Trese : Entre deux mondes

I feel like I am sitting in an ordinary pub where the owner gave up on having any nice decoration, and there is my partner sitting at the table with me, telling me a story. She speaks in a monotonous voice, without any exaggeration or emotion. While her story is occasionally interesting because it’s set in an environment that’s intriguing for me, she cannot narrate it well and so I sometimes find myself losing concentration, and so my mind wanders off elsewhere. I think to myself that the girl has not spent much money (certainly not enough) on her current wardrobe, it is not good enough though, as she is wearing crumpled and slightly shabby designer clothes, and I find them pretty inadequate. Her hand gesticulations and even her body movements, in general, are weird (especially when she talks about an action) and which are sometimes strangely twitchy, at other times her movements are slightly unnatural. She is an ordinary girl who lacks charm or at least a touch of charisma, and I already know that when this is over, I am probably never going to call her again...That is how I would describe my feelings after meeting Alexandra Trese. I can agree with much of what has been said on internet, even the Constantine comparison makes sense - after all the setting is similar - however, I think that John Constantine is a wonderful and distinctive character. Who was I supposed to like in this show? Eventually, there was no falling in love (my emotions dried up), the entertainment was lacking, and any enthrallment was non-existent. The interesting setting, mediocre story, and tons of gore are not enough for me to award more than 4.5/10. (12/06/2021)

A rationalizing, wannabe harsh-demonic cruelly cool noirish post-American B-movie from the Philippines that is visibly lacking in funding, so it lets all sorts of story turns get cut short, drops frames, and the tired dubbers (with really few exceptions) monotonously read the crappy written paper blatherings a la Jaden Smith. The filmmakers operated on the main character Alexandra Trese's face so that she knows only one perpetually sour expression, and if she doesn't have her family dagger in her hands at a given moment, then judging by her behavior it must be concealed very high up her ass. Anyone who meets her on the street, at the punching bag, or in the toilet can't help remarking how similar she is to her "Kiritsuguvian" father or how proud he would be of her. Since her father was a badass, Alex must also be naturally as tough as sandpaper from a cleaver, pulling one incantation after another out of her hat and being senselessly berated by every helpful beast in this otherwise creative Manila monstrosity. I don't find the mythology of the anime to be bad, it's just that the creators are pure businessmen, shrinking the explanations into a measly 6 episodes so they have material for the next season, while in this one they explain nothing and figure it out yourselves! Let the last episode be proof of this writer’s cramp, when instead of fighting the boss, the episode has to sacrifice 2/3 of its time stumbling through his whiny and nonsensical expository monologue. And yet as far as I understood at least some of the snippets from the abundant flashbacks provided, all of that destiny and all of that curse wouldn't have happened if his father’s wasn't so philandering, heh. The animation in Trese didn’t strike me as particularly smooth, whereas the density of detail was very cheap, and what we get in abundance is just a liter of blood; even the fights were worth a whole lot of nothing. I don't have anything to single out with this one and would recommend it for viewing in the late morning hours of the weekend after a raging party or maybe for dispatching to the underworld for cremation. A better 2 stars (12/06/2021)

A Filipino comic about a female detective who battles mythical creatures and various monsters in Manila. The animation is decent, it's quite engaging as a crime show, and when it comes to blood, it splatters nicely. Occasionally they conjure up a horror vibe conjured up (the zombie attack on the police station). I'm not quite the target audience, but I was relatively entertained. Anime fans can throw in an extra star. 6/10. (12/06/2021)