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.
