The question of what OVA is of interest to all fans who have just begun to devote themselves to the culture of Japanese animation. These short series look like an addition to the main story, but have their own purpose and value for the audience.
Terminology explanation
For those who are interested in what OVA is, there is a transcript of this abbreviation. In Russian, it means “original animated video”, which is a separate addition to the storyline, which was revealed in one season of the anime. The format of such series is most often reduced to two or four series, although, sometimes, the number reaches six or is limited to one episode.
All events take place in the same world in which the main story developed. During the viewing, the viewer can see completely new characters, but the setting never changes, because the name OVA is always the same as the original anime, sometimes there are clarifications in the name, which indicates the format of the cartoon. Series have a length of 23-25 minutes, much less often - twelve.
Marketing move
When asked about what OVA is and why it is made, there is one simple explanation - increasing the popularity of the original series. The format of the cartoon was not in vain determined only in a few episodes, which often do not even depend on each other. When the authors are preparing a grandiose film adaptation of the popular manga, OVA often comes out. Viewers buy it on discs or look on the network in the hope that the situation with the future narration will become clearer. After viewing, most often only additional questions arise, because the authors only hint about the future history. A similar situation occurs when an add-on is released after the season of the original painting.
Then it becomes clear what OVA is and why it is released to the audience. There are situations when manga is only in the process of writing, and before the release of the next season anime will have to wait a long time. Then the rights holders release this supplement, which recalls that the masterpiece is in development and everyone should wait for it. It also does not reveal any key points, at best, some moments of the past season are supplemented or a parallel line is drawn with other characters.
The plot and the story of the appearance
For the first time, people realized what OVA was in the anime industry when an addition to a science fiction story called Dallos came out. This format was immediately warmly received by the authors of the adult video in the form of a cartoon. They were forbidden to show on television, and therefore they switched to disk drives, which allowed at the time of 1984 to record only a few episodes. At the same time, there was no plot in such tapes, and therefore a similar format was ideally suited for release.
At the time of 2017, viewers have the opportunity to watch additions to almost every more or less well-known anime. Any feelings, emotions, and events can underlie OVA. Love between the characters, the hatred of the main opponents, the events that will be revealed in the second plot, and much more. The universe of any anime series allows you to find loopholes in order to interest the viewer and incline to view additional episodes.
Examples of popular OVA
One of the most striking and lengthy additions is "Very nice, God." OVA for this series has seven episodes that continue the story of Nanami - the new keeper of the Earth. She developed a difficult relationship with the demon fox defending her master, but they soon became great friends, and their relationship did not stop there. The main character immediately realized that she loved him, but he did not reciprocate her feelings.
This OVA tells their story after Tomoe also felt a sense of love. Now their relationship has moved to a new level, but there are new difficulties that they will have to overcome. Another striking example is the already mentioned addition to the first season of the series “Attack of the Titans”. In it, all viewers first saw the giant who spoke. The authors did not make any clarifications on this subject, and therefore interest in the series only grew. Manga readers knew this secret, but viewers who watch only anime remembered this detail and fantasized a lot of interesting things. OVA helped to maintain interest in the second season.