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Original video animation (Japanese: オリジナル・ビデオ・アニメーション, Hepburn: orijinaru bideo animēshon), abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and special episodes of a series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA series may be broadcast for promotional purposes. OVA titles were originally made available on VHS, later becoming more popular on LaserDisc and eventually DVD.[1] Starting in 2008, the term OAD (original animation DVD)[2][3] began to refer to DVD releases published bundled with their source-material manga.
Like anime made for television broadcast, OVAs are divided into episodes. OVA media (tapes, laserdiscs or DVDs) usually contain just one episode each. Episode length varies from title to title: each episode may run from a few minutes to two hours or more. An episode length of 30 minutes is common, but no standard length exists. An OVA series can run anywhere from a single episode to dozens of episodes in length.
Many anime series first appeared as OVAs, and later grow to become television series or movies. Producers sometimes make other OVA releases as sequels, side stories, music-video collections, or bonus episodes that continue existing as television series or films.
Much OVA-production aims at an audience of male anime enthusiasts. Bandai Visual said in a 2004 news release (for their new OVAs aimed at women) that about 50% of the customers who had bought their anime DVDs in the past fell into the category of 25 to 40-year-old men, with only 13% of purchasers women, even with all ages included.[4] (However, these statistics cover Bandai Visual anime DVDs in general.) Nikkei Business Publications also said in a news-release that mainly 25 to 40-year-old adults bought anime DVDs.[5] Few OVAs target female audiences.
Some OVAs based on television series (and especially those based on manga) may provide closure to the plot – closure not present in the original series.
OVAs originated during the early 1980s. As the VCR became a fixture in Japanese homes, the anime industry grew. Demand for anime became massive, so much so that consumers would go to video stores to buy new animation outright. While people in the United States used the phrase "direct-to-video" as a pejorative for works that could not make it onto television or movie screens, in Japan direct-to-video became a necessity.[6][7]
The earliest known attempt to release an OVA was The Green Cat in 1983, although it cannot count as the first OVA: there is no evidence that the VHS tape became available immediately and the series remained incomplete. The first OVA to be billed as such was 1983's Dallos, released by Bandai. Other companies were quick to pick up on the idea, and the mid-to-late 1980s saw the market flooded with OVAs. During this time, most OVA series were new, stand-alone titles.[8]
During Japan's economic bubble, production companies were more than willing to spontaneously decide to make a one- or two-part OVA in the 1980s.[9] They paid money to anime studios, who then haphazardly created an OVA to be released to rental shops. Judging from sales, should a longer series be deemed feasible, TV networks paid for most of the production costs of the entire series.[10]
As the Japanese economy worsened in the 1990s, the flood of new OVA titles diminished to a trickle. Production of OVAs continued, but in smaller numbers. Many anime TV series ran 13 episodes rather than the traditional 26-episodes per season. Studios often designed new titles to be released to TV if they approached these lengths. In addition, the rising popularity of cable and satellite TV networks (with their typically less strict censorship) allowed the public to see direct broadcasts of many new titles. Therefore, many violent and risque series became regular TV series, when previously those titles would have been OVAs. During this time, most OVA content was limited to that related to existing and established titles.
In 2000 and later, a new OVA trend began. Producers released many TV series without normal broadcasts of all of the episodes—but releasing some episodes on the DVD release of the series.
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