To those of you contemplating what series to watch for this year’s spooky season, look no further! What about watching a mysterious young woman solving crimes while facing supernatural entities based on the rich folklore from the Philippines. Netflix’s first Filipino animated series, Trese is the perfect candidate for the spooky season.
Still not convinced? Here are a few reasons why you should tick this series off your watch list:
It is based on a Filipino graphic novel
Trese is based on a graphic novel of the same name written by Budjette Tan and illustrated by Kajo Baldisimo. The award-winning graphic novel has been continuously growing for 15 years from its first publication in December 2005.
The series follows the story of the titular young occult investigator, Alexandra Trese. The plot is situated in Modern Manila where traditional mythological creatures like the Aswang, Nuno, and Tikbalang live secretly amidst humankind. The young occult investigator solves the uncanny mysteries and suspicious crimes involving supernatural entities alongside her peers, Captain Guerrero and the Kambal.
The series tackles themes of injustices
It’s not difficult to see the resemblance between the crimes in the series and the real world. From police brutality to corrupt individuals in power, Trese dives specifically on these injustices to shed a jarring light on what is happening in the real world. The series not only accurately depicts such injustices but also shows that these crimes can be taken care of as long as there are individuals who devote themselves to dealing with these cases.
The amazing original soundtrack
Every astonishingly successful series is always partnered with a prominent theme song. Trese’s theme song, “Paagi”, is written by the Filipino band Up Dharama Down (UDD), uniquely just for the series. ‘Paagi’ roughly translates to “tabi-tabi po”, or “excuse me po” in English, a reference to the Philippine folklore entity, Nuno, a dwarf-like spirit who is believed to live near anthill or termite hills. According to the infamous folklore depicted in Philippines’ mythology, people are advised to take caution to avoid Nuno’s wrath by saying “tabi-tabi po” which translates to “please move aside”.
The cultural references
Though Trese is for a global audience, we cannot deny that it favors Filipino audiences the most because of the many fun cultural references. Who would have thought that the famous candy bar from Annie’s Sweets Manufacturing and Packaging Corporation would be so crucial in combating crimes? The series also recreated some infrastructures in Manila like the New Bilibid Prison, the Meralco building, ABC-ZNN (a play on one of the nation's TV stations, ABS-CBN), and the transit system with its regular breakdowns.
No doubt that Trese paved the way for Filipino culture and Filipino animation to mainstream media. Filipinos were brought together through Trese because they were the ones who heard the infamous tales of these mythological creatures. They could relive the scary atmosphere they felt now that these entities are animated and available to watch this October. So, what are we waiting for? Let us find out how Alexandre Trese combats the crimes of humans and supernatural entities!
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