It has become noticeable, in recent years, how much Japanese animation or Anime has permeated the mindset of today's generation of Filipinos. Its influence is so much that there exists a noticeable rise of Anime communities in the Philippines, of which are primarily composed of Otakus, video game enthusiasts, J-pop J-rock fans, Cosplayers and even a Japanophile.

<h2>Early years</h2>
The Bataan Death March, Manila Massacre, Comfort Women and other Japanese war crimes in World War 2 were easily forgotten in the late 1970s, when Mecha Anime, led by the renowned Voltes V series (which was banned by the current head of the Philippines under Martial Law, President Ferdinand Marcos), came to invade the country. The early batch of anime series were dubbed in English that one hardly noticed that the voice actors were actually Filipinos. Their execution of the English dialogue were at par with the American cartoon shows airing at the same time.

But then, anime abruptly disappeared in Philippine TV for over 20 years, leaving only a handful of memorable titles like Macross (1984-1989) and Astroboy (1984-1989). Unlike American titles that were major hitters like the Transformers series (1986-1991), G.I. Joe (1987-1996) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1989-1991).

<h2>Censorship and Contribution to the Anime Industry</h2>
By the mid-1990's, anime slowly began to resurface in local television with two of the most controversial series netting the most of children's demographics, namely Dragon Ball Z (1993) and Sailormoon (1993). Both were animated by the local branch of Toei Animation located before at West Ave, Quezon City (and could now be found at Libis). In 1999, Filipino animator, Rodillo Monoy left Toei to build his own company, the California Animation. The California Animation is responsible for the production of Yugi Oh, Digimon and other Westernized titles.

Dragon Ball Z was dubbed in English by Filipino voice actors during the first years of its local airing, but was later translated into Tagalog. It was then plagued with the constant threat of being banned with local censorship agency, MTRCB, regarding DBZ having scenes of violence, depicting blood and gore.

The Sailormoon series have also been haunted with issues concerning sexuality i.e. homosexuality and scenes of kinky nature. Nevertheless, ABC 5 successfully aired all episodes of the Sailormoon series from beginning (Sailor Moon R) to end (Sailor Moon Stars) with no further mishaps. Also, it has been subjected to successul re-runs from 1993 to 2003.

<h2>Fan and Professional Translation</h2>


The rise of console emulation in late 1996 triggered fansub or fan translation, a community translating various media for the English-speaking people. BAO Team (led by Cahos, Galo and kamuixtv) the only Filipino emulation group introduced EZJap, a modified Japanese DOS program. They translated the EMIT Series, Sailormoon: Another Story and Romancing Saga 3 and did scanlations of Neon Genesis Evangelion Hentai Manga. (The group also intervened with the hacking culture in the Philippines and other Internet communities.) Their co-founded group, Yaoi Dudes (YD) led by Vincent Ternida and Galo is responsible for the Japanese-to-Tagalog translation of various anime titles in ABS CBN and Hero TV.

<H2>Voice Actors/Actresses</H2>

Earl Ignacio

Wendy Villacorta

Sherwin Revestir

<H2>External Links: </H2>
California Animation