Review: Seis Manos
Set in the Mexican town of San Simon, a town smack in the middle of a drug war during the 70’s. San Simon has been caught in in the cross-hairs in a fight for control between the Narco Cartels, one led by El Balde, and the other a mysterious Shadow Mayor. The only thing keeping the drug war from totally tearing the town apart is trio of orphans adopted and trained by a martial arts master Chiu (Vic Chao) ”“ Jesus (Jonny Cruz), Isabela (Aislinn Derbez), and Silencio ”“ the local policewoman, Garcia (Angélica Vale), and US DEA Agent Brister (Mike Colter).
This is a series whose main draw its subject matter lore is steeped is going to be that it does not shy away from violence, as can be expected when you integrate Satanic Rituals, Zombies, Demon Dogs, and then mix it in with psychopath Cartel bosses in league with the devil not to mention in the other corner racist corrupt cops. Seis Manos is a show that is rife with absurdities, but even more so than others, silly cliches and tropes are a part of classic kung fu cinema, to the point that the films don“t work very well without them.
I was also impressed by the dedication to integrating some of the more technical Kung Fu styles into the story. Even it was in some instances a little cliche. For instance Jesus (Jonny Cruz) practices drunken boxing , while Silencio practices the “white eyebrow” style.  Isabella ( Aislinn Derbez) practices the Hung ga style.
Aesthetic: Seis Manos, By design, embraces all that makes its influences great. Befitting its inspirations, each individual episode isn’t necessarily plot heavy. It overflows with thematic style, produced with the aid of a grainy after effect and flicker tools, The animation and aesthetic is pure grindhouse.
Character designs: Its character’s are exaggerated caricatures, but a few stand-outs include Jesus, el panzon who loves to drink mezcal; Garcia, the local police officer who’s fed up with the fact that nothing seems to happen in her town; and Brister, special agent on a missionwho has PTSD from his time in Vietnam. All of them are essentially stock characters, but in the best possible way, but none really cosplay worthy.
Sound Track: The music is stereo-typical Mexican and Chinese in style and a great addition to the background, but there wasn’t any music by known artist to really get excited about. Which is actually quite shocking to me. While there has been a big push by media savvy companies to capture elements of the Asian and Latin American market, bring in some more culturally authentic musical influence would have been great.
Best Dialogue: “The road to excess, leads to the path of wisdom”-(Sifu encouraging Jesus to down a bottle of Mezcal)
Way Ahead: So far there has not been an announcement for a second season of Seis Manos. How did a martial arts master end up in a small town in Mexico? That may be because Powerhouse are also working on animation development and creation for another Netflix show, Gods & Heroes and also, Masters of the Universe: Revelation an animated web television series created by Kevin Smith for Netflix, so they may not have time to follow up on anything regarding the Seis Manos story-line.
My Dos Pesos: First, there needs to be a comic book adaption of Seis Manos. Second, the character designs need to be a little bit more discernible. The Mexican Narcos and the children have a look that is definitely distinguished. Adding in some recognizable Mexican corridos music would add some flavor. Lastly, product placement. This one is on the companies. There were a lot of areas that they could have added in some recognizable placement. I mean there is a Mezcal called Silencio!
SCORE: 5/5
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