“Tabi-Tabi po”
Fans of the award-winning Filipino comic book ‘Trese’ eagerly anticipated its animated series adaptation, which dropped on streaming giant, Netflix midnight, on June 11, a day before the Philippine’s Independence day.
Published in 2005, and written by Budgette Tan and illustrated by Kajo Baldisimo, the story follows Alexandra Trese, an occult detective, or lakan babaylan who serves as the bridge between humans and creatures from Philippine mythology. trying to maintain the delicate balance between the dead, the living and things that go bump in the night, from Tikbalangs, tiyanaks, gnomes, aswang, you name it and Alexandra has had to deal with them.
The animated adaptation of the comic books, which was 16 years in the making, will have both Tan and Baldisimo as showrunners, Jay Oliva (Batman Bad Blood, Justice League Dark) is executive producer and director. The series is made up of six episodes, with a running time of 25 minutes each, an easy binge! Especially with the story being so condensed and with a lot happening in each episode. There are times, when Alexandra is investigating two cases in an episode. It is not the type of series to watch just as background or white noise, you really have to focus on what you are watching, good thing that the plot, story, characters, animation and themes make that easy. I enjoyed that the main narrative of the series had a main plot in the background, while Alexandra was investigating smaller cases, think of it as a big boss waiting in the wings, its a bonus that all the episodes connected to the final antagonist, and it also had a few surprises, which I didn’t see coming!
I felt that the ending left a few questions unanswered and had a slight rushed feel, there is a post-credit scene after the ending song of the last episode, so make sure you stick around for that. *Cross fingers the series gets renewed for a second season, its a pretty solid first season, as far as original Netflix animated series goes, I may be biased but I saw the first season for DOTA’s Dragon’s Blood and I liked Trese better.
The animation was also pretty impressive, with the series being able to capture the essence and feel of the different locations where Alexandra travels to as she tries to solve each mystery as well as reconcile her role and responsibility as the lakan babaylan, a role which she inherited from her father. Part of the joy of watching Trese, especially as a Filipino is recognizing the many different places and people which make an appearance in the series. From shopping malls, to celebrities, part of the fun is doing a Leonardo Di Caprio meme and pointing out these nuggets of what makes the life of an everyday Filipino, from getting off a broken down MRT train, to having to commute in the heat. Of course, these also comes with seeing the different real and painful themes in our society, such as poverty, police brutality, corruption, and even slow internet speeds and the pitiful state of public transportation, among others. As Filipinos go, we’d probably just laugh off these sad realities, because, that’s just how we are, optimistic despite the difficulties we face on a daily basis. The otherwise grim, horror-crime series is nicely balanced with well placed hilarious lines from some of its supporting cast, given that Alexandra is a bit on the serious touch, and this is something that I forgot to mention in our vlog review, and I think its a nice touch, as mentioned earlier, as it balances the sometimes violent series, hey if you’re dealing with flesh-eating aswang, trust there to be blood and gore.
COURTESY OF NETFLIX © 2021
Story, check, animation, check, a-slice-of-Filipino-life, check, no let’s go to voice acting, because this certainly caused a stir, among fans who were treated to an all-star English dub cast, with Netflix going all out to gather a talented roster of American and Canadian actors with Filipino heritage. From Shay Mitchell (Pretty Little Liars, You) voicing Alexandra to Lou Diamond Philips (Mayor Santa Maria), Jon Jon Briones (Hank), Darren Criss (Marco), Nicole Sherzinger (Miranda Trese), Manny Jacinto (Maliksi) and even Dante Basco (Bagyong Kulimlim) Netflix didn’t spare anything as they gathered this multi-generation of actors to voice these characters. Since the incantations which Alexandra say are still in Tagalog, even in the English dub, and I think that’s just the right way of doing it, you will hear Shay’s accent and it may turn you off a bit but, hey, a bit of a small price to pay, I still think she did a good job. Of course, hindi mag papatalo ang Filipino dub with actress Liza Soberano voicing Alexandra for the Tagalog dub. For Filipinos, I suggest watching the Tagalog dub first, to truly appreciate the series, some sentiments are just better said in Tagalog and well, the curse words just have the right punch to them. You are more than welcome to see the English dub after, I’ve seen the whole series in Tagalog, I’ve seen a bit of the English dub and am planning to also see the Japanese dub.
As a music lover, I also have to applaud the choice of artist to sing the theme song. The opening track, sets the mood touching on the horror elements of the show, while the ending song by one of the most sought after bands in the Philippines, UDD (formerly Up Dharma Down) showcase OPM (Original Pilipino Music) at its finest, and its a nice contrast between the opening and ending theme.
Congratulations to Team Trese which did an exemplary job at bringing the comic books to life on the small screen, and a big thank you to Netflix for bringing something that we can truly call our own on a global stage. Hopefully this will just be the beginning and we will be seeing more original Filipino content on the streaming giant.
In the mean time, make sure not to step on any nuno sa punso, have choc-nut as an offering and don’t forget to say Tabi Tabi po. Trese drops on Netflix, January 11 at midnight.