OVAs continue to be a huge part of the anime industry, even as it turns more and more to streaming.
Likewise, the Rurouni Kenshin OVA was able to more accurately depict the somber and less comedic story of the manga when compared to the TV show. Other well-known OVAs include Attack on Titan: No Regrets, which followed the character Levi, as well as Universal Century's Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin.
GaoGaiGar, the mecha series that served as the last official entry in Sunrise's Brave franchise, also received an 8-episode OVA sequel called The King of Braves GaoGaiGar Final.
Instead of a few mere episodes, this OVA had a grand total of 110 episodes, which was further bolstered by 52 side story episodes. none OVA titles were originally made available on VHS, later becoming more popular on LaserDisc and eventually DVD.1 Starting in 2008, the term OAD (original animation DVD)23 began to refer to DVD releases published bundled with their source-material manga. One of the most notable OVA series' is the adaptation of the manga Legend of the Galactic Heroes. Other franchises such as Higurashi received additional OVA episodes for some of their seasons or even OVA spinoff movies.
An example of this is Tenchi Muyo, which began as an OVA before being spun off into multiple TV shows. Usually, most of the OVAs are considered filler episodes of a certain anime. Many franchises got their mainstream start not with a televised anime, but with an OVA. RELATED: Beigoma: The Centuries-Old Origin of Beyblade OVAs Can Enhance Or Surpass the Series They're Based On This usually results in OVA adaptations being closer to their manga counterparts than the network anime versions. Not being on a television network also allows for a slower pace, greater characterization and storytelling, as well as the ability to showcase content that might otherwise be censored. Likewise, OVAs boast much higher budgets than mainstream televised anime, resulting in significantly greater production values similar to that of actual movies. While OVAs can sometimes be official spinoffs, sequels or prequels to an anime series, they can also be non-canon to the show's story, or entirely original works with no previous source material. Usually - but not always - longer than one episode, OVAs have a wide range of runtimes, from small, bite-sized segments to even a few hours, though it's more common for them to be around 30 minutes long, like a televised episode of a show. Similar to the straight-to-video market in other countries, they were originally released as VHS tapes then DVDs, and more recently, Blu-rays, giving way to the term OAD (original animation DVD) to come into use. OVA is an acronym that stands for "original video animation," with the first arguably being 1983's Dallos. These productions, as their name suggests, are tailor-made for home releases and are not screened or shown in any other format prior to this.