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OVA titles were originally made available on VHS, later becoming more popular on LaserDisc and eventually DVD.
Producers sometimes make other OVA releases as sequels, side stories, music-video collections, or bonus episodes that continue existing as television series or films.
Nikkei Business Publications also said in a news-release that mainly 25 to 40-year-old adults bought anime DVDs.
[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.
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.