'He's Into Her': 5 things you need to know about DonBelle's debut 'kilig serye'

MANILA, Philippines — Finally, after two years, the Donny Pangilinan and Belle Mariano teen series "He's Into Her" is now streaming on iWantTFC.

It is also showing on the Kapamilya Channel, A2Z and Kapamilya Online Live on YouTube channel and Facebook page of ABS-CBN Entertainment.

Adapted from the book of the same title by Maxinejiji, the series talks about the cat-and-mouse relationship between the school's most popular guy Deib Lohr (Donny) and the new yet feisty student Maxpein (Belle).

Here are some information about the trending series you might want to know.

1. It has a lot of firsts: first major project for director Chad Vidanes, first team-up of Donny and Belle and first major lead role for Belle.

According to his IMDB page, Vidanes previously worked as second assistant director in the 2017 movie "Unexpectedly Yours." He directed an episode in the weekly court drama "Ipaglaban Mo" in 2019.

It is the first time for Donny and Belle to team up as a love team and star in a major show. Belle, who started out as one of the child actors in the kiddie gag show "Goin' Bulilit," takes up the pressure of her major lead starrer.

"This is my first lead and challenged po ako kasi people know me as this sweet girly na girl but then this one mapapalabas 'yung pagka-angas ko and pagka-boyish ko. So, there is pressure po talaga but I am driven to prove anyone na kayang kong gawin itong role na 'to," Belle said at last Monday's virtual presscon. 

2. K-dramas were major pegs for the series.

Director Chad revealed that he used K-dramas as peg for his first major series.

"Mainly siguro for the music and the feel of the series, ang pinaka-peg ko d'yan is 'Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo.' And for the visual look, I worked with my director of photography to peg 'Love Alarm.' That's our visual reference. Also 'Crash Landing On You.' That's what we try to pull off," he shared.

He also shared that he used soundtracks of Korean dramas to motivate his actors when shooting kilig scenes.

3. "He's Into Her" was originally commissioned for streaming on iWant.

Maxine Lat or Maxinejiji gushed about how the show exceeded her expectations. The 10-episode series was initially only planned to stream on ABS-CBN's iWant platform. As it is announced, it's streaming in all of ABS-CBN's known platforms.

4. Production interviewed actual high school students for reference on today's "code" or "language."

Maxine wrote the story eight years ago, and she admitted that she belongs to a different generation from the mostly Gen Z cast. She also revealed that she wrote it with her own experience of being bullied when she was younger.  

Star Cinema creative director and "He's Into Her" head writer Vanessa Valdez shared that they needed to understand today's lingo that's why they had to seek out today's youth for their show to work.

"We had to write it in such a way even if you don’t speak their language, maiintindinhan po rin yung show kasi the show is for everyone. Sa bawat episode, may lalabas na social media interaction. Mas doon namin ilalagay yung language nila. We want a show with a universal appeal," she said.

Director Chad quipped that Gen Z's "love language" is digital social  media. Thus, viewers should see a lot of it in their series.

5. If you're not a '90s kid, you'd still get the references on "TagSen" and Britney Spears' hit song "Sometimes."

Valdez said they made sure the younger ones, who are expected to take the largest chunk of the audience, will not be lost in translation with some '90s reference.

In the book, Maxine endearingly calls Maxpein and Deib as "TagSen." The latter is coined after the fictional demon brothers, Taguro and Sensui, in the cult favorite '90s anime "Ghostfighter." Britney's sweet dancey love song is the duo's theme song.

"I know that it's something that the fans love, 'yung term na 'Taguro and Sensui.' It's used in the scenes not to the point na if you didn't see 'Ghostfighter,' hindi mo maiintindihan," Vanessa said.

Fans will know for certain about the Britney song, although Vanessa stressed that there are limitations on the use of the song in the series.

"He's Into Her" also stars Vivoree Esclito, Kaori Oinuma, Rhys Eugenio, Joao Constancia, Criza Taa, Ashley del Mundo, Gello Marquez and Jeremiah Lisbo.