After 3 weeks of watching. I can safely say that Super Ingo; the one and only Philippine Animated (Cartoon) series, that took two years to make. Fall under the “It’s for kids, and slightly interesting series”. To give you a heads up. Here is a full ep1, with commercials, readily available for your pleasure, Courtesy of Archive.org.
Animation
Just as what the PR’s at ABS is saying. This is the only Cartoon Series (Non-episodic) that is entirely made by the Filipinos, for the Filipinos. If you are going to call this a pinoy Anime, i suggest you reconsider or else, the Anime force will get you.
The animation on this series, is comparable to the ones you see on Disney channel. If you are going to ask me which cartoon, it would be Totally Spies (NO! i don’t watch it, but i know it). The art is ok, to be honest, it was much more better for Super Ingo compared to it’s live action counterpart. You people already know, how the quality the effects goes for prime time television. The overall color is simple, not to complicated nor not vivid, if you are going to compare it to an Anime. But, just as i said, it’s typically like totally spies. Character design is ok, i would prefer hearing Makisig Morales, than seeing him. Animation, is not fluid. Most of the motion is done by key framing. A technique where you put 2 points of a design, and have the computer figure out the in betweens of it. If you know flash animation, you would know this. The overall all part is , this is no Anime, the cartoons are simple, and in fact, this is TV quality made for TV quality, there is nothing to say more about it.
Story
Putting animation aside. The story is typically aimed for children. Given that it’s airing on a uninteresting timeslot plus that, most kids are in their respective churches. ABS CBS is not really putting importance to their work. perhaps they’re just airing it for the sake of effort. The story is simply, the continuation of the live action. All of his “Super” friends are there, plus some cameo appearances from various made up superheros from ABS-CBN. Like Voltra, Kokei, Crystalla, and many others like, Judy anne santos, Piolo, Angel Locsin.
So far as 3 episode, the story hasn’t been that deep. In fact they are currently in “Cruising ” mode. What i mean, is they are still starting to get warmed up. They follow the traditional, cause and effect formula. So you need to have a moral lesson to it. Story wise, this is very boring, and un interesting for anime fans, nor for fans in general. Aimed for kids aged 6-10 years old, but as far as the kids goes, they are busy watching anime on youtube, or busy playing the latest MMORPG in the market. Seriously, this formula is very old, and will only work, if you live in the late 90s, just like I. Broadcast media dosen’t get it do they?
Anything that is not covered in the last two
The humor in the series is good. Character cast is interesting (aside from the main characters). Voice acting is great (Since it’s made for Filipinos). If there is anything that is worth mentioning is … i guess nothing.
Final Verdict
This cartoon is okay. Not ground breaking, nor very interesting enough to talk about as far the community is concered. Pinoy attempts to produce Animation, aimed for Filipinos is still an ongoing experiment to find the ideal “click” that will help, the non-existent market for local animation. Animated series, such as Urduja, Dayo made attempt for having a market share. Unfortunately, they failed due to the rush story, and poor marketing.
Filipinos are good animators, unfortunately, there isn’t any one that has a good story to tell. Story, is the only key needed for the market to succeed. You just have to wonder, if they can ever get out of the vicious cycle of “Anime (Cartoon) are for kids” mindset. Super Ingo is no different from the previous works. It will go down in history for being “that” cartoon made by Filipinos.
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Heard that your cheverness crashed and you lost the Super Inggo at ang Super Review comments. Good news! I have some comments saved, particularly our exchange. And yes, you're welcome. Here it is:
Hi there. The name's Squid Villanueva. I'm the head writer of the series you reviewed here.
“If you are going to call this a pinoy Anime, i suggest you reconsider or else, the Anime force will get you.”
I totally agree with you here. Calling a non-Japanese animated show or movie as anime is pretentious. I cringe every time someone calls our show Pinoy Anime. But then that's a marketing ploy and it's something I've learned to swallow. When you write for mainstream television there are a lot of artistic sensibilities that you learn to ignore because, after all, you're writing for the Great Unwashed. You can imagine my chagrin when someone slapped “live-action anime” on one fantaserye I worked on last year. Live-action anime?! WTF indeed. As I've said, it's a marketing ploy. The masses know what anime is. It's cool and it's awesome. Let's attach that label on our product. So far, cringe-factor aside, it's working. The ratings prove it.
“The overall all part is , this is no Anime, the cartoons are simple, and in fact, this is TV quality made for TV quality, there is nothing to say more about it.”
Again, I agree. I'd prefer seeing breakthrough designs and stories and I would create a truly awesome 100% Pinoy animated series if I had around 20 million pesos to burn. Sadly, I don't. But the network does. I want to make cartoons for people with similar tastes as I do. The network wants to make cartoons for the greater masses and thus make money. Guess whose vision got executed? On the other hand, the series is not worse than the fantaseryes you see out there, is it? It's TV. Even better, it's Pinoy TV. Don't be disheartened though. The fact that this show is rating means there will be more Pinoy cartoons to come as far as the network is concerned. They'll be bakya, sure, since the Filipino audience is bakya but little by little we'll manage to inject some awesomeness in it whenever we can get away with doing so. That's how it was with fantaseryes. There was a time when network executives would raise their eyebrows if you suggest a fantasy show for TV. Then slowly, they got around to giving fantasy concepts the green light. Still not as awesome as I would like them to be but we're getting there. Networks are torn between making breakthrough products and rating. The sad fact is, records show that breakthrough and awesome frequently do not equate to ratings and profit.
“The story is typically aimed for children. Given that it’s airing on a uninteresting timeslot plus that, most kids are in their respective churches. ABS CBS is not really putting importance to their work. perhaps they’re just airing it for the sake of effort.”
The ratings prove you wrong though. Sunday morning is a dead time slot but ratings suddenly shot up when Super Inggo at ang Super Tropa aired. But you're right about it being aimed at children. It is.
“So far as 3 episode, the story hasn’t been that deep. In fact they are currently in “Cruising ” mode.”
That's right. Almost every cartoon series does this to give the audience time to be comfortable with the premise of the show. Watch out for the next episodes though, they start getting a bit darker and they start exploring uncomfortable questions with equally uncomfortable answers.
“Story wise, this is very boring, and un interesting for anime fans, nor for fans in general. Aimed for kids aged 6-10 years old, but as far as the kids goes, they are busy watching anime on youtube, or busy playing the latest MMORPG in the market. Seriously, this formula is very old, and will only work, if you live in the late 90s, just like I. Broadcast media dosen’t get it do they?”
Uninteresting for anime fans, maybe, but you'll be surprised at how few anime fans there are in this country. I’m a geek-ciple of all things cool and awesome myself, for good or ill. If we are as many as we think we are then our presence would translate to ratings and networks would be tripping over their own feet to churn out products for us geeks. But the kind of anime we like are niche products. If we had a population as large as the US then niche shows would still be profitable. Unfortunately, we’re a small country. Now, uninteresting for fans in general? Untrue. Again, we go back to ratings. People are watching the show. Broadcast media does get it. They get it very well indeed. And they are rewarded with ratings.
“The humor in the series is good.”
Thanks. The funny thing is most of us in the show share a nasty sense of humor. Not at all for minors. We constantly have to pull ourselves back to make our gags airable.
“This cartoon is okay. Not ground breaking, nor very interesting enough to talk about as far the community is concered.”
Comparing it to the well-established Western and Japanese animation industry, sure, it's not ground-breaking. But when you consider that this is the only Pinoy animated show that's actually showing success (the only Pinoy animated show, for that matter), not talking about it is retarded. It's the springboard for the mainstream Pinoy animation industry—not just an industry of artists merely doing labor for foreign projects. This is where it all starts: Pinoy artists and writers as creatives. ABS-CBN and the Super Inggo at ang Super Tropa group is at the forefront of this new frontier. We're showing potential producers out there that yes, Pinoy animation is now a viable product. We have proof. So go make your own cartoons. Let the competition begin. Because innovation best comes from competition. Let GMA make their own Mulawin or Darna cartoons. Let this industry blossom, by Jove.
“Filipinos are good animators, unfortunately, there isn’t any one that has a good story to tell. Story, is the only key needed for the market to succeed. You just have to wonder, if they can ever get out of the vicious cycle of “Anime (Cartoon) are for kids” mindset.”
You have to wonder if people can ever get out of the vicious cycle of “if I don't like the TV show, the writers must be stupid” mindset. Writers, especially TV writers, are hired guns. We are commissioned to write stories. If our bosses don't like the stories we write, we won't get paid. That's why a lot of us write stories we don't really like writing. You seem to think we are intellectually inept. You'll be surprised at how many Palanca awardees write bakya stuff for TV. TV writers write what the bosses think will sell. The bosses are bosses because they're usually right about what sells. In our spare time, however, we talk about Franz Kafka and Satoshi Kon like every other geek.
“Super Ingo is no different from the previous works. It will go down in history for being “that” cartoon made by Filipinos.”
What previous works? The Capt. Barbell/Panday/Darna animated series back in the eighties? Those were abortions that shouldn't have seen the light of day. Urduja and Dayo? Those didn't sell well. If we’re successful, we will go down in history for being able to prove that mainstream Pinoy animation is profitable. Therein begins the industry. But I’ve already talked at length about that.
Also, I can give you better screen caps if you want.
***
“This is a early ratings. I would like to see the rating after ep 10 and so forth. People may start looking at this out of curiosity, so we can't trust the data yet.”
Of course, people are looking at it out of curiosity. That’s always the first thing any new show tries to achieve, to get humongous ratings for the first few episodes and hopefully hook the audience and make them love the characters and the story enough for them to stay. After episode 10 are episodes 11 to 13. Pinoy TV series only have 13 episodes per season.
“I am reviewing this as an Anime Enthusiast. I am not surprised, nor un aware of the market share of Anime in our country. Much more for dub animes. So, I am speaking on behalf of the anime crowd who reads this.”
You belittled Super Inggo at ang Super Tropa by calling it mediocre. For saying it’s not worth talking about. For implying that it’s not a big deal. Sure, it’s bakya and it’s not for the hardcore otaku. Sure, you have the right to air your own opinion about the show. But you’re being nearsighted. If you want to see truly awesome mainstream Pinoy cartoons within your lifetime, animated shows and movies that can compete with Western and Japanese products; and if you want to see a lot of them, not just a squirt every decade, you have to understand that it’s going to come from entities with the money to make them with regularity and the resources to promote them to ensure that they sell well. Like network TV. So the show IS a big deal. You don’t have to like it, sure, but dismissing it as unimportant in the development of the Pinoy animation industry is a grave error.
“Then you write because of the money? Please, i understand that you need to put bread on the table. But, if you have a good story to tell, why don't you publish it on the internet? It may not give you a pay check, but once someone sees this as a good idea, people may start accepting it, and thus ends up being a trend. Social Media is a very good vector for New ideas, share them and let's see if the people will accept it.”
The things I write and create for myself are out there and blessedly not earning me a single dime. I also blog. And I have no beef with that. But let’s go back to talking about animation…
I wrote about half of the series and supervised the stories and scripts of the other half as its head writer. I turned down a few more profitable teleseryes like The Wedding. In an industry where writers are a dime a dozen, that’s pretty insane. Does that imply that I write for television because of the money? Of course not. I wanted to make cartoons. I knew my creativity would be boxed by the requirements of commercial television but what the heck—I wanted to make cartoons. I wanted to be in the middle of it all where I can, bit by bit, inject the awesomeness I wanted to see. You’ll see that with the darker episodes in the series. I recognized that I wouldn’t be able to affect the development of Pinoy animation by pitching highfalutin concepts to non-mainstream entities that don’t have the money to produce animated series with regularity. If I wanted to be in it I had to work within the mainstream system.
“But those were adaptations from the comic series. It's not a animated original series like dayo. I'm not a clairvoyant, but if you break the cycle, then it means you made a worthy achievement. Which is good for the local animation industry, and to the filipinos in general.”
We are breaking the cycle by creating and airing an animated show that is so far selling well. Again, I’m pointing out that we’re setting the stage here. We’re providing the platform upon which the game will be played: We make this show and prove that it’s a sound investment to make an animated series. The other network does the same and attempts to make a better product. We improve our product or make a new, much better one to throw at the competition. So on and so forth. Animated shows emerge with regularity. Other outfits join in the fray. Filipino animators and writers get hired. Now let’s look at it from another attack: we make a really awesome animated series that otakus would cream their shorts over (believe me, we have mind-blowing concepts in our laptop hard drives just waiting for the opportune moment to be viable). The masses understand it about as much as Aling Bebang who sells fruit down the street understood what the heck Evangelion was about. The series flops because it’s only the otakus watching it. Advertisers won’t touch it. The network vows it’ll never make another animated show before 2019. We keep on watching foreign animation, dreaming that someday we will be able to contribute significantly to the art form. Everyone loses.
“That's the reason why i appreciate Indi films more than the mainstream ones. Paranormal Activity only cost 50,000 to create, yet was able to achieve a box office sensation. Same goes for SAW. That was also the same reason that the people at Dayo told me when i asked them one time at Y4IT convention last September. It's not a matter of money, it's like people want instant gratification from their work. Like i told you above, use the internet at your advantage. Create a story, then publish it on youtube, or a blog.”
Paranormal Activity, The Blair Witch Project, and Saw are extremely lucky breaks. They’re the US film industry’s version of a winning lottery ticket. For every Paranormal Activity there are a jillion abysmal indie flops. Commercial flops, of course. I’m not talking about artistic merit. Because of the track record of indie products commercially, the giant companies who have the money are not looking at them as worthy of big investment. I’ve had my share of hungry adventures when I was in Mowelfund so I’m not totally unfamiliar with the indie scene. It was there that I recognized that I must work within the system if I wanted Filipinos to watch more kickass stories. That’s how things will evolve: artists with new ideas applying them bit by bit within the mainstream.
Look, I’m not belittling Dayo’s contribution to the budding industry. Dayo is important. But its failure to make loads of money in the theaters only made producers even more scared of animated products. What we need right now are animated shows and movies that will make money so that producers would be easier to convince. That’s Super Inggo at ang Super Tropa’s job. A few more successful animated shows and producers might be more open to more daring projects.
You can also see some of my Super Inggo at ang Super Tropa Production notes here:
http://songsofthesalamander.blogspot.com/search...
Or rather, here: http://songsofthesalamander.blogspot.com
Yeah I lost my comments … my grammatically incorrect comments. I'll reply back after the show ended, and let's see if the show does anything to change the Animated industry in our country.
I said it before and I'll say it again:
Next thing you know, there will be a May Bukas Pa “anime”.
I said it before and I'll say it again:
Next thing you know, there will be a May Bukas Pa “anime”.