Dallos launched the OVA phenomenon.

Part of the reason we in the west have such a problem with the expanding definition of manga and anime is that we don’t have 14 centuries of history behind our comics. But let’s call it 300 years, from the time of the Toba-e booklets produced in Japan (and, later, kibyoshi, or “yellow cover” books), circa 1700. And Ukiyo-e prints from such luminaries of the art, now household names — Utamaro, Hokusai and Hiroshige. (But there was also Kunichika, Kunisada, Kyôsai, the Osaka School, Toyokuni, Yoshitoshi, Toshusai Sharaku, Kuniyoshi, Harunobu, Toyokumi, Umano, Sharaku, Eizan, Eisen.)

In the early and mid-1800s, derived from popular “comics,” traditional shunga portrayed everyday life and, yes, included Kama Sutra-like graphic depictions of lovemaking (often for the illiterate.) What we call pornography. Violence, too. But also a lot of court life because that was where the money was and, of course, “it’s all happening at the zoo.”

Jump ahead a century or so to the advent of cinema, TV, the VCR, CDs, DVDs, mobile phones and the Internet and you have anime (the shortened form of “animeshon” in romanji, the phonetic English equivalent), manga’s sister art.

But larger Yoma (demons or supernatural entities of evil intent) and Yokai (supernatural creatures) loom on the horizon — direct-to-video, OVA/OAV (original video animation/original animation video) and live-action V-cinema (the term invented by prolific “Yakuza horror” director Takashi Miike.) And they are a far cry from tokusatsu like Toho Studios’ original “suitmation” Gojira (Godzilla, King of the Monsters, 1954) and kaiju films like Rodan and Mothra, the original Furries.

OVA Kill
In the west, if you tank at the box office (“vaulted” films), you go to DVD. Then there are low-budget sequels (Disney), B movies, cheapo independent flix, teeny, horror, marketing nightmares (target/genre) and, of course, the porn industry’s bread and duck butter. Do not pass go; go directly to video.

OVA originally appeared in Japan in the 1980s (the first was Bandai’s Dallos, in 1983, directed by Mamoru Oshii) as the VCR became a ubiquitous appliance in Japanese households. Such was the demand for anime that people short-circuited conventional television and the boom was on. Freed from the constraints of time limits, commercials, sponsor obligations, episode formats, identical openings and closings and, well, just about all the rules, OVA took on a life of its own. Creators could make shows as long or as short as they pleased, a series (Bubblegum Crisis), a one-shot (Black Magic M-66, Riding Bean), a film (The Heroic Legend of Arislan) or anything in between, although most OVA series episodes are normally between a half hour or an hour long — and about half the amount of the original TV series episodes (Record of Lodoss War) — and an hour at the shortest for movies (Welcome to Lodoss Island, the film version).

The Bubblegum Crisis was such a huge OVA hit that it has spurred countless sequels and TV series.

If you can feel the confusion creeping in here, it’s because OVAs can become TV series, a TV series an OVA, an OVA a film, a film an OVA and an OVA made during or after a successful TV run. And very often with the same characters and even the same plot. To give you an example of the no-holds-barred marketing mentality, the OVA movie El Hazard the Mysterious World was made into a television series; another OVA, El Hazard the Alternative World; and then another television series, The Wanderers. All of the characters are the same and storyline more or less the same with nuances. The Bubblegum Crisis (one of the very first OVA) was originally an OVA series, followed by a TV series, Bubblegum Crash, and later, almost ten years after, a TV series remake, Bubblegum Crisis 2040.

But the “anything goes” attitude extends to content, too.

To any Otaku (roughly “obsessed fan,” but closer to “psycho”) worth his salt, the depth and breadth of manga and anime — Shojo for fangirls and Shonen for fanboys — are well known. They feature science fiction; Greek, Norse and Hindu mythology, historical drama (Chinese history and World War II, for example); giant robots (“mecha”); sports; detective dramas; fantasy; teen rebellion; TV adaptations and sequels (of popular television cartoons); literary adaptations; videogames adapted for TV; adult and the list is growing. But also the death of loved ones, crime, juvenile delinquents, homelessness, poverty, villains with good traits, heroes who do evil deeds, nudity, parents bathing with their children (in My Neighbor Totoro!)… made for kids!

We’re definitely not in Kansas anymore.