<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

OVA (or OAV) are abbreviations for Original Video Animation or Original Animated Video.

It is often used to describe an anime that was released "direct to video or DVD". It means that the anime in question was never aired first on TV in Japan nor was it a feature film/movie released in theaters there.

Unlike most "direct to video or DVD" productions in North America, OVAs often have the same visual and production quality as feature films and thus have a larger production budget than the average anime TV series in Japan. OVAs can consist of just one single 30 minute short subject animated film or a full length 90 minute film to a two or more episode series.

Some OVAs are original first time concepts put into anime production or Manga/comics being put in to anime production for the first time. Still, some OVAs are unaired episodes or unaired continuation episodes of existing anime series that finished airing or are related to existing anime series that aired episodes on TV in the past or remakes or recaps of past aired anime series to material that isn't suited for airing on TV in Japan.

Anime titles that are OVA/OAV include: Battle Angel Alita, Read or Die or R.O.D., Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex' The Laughing Man and GITS: S.A.C. Individual Eleven, FLCL (Furi Kuri or Fooly Cooly), Macross Plus, and Mobile Suit Gundam: The 8th MS Team.

While Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex Solid State Society is sometimes listed as a OVA it is in fact not since it is considered as a "TV Special" since it did air on Japanese television and was not released first to DVD.