Editing Original video animation (section)

==History==
OVAs originated during the early 1980s. As the [[video cassette recorder|VCR]] became a commonplace in Japanese homes, the anime industry grew. Demand for anime became so massive that consumers would go to video stores to buy new animation outright. While people in the [[United States]] used the phrase "[[direct-to-video]]" as a pejorative for works that could not make it onto television or movie screens, in Japan direct-to-video became common practice.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.animefringe.com/magazine/2005/12/special/06.php|title=Specials - Anime in Retrospect: Bubblegum Crisis|date=December 2005|website=Animefringe|access-date=April 17, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2015-10-16/4th-tenchi-muyo-ryo-ohki-announced-after-10-years/.94304 |title=4th Tenchi Muyo! Ryo Ohki Announced After 10 Years|date=October 16, 2015 |publisher=Anime News Network}}</ref>

The earliest known attempt to release an OVA was ''[[The Green Cat]]'' in 1983, although it cannot count as the first OVA: there is no evidence that the [[VHS]] tape became available immediately and the series remained incomplete. The first OVA to be billed as such was 1983's ''[[Dallos]]'', released by [[Bandai]]. Other companies were quick to pick up on the idea, and the mid-to-late 1980s saw the market flooded with OVAs. During this time, most OVA series were new, stand-alone titles.<ref name="artifice">{{cite web |author1=DustinKop |date=12 February 2016 |title=A Look at the 1980's Anime OVA Legacy |url=https://the-artifice.com/1980s-anime-ova-legacy/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930073216/https://the-artifice.com/1980s-anime-ova-legacy/ |archive-date=September 30, 2020 |access-date=February 10, 2021 |website=the-artifice.com |publisher=[[The Artifice]]}}</ref>

During [[Japanese asset price bubble|Japan's economic bubble]], production companies were more than willing to spontaneously decide to make a one- or two-part OVA in the 1980s.<ref>{{Cite web |title=JAPAN'S BUBBLE ECONOMY |url=https://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/bubble.htm |access-date=2023-06-09 |website=www.sjsu.edu}}</ref> They paid money to anime studios, who would then quickly create an OVA to be released to rental shops. Judging from sales, should a longer series be deemed feasible, TV networks paid for most of the production costs of the entire series.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2012-03-05 |last=Sevakis |first=Justin |title=The Anime Economy |work=[[Anime News Network]] |date=March 5, 2012 |access-date=September 30, 2012}}</ref>

As the [[Lost Decades|Japanese economy worsened in the 1990s]], the creation of new OVA titles slowed down. Production of OVAs continued, but in smaller numbers. Many anime TV series ran 13 episodes rather than the traditional 26-episodes per season. Studios often designed new titles to be released to TV if they approached these lengths. In addition, the rising popularity of cable and satellite TV networks (with their typically less strict censorship) allowed the public to see direct broadcasts of many new titles.{{Cn|date=May 2025}} Therefore, many violent and risque series became regular TV series, when previously those titles would have been OVAs. During this time, most OVA content was limited to that related to existing and established titles.

In 2000 and later, a new OVA trend began. Producers released many TV series without normal broadcasts of all of the episodes—but releasing some episodes on the DVD release of the series.{{Example needed|date=May 2025}}