Voltes V: Legacy

I recently had the opportunity to watch Voltes V Legacy, and as a fan of the original anime series, I was pleasantly surprised by the live-action adaptation. The show managed to capture the essence and nostalgia of the beloved mecha anime while adding its own unique flair.

One of the standout aspects of Voltes V Legacy is its faithful representation of the characters. The casting was well done, with the actors embodying the spirit of the original characters and bringing them to life on screen. The chemistry among the main cast was evident, and their performances were convincing and enjoyable to watch.

The action sequences in the series were nothing short of exhilarating. The battles between the giant robots and the alien forces were expertly choreographed and visually stunning. The special effects, although not on a Hollywood blockbuster level, were still impressive and added to the overall excitement of the show.

What I appreciated most about Voltes V Legacy was its ability to update the story for a modern audience while staying true to its roots. The show introduced new elements and twists that kept me engaged and intrigued throughout the series. It was evident that the creators had a deep respect for the source material and made efforts to expand on the world of Voltes V without straying too far from its core themes.

Of course, every adaptation has its flaws, and Voltes V Legacy is no exception. Some viewers might find fault with certain aspects, such as the occasional pacing issues or deviations from the original storyline. However, in my opinion, these minor shortcomings did not detract from the overall enjoyment and entertainment value of the show.

The bad overacting and the use of Tagalog that nobody really speaks. I mean their dialogue...who talks Tagalog like that in real life? Its very unnatural and fake... it' obvious its a script reading affair, the words tney use are so literal, it's like I'm in school again in Tagalog class learning words I'll never use in my life.

Anyway, the robots and robot fights are what keep me watching. This is one show where the CGI is better than the actors. Oh, and the cheesy love stories and monlogues are just terrible. And the premise that the audience is dumb by over explaining everything is quite funny too.

But hey, we watch for the robots anyway.

FINAL UPDATE: First early episodes sucks balls. Bear with it, it gets better, it gets really really better, just ignore the bad acting of some parts

All budget went to CGI, CGI was good for a filipino film but everything else was bad, acting was cringe except for the veteran actors like Dennis Trillo etc., the storyboarding and the cinematography was awful, there are scenes which the context was skipped, alot of scenes which badly executed, couple of dead air shots without sense, the sound design is extremely painful, There are times where you wont hear any sounds, the environment is silent, only voices are heard, the gun firing sounds sounds like it was just put there on top of the clip not matching the shots. Terrible ending per episode, They cut like this was a 1 Full movie and cut to episodes, there are no cliffhangers on end of episodes so far to excite the viewers for the next episode, it just randomly cuts and show credits.

I would love to give them the benefit of the doubt as this is a daily episodic series, but unlike other daily episodic series, this was given time and budget to release a finished quality product, no reason for them to release a trashy series.

I blame GMA for still getting Mark Reyes, cuz he is old school and never evolved, unlike Hollywood directors which are timeless(Scorsese,Tarantino,Spielberg etc.) Quality Films even at age 60-80.

Filipino old directors never tend to evolve in directing style, writing and etc. I hope they've given this project to a younger director with fresh ideas and relevant writing. Zig Dulay excecuted Maria Clara and Ibarra very well given the daily episodic setup, Although major scenes in MCI were not perfect, I appreciate the cinematography and the concept of what Zig is trying to send, also MCI was unexpectedly unpredictable.

I've actually defended this from other bashers during the trailer release as I was hyped and surprised about the CGI quality but got really disappointed of the finished product.

I get how foreign people support this as this is a first in Philippine Cinema, and people praise this as support, But lets be real here, Aside from the CGI, nothing was good here,. Even the ColorGrading was awful, it looked like a cheap oldschool Encantadia palette (which was very untimely now) very old school TV look very 2005-2007 GMA 7 Fantaserye vibe.

Don't get me wrong I'm all for this, but I wont be blinded and fake praise this just for the gist of it. I'm criticizing this to make sure the next one would be better. If people think this is good, then future films wont make improvements

Lihim ni Urduja was waaay better in quality/writing/cinematography compared to this. Sad to say but Kick out Mark Reyes.

PS: Changed my rating, Story picked up Pace after at episode 10 Action made up for what was lacking, even the cringe acting became somewhat acceptable in some parts. STILL Sound Design is trash, acting overall is trash, but the storyboarding improved Not sure if this will be consistent, hopefully it will. The Color palette still looks awful some scenes look like they are oilpaintings. And this Telenovela Colorgrading should be removed from TV.

Another Update: OK I was wrong but the early episodes were really trash, I must say this has gotten awesome.

To be honest I love the anime version. This live adaptation is quite different from the original version. There are too much romantic scene between Isabel ortega and Miguel Tan Felix. The dirdctor puts too much unnecessary scenes and deviates from the original. Changes are ok as long as it's good but that is not the case. That is the reason why it will end sooner than the likes of Abot kamay na pangarap.

Another thing I don't like is putting elle villanueva as ex lover of Miguel which never happened in the original series. They are just doing this to give the actress exposure.

When the robot fights, they put too much emphasis on the pilots rather than the robot. Those who watched the anime don't appreciate this. Only fanboys and fangirl of the actors and actress will like those things. I hope they put more emphasis on the robot fighting rather than showing the faces of all pilots each time the robot makes a move.

My 2 kids and I were so hyped when the show was announced however after few days of watching we no longer want to watch it because of the said reasons above. My kids prefer watching netflix YouTube instead or play outside. They said there are too much conversation between the cast and there are too few fighting scenes.

Remember we want to watch voltes V because of the fighting scenes not because we want to see the actor and actresses talk. They are like making voltes V a telenovela.

An honest review from a long time fan from the late 80s. VVL has managed to meet my expectations with the robot model, the base and most of the technical elements of Voltes V. The CGI is far better than anything we have seen so far from Philippine film and television. Though still needs a lot of improvement to be at par with international standards, but they are getting there. Now on to the story. I find some elements added to the original story like the romantic links between several characters (which I will not mention anymore as they are very easy to spot once you watch) are unnecessary and kind of derails from the original story which did not have any romantic links with the main characters as Voltes V was created with the intent to focus on family love, brotherhood and camaraderie and the Armstrong brother's longing to be with their father hence the original closing theme was titled: Chi chi Wo Motomete ("I Want Father") to emphasize the focus of family love instead of romantic love. We still at episode 19 so there are still a lot to see if the PH live-action adaptation will stay true and canon to the original story or will it be just a revised NON-Canon version of Voltes V from an alternate verse. I will update my review once we get halfway through the series @ ep 40. 😉