Is it really more painless to add way.js and its dependencies (jquery.js, underscore.js, underscore.json.js, form2js.js and js2form.js) to your page then to simply add a plain javascript eventhandler to the field you want to validate?
That being said, could an implementation be done without jQuery? Probably. I'm sure the author is open to pull requests if you want to give it a go.
How does the way.js version look like? Im sceptical it makes it more elegant.
I'm using Angular's databinding and recently it felt as if it was just convenient enough to implement a nice-to-have feature that I might have postponed otherwise.
I'm also careful with adding too many dependencies for simple things. But since I've committed to learning and using Angular anyways, I don't mind the weight and like using what it has to offer.