en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OVA
OVA is sometimes used, perhaps inappropriately, to refer to any extremely short anime series or special regardless of its release format. OAV or Original Animated Video is sometimes used in place of OVA, and the meaning is generally accepted to be the same.
the abbreviation OAV was too similar to AV ("Adult Video"), causing OAV to be misinterpretated as Original Adult Video, resulting in a shift towards the OVA abbreviation.
edit The OVA format Like anime made for television broadcast, OVAs are broken into episodes. OVA media (tapes, Laserdiscs, or DVDs) are usually sold with just one episode each. Episode length varies from title to title, and might be anywhere from a few minutes to two hours or more per episode. An episode length of 30 minutes is quite common, but this is by no means the rule.
OVA titles are also known for detailed plots and well developed characters. Probably the most significant reason for this is that the format offers the writer and director much greater creative freedom than other formats. Since OVA episodes and series can be any length, the director can use however much time he likes to tell the story. There is a great deal of time available for significant background and character/plot development. This is in contrast to TV episodes that must begin and conclude an episode in 22 minutes, or films which rarely last more than two hours. There is likewise no pressure to produce "filler content" to extend a short plot into a full TV series. There are other reasons as well: OVAs are more likely to be scripted for artistic reasons, rather than mass-market appeal. Many OVA titles are targeted to a specific audience, whereas mass-market films and TV series are written for a more general audience. As well, OVA releases are not bound by content restrictions or censorship (such as violence, nudity, or language) that are often placed on television series. Most OVA titles run 4-8 episodes and tend to have a complex and continuous plot which is best enjoyed if all episodes are viewed in sequence. This is in contrast to TV series, which generally have many short "mini-stories" that happen to be related somehow, rather than a unified plot. Many OVA titles can be thought of as "long films" that just so happen to be released in parts. Release schedules vary, as some series may progress as slowly as 1-2 episodes per year. Some OVA titles with a lengthy release schedule ended up unfinished due to lack of fan support and sales.
VCR became a widespread fixture in Japanese homes, the Japanese anime industry grew to behemoth proportions. Demand for anime was massive, so much so that consumers would willingly go directly to video stores to buy new animation outright.
Many anime series ran an economical 13 episodes rather than the traditional 26. New titles were often designed to be released to TV if they approached these lengths. In addition, the rising popularity of cable and satellite TV networks (with their looser censorship rules) allowed many new titles to be broadcast directly to the public when previously that would have been impossible.
During this time period most OVA content was limited to that related to existing and established titles. Many TV series are released in a fashion in which not all of the episodes are broadcast normally--some are released in OVA fashion: they are only available if one purchases the video (generally, a DVD).
Hellsing has also begun an OVA series, this time more heavily based on the manga. This trend is becoming quite common, with many new titles offering DVD-only episodes. Further more, many recent OVA series pre-broacast the episodes and release the DVD with unedited and revised for better quality of animations.
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