sayaka buying the identical dress at the store as well; Sayaka is upset on hearing that Yawara will not attend Saikai but Mitsuba instead, calling her a "win-and-run" girl. Sayaka challenges Yawara to enter the All-Japan Tournament so she can finally have a chance to beat her. After a long talk with Tamao in which Tamao gives him money intended for Mitsuba College, Jigoro finally changes his mind. He will pay for Yawara to attend Mitsuba (setting aside Tamao's money for Yawara's future wedding), but Yawara has to enter and win the prestigious upcoming All-Japan Tournament (an open weight tournament matching judokas of all weight classes against each other) and forgo going out with men for the time being. Yawara happily accepts the deal but also realizes that she will still have to do things grandpa's way. Matsuda is excited about the tournament as well, and reveals that Saikai College's veteran judo captain, Kousaka Megumi, is also aching to challenge Yawara because Yawara has disrespected Saikai by turning down its scholarship offer.

At the All Japan Tournament, the rivals of Yawara (e.g., Yuki Tohdoh and Sayaka) meet and talk trash. Yawara is more concerned about Hanazono passing his Saikai exam than the tournament, and as it turns out, he did not pass. Kousaka Megumi appears confident against Yawara as she has studied her moves extensively and believes she has counter for Yawara's trademark one-arm Ippon Zeoi throw. However, when the match begins, Yawara reflexively counters Kousaka's countermove and beats her anyway; Kousaka is not embittered about the loss and instead has greater respect for Yawara and vows to work harder. Jigoro likewise gives her encouragement as well as his autographed book.

Right before their semifinal match, Sayaka and Yuki each brags about how few seconds they will need to defeat the other. Sayaka tries a couple of quick moves on Yuki but each time the latter counters and is able to move out of bounds. Even on the third encounter, when Yuki slips, Sayaka cannot score, and she becomes increasingly anxious. On the fourth encounter, Sayaka injures her leg in the fall, allowing Yuki to score the first points in the ensuing encounter. Yuki then focuses her attack on Sayaka's injured right leg and pins her with her massive upper body (kami-shihoh gatame). Refusing to give up, Sayaka is able to reverse flip and escape from Yuki at the last second. Yawara then offers specific tips to Sayaka to execute a pin on Yuki, forcing her to give up. However, afterwards to save face Sayaka denies that she would followed Yawara's advice or that she has suffered an injury. On the next semifinal match, Yawara defeats her opponent with a usual quick ippon. In the examination room, the doctor tells Sayaka she has broken her leg and that she risks greater injury and perhaps permanent inability to practice judo if she continues; however, Sayaka decides to press on because she cannot bear the shame of losing to Yawara, even on an injury forfeit. To stop Sayaka, Shinnosuke kisses her, causing her to faint and she is carried to the hospital. Sayaka thus loses by forfeit. The final scenes show Jody and Teleshikova training hard in hot anticipation for a match (in Jody's case, rematch) against Yawara.

As graduation nears, nostalgia and romance are both in the air. Shinnosuke is plotting to offer himself as a "gift" to Yawara as graduation gift, even as he finds himself being more of a fiance play toy to Sayaka, who is recovering from her leg injury, as they head for Hawaii to one of her "extra" mansions. The judo team reflects on their progress under Yawara's coaching and their future with both Yawara and Hanazono graduating. Hanazono made a wish of fighting Yawara just once before he graduates, which Yawara grants, with the inevitable result of Hanazono being thrown for an ippon.

Jigoro takes advantage of a media interview about Yawara to launch into his own memory lane again. Shortly after he took over Kaneko's Kyudodan dojo, he saves a man who is about to hang himself due to a bad romance. One day Kaneko's uncle (father's older brother) Toranosuke, a tea ceremony master rather than a judoka, comes to visit with an offer for Kaneko to marry his best student and carry on as his successor; this is supposed to the will of Kaneko's father, Ushio Umanosuke. However, Jigoro is also thinking of proposing in the future to Kaneko. The uncle and Jigoro do not get along, as they argue over whether a teacup or (judo) tatami is more important. Toranosuke tricks Jigoro into saying that he values judo over any woman or marriage, which is inadvertently confirmed by Jigoro who has to attend his first All Japan Championship. Kaneko tells him that she will accompany her uncle to be engaged to his student. In the final match, Jigoro is pinned helplessly by his opponent until the formerly suicidal young man encourages him with the prospect of proposing to Kaneko at the Ueno train station as the Japan champion. Inspired, Jigoro wins the match and rushes to the station. On board the train, he at first proposes to the wrong woman, only to find that Kaneko never boarded the train and is running aside it to catch his attention. According to Jigoro, Kaneko runs so fast that she catches up to the train at the next station, where they exchange their marriage vow. In addition, the suicidal young man was Sato Daisaku, who became an important prime minister during the modernization of Japan, all entirely thanks to Jigoro. Yawara does not believe in the story, and the reporters also long left the "interview."

It is the first day of school (opening ceremony) for Yawara and Sayaka in their respective colleges. Jigoro accompanies Yawara as a chaperon and also to ask the college president to keep an eye on her. On the bus there, Yawara encounters a super-tall, gloomy female student named Itou Fujiko. Yawara is tempted to join various student clubs which are recruiting new members. Jigoro mistakes Mitsuba cheerleaders for can-can dancers and attempts to teach them "Yawara cheers" for the Barcelona Olympics, and afterwards enjoy a boisterous drinking party and late-night disco dancing outing with them. Yawara and Itou and other girls go to a boring Keihou university (coed) mixer where they wait for a long time only to see a bunch of geeks and otakus show up as their "hot dates," disappointing Itou whose goal it is to enjoy her "once-in-a-lifetime youth" and "find a wonderful man" at college. Worried that she would miss her night practice, Yawara instead is surprised to encounter Jigoro across the street covered in lipstick kisses from the cheerleaders.

Yawara and her new friend Itou Fujiko try out new clubs and encounter another student, Komiya Yukari, who is a veteran dater aggressive with men. Itou Fujiko mistakenly believes that Yawara is a "1st degree" in flower arrangement or tea ceremony, which an embarrassed Yawara does not correct. Komiya encourages both to join the golf club, where she says it is easiest to hook a rich guy, which is her goal in life. They do so and Shinnosuke shows up bearing flowers for Yawara. However, he is soon swallowed by fawning women who want him to teach them golf, with Komiya being typically the most forward. At a bar, a man tries to get Yawara drunk but instead it is Itou who downs the drink and feels sick. Later, when Shinnosuke finally gets to be alone with Yawara, they are spotted by Sayaka on board her super yacht Queen Sayaka, and she literally crashes the pier where Shinnosuke is sweet-talking Yawara, yelling the typical "cat-thief!" insult at Yawara.

Yawara and her new college friends join a 2-day golf camp. Yawara shows herself to be a golf natural, whereas Itou Fujiko has no knack, on top of which the men make fun of her height. Yawara has a chance encounter with Hanazono, who is training with the Ebitendou judo club nearby. Hanazono and the other judo members crash the coed mixer party that Yawara is attending, asking her whether she has quit judo to take up golf. Yawara spends time with Itou Fujiko, who tells her about her history as a junior ballet dancer thwarted by her inherited height. At training, Jigoro tells Yawara he has entered her in the upcoming World Judo Cup, where world class judokas will be competing against her.