Sa mata ng iba, ang lihim ay ibubunyag: #Trese from the eyes of an erstwhile Marketing/PR practitioner

Sunday, February 20, 2022

So! I've been a big fangirl for a while now, but it was only in 2015 that I properly started following the original books of the hottest Filipino creative property and one of the first adapted for global audiences today, Trese. After years of being developed, the six-episode mini-series made its debut worldwide as a Netflix Anime Original by the streaming giant on 11th June 2021 — leading into the weekend celebrating the Philippine Day of Independence, no less, which is 12th June. 

Just to give you a short background, Trese is an award-winning, self-published English-language komiks creation by Philippine-based advertising professionals, writer Budjette Tan and storyboard artist Kajo Baldisimo. Inspired by anime and gritty DC Comics originals, this indie comic was adapted by USA-raised Filipino Jay Oliva, best known for directing several DC Universe Animated Original Movies and Young Justice episodes, through his animation studio Lex+Otis (L+O). The six-episode mini-series was globally co-produced by Tan and Baldisimo with Tanya Yuson (also Filipino) and Shanty Harmayn of BASE Entertainment, which has headquarters in Jakarta and Singapore. (This boilerplate will also be very important later on.) 


Given the extensive commentary by industry professionals and fans about Trese, I wish to join the bandwagon and share my perspective as an erstwhile practitioner of marketing, public relations, media communications, and related peripheries. 

I must also preface that even with my background in media studies and training in media production,  these are just my theories because I was not involved with the production of either the comics, the anime, or the promotional materials for either one at all. Note that these thoughts originally appeared on Twitter as a stream of consciousness; this blog post is an attempt to present them in a more coherent and expansive manner.

Finally, I will try to be spoiler-free for the benefit of those only watching the animated series for the first time. But to be honest, I don't care about spoilers; in fact, I like learning about them so I know if the traumas I bear will be triggered by certain media or not. (This will also be very important later on.)

Gusto mong malaman ang nasa isip ko? Pwes, tara!

Trese has at least seven* books, eight if you count the spin-off books and ashcan one-shots exclusive to certaub evebts. Many of us book-turned-cartoon viewers have wondered, why were three of the books crammed into only six (6) episodes, with the last episode bogged down by all the exposition?

Here's one possible reason: I've noticed that in a lot of book-based animation properties, many of them have little winks to the original book they were based from. It looks like the production teams sometimes (often) assume they have two audiences: (1) those who have read the books (in this case the indie graphic novels), and (2) those who may eventually want to read them. I say "may," because sometimes animation audiences and book audiences may only have the occasional overlaps; some of them will definitely pick it up, while others will simply choose to watch it and then move on. 

The other, more obvious reason is of course money. A high viewership translates to more interest in similar productions, which in turn leads to more funding for these. It also looks like this adaptation is a very tentative step into investing in Filipino creative properties, which is why instead of a standard series with eight to fourteen (8-14) episodes that most animation properties from Japan, South Korea, and the USA are greenlit with, Trese only received six (6). That's why it's EXTREMELY critical to watch this on Netflix instead of, well, gray media (piracy and torrenting). 

The animation style used in this iteration of Trese evokes the straightforward storytelling, breakneck action, gritty mood, and expressive eyes of Japan-made cartoons like Akira and Ghost in the Shell, which creators Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo mentioned were influences in the way they created Trese. Sadly, it's evident to many viewers and komiks fans that the pacing has suffered. The first five episodes have more action, while the last one is bogged down with exposition. Bitin na nga, medyo atras-abante pa yung takbo ika nga. On the flip side, the pacing of "moving images" in general is usually up to three times that of a comic book, and up to five times that of a book because the transition into animation eliminates walls of descriptive text with actual visual representations. 

Another sore point for the long-time komiks fans is that the animated series plays fast and loose with both the original material it draws from, as well as with Philippine mythology and culture. The overall treatment of the series is that it's very American Filipino, with its focus on identities and the loss of certain cultural elements present in the original komiks written by creators who were born and bred in the Philippines. The white lady of Balete Drive from Book 1 is not the same white lady we see on the show. 

To close on the visual animation prod side of things, I again truly hope everyone supports this by watching it on Netflix because again, numbers are critical to them, so the existence of a second or even a third season is based on high viewership of the first season as explained in this fantastic article from Wired. I remain hopeful that Lex+Otis, BASE Entertainment and Netflix will grant our wish for a better-paced second season.


* At the time this was originally written, the title of the eighth book had not yet been announced. 



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