New basketball anime to capture flair of Pinoy basketball

The creators of hit anime series “Doraemon” and “Mobile Suit Gundam” from Japan's TV Asahi are working together with the Philippines' ASI Studios to create “Barangay 143,” a new anime series that will put the spotlight on the country's national pastime — basketball.

According to ASI Studios CEO Jyotirmoy Saha, the entire concept, from the script to the overall look of the basketball anime, is 100 percent Filipino.

“This concept is 100 percent originated here in Manila. These are writers who do dramas in television, who understand the pulse of the local audience,” he said in an interview with “24 Oras” on Wednesday.

“A lot of the characters have a Filipino look. While the style is anime, the look of everything—the backgrounds, where the locations are—it looks like Manila.... It is something that every Filipino will very easily identify with.”

Aside from street basketball, the scenes will also include several uniquely Filipino imagery, including the pedicabs, the streets of Tondo, and the colorful fashion sense of Filipinos.

More than that, the anime series also aims to share the stories of its Filipino characters walking through life... and the busy streets of Manila.

“Barangay 143” has been in the works for nine months, and the producers aim to showcase this one-of-a-kind anime series in Asia and other countries in the world where Filipinos reside.

A recent report from Nikkei Asian Review said that the series is expected to begin airing next year. 

"People in fast-growing emerging economies have begun to look for familiar stories they can relate to," TV Asahi's Takahiro Kishimoto told Nikkei.  —Bianca Rose Dabu/JST, GMA News