A Question...

[Master Kenzo]

I have a question for all you guys...What's an OVA (or OAV)?

[Ashley]

an oav is like the anime equivalent of direct to home video tapes

[Psycho Ann]

*nods* Yeah, stands for "Original Anime Video" or "Original Video Anime". Usually one-shot "movies" of an anime series. Could be either complementary (like the Kenshin OAVs which is a prequel and later on epilogue) or not (Hmm, probably like the Angel Sanctuary OAV that compressed the whole series into an hour or so and changes the original plot quite a bit).

Musn't be confused with anime specials/movies that are usually just higher quality TV episodes.