Zaijan Jaranilla‘s character in “Darna” was juxtaposed with another fictional character from a Filipino graphic novel series.
Some viewers likened Zaijan’s character named Ding Custodio to Janus Silang, a character in a graphic novel of his namesake, following an episode where the former was playing video games at a computer shop.
In the episode, which aired on August 17, Ding seemed to be captivated by a video game he was playing with other players.
The camera focused on Ding’s eyes and shifted to the game he was playing.
The video clip of this moment could be viewed on ABS-CBN Entertainment’s channels.
Some viewers of ABS-CBN’s “Darna” thought of Janus Silang, the titular character in the graphic novel series created by award-winning author Edgar Calabia Samar, because of this scene.
In Samar’s story, Janus was also an avid player of a fictional game called “TALA Online”. His magical adventures in the novels started with the game.
“OMG yung scene na naglalaro ng PC game si Ding reminds me of Janus playing Tala HAHAHAHAHAHAH if only mas bata lang si Zaijan he would have been a great Janus Silang,” one user said.
“Naalala ko si Janus Silang kay Ding Narda #BayanNiDarna,” another user tweeted.
One user even shared still images from the episode that reminded him of the other fictional character.
This scene from #DarnaEpisode3 parang opening scene ng #JanusSilang ni @ecsamar 🤯#Darna #BayanNiDarna #DarnaTheTVSeries #DarnaTVSeries pic.twitter.com/5QgJcmna5L
— Kebii 🩺 (@bokulife) August 19, 2022
Samar soon saw these posts. He uploaded a screenshot of one of them on his Facebook page.
The author also joined in the antics of his readers who compared the character that he created with the one from the superhero show.
“Anong level na kaya?” Calabia said.
In the comments section, some of his readers were wishful that his novels would also get adapted into a television show soon.
“Janus Silang Series please,” one Facebook user said with a crying emoji.
“Hopefully maisakatuparan din ang Janus Silang bilang TV series, alam ko may plano na ito dati,” another Facebook user said.
His fans have been calling for an adaptation of his acclaimed work for years.
In 2018, ABS-CBN managed to acquire television rights to these, thus increasing the hype for a “Janus Silang” TV project.
As of writing, there are no updates about the network’s plans to adapt Samar’s young adult series into television.
READ: After ‘Trese’s’ success, fans call for anime adaptation of award-winning ‘Janus Silang’ comics
Viewers, meanwhile, could catch “Darna” on ABS-CBN Entertainment’s online channels, TV5, A2Z and streaming site iWantTFC.
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