What are the Gaiden OVAs?
OVA means “Original Video Animation” (also known as OAV, or “Original Animated Video”), which is anime released direct to video, as opposed to TV or movies. “Gaiden” (literally meaning “outer story”) refers to the Legend of the Galactic Heroes side-stories, which take place outside the primary 10 novels that comprise the Legend of the Galactic Heroes canon and the main 110 episode series. These are more recent stories mostly focusing on the earlier lives of Reinhard and Kircheis after they joined the Imperial Army and before the Battle of Astarte. There is also a set of stories about the earlier lives of Yang Wenli and Julian Mintz. The animation of the Gaiden side-stories is still ongoing, however they will probably run out of story sometime in the not too distant future, unless the “make Mr. Tanaka write more Legend of the Galactic Heroes” club that was talked about at the Anime Expo Legend of the Galactic Heroes panel by anime producer Yukio Kikukawa succeeds in its mission.
