An original net animation (ONA), known in Japan as , is an
anime
is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...
that is directly released onto the
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a ''internetworking, network of networks'' that consists ...
. ONAs may also have been aired on television if they were first directly released on the Internet. The name mirrors
original video animation
, abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...
, a term that has been used in the anime industry for
straight-to-video animation since the early 1980s. The Internet is a relatively new outlet for animation distribution that has been made viable by the increasing number of
streaming media
Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...
websites in Japan.
A growing number of trailers and preview episodes of new anime have been released as ONA. For example, the anime movie of ''
Megumi
is a Japanese feminine given name. In Japanese, the word megumi means "blessing; grace."
Possible writings
While the word megumi means blessing and can be written using that kanji, it may also be spelled using other kanji, such as the kanji for ...
'' can be considered an ONA. ONAs have the tendency to be shorter than traditional anime titles, sometimes running only a few minutes. There are many examples of an original net animation, such as ''
Hetalia: Axis Powers'', which only last a few minutes per episode. But while that was true for the beginning of the 2010s, this began to change in the second half of the decade as full series began to be licensed exclusively for streaming services like
Netflix,
Amazon Prime Video and
Disney+.
The majority of the production of animation in Japan is made for television or for other audio-visual formats, which include ONAs that can be viewed on television, mobile devices or computers.
See also
*
Original video animation
, abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...
*
Webisode
References
{{Animation industry in Japan
Anime and manga terminology
Web animation
New media
Internet-based works
Multimedia