Days 6

Since it’s a weekend, we can talk about our favorite things today. Anime! I did not intend to rhyme this but well, I cant think of a better introduction. Let me give a bit of background about myself and anime. I am one of those “Edsa babies” they were talking about. You know, those kids born in the year 1986, when the people power revolution happened and martial law came to an end. Meaning, I did not get to actually experience martial law but since the event was still fresh in people’s mind, this subject often comes to a hot topic in class when our teachers remember back in the day.

Why did I mention this when I am supposedly talking about anime? Well, growing up as a child without any access to cable TV, we had a limited amount of anime to chose from. To name a few, there was the classics such as Cedie, Dog of Flanders, Princess Sarah, Xmen, Super Mario, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. All of these were anime worth watching in my opinion, and at this time Dragonball has not even reached the Philippine free TV channels. So then, the most notable, coolest anime available to us is Voltes V. It has everything a child could ever want in an anime. We have robots, action, sword fighting, guns, evil aliens, the works. I remember as a child playing with my friends and role playing one of the five main characters. We would hold hands and shout “Let’s Volt In!” and somehow create a robot-like figure depending on how much people we are in a group (90s kids will know).

It was good and all, and it would be the one show we wait for every week. But then by the time we were nearing the climax, the TV show would somehow replay episode one again and just hope that we kids with short attention span will not notice. It probably worked because we kept on watching it until they decided to show another robot show being Bioman, and then Power rangers. As far as I can remember, the show never really ended.

I never really understood it back then until I grew up and moved on to better and cooler anime such as Sailor moon, Dragonball, Yuyu Hakusho and Pokemon. It was only when I was in high school, back in the early stages of internet that the nostalgia for Voltes V happened, and I finally knew the reason. That being that on the height of martial law, the series stopped airing on the request of concerned parents because of the violence the anime was showing. So then, the kids during the martial law understood, but was completely forgotten during the Edsa revolution that no one really bothered to get the last few episodes considering that it was already peace time. In other words, we suffered the same fate those martial law kids did when the series just ended with a cliff hanger and the questions remained until we were finally old enough to voice out these hidden emotions. 

It was during the height of anime craze when the TV networks finally decided that they have enough audience to purchase those last few episodes and release it national television. Everyone was hyped. It was highly advertised and even our teachers were excited to see the show. Finally, we got to see the infamous ending to this great show. Everyone was happy. It was like one of the greatest moments in TV history. But then you know I am exaggerating.

I think that, the airing of Voltes V is one of the milestones of anime being famous in the Philippines. After that, there were better anime aired on TV, and comparing to their plot, Voltes V seemed too simple and really made for kids. Now there are a lot more violent shows but then we don’t hear parents complaining. It’s like that show paved the way for general acceptance. They were like the mother of all anime in the Philippines, the one show most Filipinos recognize.

Right now, you don’t have to depend on TV alone to watch your favorite anime. In fact, you can only watch replays after replays of any anime that became a hit these days that sometimes you don’t bother anymore. You just kind of depend on the internet more often these days, and you get more access to it as if you were in Japan. But even so, I am always so thankful that as a kid we had access to good anime on TV, that you cant really blame us when we suddenly have this nostalgia to one day look for this one anime we watched as a kid on the internet and feel like a kid all over again. 

These days, people hate anime because they always fall victim to fanservice. But for me, it’s all about searching for good anime that you can sink your teeth into. Because, no matter what your taste is, there probably is an anime out there that you can potentially like. But every once in a while, remember to thank this wonderful show that started it all.