QUEZON CITY, Philippines — Japanese broadcaster TV Asahi, together with Synergy88 Digital and August Media, have formally launched the basketball-themed animation series Barangay 143 during its press launch event on Tuesday.
Jackeline Chua, managing director of Synergy88 Digital, explains that Barangay 143’s story “is inspired by our own life, our own challenges in life, so we would like to share the lessons that we learned in the show…”
“Sometimes we have our ups-and-downs, but what we like to share is that in life, Bola is life… but what we have to do is just be strong and keep rolling with the punches.” Chua adds.
When asked if Barangay 143 is also intended to be seen outside the Philippines, Jyotirmoy Saha, chief executive officer of Singapore-based August Media, says “The Philippines has a rich storytelling… but we see very little of that outside of the Philippines.”
“Not only this show has to absolutely relate to everybody [including] the average man on the street in the Philippines, but making the standards where its easy [to relate] abroad and travels in the world.”
Saha then confirms that there are plans to distribute the animation series overseas.
The producers of the upcoming series also announced that terrestrial broadcaster GMA Network has acquired the program to air on their network.
Jose Mari Abacan, GMA Network’s first vice president for program management, was asked why the broadcaster has acquired the show. He explains that his job was to go around the world to look for the best content for the channel.
“The first time I saw the trailer for the very first episode… I was already impressed, which is why we have to give them airtime,” Abacan said.
But when asked by Anime Pilipinas if Barangay 143 would be given a primetime slot, he explains that it will air on a timeslot that is “suitable for something big like this” and has deferred giving a definite time.
The television series will be the second part of the “360-degree experience” of the brand following the launch of the mobile game last year, which will then be followed by a web comic series.
Saha explains that though the mobile game, animation series, and web comic would be interconnected in some way, they will be independent of each other.
“We are not [just] producing a show, we are producing a brand,” Chua also adds.
The press launch event introduced the voice cast for the animation series, which includes veteran movie & television actors Cherie Gil as “Sophia” and John Arcilla as “Coach B.”
The cast also includes the following:
- Migo Adacer as “Bren T. Park”
- Julie Anne San Jose as “Vicky”
- Ruru Madrid as “Wax”
- Kelly Day as “Jinri”
- Sylvia Sanchez as “Tita Baby”
- Paolo Contis as “Koboy”
- Raver Eda as “Buchoy”
Barangay 143 was announced two year ago, and Japanese business news website Nikkei initally reported that TV Asahi would handle areas like Character designs and directing, while Synergy88 would be handling the scripts and production.
