Out of all local animated series that has been released, Ejen Ali's first 2 seasons is definitely Malaysia's best animated series to date in terms of storytelling & graphics.
The animation is impressive for a local production (which is why it takes so long for a single episode to be completed), it has good soundtrack, pretty impressive action scenes and the least cringy Malay script i have ever heard.
In terms of plot and storytelling, it feels like anime fans would be able to enjoy this series because of its mature storyline that doesn't talk down on its audience, which is a very rare thing to find in a Malaysian storytelling medium especially for an animated series.
I remember watching the first season on TV3 back in 2016 and had to endure the agony of waiting through repeated episodes each week while wondering when the next episode will finally be finished & aired. While the first half of season 1 had a simplistic storytelling, the second half of season 1 definitely had cemented Ejen Ali as an animated series with a mature-theme plot and deep storyline. This is the reason why Ejen Ali even appeals to teens & adults.
I love how the storyline of Ejen Ali feels deep & complex and yet not convoluted (like alot of animes or games or mangas these days), and i hope it stays that way in its future seasons to come. This series is well-known for its "plot twists" and it has been able to deliver them well in season 1, season 2, and as well as the movie.
To be honest, i am worried how the series will develop in the future because i have seen my favourite international series go downhill (western and also Japanese alike) but i am also looking forward to how Ejen Ali will move forward and eventually wrap up after the success of its first movie.
The reason i'm giving the first 2 seasons an 8 out of 10 despite liking it so much is because the English dub available on Netflix SERIOUSLY needs a total rework (Wait, General Rama's indian english accent is on point tho. Keep it. Actually, kudos to Azman Zulkiply who sounds the best & has diverse english accent while voicing all 3 of his characters; General Rama, Agent Rizwan & Viktor.).
Like...please... I know it's easy to either just reuse voices of the original Malay version (and they already did a good job in their original language) or get whoever is available, but if you want to make this series "appealing" to international audience, then for the love of God, please find a set of good english speaking cast. Please take this english adaptation business alot more seriously. No matter how good the series is, cringy english dub can totally ruin or turn people off from giving the series a try.
If local studios can't deal with making a good english dub, I hope a good foreign studio is willing to work on the english adaptation. OR, if dubbing in english is too much of a hassle & you can't afford to find a good english speaking cast, then just don't dub it in english at all and let people watch it in the original Malay language with english subtitles, because that didn't stop anime from being well accepted globally. :)
I'm writing this review after finally being able to watch season 2 on Netflix just after i had watched the movie with my kids (fantastic movie by the way).
I feel like this series NEEDS MORE ATTENTION & LOVE by the citizens.
It seems like director Usamah Zaid and the team has a good outline & overall plan for the story of Ejen Ali and I genuinely hope this franchise will have a good development and end with a bang in the future.
Malaysian folks, please support this amazing series.
