judo in media

Posted by: Anonymous

judo in media - 11/18/04 09:51 PM

hey, this is sort of a strange topic, but:

Has anyone else noticed a recent proliferation of Judo in movies/tv/anime? For example, there's this Japanese movie, Kyouki no Sakura, which is about a youth gang, and theres alot of Judo throws and armbars. In the popular anime, Naruto, I've seen Judo throws for the first time in just the last few episodes. Some pitfighting movie came out recently and I'm sure it has a lot of grappling.

Maybe its just me, but it seems peculiar in its suddeness. Especially considering Judo has been popular in Europe (and Japan, of course) for a long time now.
What do people think?
Posted by: Ed Glasheen

Re: judo in media - 11/19/04 05:34 AM

I think the Kodakan is feeling the effects of BJJ and MMA. More of their fighters are entering competitions. So in my opinion Judo may be trying to become more mainstream in an effort to gain back popularity back. Ed