“What if they don’t like it?

“Well, there’s only one way to find out.”

So begins the introductory episode of Miming and Friends, a 3D animated children’s series on YouTube about a cat and her friends Buboy the flying lizard and Anancorn the unicorn who start a podcast that promotes Filipino culture and values.

The series was created during the pandemic by Dumaguete-based husband and wife team Ramon del Prado and Meryll Yan. “We are the entire animation production studio,” Chief Creative Officer del Prado said. “I do the character design, modeling, rigging, and animation for the whole show.”

The couple runs an agency that does digital marketing and commercial work. Del Prado’s background includes post-production, motion graphics, and animation, while Yan has a background in publishing. “[The pandemic was] the perfect opportunity to do what we always said we wanted to do if we had the time,” Del Prado said.

Del Prado’s sister Anna voices Anacorn, Dumaguete-born musician Algernon Van Peel composed the music, and friends voiced other characters. The episodes incorporate English, Tagalog, and Bisaya. “There's the consistent drive to always have that Filipino connection,” del Prado said. “It's full 3D animation. We don't use any AI… We'd like to keep it at the level where it looks like it's an international production, and I'm happy to say some people think that way.”

Miming and Friends’ Filipino roots are extremely important. Growing up exposed to foreign cartoons, del Prado always wanted to see someone like himself on screen. “There's a huge influx of content from the outside, and we need to be able to keep up with that, because if not, everyone's gonna sound like Peppa Pig,” he said. “We need our own voice in this space.”

Storytelling is important. “You know how the Japanese stuff comes into the Philippines, it's not saying, ‘This is Japanese…’” It's just a good story, a memorable character,” del Prado said. “We're not gonna say, ‘This is Filipino.’ Clearly, that's the root of the characters, but we're focusing on the story and the animation quality.”

The audience has noticed. Del Prado’s favorite comment is from a kid who saw an animated short he did of a fish speaking in straight Bisaya, “but the lips were also moving in straight Bisaya. It's not a dub. The kid was like, ‘It's really speaking Bisaya. That's my language!’ It’s something I always wanted, that's a feeling that, ‘There is, there is high quality animation that has my representation,” he said. “When I heard that comment, I was like, okay, we got it. If this one kid could see it, I'm sure there are more out there who… will see the same.”

It isn’t just kids who have been enjoying the show. “Those earlier episodes… got the attention of a few partners along the way,” del Prado said. Miming and Friends has collaborated with organizations such as Asian Parent, Museo Pambata, USAID’s Fish Right Program and Mondelez International in partnership with Save Philippine Seas.

The show’s storytelling began to change as well, moving towards more environmentally themed storylines. “From it being simple preschool songs [and] lessons, there is now a clear direction towards environmentalism, which, as someone who grew up in Dumaguete, I’m also very passionate about,” del Prado said. “Growing up here, I saw how beautiful the corals, the rivers, and the trees were, and now a lot of them are being killed in the name of progress, so we have a very strong connection… Miming and Friends has an identity now that's more towards saving planet Earth with cute animals.”

The del Prados have been invited to several international animation conferences, most recently the SEA Creators Meet-up in Japan, where they will be one of the few delegations with their own intellectual property. “[The Philippines is] known [for its animation] outsourcing, so it’s gonna be new and unexpected that we're bringing our own work,” del Prado said.

One of the show’s biggest fans is the del Prado’s two-year-old daughter. “We're breathing a really big sigh of relief that she likes the show,” he said. “I guess we’re doing something right.”

Del Prado’s experimentation extends to the show's format. “We have a series within the episodes called Coloring Time. We wanted to create great watchable content that encourages child participation. It's a video of me coloring a coloring book page, and we were hoping that kids who watch it will want to start coloring along,” del Prado said. “We got our own child, to well, for lack of a better term, test it. And it seems to work. She likes it and wants to color along with it, so we're like, this is very good information. It shows that screen time doesn't have to be passive, which leads to a lot of the attention span problems we have now.”

The show is also designed to be tailored to the viewer’s preference. “You can assemble your own show… We made a system to allow for that customization to happen,” del Prado said. “We also designed the episodes to be watchable by the parents. Hopefully it doesn't drive them crazy if the kid wants to watch it over and over.”

What started as a passion project has helped del Prado realize his childhood dream. “The feeling of finally sitting down and being able to create something that's been on the back of your head for such a long time is a privilege, and we're always grateful for that,” del Prado said. “And the audience acting the way you're hoping they would, it's such a very nice feeling.”

He hopes that Miming and Friends becomes a household name. “If I see a jeepney with Miming and friends characters on the side… then you know you’ve made it.”

We return to Miming and Friends’ introductory episode, where Miming soothes Boboy, who is worried about the audience’s response to their new podcast: “What if they like it?”

And Buboy replies, “That would be nice.” (Photos courtesy of Ramon del Prado)