This may all seem like the kind of perfect fever dream for pure escapism, but the cases that occult detective Alexandra Trese investigates hit quite close to home for ordinary Filipinos.

In Filipino supernatural comic book Trese’s Metro Manila, modern tech and pop culture live alongside a bestiary of mythic creatures. Winged viscera-suckers fly across the Central Business District’s skyline and demigods influence politics and policy making—even meddling in the outcome of big boxing matches.

On November 8, 2018, Netflix’s director of anime Taito Okiura announced that an adaptation of Trese would be part of the streaming giant’s 17 new original productions from Asia.

“Trese's creatures are more reflective of facets in Philippine society than they are of comic villains,” said Jordan Clark, director of The Aswang Phenomenon, a documentary on Philippine mythology. “You have the vampiric aswangs running a black market, reverse centaur tikbalang corporate giants, and other demons like maligno monsters that disguise themselves as humans.”

Trese is one of the most popular and accessible ways for the public to explore Philippine mythology. Photo courtesy of Trese Facebook page

What this means is an opportunity for Philippine mythology to be taken on its own merits: to have the narratives and metaphors of a whole country examined within context, sans dilution and diminution, unlike what Hollywood did with its Americanized versions of J-horror.

“People have this notion that I did a ton of research for Trese. But the first two books were really based on experiences I grew up with,” co-creator Budjette Tan told VICE.

“Growing up in a very Catholic household there’s a deep sense of mystical external forces, often bigger than you. That maybe these beings are the ones making things happen behind the scenes? You just can’t help but tell these stories because they’re part of growing up in a city like Manila, in a country like the Philippines.”