(Philippines) Most Notable Anime in the 90’s – Part II (ABS-CBN/GMA)

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Akazukin Cha Cha (ABS-CBN)

The Little Red Riding Hood-inspired anime. Cha Cha was I think the funniest anime broadcasted by ABS-CBN in the 90′s. All of the characters has their own comedic persona, and you won’t get tired watching them again and again. The common debate me and my friends had in this show was: “Who will Cha Cha going to end up with – Riiya or Shiine?”

I also have a friend who’s very addicted to this, and well… I can’t forget her insane laugh when we watched the OAV in our school auditorium when we had an Anime Film Showing in our school foundation day.

Ang Mahiwagang Kuwintas (ABS-CBN)

Nadia – Secret of Blue Water, its original title, was Gainax’s Ghibli-like adventure anime. I remember regretting not being able to watch the last episode of this anime (just like when I missed the last episode of Slayers). This show was a worldwide hit, not only in the Philippines.

BT’X / B’tX (ABS-CBN)

“Messiah Fist” – the cybernetic gauntlet weapon by the main character – Teppei – and the least character I like. The coolest for me is Fou Lafine, he plays his violin when he attacks… though I don’t have any idea where he hides it. On the other hand, I prefer Hokuto’s B’T – B’T Max (a turtle mecha) over the rest. It’s just so gigantic, almost looks indestructible. About the anime, this was pretty much popular, especially its Tagalog opening song.

Cedie, Ang Munting Prinsipe (ABS-CBN)

Based on the novel “The Little Lord Fauntleroy”, this anime was broadcasted at the same time with Peter Pan and Princess Sarah, around 1992-1993 (I was about 4-5 years old at that time). This World Masterpiece Theatre member was such a hit that ABS-CBN’s Star Cinema made a live action version in 1996 starring Tom Taus.

Gundam Wing (GMA)

The only mecha-anime hit by GMA in the 90′s. Its successor Gundam G didn’t come up to the level like Wing did, in short it flopped. About the anime, Wing’s pilot and main character – Heero Yuy is a typical-snob guy. Though most of the girls I know like the fact that he’s a snob, ’cause they like it everytime he ignores Relena. Moving on… the two characters I like the most were Quatre and Trowa – I mimicked his hairstyle back when I was in 5th grade (I didn’t think my classmates would notice it, but they did. Just shows that this Gundam series was really popular.) And the two coolest mobile suits for me were Gundam Deathscythe Hell Custom (Duo’s Gundam) and Gundam Nataku (Wufei’s Gundam). Obviously, I’m not a fan of the main character, like in B’tX.

Huckleberry Finn (ABS-CBN)

This adventure novel-based anime is a remake of the 1976 Huckleberry no Bouken. There’s one episode that I couldn’t forget, it’s when Huck and his father were only eating (hot) sweet potatoes for days. I imagined myself being in that situation, and I realized it’s really a huge challenge (OK, now I’m hungry).

This anime was broadcasted in 1997, at the same time its somehow related anime – (The) Adventures of Tom Sawyer was released.

Let’s & Go (GMA)

A Sports genre anime about kids (and some adults) and their mini Four-wheel drives. The proof that this show was a hit, was when the competition came to life. Actual toy cars from the anime were sold in stores, and different tournaments were held around the country (even in our school). At first I thought the toys were 100% similar to the anime, like there’s some booster or spinning blades on the wheels – but no, what you can see in the anime stays in the anime (except for the thrill, enjoyment, friendship …should I continue?).

Lupin III (GMA)

If not the highest, its one of the high-rated anime show broadcasted by GMA. Simply because it’s appealing to different kinds of people, young or young at heart. Lupin and his gang’s tricks were the climax of each episode. Add it with some fan service by Fujiko and you got a show that can beat soap operas. Oh and Inspector Zenigata’s effort is worth crediting, even though Lupin can always find a way to get himself out of his hands.

Mga Munting Pangarap ni Romeo (ABS-CBN)

Originally known as Romeo no Aoi Sora. Another great World Masterpiece Theatre from ABS. I think the most unforgettable episode for everyone was when Alfredo, Romeo’s best friend, died. Another was the turning point of the show, when Romeo and the rest of the “Black Brothers” were proven innocent against their rival “Wolf Pack”. And if you’ve forgotten the ending… Romeo and Bianca got married, and had a son name Alfred. Though honestly, I thought it would be Romeo and Angeletta.

Mojacko (GMA)

One thing I noticed was that GMA never showed the other opening and ending credits of this anime. Anyway, this is a very funny show, and there was one episode where Mojacko and some characters has mumps. I won’t forget it cause at the same time, me and our maid were in the same situation. So that day was… very funny, painful, and awkward.

About the other characters, Mojaru and Dono were the ones I found amusing. Everytime Mojaru cried, there’ll be like an earthquake. And when Dono has eaten a lot of sweets, he’ll go berserk and do unexpected things.

Neon Genesis Evangelion (ABS-CBN)

A groundbreaking mecha anime, besides Macross. This anime was the most popular at its era (and I guess the most controversial until now). ABS-CBN cut a lot of scenes, and pronounced the name “Asuka” – “A-su-ka”, when it should be just “As-ka”. What’s great about this anime, was that there were a lot of memorable episodes, even though there’s only 26 all in all. The most popular I can think of was when Shinji came to Rei’s apartment to give her new ID, his timing was off (but not to other teenage boys) ’cause Rei has just finished taking a bath. Cut the story short, both of them slipped and Shinji was on top of Rei with his left hand on Rei’s right breast. Phew~ This was also the first anime where I witnessed a slashy yaoi – it was on episode 24, just before the two unforgettable ending episodes in the history of anime.

Pokemon (GMA)

The first english opening version of this hit anime was sung by Billy Crawford, a worldwide-known Filipino singer. I’ll admit that I’m addicted to this show when I was kid, even memorizing the 150 (151 if you include Togepi) Red and Blue version Pokemons. And joining GMA’s promo, I sent like 5 letters each week (and never won). One of my classmates brought his Pokemon guide book, and the Pokemon that got my attention was Charmander (at that time I don’t have any idea that he’s one of Ash’s main pokemon). Another classmate of mine memorized the famous quote of Team Rocket, and he was hailed by most of us.

A memorable tagline of the show was “Poke-Friday”! ABS-CBN got its attention, and broadcasted a similar anime called Digimon in the year 2000.

Remi (Nobody’s Boy) (ABS-CBN)

There were actually two Remi’s that was broadcasted in the Philippines. First was this one, and the other was Remi: Nobody’s Girl. From the two, I chose the original, ’cause I think it was more successful hit than the remake. Actually, the remake was a flop (according to AnimeNewsNetwork) that’s why it has only 23 episodes, compared to the original which had 51.

About Remi: Nobody’s Girl

Was pulled off the air after 23 episodes due to disastrous ratings. It was considered the worst of the World Masterpiece Theater due to drastic changes in the story (including changing the gender of the main character.)

Ie Naki Ko Remi was the last series of the World Masterpiece Theater.

The episode I can remember the most was when a pack of wild wolves attacked Remi and his friends (the animals), and I think some of his dogs saved him, and unfortunately they died.

Samurai X (ABS-CBN)

Rurouni Kenshin was quite popular in Studio 23 that’s why ABS-CBN, it’s sister company decided to make a tagalized version. The samurai action and comedy-drama formula was a great combination that’s why the show garnered a lot of audience in the 90′s around the world.

Sarah, Ang Munting Prinsesa (ABS-CBN)

The opposite of Cedie, not only because of the gender. But mainly because of their roles in life. Unlike Cedie which was having good times together with his grandfather, Sarah lived most of her life as a slave in an all-girl’s school she used to study at before her father died. This anime has the most hateful character ever designed, and it’s no other than, the headmistress – Miss Minchin. I remember me and my classmates used to compare our strict female teachers to her (and it was fun). The moment where Sarah was going downstairs and Lavinia was there below waiting for her to apologize was one of the most memorable scenes in the anime.

Sarah was made into a live action movie, just like Cedie, and later to a teleserye by ABS-CBN.

As you can see, ABS-CBN dominated the anime shows in the 90′s, especially with the World Masterpiece Theatre anime series. But that all changed in the new millenium when GMA added popular anime titles in their prime time schedule, such as Fushigi Yuugi, Ghost Fighter, and Dragonball Z.

Other notable anime:

A Dog of Flanders
The Trapp Family Singers
Little Women
Macross
Knight Hunters
Saber Marionette
Magic Knight Rayearth
Tenchi Muyo
Slayers
Three Musketeers

lue Blink (Aoi Blink) (ABS-CBN)

This is a sci-fi anime series created by Osamu Tezuka. The anime is based from classic film Konjok-gorbunok by Ivan Ivanov-Vano. The film in turn is based from Pyotr Pavlovich Yershov’s “The Little Humpacked Horse”.

This was Tezuka’s last anime series. He died while this series was in progress. The studio completed the production according to his plans.

Note:

Julio at Julia, Ang Kambal na Tadhana is a French Animation, not Japanese.