OVA

OVA, an acronym for Original Video Animation ( オリジナル・ビデオ・アニメーション, orijinaru bideo animeshon^?), as their name indicates, are animated productions intended for consumption in physical video format. This acronym refers to anime or anime episodes exclusive to video media such as VHS, Blu-ray, and DVD, where the rise of Beta players and later VHS began. The OVAs have their origin in the 1980s, where a generation of young animators opened their own independent free-release production houses, after having worked for large or medium-sized television animation production companies. Likewise, these productions were not tied to any kind of limitations, call it censorship of any kind and were made with as much freedom as possible to expand the market to mature sectors, equivalent to productions in printed comic format (manga), which also satisfied to various sectors in the market. Outside of Japan they have been called OAV for their correct English pronunciation original animation video, however, in Japan they continue to be called OVA to avoid confusion with the acronym AV for adult video.

History

In the early 1980s, when video players began to become popular in Japan, the anime industry grew to colossal proportions, the demand for anime, as it's usually abbreviated, was massive, to the point that consumers went to video stores not to rent, but to buy the latest in animation. Which resulted in the creation of many series with the aim of going directly to video. In Japan, the demand was so great that it became a market necessity. Many popular and influential series such as Bubblegum Crisis or Tenchi Muyō! were released in OVA format. Although direct-to-video anime began to appear in the late 1970s, the first series that clearly claimed to be an OVA was Dallos (1983), directed by Mamoru Oshii and distributed by Bandai.. Other companies quickly jumped on the bandwagon, and by the mid-1980s, the market was flooded with OVAs. An OVA is not tied to the restrictions of a television chapter, so its duration can be whatever they think is necessary, although generally if the OVA is the continuation of a series, the times are respected. In a general average of the duration of an OVA, it would be said that they oscillate between 45 and 60 minutes.

During the rise of this revolutionary video format, young freelance animators exploited their potential in the field of animation to the fullest, creating original productions with a quality similar to animated films shown in movie theaters and quickly attracted the attention of animation-loving consumers in Japan. The OVAs mostly told stories, merely original, without carrying the adjective of "adaptation" from some previously published manga. That was their competitive advantage at that time, adding the excellent visual quality and freshness they had. This leads to the large Japanese animation companies subcontracting these independent animators for large television projects and gaining greater opportunities and fame in the medium. It is here that commercial animation likewise expands its animated products in the vast market. Many of these animated productions in OVA or TV format caught the attention of foreign countries such as France and the United States, which quickly bought the licenses to broadcast them in their respective nations. Renowned animators got the opportunity to work on foreign projects in the same decade.

The trend of producing OVAs was taken by large Japanese companies to create video specials for already popular series such as the famous series Dragon Ball, based on the manga by Akira Toriyama, Saint Seiya by Masami Kurumada, Ranma ½ by Rumiko Takahashi and other series. This trend has continued to this day. They also carry the title original video animation because they are stories from the studios of their respective companies, where chronologically they do not coincide with the original plot on which the series itself has been based.

Usually in the foreign fandom, OVAs are confused with special episodes for TV or even movies released in theaters, but this is incorrect, since such episodes are released directly on VHS, DVD and currently on Blu-Ray. The OVAs go directly on sale in home format and it is possible to acquire a license to broadcast it on television, after a certain time, as in a movie broadcast in theaters and, generally, the OVAs have a higher quality than a series made for that medium. Due to the popularity of anime, OVAs can be found at any store on the subject. They generally go on sale as soon as it is finished and producing a 20-minute chapter (which is the most normal) takes several months (usually three, depending on the animation quality and other factors), so it is normal to wait several months before being able to follow the story, although there are some cases in which it is done in such a way that the wait is practically a month, thus giving people time to enjoy an OVA before purchasing another.

After the deterioration of the Japanese economy, in the mid-1990s, the release of OVAs to the market began to be scarce. The fact that the series began to be created with 13 episodes, instead of the standard 26, made it easier to market, which made OVAs less popular. Probably the longest OVA series ever is Legend of the Galactic Heroes, with 110 episodes, 52 side story episodes and 3 movies. Finally, the OVAs are also currently used as a measure of the impact it has among the public, in order to determine its viability for a programmer to make an animated series with its theme.^{[citation required]}

Evolution of the format

Currently in Japan, not only OVAs are produced, but also ONA (original net animation) that are conceived to be released on the Internet. These next-generation productions can be seen by netizens on specialized video pages, such as the popular NicoNico Douga, which requires a premium paid account to access the event.