I watched the first couple of episodes of Girls Bravo when they first hit the wire, but stalled out because they were clearly censored in an irritating way -- conveniently-placed opaque "steam" (often filling much of the frame), cutaways to an irrelevant character, and so on. So, when I got a chance to check out the DVD release, I did so in the hope that I'd be less annoyed.

The good news is that yes, it's vastly less irritating with the censorship gone. Whether the fan service thus revealed is in the best of taste or not varies, but at least you get a bit of payoff for the heavily contrived plot. The bad news is that the subtitles on the version I got were pretty miserable, both in content and execution. The good news is that my Japanese is good enough to follow along quite handily with the subtitles turned off. Your Mileage May Vary.

The first episode of the second season is out, as well -- and this time, there's no censorship. Perhaps that's because they realized that, with the plot element of a giant octopus molesting swimsuit-clad girls, it was pointless to worry about a few nipples... (To be fair, the theme of a maiden entangled by an octopus has a long history in Japanese art. But it was still an eye-bugging thing to see in a TV show.)

On the whole, Girls Bravo -- first season or second -- has little going for it other than the fan service, some over the top slapstick, and some engaging (if not very original) characters. But if that's your thing, check it out.