In 2014, I went on vacation in the Philippines. My friend from Oregon, a fellow manga fan, requested that I buy for her copies of Filipino manga Murder on Balete Drive. I asked “What’s that? A Filipino manga ? Never heard of it,” and she was like, ” You’re kidding me ! That manga is great ! Well, I only read Japanese manga, I said. Nevertheless, I managed to buy 3 volumes of TRESE, with Murder on Balete Drive as the series ‘ First volume. It was first published in 2005. When I got back home , I sent the books to her, free. My souvenir from my travel, lol. Expensive , though.
I still haven’t read the manga. That’s why I’m so excited to know Netflix has picked up the series and made an animated adaptation of same title , TRESE. Trese is the surname of a female detective, Alexandra Trese, the ” go to” cop when it comes to strange, supernatural deaths and murders that occur in Manila.
The English cast includes Shay Mitchell, as AT, Darren Criss, Nicole Scherzinger, Manny Jacinto, Lou Diamond Philips, Jon-Jon Briones, Dante Basco, all of them of Filipino descent, except Steve Blum, I guess. At the top of the helm is Jay Oliva, Filipino-American director of some DC animations, like Justice League Dark.. and Legend of Korra.
AS I said in my post on my main blogsite, the mythical creatures in the anime have not been fabricated from thin air by the Filipino authors Tan and Baldisimo. Even in this day and age, most Filipinos still believe in the existence of these creatures. When I was there in 2014, my childhood friends and I were walking around our subdivision when I heard my friends say, : Tabi – tabi po”. We passed by a mound of soil that looked like an anthill, and according to them , we should say Tabi-tabi po to show respect to the spirit ( a nuno /dwarf ) that dwells inside that mound of soil. I think it means, Excuse me for intruding, we’re just passing through, sir. I was forced to say the words. LOL By the way, you will hear the same Filipino phrase Tabi-tabi po in the anime.
So, here’s the Netflix trailer.
By the way, there’s an English, Japanese, German, Spanish and Dutch dubs.
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