Ejen Ali
Ejen Ali is a Malaysian animation series produced by WAU Animation. The titular character is a young 12-year-old boy named Ali who accidentally becomes a special agent after using the Infinity Retinal Intelligent System, a device prototype created by the Meta Advance Tactical Agency. IRIS is controlled by neuro-signals, enabling the wearer to perform actions programmed by the computer. After the incident, Ali and his uncle, Bakar, cooperated in MATA missions.
The series is published in HDTV format and was first broadcast on TV3 on 8 April 2016. Ejen Ali is the first animation series IP published by Media Prima Berhad.
Background
Setting
Based in Cyberaya, a fictional city inspired by the real city of Cyberjaya, Selangor. The series revolves around Meta Advance Tactical Agency, a paramilitary, Pinkerton-style spy agency, made up of four company-sized units known as pillars.Production
Director and scriptwriter Usamah Zaid Yasin came up with the idea for the series after establishing WAU Animation in 2013. For the storyline, he and his team watched films and animated series and read novels about spies and intelligence agencies. Making Ejen Ali took two years before the production work started in July 2015. Regarding his title choice, Usamah said that Ali is a simple name and frequently used in textbooks. After some initial difficulty choosing a simple name, Ali was chosen. Unlike most animated TV series in Malaysia, the end credits of the series were written in English instead of Malay, as was done with BoBoiBoy.Wau Animation initially intended for Ejen Ali to be released as a feature film, but due to difficulties securing investment and after receiving feedback from other parties, they felt that it would be a loss if they only produced a single movie for such a broad concept. They planned to develop the series for at least five seasons, with films to follow. The first movie was finally released after two seasons on 28 November 2019.
Characters
Main
; Ali bin Ghazali; Bakar
; Alicia Kheng
;Comot
Supporting
; General Rama;Rizwan
;Dos
;Uno
;Trez
;Cinco
;Seis and Siete
;Dr. Aaron Edison / Nueve
;Jet
;Moon
;Iman
;Khai
;Rudy
;Mika
; Roza
;Bulat
;Zass
;Chris
;Aleksander "Aleks" Zakariiev
; Rizka Widjaya
; Samuel "Sam" Thompson Jr.
; Kimberly "Kim" Song
; Lily
;Leon
;Geetha
;Karya
;Zain
;Ganz
;Dayang
Other
; Victor; Dr. Ghazali
;Wak Musang
;Abang Bear
;Komeng:
;Analog Man
;Ocho
; Puan Munah
; Dr. Tong
; Dr. Mala
; Aliya
; Prof. Akram
; Dato' Hisham
;Julia
Episodes
Broadcast
Aside from airing on TV3 in Malaysia, Ejen Ali can also be streamed on Iflix and Netflix in an English dub.Outside Malaysia, Ejen Ali has been expanded and shown across over 50 different countries worldwide. In June 2020, Primeworks Studios announced that Ejen Ali, along with 5 other animated series produced by Primeworks Studios, will stream on Amazon Prime in 6 different countries namely: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, as part of their deal between the Primeworks Studios subsidiary, Primeworks Distribution and Janson Media.
In May 2021, Primeworks Studios and WAU Animations approached with The Walt Disney Company in dealing to stream the said series on Disney+ Hotstar. In October 2021, they confirmed its co-production, revealing that the series would launch by around late 2021 to early 2022.
Season 1
The first episode was broadcast on 8 April 2016, with the second and third episodes shown on 15 April and 22 April respectively. It is shown every Friday, at 5:30 p.m. on TV3. Fourth, fifth and sixth episodes shown on 27 July, 29 July, and 5 August respectively. Seventh to ninth episodes are shown on 28 October 2016 for three consecutive weeks. Tenth to twelfth episodes are shown on 30 December 2016, 6 January and 13 January 2017. Thirteenth episode has been shown on 3 March.An English dub of the show premiered 15 December 2017 on Disney Channel Asia and it was finished on 8 June 2018. It also aired on Nickelodeon Sonic in India in Hindi dub from 16 July 2018; however it was abruptly taken off the schedule nearly two weeks later due to low viewership. But on 5 November 2018, the new episodes were aired on Nick HD+ and the entire season was finished on 17 November 2018. it was aired till April 30 2020. From 15 April 2024 to 6 May 2024 it aired again on Super Hungama with a new dub.
Season 2
The first episode of Season 2 was broadcast 22 September 2017, with episode two, three and four shown on 29 September. 6 October and 13 October respectively. Just like Season 1, It is shown every Friday, at 5:30 p.m. on TV3, Fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth episodes shown on 17 November, 24 November, 1 December and 8 December respectively. Episode nine to eleven aired from 9 February to 23 February 2018. The twelfth episode was released on 23 March 2018. The thirteenth episode was released on 30 March, making 26 episodes total.An English dub for Season 2 premiered 15 April 2019 on Disney Channel Asia and it was finished on 1 January 2020. In India, it aired from 7 May 2024 to 28 May 2024 on Super Hungama in Hindi dub.
Season 3
Due to the insistent demand after three years since the end of the second season, it was announced that a third season has been confirmed with undergoing productions of the new episodes, as well as the release of a new teaser music of opening theme. A small teaser trailer was released on 14 October 2021, and a poster released on 28 November 2021, while its official trailer was released on 10 June 2022. It was voted to be most popular local animated series on ABPBH 34.It is co-produced with Disney+ Hotstar and premiered on 25 June 2022 as announced through Disney+ Hotstar Malaysia's YouTube channel in the "June 2022 Highlights" video on the regional Southeast Asian version as they received lower viewership in India and instead focusing on the designated areas.
It was revealed on 3 August 2022 that it would be divided into two parts with the first part aired for 7 episodes from 25 June to 6 August while the second part is scheduled to release in December. The teaser trailer for part two was released on YouTube.
Soon after the release of its first episode, illegal torrents started to circulate on the Internet. On its official Twitter handle, it was requested to stop the piracy by submitting any illegal torrent link to them. The creators also requested people not to pest or threaten them to release the new season on other platforms. They assured to broadcast the series on other platforms or regions when available in future.
On 26 August 2022, the staff and casts for the English dub for Season 3 were announced. The ADR director is Michael Schneider, while the casting director is Rachel Slotky. It was produced by Reuben Lack and adapted by Emily Fajardo and Meli Grant. Annika Perkins was involved in spotting, while dialogue was edited by Brian Hubbard and John Montoya.
Controversy
It was discovered that several fans and fan bases were indulged into creating explicit/sexually inappropriate content of the characters; and were being circulated on social media. Official handles took a notice of this and asked the users not to encourage the wrong acts that "disgrace" the character's depiction and respect them to be as normal entities.Reception
Awards and nominations
Other media
Video game
Before the release of Ejen Ali, WAU Animation with the collaboration with Media Prima Digital released its own game which is Ejen Ali: MATA Training Academy for Android and iOS users on 4 March 2016. The game was downloaded for over 260,000 times. The second game, Ejen Ali: Emergency was released for iOS and Android in September 2016. Ejen Ali: Emergency is co-produce with Malaysia video game company Common Extract after the company won a Game Jam organised by Media Prima Digital, Primeworks Studios, Wau Animation and Multimedia Development Corp.Both games have succeeded to win medals in Mob-Ex Awards 2017. Ejen Ali: MATA Training Academy won three golds which were Best App - Creativity, Best App - Media Owner and Best App - Tablets and one bronze which was Best App - Games & Entertainment, while Ejen Ali: Emergency won one gold for Best App - Games and Entertainment and one bronze for Best App - Tablets.
In early 2020, WAU Animation with Media Prima Digital announced the releasing of a new game, "Ejen Ali: Agent's Arena", which was to be available on Android, later iOS, but now it has been removed from most of the databases. It's already being played in Malaysia. Ejen Ali: Agents Arena is co-produce with Common Extract.