"Yawara!" is a story about an ordinary girl with a talent for
Judo. Her
grandfather/
trainer sees her potiential and drives her to go all the way to the
Olympic Judo competition. It is an extremely energetic, likeable series, and watching Yawara rise to challenge after challenge, one can't help but be inspired. Highly recommended.
Believe it or not, Yawara is not shoujo at all. It's based on a shounen manga, and was aimed at sort of a general family audience.
It began airing around the same time Ranma 1/2 was, and while Ranma languished in mediocre ratings, Yawara was a huge hit. Watching it, in retrospect, this doesn't seem surprising at all.