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Girls Bravo marks a milestone in my anime fandom. I got into the fansub community only a year ago, and the first thing I did was look for the newest series in Japan that were from my favorite genre of anime: romance for boys. At that time, there were two series that had just come out that were perfect for my taste: Girls Bravo and DearS. I downloaded them all, watched them, and enjoyed them very much. Last February, Geneon announced that they had the licensing rights to both series. This was the first time that something I downloaded had been licensed. So I did what I believed was right and deleted the shows from my hard drive. I followed closely to any news that Geneon had on the series, applauded when the company showed a preview for it at Anime Boston, and even asked the rep about their plans for the 2nd season of Girls Bravo, (which had just started airing in Japan at the time). Finally, the day arrived that Girls Bravo came out on DVD, and I ordered it and pre-ordered DearS at the same time. After much waiting in the mail, I finally got my Girls Bravo volume 1 with box. But man, was I surprised to find out that the version that I saw on fansub was completely different from the version I now owned! But enough intro, let’s get to the show!

Exactly why am I so crazy over Girls Bravo? Is it really that good of a series?

The short answer would be no, but bare with me for a second.

Girls Bravo is your typical harem romance. Yukinari is the high school loser - short, scrawny, and allergic to girls (literally, he breaks into hives). One day he comes homes and accidentally walks in on his busty neighbor, Kirie, who is bathing in his bathroom. Despite the fact that it’s all her fault for being there when she wasn’t supposed to, she knocks the crap out of the poor boy, who then ricochets off of the bathroom walls and into his bathtub. He is than transported through the tub to a mysterious new planet, Seiren. As it turns out, Seiren is a planet that is over 90% female, so Yukinari and his Y-chromosome is quite the hot commodity to the many, many females that inhabit it. As if that wasn’t perfect enough, Yukinari teleports into a bath belonging to the only girl who doesn’t make him break into hives when she touches him, Miharu. To escape the chaos of Seiren, Miharu and Yukinari transport back to Earth, and from then on the naive alien creates all the kooky comedic mayhem that you can expect from such a show. Blah, blah, blah…

So the storyline is very unoriginal. However, it really doesn’t matter so much with this series. What the show revolves around is its ecchi images and sex comedy. Did I say sex comedy? I mean some pretty intense sex comedy! It even borderlines hentai at some moments. Explicit lesbianism, un-called for fondling, and lots and lots of bare boobies are spread out through out each episode. This very daring sense of humor has given me some of the biggest laughs I’ve ever had watching a shounen romance series.

(This blogger would like to apologize for that last paragraph, and promises never to write the word “boobies” ever again on this blog.)

Like I mentioned before, this isn’t the same Girls Bravo that the fansub community is familiar with. When the show was first aired on Japanese television, it was so heavily edited that it makes CMX’s release of Tenjo Tenge look like an extended, un-rated version. Most of the time the edits were pretty obvious. Whenever the girls would bath, a very dense fog would cover anything below the neckline. At one point in the third episode, a girl undresses in a classroom. Since they can’t use the “fog” excuse, they do the next best thing, just randomly black out everything but their faces. The reason why they made the edits so that they could entice the viewers to buy the “No Smoking” edition on DVD. I guess that the plan failed, because no such edits were made during the broadcast of the show’s 2nd season in Japan.

But upon viewing the uncut version, I discovered that most of the biggest edits were not quite as obvious as the fog effects. In fact, they completely cut out some scenes! In the edited version, when Miharu first tastes a banana that was offered to her from the local fruit seller, it’s a very innocent act. She quickly eats the first banana, says that she likes it, and then the fruit man starts going on about how much he likes bananas too. The scene then cuts to the man finishing off his long-winded speech while Miharu is eating another half eaten banana. Then she says thank you and leaves, and afterwards the man realizes that she ate his entire stock during his (assumedly long) monolog. While the final double take is funny, it’s over all a very dull and pointless scene.

In the unedited version, the man offers her a banana, but she’s very hesitant at first. She examines the oddly shaped fruit, then eventually tastes the tip of it with her tongue (extra saliva dripping for good measure). Satisfied with the way it tastes, she puts it in her mouth and starts to suck on it while it’s bobbing in and out of her mouth. The fruit seller (and this blogger) blushes at the display. She finishes the first one, says that she likes it, and then the fruit man starts going on about how much he likes bananas too. The monolog is not cut and he rambles on. During this time, Miharu takes another banana, and continues to suck on it the same way that she did before.

While Miharu’s obsession with banana’s become a running gag with the show, I have never once considered it a phallic symbol before seeing this version. But sure enough, I discovered another one in the next episode (or maybe I’m just trying to find one, who knows? >_<). While other series are quite raunchy and crazy, Girls Bravo stands out because it never becomes too wrapped up in itself. While the nudity is pretty explicit, it never becomes pornographic. While the comedy is wild, it never becomes mind numbing and incoherent. The writers know just when are the perfect moments to hold back, and it pays off with a great show.

The character designs are very cute and sexy, but nothing really stands out. As with all harem anime, you get your choice of different girls with different personalities. Altough we only see 3 girls in the first volume (Miharu, Kirei, and the satanic Risa), cuter characters will be introduced in the second volume. My favorite will be human version of Ebi-chan! ^_^

I also have to praise Geneon and their release of the series. Despite what I was told at Anime Boston, they are going to release both seasons of the series. All 24 episodes are being released on 6 DVDs, which all fit neatly into a nice looking art box. But what I liked the best was the two pencil boards that were included with the first volume. They are translucent and have a glittery background. I’m almost tempted to hang them on my wall for decoration.

If you like what you see, please support this series by buying Girls Bravo vol. 1 at Amazon.com or your local video store.