'Trese' creator Budjette Tan admits he was nervous about the anime adaptation of his comics

Having your brainchild get adapted into another medium must come with a slew of worries, and this is apparently the case for "Trese" writer Budjette Tan and illustrator Kajo Baldisimo.

In an interview on "The Howie Severino Podcast," Budjette admitted that he had been nervous about how the anime adaptation of his comics would turn out, saying that it was a mentality that came from being a comic book geek and seeing his favorites get adapted into films.

"For example, my favorite Batman film of course is Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy and I know when he picks up all of those storylines. [So I know he got inspired]... he got inspired by what? A dozen other storylines from the comic book," he said.

However, this also allowed him to understand that "to make a good adaptation, you can't adapt it frame by frame, panel by panel."

Anime production

Although Budjette and Kajo created the books that were the basis of Netflix's latest anime offering, neither of them had much to do with the anime production.

The two of them were content to leave it in the hands of executive producer and writer Tanya Yuson and showrunner Jay Oliva.

"I mean that's what Jay and Tanya are good at," Budjette said. "Me and KaJo left it up to them to adapt it in the best way possible."

However, he revealed that the art director did discuss with Kajo at length about the look of Alexandra Trese, the series' main character, and how to adapt the mythological creatures such as nuno and aswang.

Budjette on the other hand was in touch with the writers' team, who asked him more about Trese and the plot points only hinted at in the books.

As soon as production started, however, Budjette said they "trusted Tanya and Jay to adapt it as best as they could possibly can."

And despite being nervous about the output, he and Kajo just decided that no matter how the anime fares, they would just make sure to further improve their comic book series.

"So parang focus na lang tayo sa comics. Hindi naman tayo TV director or animation director (So we were like, let's focus on the comics. We aren't TV directors or animation directors)," Budjette said. "So you know, we really leave it up to them and let's do the best comic book that we can."

READ: 'Trese' aims to conquer the world: supernatural or otherwise

"Trese" is the Philippines' first anime series picked up by streaming giant Netflix.

Set in Manila where the mythical creatures of Philippine folklore live in hiding amongst humans, the show follows Alexandra Trese as she goes head to head with a criminal underworld comprised of malevolent supernatural beings.

It is currently streaming on Netflix. —JCB, GMA News