There are 11 OVA of Ushio & Tora – 10 regular episodes based on the stories of the Manga + 1 special episode, the “Comical Deformed Theatre”. Each OVA has a running time of 30 minutes and they came out in Japan 1992 on VHS, which one episode on each video cassette. In 2002 there had been a japanese DVD release by Toshiba. It had been a DVD box set with 3 DVD’s; DVD #1 contains OVA 1 – 4, DVD # 2 OVA 5 – 8 and DVD # 3 OVA 9 + 10, as well as the CD Theatre and a special feature, including interviews with the Seiyuu (japanese voice cast), the director and Kazuhiro Fujita. There are also a few trailers and character sheets (of the second OVA seasons) on the third DVD. In 2003 there had been a USA DVD release as well, including all OVA on 2 DVDs. The OVA also had been published in the USA, UK, Korea, France and Italy. USA, UK and France came up with a subtitled version, Korea with a dubbed one. Yet there is also an English dubbed version. I’m not sure about, if the italian publication is subtitled or dubbed.
The animation quality is relatively high. This is really unusual for an OVA Anime. The japanese voice cast couldn’t have been better. Especially Nozomu Sasaki as Ushio and Chikao Ohtsuka as Tora did a great job. I’ve heard Chikao Ohtsuka in many voice parts so far. Yet with Tora he did his best job ever. He is extremely exceptional and his voice changes like quicksilver from innocent and cute like a child to furious and offensive. |
