Trese - Detective delle tenebre

A nice DC feel to it and a very good story. Just too bad it all gets super rushed. It feels like they jam everything into 6 episodes, even though there's story enough for 2x20 episodes. It's beginning to be a classic Netflix thing to do with animations.

Only gets 6, but could have been 9.

So I want to start by saying that I don't know anything about Filipino culture. I also don't think you have to know about a culture to understand if a story is told well. This story wasn't told well.

The dialogue is mediocre. The characters have no depth and nobody actually grows. Everyone explains how they feel without showing it, which is a big problem with most shows tbh. Explaining what had happened just to fill in the blank spots so that the viewer understands characters' motives is lazy writing. We're watching a show Brenda, not listening to an audiobook.

Except for a couple of characters, the designs are not memorable at all. You don't really know who is who and why are they doing the things they do is so poorly explained. The alliances make no sense. Trying to fit in all that info and characters and events in 6 episodes was obviously a bad idea.

I like gore, but strangely even the gore felt out of place sometimes.

It's not the worst show I've seen, but I'm not gonna remember this. Watch it if you have nothing else to watch.

Alexandra Trese was a young woman who was called on to investigate crimes attributed to supernatural causes. Armed with her trusty kris dagger Sinag, she was called in by the police to track mysterious events which involved such creatures of Filipino mythology like man-eating aswangs, half-horse tikbalang, and baby-like tiyanak. Other beings also seen include the white lady of Balete Drive, the Nuno, the duwende, lightning beings, wind sprites, zombies, werewolves and the main antagonist Datu Talagbusao, the god of war.

Alexandra was the daughter of Anton Trese, the lakan who forged an alliance between the human and supernatural world, and his wife Miranda, a babaylan or folk shaman. Her current team include twin brothers named Crispin and Basilio (after Sisa's sons in Jose Rizal's "Noli Me Tangere"), her two dapper demigod sidekicks; and Hank (who looks exactly like Filipino boxing legend Manny Pacquiao), bartender of the Trese family nightclub called the Diabolical. She also had a personal fire spirit Santelmo, who lived in her Nokia 3210 cellphone.

The opening scene of Episode 1 already showcased the spectacular artwork with a glittering nighttime scene of the city with its skyscrapers lit up by bright incandescent light bulbs and neon billboards. The next scene of an MRT train stalling on its tracks and the passengers alighting to walk to the nearest station was only the first of many places in Metro Manila that Filipinos will recognize and smile about through out the series, like Camp Crame, Quiapo, the New Bilibid Prison, the ABS-CBN building and the Meralco building.

There was also several scenes with social commentary. In Episode 1, there was a statement against corrupt megalomaniac politicians like Mayor Sancho Santamaria. In Episode 4, there was a statement against abusive policemen who use "fighting back" ("nanlaban" of EJK notoriety) as an excuse for their brutish behavior, like Officer Reyes. Other episodes highlight other activities going on around the city, like rich kids drag racing along Ortigas, fans fawning over movie stars or gamers grumbling slow internet speed.

Aside from effectively using Filipino folklore as the foundation of a solid story, "Trese" will surely delight Filipinos over its references to Choc-Nut or the Novanians. The Filipino dialogue was more authentic with the slang and profanity, but the English voice cast did try to give a Filipino flavor to their accents. At only six episodes and more or less 30 minutes per episode, this is a very quick and easy binge. Hopefully, international viewers will appreciate Filipino culture and talent more after this significant exposure on the Netflix platform. 9/10.

Trese (2021) is a Netflix series that my daughter and I recently watched together. The storyline follows a young lady for hire with super natural powers she uses to help the police overcome "unique" circumstances. She also looks to uncover how she became who she is...

This series is the first ever Singapore anime series and is set in Manila and based on Filipino ghost stories. I really enjoyed this universe and how the creatures were depicted, both the good and bad guys. The brothers with the masks and weapons were awesome as were the sprits used to help the main character. The story about the spider babies was my favorite. Very well done. The family backstories they deliver at the end is interesting, the primary villain was good and the the conclusion is worthwhile.

Overall, this is a fun addition in the horror anime genre that I would score a 7.5-8/10 and strongly recommend.

The quality of anime was great!!! Great backgrounds and art. The voice actors were top notch.

The dialogue felt a bit rushed at times, although a great story overall. Still many unanswered questions which could prompt another season or concluding film.