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AAAhhhh... So cute!

Barangay 143. A Stiff and Stereotypical Filipino Teleserye Masked As A “360-Degree Concept”. A Review. (SPOILERS) Part 3

Characters: I dislike most of the characters. I don’t like the character developments in the ones I disliked. They are full of the most stereotypical tropes in Filipino teleseryes. The few characters I liked are Coach B, Tita Baby, Bren’s parents (except Bren’s biological father), and Sophia. Even though they still full of stereotypes, I like how they are executed. I especially dislike the male and female leads (Bren and Vicky), and the viewer is supposed to see them as relatable and likeable. Bren is like many male leads in Filipino teleseryes, a two-timer whose motivations are all over the place. Even with a tragic backstory, I just couldn’t like him at all. It’s not just him; some of the other characters also have confusing motivations.

I also don’t understand Wax’s characterization. He has his own storyline before the anime, which was in the game that was marketed to promote the anime. In there, he supposedly learned basketball skills from the basketball masters. But in the anime, his skill in basketball felt inconsistent in my opinion. I understand that he’s Bren’s rival in all aspects, but how it was presented doesn’t feel organic and engaging.

Story and Themes: The story and its themes are nothing new; the only thing that’s new is the basketball theme. If this is strictly a basketball anime, they only got it 50%, which were only the basketball game scenes. The training scenes felt boring, and they are only controlled by the emotions of Vicky, Bren, and Coach B. The other basketball players don’t seem to have any motivations for playing basketball other than being “props” to suit the different agendas of the main characters. Also, I couldn’t see any development from them; they felt static throughout all of the episodes.

The subplots are all connected to the main plot. My problem is how they are executed, especially in terms of pacing. How they started & ended each episode is confusing for me, because I could not understand the relevance of those scenes. Like the animation, there is little to no improvement. They are so convoluted that I easily forget which one is the main plot. It would be fine on certain genres, but not when they used drama straightforward.

If I were to pick which storyline is the best, I prefer Coach B’s storyline rather than Bren’s. It has the most solid storyline and it’s the most exciting one for me. I don’t like Bren and Vicky’s storylines because they’re so bland, petty, and at other times, irritating to watch. Theirs are linear, which is expected of a typical teleserye drama. I wish they have been more creative in their plot points, instead of those gimmicks like adding a basketball element and having a Korean-Filipino main character. And speaking of gimmicks, while they add something fun like spotting out references, I think they are not executed well, most of the time. For example: Butchoy making a post on the anime’s version of Facebook for the purpose of finding Bren’s biological father. The kid called his post a “meme”, when the post itself looks more like a missing ad, the characters kept insisting that the post is called a meme. It felt so odd, because what I see is not usually what defines a meme.

Miscellaneous: I think I’m going to say things that are very petty. First, I don’t understand the development of Bren speaking in Tagalog. I understand if it’s just him understanding basic Tagalog phrases and I really do appreciate Butchoy & Tita Baby correcting him at certain times. For me, it just feels bizarre, but maybe it’s because my experiences with foreigners is much different from their experiences. I also don’t like how some of the characters are mocking Bren for not speaking in Tagalog like when they say “Dumudugo ang ilong ko sa Ingles” (My nose is bleeding from trying to understand English) and its variations. I don’t know if those really motivate or shame an actual foreigner to speak Filipino. There’s a similar case with Bren’s mother on her backstory in Boracay. She learned few Tagalog words from her tour guide, but what I don’t understand is how she was able to figure out the contents of the love letter she received in an instant when it was all in Tagalog. The tour guide didn’t translate the letter to her.

Second, there are scenes in Episode 1 that I couldn’t understand if they’re figuratively speaking in Korean or English. Those are when Bren is interacting with the Korean characters, including his family. That issue was fixed in the later episodes. Just saying, I wish they have done that from the start.

My last concern is the emotionally charging scene between Bren and Vicky in the basketball court. While I understand Bren’s frustration of Vicky’s petty insults, I felt like his speech is just as condescending as hers. The latter half of his speech looks like he’s just simply degrading Vicky, instead of completing his explanation of his frustrations towards her. I felt that the writers could have written his lines better.

Final Thoughts: If it wasn’t for a fact that it’s the first Filipino original anime and I only looked at the visuals & summary, I would have just ignored it. The reason why I turned to Japanese anime was because I’m utterly tired of teleserye dramas and I want to see different kinds of stories. I have violent reactions to teleseryes (there are exceptions), even if I’m aware that they’re fiction. Yes, I’m proud of being a Filipino and I would like to see more Filipino made animation. But this one just feels irritating to watch, even though this anime had the help of a popular Japanese TV network like TV Asahi and a Singaporean company like August Media Holdings.

I couldn’t even consider this anime as something good to watch when I want to unwind and turn my head off. Like I said earlier, I think the only people that could enjoy watching this are the fans of the celebrities in the cast. If you’re fine with teleserye drama-type stories and have low expectations for the quality, I think it’ll be an enjoyable experience for you guys. Personally, I’ll just recommend other Filipino animations like Hayop Ka! or RPG Metanoia to people, instead of this one.

#filipinoanimation #barangay143

Barangay 143. A Stiff and Stereotypical Filipino Teleserye Masked As A “360-Degree Concept”. A Review. (SPOILERS) Part 2

Animation: The only things I can give praise are the character designs and the background art; these are the anime’s strongest points. They are well-made, and I have no complaints. Everything else ranges from decent to substandard. The opening credits, still images, and the scenes that involves sports (mostly basketball, but also has a dodgeball scene on Episode 13) are watchable, at the very least. The rest are very stiff at the first 3 episodes. But while the stiffness has lessened (but still exists) throughout the show, there is a recurring issue that plagues all episodes: The lack of timing of the mouth flaps. The sounds and the mouth flaps do not match most of the time. And then, there are some scenes in which there are either late or no sound effects. Those kinds of scenes are rare, but they happen. Finally, I feel like there are scenes that feel “incomplete”, like I wish they reduce or add scenes that would present the story better.

I understand that many of those are either due to being given less time to work at or that there’s some miscommunication happening behind the scenes. I wish they would resolve these issues on future projects.

Voice Acting: One word to describe it: lifeless. If I compare it to other bad dubbing, it’s not as bad as others would say. But even if I say that, their voice acting still doesn’t hold up as anything decent. A lot of the times, the execution just come across as obvious that they’re reading off the script. They come across as not putting any sort of effort or passion, even if they say that it’s difficult, it’s doesn’t reflect in their work. The only part that makes their voice acting for some of them a little more decent is the addition of vocal tics & some onomatopoeia. At least in Hayop Ka!, I can definitely feel all the landi and other emotions through their voices, even though it isn’t perfect. This anime barely has that.

Even then, it couldn’t fix the timing of their voices and mouth flap animations. It was so disappointing. There’s little to no improvement of those issues. I felt immense rage whenever I hear bad dubbing in the show.

I used Alice Dixson’s dubbing vlog (https://youtu.be/XJjWj0ThuL8) and the official Barangay 143 Dubbing Diaries as reference to get a sense on how they did the dubbing and the animation for it. So they recorded the cast’s voices first before animation. Dixson’s voice acting is a bit decent, calming to listen; at least hopefully she really had fun with it even off-camera. However, the animation of it is just not great. I could not understand at all how the heck they failed to correct the timing of the voices and the mouth flap animation.

The worst offenders are the male and female leads, played by Migo Adecer and Julie Anne San Jose. For the male lead, most of his voice acting is underwhelming and his singing in the harana scene is the most irritating to hear. I won’t comment on his Korean lines since I’m not familiar with the language and same goes for the other Korean lines that came out very late in the show. (Not counting the Korean-language flight announcement, that one is amazing.) As for Julie Anne San Jose, as much as she has amazing singing ability, her voice acting falls flat. That becomes proof to me that just because she’s a singer who has the opportunity to get voice training, would automatically mean that she has voice acting skills. I don’t like her shouting scenes; they are most lifeless I have heard so far. I understood the context of her being angry or happy, but I could not hear it in her lines.

I think the majority of the cast would have improved their skills had they put in the effort or do more takes until they get it right. If only they made it less obvious that they’re reading off the script. It’s not like the reading plays and live dubbings of Japanese voice actors I’ve briefly watched, where they are reading off the script but the way they sound makes it less obvious.

Soundtrack: The songs are decent, they fit the anime well. I like the song choice for the opening scene. I wished they had put an ED in the credits, no animation needed. I wouldn’t personally listen to them on Spotify, but I think everyone else would enjoy them. I’m thankful that they didn’t include that horrible harana song in the official soundtrack.

#filipinoanimation #barangay143

Barangay 143. A Stiff and Stereotypical Filipino Teleserye Masked As A “360-Degree Concept”. A Review. (SPOILERS) Part 1

It was around 2017 or 2018 when the anime was announced through anime news sites like SGCafe. I was excited by the thought of Philippine animation airing on TV, one that’s like Japanese anime but Filipino at heart. As much as I know the existence of the Super Inggo cartoon adaptation, I simply want to watch something like Japanese anime that amazes me even today. And I was not alone in this, as other Filipino anime otakus felt that way too. It was a treat to stay updated on that project because of the hope that it will push local networks to make more animation. That was always the goal for us otakus.

When it was announced that GMA Network is handling it and also the all-star cast to voice the characters, the reactions are very mixed. At that time, I was still optimistic because they have veteran actors and Julie Anne San Jose is there. My thinking was that they are professional enough to put effort in their voice acting. As for Julie Anne San Jose, because she is an amazing singer, I personally believed that she had enough voice training to pull off voice acting. However for the others, they became more wary of the all-star cast, especially that GMA is handling the anime. The reason for it is that they have watched some Filipino-dubbed anime handled by GMA, in which the dubbers are an all-star cast. And by all-star cast, they don’t mean an all-star cast of professional voice actors/dubbers, instead they casted famous artistas or new artistas from their exclusive talent agency to dub the anime. The general consensus was that their dubs are terrible because a huge majority of those artistas have absolutely no voice training that is suited for voiceovers & dubbing.

Fast forward to 2020, when Barangay 143 became available on Netflix, this means I can watch it legally and I can pause & rewind to spot out flaws and good assets that I could talk about in this review. I never got to watch it when it aired on TV last 2018-2019. Currently, the anime is in hiatus, cutting off at 14 episodes. And in that time, I’ve been hearing it from some friends that they don’t like it and I’ve also watched GLOCO’s videos of his reaction to the first 3 episodes. It made me wonder if their standards are just too high or if they truly meant what they said. Either way, I have to figure this out by myself.

Disclaimer: These are my own opinions that are formed from watching the anime itself and from the reviews that I have read. The reviews that I saw on Reddit and GLOCO’s videos are very helpful, they provided me with different perspectives that I would otherwise overlooked. I’m aware that the things I write are longer versions of what everyone else was saying. If you truly enjoyed the anime and still want to support it, especially because your favorite celebrity is in the cast, that’s understandable and good for you! I simply made this review because all of the reviews I’ve read & watched are often from the first 3 episodes, it’s the standard. I want to give a review from watching all of the available episodes. As someone who hopes for more high-quality Filipino animation, I was hoping to give additional material to call out things that networks and local animation studios have to work on for improvement. I’m more than willing to be more patient and considerate, even when I personally get stressed from watching every episode.

#filipinoanimation #barangay143

Long rant review for Barangay 143

Finally, I have finished writing my review for Barangay 143. I’ll be posting them in around 2-3 parts because I didn’t expect it to be very long. I know that my opinions are also similar to other reviews, but I wanted to elaborate on why there are people that are being negative on this anime. And I’m covering all of the episodes that are currently released, since all of the reviews I’ve read are based on the first 3 episodes.

Since it’s just a personal writing project, I’m not sure if my review would help anyone with their decisions. But I hope this will entertain you guys.

Hayop Ka!: The Nimfa Dimaano Story. The Way to Jumpstart A Possible New Wave of Filipino Animation. A Review

Making and showing Philippine-made animations is a rarity, whether it’s a film or an animated series. Even if many people dream of having more local animations, they are rarely invested, as they are more in favor with pet projects featuring artistas in loveteams or comedians. And when an animated film is being released, they will focus more on an all-star cast (a huge gamble to which of them has amazing voice acting skills) and the marketing. While there’s no problem on either of those, the main issue is whether or not the animation crew will be giving good treatment and the creation of the overall film be given the same love & care as the voice cast.

Hayop Ka! is the latest addition of a Philippine-made animation. While there is an all-star cast, the promotion was mostly spread through the trailer & stills on social media sites. I mean, who can resist such a bright, eye-catching visual? Apparently, the film took 3 years to make, which means they took the time and effort to make sure the film is well-invested and meticulously crafted.

I was really happy when the movie is finished and released on Netflix.

I watched it immediately, but I take breaks from it for reasons that I’m about to tell in this review.

Animation: Truly its strongest point. I’m so proud of our animators! The color palette is bright and colorful. The art style is easy on the eyes. The “flow” of the animation feels so natural and easy to understand all the visual cues. I love the cinematography and the fine details in it. The character designs are so good! I hope that more people will take notes from here as an example of the potential Filipino animators could make if they’re well-invested in time, effort, and money. Also, this could give people more appreciation in the arts and something to be proud of as Filipinos. I do hope that even the foreigners would like it too!

Voice Acting: It’s really good. I think it was casted well (with a certain exception of you know who). I’d like to think that the voice cast is guided well, because the way they voice out different expressions, onomatopoeia, and the pauses are well-executed. And this is coming from being a fan of both English & Japanese voice actors! And I don’t have to complain about their voices not matching their mouth flaps, unlike a certain local anime.

Humor: Pretty standard with all the puns and sexual innuendos. It is definitely not for kids! The good thing is that there’s nice execution and the subtitles manage to put something that’s closely accurate to the jokes. The only problem is that not everyone will be able to understand, especially the foreigners.

Plot: The plot is definitely something that needs working on in the future. It’s just the stereotypical story that are always featured in Filipino rom-coms and teleseryes. It’s just so predictable and triggering that I just skip a few scenes and just get to the end. There’s definitely a semblance of character development and solid motivations in the main character. But in the end, I just can’t help but dislike all of the characters. Nothing is going to justify all of their actions and decisions. The ending and the epilogue is more decent. My personal favorite scene comes after an obligatory hair-pulling cat fight.

Themes: Don’t expect anything groundbreaking and inspirational. The themes are obviously mature, and executed with little consequence. Everything is basically a farce, and the jokes are on those toxic characters. I do understand that the inspiration of the movie is from local radio dramas (pretty decent voice acting there) and possibly, the love advice corner. And the content of those are often toxic love stories and glorified kabet culture (infidelity culture). I understand that the main purpose of the movie is to showcase the potential of Filipino animation and to entertain people. It’s just that a lot of people will be triggered by the themes and for some like me, get easily tired because they are overdone. One would need to have thick skin for this.

Overall, it’s worth a watch for the visuals and a bit of crude humor. The story is too triggering for me. If you’re okay with the cliched stories and humor, then it’ll be worth a fun time for you. When it comes to its place in Philippine animation, I’d say this is the best animation film in this moment! I hope that they will inspire people to raise their standards on what the things they want to watch.

At some time in the near future, expect a few weeks that I’ll make a detailed review of all the episodes of Barangay 143. Even though there’s already a general consensus and I share the same sentiments as them, I just want to elaborate on the reasons behind these feelings.

#hayop ka #filipinoanimation

Ahahaha!! So true!

God help lucifer👀

Broken by the reality: the yumejoshi experience

I’ve been a yumejoshi my whole life. Since I was a child, I used to watch anime and cartoons but I couldn’t stop thinking how much fun would be if I can get along with my favorite characters. I passed hours creating my own and imagining a lot of possibilities for a single story, just for fun. I thought when I grew up I would not like to do it anymore but the truth is that I can’t stop imagining other realities to keep me alive, like Sara Crewe from A Little Princess.

It was until two years ago when I discovered the word “yumejoshi” as a term to indicate a certain group of female inside the Japanese popular media. The group isn’t recent inside Japan but for the foreign fans is a whole new universe to discover. I’ve written this article as a complement to this other: link which explains and labels the behaviors of this “new” kind of fans. But the explanation comes only from an outsider point of view without showing why we yumejoshi prefer this option instead of being a mere viewer. Also, is centered in the romantic part of being yumejo when there’s also something deeper. We aren’t just “dream girls” but also “broken” by our reality. So I want to explain the yumejoshi experience by myself.

What is a yumejoshi?

In general, yumejoshi (dreamer girl) is a female fan who likes to ship themselves with a fictional character. It could be from manga/anime/videogames, not necessary from Japanese media. It could be any character, even a female character if you want. Most of us are trully in love with these, as a Platonic love of course. We are in love with the idea of the perfect man/woman. But why being delusional? Simple: we are hurted by the reality in which we live and use this characters to keep going, (as Ayumi, a Japanese okatu girl mentions here: link) we heal and become a better person to match this perfect idea. Also, it feels better to love something instead of remain empty and hurted.

Faceless

Apart from the Platonic love there is the creative-funny part of yumejoshi. Most people think that a story can’t be a good without developed, super interesting characters. That’s false. A narrative consist in plot, characters, yes, but also dialogues, time and space. You can have pretty normal characters but if you can develop the other elements we still can have amazing stories, like Puella Magi Madoka Magica which one of its wonders lies not in the characters but in the changes of the narrative time and space. That’s why otome games and dream novels are so nice for yumejo, give the chance to play with the time and space elements to create lots of posibilities of the same “boring” reality and characters. Otome games are about the heroines too, of course, but that’s only one of the posibilities. We enjoy being the protagonist too. The funny part is not just watch but brake the canon reality of the story. It’s all a mental process, we enjoy filling the non said.

Heroines

I can’t believe this but I’ve discovered most people think yumejoshi hate all otome heroines by default. That’s false too. There’s a lot of yumejo who likes heroines and protect them from who really hate them. We like to brake the canon of stories but that doesn’t mean we disrespect all female characters. Without them we can do nothing, because until someone developes some technology that can change us into a 2D form and transports us into the story reality (lol) we need still need them to interact and know better the beloved character. Heroines are allies that help to reach the Platonic love. Of course there are always bad fans who really hate heroines or even avoid other fans with the same favorite character (the term used inside japanese fandoms is doutankyouhi “same fans aren’t welcome”) but I don’t take them into consideration, for me they aren’t yumejo, why? As I said before, being yumejoshi is about loving an ideal and becoming better, hate can’t be part of the formula.

Recently there are more developed heroines like Cardia from Code:Realize. It’s true, we can’t self-insert heroines like her but for a yumejo that’s no problem. Simply, we create another version of the story with us as a protagonist OR another protagonist if we don’t want to take away Cardia. That’s what I do with Nana from Prince of Stride. I adore her story and treasure her relationships with all the Honan boys but that doesn’t stop me to create my story towards my Platonic love Heath, without erasing Nana. I just imagine her in another role like a friend, it’s not like I want Heath all for myself but I want Nana as a friend too. This gives two posibilities of the same story, two parallel timelines of the same world. As I’ve said, is all a mental process. We doesn’t need to have it canon written to feel it real, all it’s a game and is fun. There’s no need to hate too.

Fan wars

This part will be very, very personal but overall, it’s true: most yumejo don’t like BL/yaoi content. There are female fans that can be both fujoshi and yumejoshi and that’s fine, but not all yumejoshi are fujoshi link. Are we homophobic? No, but like I’ve said, we are broken. In my opinion, there are two main reasons that explain why yumejo doesn’t like BL: one it’s about the circumstances inside fandoms and differences among world regions and the other is about personal experiences.

About fandoms, japanese fujoshi and yumejoshi tend to rivalize a lot but being objective it’s stupid because at the end they have all the media at first hand and there is content for both species. But, where I live, in Latin America contents aren’t equal. A great part of the female “otaku” consider themselves as fujoshi. The biggest event in Mexico for female fans is completely about yaoi, (with some yuri), REALLY. Otome games and dream novels aren’t easy to get, most otome girls and yumejo resign with the anime adaptations or shoujo manga. So when we finally get some quality otome/dream content… fujoshi arrive to make ships with the male characters and ignore the heroine. I know asking them to stop it’s arrogant but as a yumejo in a region with almost zero otome/dream content it turns very frustrating. What some yumejo don’t like is not BL itself but the “yaoization” of otome/dream male characters. From here parts the second reason: personal experiences.

Pain

For some yumejo remaining passive in front of any kind of ship hurts very much. We need to feel love towards us. In my case, I am one of that yumejoshi that really doesn’t like BL because I can’t identify myself with worlds where woman are almost inexistent. Because I was betrayed by the man I loved the most. I still feel it was my fault, so I can’t get along with men. I even feel real men hate us just because we are women. Having said that, BL doesn’t help me, I know it helps other fans but not me because my own life experiences. Instead, otome/dream helps because these contents shows me, in a real world full of misogyny, that a man can be nice and gentle with a girl for what she is, at least for once. A girl can trust a man instead of fear him. Being yumejo helps me to believe healthy relationships between women and men are possible. I’m not talking about sex, I’m talking about love, frienship, companionship. So, if any yumejo reacts like a crazy towards any “violation” of otome/dream is because they are really feeling pain from very deep, any of them have their reasons. For me is like repeating “no, men can’t love women, women don’t deserve love, you don’t deserve love”. I know that isn’t the intention of fujoshi or other fans, we can ignore that, most japanese do it with lots of rules among their fandoms. But sometimes the pain feeling even exceeds the dream.

Sanctuary

Fortunately, being yumejoshi has helped me, little by little. I’ve written this whole thing to explain yumejoshi from inside, what it really means for us. We are exactly like other female fans, we just want to enjoy popular media in our own weird way. It help us like a sanctuary from all the shit of real world. Even “yumedanshi” the male counterpart of yumejo have problems too, I met some of them and believe me…they can feel exactly what I described but towards women, then “waifus” help them to get better relationships with women. The main point to remember if you want to become a yumejoshi is, never, NEVER, forget the limits between fantasy and reality. For good or bad we still belong to this world.The bad fans exists because they crossed the limit (I know some rabid self-proclaimed yumejo that can be cruel as hell) but there always be good fans too wanting to share the best like in all fandoms.

P.S: I put this last article here, is in Spanish but was written for someone that in my opinion can be considered a yumedanshi, describes very well the Platonic love towards fictional characters and how it can’t be harmful if we don’t lost the connection with reality: link

Doubts, questions are very welcome!

My thoughts about Kaji Yuki x Ayana Taketatsu marriage

Last Sunday, June 23, 2019, Kaji Yuki and Ayana Taketatsu are husband and wife. When I saw the news, I didn’t believe it at first. It is too sudden for me, it feels so fast. Seconds later, when I know that it’s real, I feel so happy for them 100%!

Yuki Kaji is, to me, the most handsome and talented seiyuu. I read a lot about him, and he inspires me to give my all in any kind of work I do. I really want to meet him in real life, even just seeing him is enough for me. I want to support him in anyway I can as a fan.

Ayana Taketatsu, I sometimes forget what her roles are, but I know that I like some of them. I respect her as an amazing seiyuu and she’s very lovely with her singing.

Seeing them, two highly respected seiyuus, together, makes me very much supportive of them and their work. I wish them to have a happy marriage.

I’m also very happy that most people are supporting that marriage. Even within my friends, they’re very supportive. One of them even refers to us fans as virtual bridesmaids, that I can consider myself as one. And there are also some of my friends who are sad that Kajikyun married, but they know that it’s their personal decision and they want to respect it.

I’m really happy that a lot of us seiyuu fans are supportive of our favorite seiyuus getting married.

#seiyuu #yuki kaji #taketatsu ayana #seiyuu marriage