Since it began broadcasting in the Philippines in 1978, Voltes V has become a cultural phenomenon and has also become well-known in various Southeast Asian countries
As we all know, on May 5, 1978, GMA Network in the Philippines premiered Voltes V with English dubbing. On August 27, 1979, then-President Ferdinand Marcos banned it due to “harmful effects on children,” and the four episodes that remained were never broadcast. The anime was rerun on Philippine television from the 1980s to 2010s following the 1986 People Power Revolution, where Marcos resigned to prevent the brutal revolution.
GMA Network acquired the rights to make a live-action adaptation through Telesuccess Productions, Toei’s Philippine licensee. A full-scale trailer was released on January 1, 2023, on the TV network’s social media channels and YouTube, and is touted as the network’s most expensive production to date.
The pilot episode received an overwhelmingly positive reception!
As fans showered the series with acclaim, the hashtag #VoltesVLegacyTVPremiere shot to the top of the Philippine Twitter trending list with 28,000 tweets and counting.
The series’ actors, “Steve Armstrong,” “Jamie Robinson,” “Miguel Tanfelix,” and “Dokugaga” also all appeared on the trending list.
Many references to the anime in the live-action adaptation made some fans sentimental, such as when the final credits featured sequences from the original opening sequence.
We hope that the series could maintain the production quality until the end – bombastic side eye to Victor Magtanggol.
