If you’ve been a fan of anime for a long time now, you’ve probably felt the urge to watch every entry in a series, no matter how minute. So, you start looking up the watch order for a specific anime, and there you see a list of episodes, movies, and something called OVAs. What is an OVA, and how are they different from other episode types?
Original Video Animations, or OVAs, are special episodes made separately from the rest of the season episodes. They are sometimes shorter or longer than regular episodes. There are even some movie-length OVAs.
Another thing that makes OVAs special is that they’re made for home video formats like DVD and Blu-ray. Think of them like bonus episodes that people who only watch the TV airing don’t get.
Nowadays though, with streaming services being more and more convenient, OVAs have become more accessible. Streaming services like Crunchyroll will sometimes include an anime’s OVAs in their selection.
OVAs are generally made by the same teams that made the main series. So you can expect the same quality of animation, art style, voice acting, and music. However, most of the time, the events that occur in OVAs don’t affect the main story. They’re just side-stories that build up the world a little more and give fans some more background about the characters they love.
How Are OVAs Different From OAVs And Specials?
OVAs aren’t the only irregular episode types out there. You’ve probably also heard of OAVs and Specials. Here’s what you need to know to differentiate them.
Original Animated Video, or OAV, is just another term for OVA. OAVs and OVAs are completely the same.
Specials are a little different. You can classify OVAs as specials, but not the other way around. The main defining detail is that OVAs are made for home video formats, while specials can be broadcasted on TV.
Should I Watch OVAs?
Now that you know what an OVA is, you might be wondering, is it even worth watching them if they don’t affect the main plot?
Well, the answer to that depends. How much did you like the show? Is the OVA canon? How much time do you have for watching anime?
If you didn’t like the main series, you shouldn’t bother with its OVAs. You’ll basically just be getting more of the same thing. If you did like it, go for it. Even if it isn’t canon, the characters are all there, and you get to experience more of their adventures..
Modern anime seasons have around only 1-2 OVAs so it’s not that huge of a time sucker unless you’re watching a really long show.
Not all OVAs are non-canon or unimportant to the plot, though. Several old anime were released entirely as OVAs. The original JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure anime runs from 1993 and 2000 were released as OVAs. The first part was only released on VHS and Laserdisc, while the second part was released on VHS and DVD.
That’s because the VHS was such a popular format in Japan that companies didn’t even bother with television broadcasts for specific anime. As you can probably tell, those days are over. You’ll barely see an entire series being produced as an OVA these days if any.
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