By Areeya Tatjana Ho
Netflix’s new anime series, Trese, is bringing new life to the supernatural genre.
The series follows the story of modern-day babaylan Alexandra Trese (voiced by Liza Soberano in Filipino) and her two sidekicks Crispin and Basilio as they assist the police in solving crimes perpetuated by the malevolent underworld creatures.
The series was adapted from the award-winning comic by Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo. The pair teamed up with Jay Oliva and Tanya Yuson to bring “Trese” to life.
Oliva, showrunner and director of Trese, shared that although he grew up in the USA, he was very much brought up in a traditional Filipino household; and he knew the stakes were high to keep the series authentically Filipino as much as possible.
“I was on the plane when I read it and started formulating how I would translate it,” Oliva told Manila Standard Entertainment. “But I wanted to get [Tanya’s] opinion and also the writer’s opinion what about Trese that they loved, and to really pour that into the project.”
Oliva’s goal was to give Trese a different flavor but he wanted the series to still remain faithful to the original material keeping the balance between what the original fans would love and what the production team could offer to the audience as creative workers.
“Who is [Alexandra Trese] as a woman and the life that she wants to lead outside of maybe her family wants,” Oliva remarked. “I think that's [a] very universal ideal, and also it’s very Filipino.”
Oliva shared he focused on these aspects and underscored the importance of “family and duty.” The storyline of Alexandra Trese doing what has to be done in order to keep the peace between the supernaturals and humans is its main core, its powerful component that “makes the story great.”
“It attracted me; and audiences, not just in the Philippines, will be attracted to it,” he concluded in his interview.
Jay Oliva is a Filipino-American storyboard artist and director. He previously worked in several animated and live-action films and series such as Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 1, Deadpool, Thor: Ragnarok, Wonder Woman, and Legend of Korra.