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Im kinda new to anime so i have some questions about OVAs. I've been told that they have better quality in the animation. Also are OVAs always sequels? I just bought the Fushigi Yugi OVA and I dont know if its in between the other two or if it is the third.

Oh, one more thing, why are they sometimes called OVA and other times OAV?

OAVs or OVAs (same thing) are series produced specifically for home video and since they're a lot shorter than a full 26-episode series, the animation typically ranges from above average to excellent. I don't specifically know the answer to your question but they can either be really short complete series like AMG or FLCL or continuations/spinoffs of existing series.

dudesup wrote:

Im kinda new to anime so i have some questions about OVAs. I've been told that they have better quality in the animation. Also are OVAs always sequels? I just bought the Fushigi Yugi OVA and I dont know if its in between the other two or if it is the third. :?:

As Atomsk said, OVA's are features produced specificly for homevideo. They stand for Original Video Animation.

OVA's usually have better quality in the animation since the studios usually give them a higher budget. There is no standard for this, that's just how it is in many cases.

OVA's can be of anything. They can be their own series, prequels, sequels, whatever.

History Course:

The first Japanese OVA (Original Video Animation, or OAV Original Animated Video) was 1983's Dallos: Dallos Hakai Shirei. The popularity of OVAs grew as teh number of people with home video players increased.

OVAs aren't unique to Japan, any Disney production produced for direct to video release is the same as an OVA, it's just the term OVA that is unique (I think) to Japan.

In the late 90s and even in 2000, people were heralding the death of the OVA market as sales started to slide. That death never really happenned, and OVA's continue to sell well, just not as well as in their mid 90s hey-day.

As Ramza said, OVA's tend to have higher production values because they have a higher budget, and fewer time constraints.

In addition to being direct to video, OVAs also have "Original" stories; hence the "original" in OVA. What Original means, is that while TV series are often adaptations of Manga, OVA are not, they may be based on a Manga, but the script is original.

Take for example the Ranma or Kenshin OVAs, their stories never ocurred in the original Manga, while the TV series follow the Manga fairly faithfully. Otehr than that, they really can be anything. They may not be based on any Manga or TV series, they may be prequels, sequels or just independant stories in an already existing (TV series, movie or Manga) Universe.