Yawara! A Fashionable Judo Girl

New deadly technique! Nutcracker!! (1x77)

Air date: Jul 22, 1991

Matsuda finally finds Yawara, and they arrive to find Fujiko way behind by a yuko and waza ari. Her opponent is the favorite in the division, and has studied Fujiko's "Swan Lake" technique to counter it. With less than 20 seconds left, Fujiko's only chance is her new unperfected "Nutcracker" technique. On hearing Yawara's spur-of-the-moment promise to go to Yugoslavia with her, Fujiko pulls off her Nutcracker with 1 second left for a miraculous comeback. After defeating her 2nd opponent, Fujiko is in cloud nine as she dreams about Yugoslavia and prances in her ballet moves while waiting for the semifinals, and can hardly hear Yawara's advice about her tough 3rd opponent. Likewise, Jigoro has a bad feeling about the semifinals (in part based on his noodle timing). Overconfident, Fujiko rushes to do her Nutcracker, only to be countered and suffers a waza ari and a yuko; her confidence is crushed again. Though she has not been taught any pinning moves by Jigoro, Fujiko's desire to go to Yugoslavia is so strong that she invents a new Osaekomi pin on the fly, but it is unclear whether she can hold on.