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I understand Netflix has to make TRESE PG18. It does show gore and violence , so, kids, don’t watch it _____but then , how can the creators not show gore______ it deals with aswangs , after all, ( shape shifter creatures ) whose favorite dish, unfortunately , are humans.

The title TRESE is the surname of Detective Alexandra Trese, who is the go – to detective of the police department when a murder that takes place looks suspiciously other worldly. ( She’s like FBI’s Fox Mulder or Constantine of DC animation ) She’s the bridge or the conduit between the humans and the supernatural world, the legacy she has inherited from her family. Alexandra’s last name , Trese, or 13, is also significant in Filipino folklore and superstitions. It is an unlucky number. There are , in fact, NO building structures in the Philippines that has a 13th flloor. After the 12th floor, it goes straight to 14th. 13th floors in the Philippines do not exist.

I’m sure non -Filipinos watching TRESE will get lost trying to figure out the what, why and how. I suggest viewers just take the events ” as is , where is.” Filipinos , on the other hand, can relate to all the events happening in the story. Take for instance the first scene______ the murder of a ghost on Balete Drive. There is a real Balete Drive in Metro-Manila that is known for White Lady hauntings since the ’50’s. The White Lady was a girl who was a hit and run victim. The event was true, but the hauntings, I don’t know. To this day, drivers ( especially cab drivers ) avoid this route , and if ever they need to drive here, they blow their horn as their ” tabi-tabi po ” version of an excuse to drive on the road.

The old Balete Drive used to have so many creepy -looking balete trees lining the road. Balete trees are known to be the homes of mysterious creatures. ( The tree figures prominantly in TRESE ) . Today, most of the balete trees on Balete Dr. have been cut down to keep the street well – lit at night. ( Don’t worry, Balete trees are now protected ) Some balete trees are still there, but most are inside the properties of people living there. By the way, Balete Drive is a street of rich, well to do families living in mansions with tall concrete fences.

Photo below is BALETE TREE.

In other words, just the first scene alone is chockfull of Filipino lore and superstitions.

There is one episode that deals with TIYANAKS. Although Filipino folklore has different versions of tiyanaks, there is one thing in common to all_____ tiyanaks look like babies, and can mimic them to lure humans whom they expect to save them from harm , then they turn into a monster and claw their way into their victims and eat them.

It’s been part of a folklore even during pre-colonial times, but Catholicism turned the regular , garden variety monster into souls of infants that died before being baptized , and in recent , modern folklore, tiyanaks have become fetuses that have been aborted and have returned from death to seek revenge on those who deprived them of life. Because abortion is a sensitive issue, the writers changed abortion in the comix into straightforward murder of the baby by its own mother in the anime.

There was a funny incident in my life when my older siblings became afraid of me for a time, LOL , and wouldn’t go near me, nor touch me . They had just watched a movie about a Tiyanak titled TIyanak, when they saw me in the crib, looking at the wall and pointing , laughing and smiling at something unseen ( My siblings were , I think, 8 and 9 years old ) They freaked out, and judged me, ha ha ha !

Photo below is the real child of actress Janice de Belen who was teased as Tiyanak when she was a baby , for a long time. LOL I can believe that.

My mother got teased also for having Capiz/Aklan as her home province, and unfotunately, also the home province of aswangs, LOL.

So, okay, if you’ve reached this part of my post, thank you so much for reading.

Bye for now. I hope I can post a real review of TRESE after this .