The History of Anime in the Philippines

by MMX

Anime has conquered the Philippine TV. Almost every channel has one these days. No one could have imagined that these would be in demand in Filipino channels that even managements of Filipino TV networks have decided to put anime in primetime slots just to have ratings. Ever wonder what animes are shown in the Philippines these last years. Today, we’re going to take a stroll back in time to see what was the status of anime in Philippine TV these past years….

Remember the days when the favorite cartoons of kids were G.I. Joe, the Transformers, the Carebears, Looney Tunes, etc.? Well, that’s just that. American cartoons were rampant those days. It was the typical saturday morning line-up. Some of these also graced the daily line-up of shows. Some are even made to movies, like He-Man, Bravestar and the ever popular Ghostbusters. It was a time when cartoons were just cartoons. I guess your thinking anime was not yet introduced in that time around.

Actually, anime and its influence was already present at that time in Philippine TV. It’s just that we don’t notice it because of two reasons: We haven’t grasped the idea of anime yet, and that the anime that we are watching is coming from an american title.

There have been many animes that were being shown back in those days. Since at that time we have no idea on what anime looks like, we tend to see it as normal cartoons. I can’t recall all of those animes that were shown at that time but I do remember one. It was Candy Candy, and it was IBC 13 who aired it. It was a story of a young girl struggling with her life, and by an enormous set of circumstances, finds the one she truly loves…blah blah blah….you know how that story goes. Viewers of that show (like me) have already noticed its difference with american cartoons with respect to animation, drawing and theme but since no one has the idea of anime yet, all regarded it as a simple cartoon that has a different style.

Some of the anime that was shown back in those days have american titles, and because of that we thought that they were american cartoons. An example is Voltron(GoLion in Japan). The story is about 5 people trying to protect the universe from evil forces with the help of a big mecha that was formed from 5 mecha lions. It was also first aired in IBC 13. An american TV network(Hanna Barbera, if my memory is correct) bought the rights to that anime, and it was this network that also supplied the english dubbing for the anime. Peter Keefe was the executive producer; he was also responsible for some of the successful cartoons, like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

And then there was Robotech, first aired in GMA-7. Most of you know that this was based on the anime Macross. These only show that anime was already present when american cartoons ruled the local channels of Philippine TV.

Anime still isn’t popular at this point in time, but you have to admit, many people have loved these animes back then, even up to now. Although these shows are very popular that time, the idea of “anime” itself is not.

IBC-13 had the honor of first airing these two mecha shows. Before Voltes V and Daimos(you may want to consider Voltron too), one mecha anime, Mazinger-Z, was the first to introduce the idea of having one big mecha to save the planet from evil forces that wants to take over. It was not as famous as the two, however.

Astroboy was first aired in RPN-9. Astroboy is a story about a robot boy with amazing powers and abilities and also human emotions who goes through life trying to be accepted as a robot and someone people can depend on. But just as important, to use his powers to fight injustice and protect human and robot kind.

Why did the filipino people love these shows so much that up to now(even I was surprised) many still watch it? It is because these animes had the elements that filipinos liked and didn’t find in other cartoons at that time.First, these animes had developing plots. Not like other cartoons, filipinos love waiting for what happens next to the character. Just take a look at Daimos and Voltes V. Filipinos watched and waited for the reunion of the Armstrong family in Voltes V. They also followed the love story of Richard and Erica with eagerness. Another thing they liked in these cartoons is the drama they have that filipinos really love. In Astroboy, filipinos took their hearts on the little robot who struggles hard in society and in life with human like emotions. More examples of anime with dramatic themes in the next part.

Daimos was the only one of the three who finished its season back at that time. GMA-7 brought Daimos and Voltes V in Philippine TV again for the sake of the new generation of anime viewers

For a while, in this point of time, the Philippine TV kinda took a break from anime. However, the idea of anime has already sprung out in a few, select people who had the luck of renting one for their VCR. Some video rent houses already had anime in their shelves and that has introduced Filipinos to great anime series such as Macross, Patlabor and the likes of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind and Wings of Honneamise. Filipinos can only watch anime if they have VHS or Betamax at that time. Still, anime wasn’t that totally gone in Philippine TV because this was the time when ABS-CBN first aired these animes with very dramatic themes.

ABS-CBN’s first try was Cedie:Ang Munting Prinsipe. Based on the book “The Little Fauntleroy”, this anime captured the hearts of Filipino kids(along with their babysitters or “yayas”) mainly because of the Filipino’s love for drama. Unlike other cartoons with comic or humorous tones, Cedie became successful with the use of very dramatic situations that placed the Filipinos sympathy towards the main character. Seeing the potential of these kind of animes, ABS-CBN followed Cedie with more hits like Sarah:Ang Munting Prinsesa, A Dog of Flanders and others. Most of these animes, by the way, are based on novels. Sarah was based on the novel “The Little Princess” while Flanders was based on a novel by the same title.

After being exposed to anime mostly through home videos, the Filipinos hunger for anime grew even more as Philippine TV slowly brings out great animes one by one, as if it does it on purpose to whet our appetites more.

Dragonball Z was the first, and by far the most popular at that time, to be aired on Philippine TV that really made the Filipinos draw the line between anime and the typical cartoon because of 1)really great animation, which in turn gave Dragonball Z really great and cool fighting scenes that Filipinos have never seen in american cartoons and 2)very developed plot that was not present in most american cartoons. RPN-9 aired the Dragonball series for 7 years and had a very great response from Filipino audiences, even though it was dubbed in english and even when RPN-9 just did reruns of it!!!

Other channels had their share of anime hits. ABS-CBN had Magic Knight Rayearth, which was dubbed in tagalog. ABC-5 aired Sailormoon, also dubbed in tagalog and had its own share of followers, and Yaiba which was dubbed in english. And IBC-13 aired the very successful Ghost Fighter(YuYu Hakusho), also dubbed in tagalog. Ranma 1/2, which was mostly watched by Filipinos on VCR, also made it to Philippine TV thru RPN-9.

And we come to the last part of our tour in the history of animes here in the Philippines. To get an overview look, we’ll look in this topic channel-wise:

ABS-CBN: Anime status has changed little but for the good. Most cartoons that they air today are anime but their time slots are still reserved for some of their own shows. They still air those dramatic animes. Lots of great animes aired though like Slayers, Saber Marionette J and Tenchi-Muyo.

ABC-5: Tried to get in the anime bandwagon with small results. After Sailormoon and Yaiba, no hits followed them. Slamdunk and Miku: the Metal Fighters were among those who got very little attention still ABC-5 continued the Sailormoon series(Sailormoon R,S and Super S) in hopes to get the Sailormoon magic back.

GMA-7: The channel that really changed the status of anime in Philippine TV. GMA-7 saw the potential of animes for high ratings ,so using their slogan “We are Anime”, they brought back great anime hits in the Philippines like Ghost Fighter and put anime in primetime slots. We have yet to see other channels if they will try to emulate what GMA did. GMA-7 also aired the ever popular Gundam series (Gundam W and Gundam G).

RPN-9 and IBC-13: The two channels who first aired those anime hits that GMA-7 is slowly bringing back today. So far, these two channels have been quiet in the anime scene. RPN-9 aired Sweet tales of St. Tail but without success. IBC-13 tried with small time animes but also to no avail. We know they have taste in animes but only time will tell if ever they will air another anime hit here in the Philippines.

UHF channels: Not much to say here. One channel, SBN-21 once aired the Macross movie “Do you Remember, Love?”. Only Studio 23(owned by ABS-CBN company) had initiative to air anime series. Studio 23 aired Samurai X(Ruroni Kenshin) which, to the dismay of viewers, they didn’t finish.

P.S.: This article is not the web mistresses written article. It was quoted from someone who posted this in other website, I forgot where, thus the name of the writer is included. Also this article, I believe, was written before or after the year 2000.