#ybarro

Ybrahim's longing is valid, but that longing has turned him into a piece of shit to the living and breathing engkantados around him. He could have just died fighting the Mine-a-ve to protect his kingdom or even his daughters just like how the original Ybrahim died in Enca 3 (2006); that would have been more acceptable.

Ybrahim's character was far from perfect, but that NEVER defined him as a man. His love for his woman was unwavering despite everything they went through, he lost his daughter and longed for her for YEARS, but that didn't stop him from being a great king, and a loving grandfather to Cassandra. He died fighting and protecting both Arman and Armea. He became one of the pillars of Encantadia, he was fearless, he was loyal, he was a true king.

IT WAS KYLIE’S MAGIC AFTER ALL

I wondered if my fascination for Ybramihan was because of the story. And that refusing to watch it after Kylie left the show was just some sort of rebellion after all. Was the magic really because the Ybrahim and Amihan storyline was in fact very powerful? Would it have worked if it was any other artist who played the parts?

And as I think about it, I was reminded I didn’t like Dingdong Dantes before - no matter what character he played. So maybe that was that. 2005 Ybramihan didn’t work for me because Dong never had a chance of endearing his character to me.

Am I doing the same thing to Ariana? Just because I didn’t like her apathetic acting in Meant To Be doesn’t exactly mean she would fail as Amihan’s reincarnation right? So I watched it last night. Giving it a shot.

And you know what? The episode left me in a puddle of tears. The only scene I took away was that moment when PaoPao realized there was no punchline - Amihan really is dead. And it resonated not just as a slap of reality but also as a loud ringing reminder that we seem to have kept ignoring: Amihan is long gone and she will never come back.

“Wala na yung una at katangi-tanging diwatang nagmahal sa akin”

Who played mature PaoPao? To be honest, I wasn’t really moved by his acting, his facial expression didn’t seem like that of someone who just realized they’ve lost someone. But Imaw’s ‘balintataw’? That would have brought anyone who loved Amihan down on their knees. It was just heartbreaking watching that hologram play out. Like reliving the exact moment they broke your heart into tiny little pieces. Sabi nga ni Ybrahim:

Walang ipinagbago Amihan, kahit matagal ka nang namayapa, hanggang ngayon nasasaktan pa rin kaming lahat

True enough. Kylie has long left the show, I think it has been months already yet it still pierces right through your heart to see her face. Which I find amusing actually. I used to hate that “resting pained expression” on Kylie’s face. Now I can’t seem to get enough of it that I had to replay youtube clips and that scene from last night on how she died.

So, let’s talk about the elephant in the room: Ariana. Sorry, but maybe it was just me, I didn’t feel kilig in her scene with Ybrahim. The touches on her hand and shoulder and the stolen looks that were supposed to be subtle were just too blatantly played out you couldn’t be fooled by the effort to remind you it was Amihan’s ivtre inside of her. And what made it such a fail was Arra’s ‘wide eyed bland expression’ on her face whatever the scene may be. She kind of reminded me of Kris Aquino - that one expression for every single emotion. It was kind of hard to miss. I have seen that in her breakup scene with Ivan in Meant To Be. Sorry, dear, maybe I am too attached with Kylie’s Amihan but that 'one facial expression for all’ kind of just doesn’t work for me the way it probably should.

Ruru has obviously been putting more weight than he should just so it works out. Pero iba pa rin eh. Iba yung looks nya kay Kylie eh.

So this I would have to conclude: it was Kylie after all. Ybramihan worked its wonders to me because of how Kylie took the reins on her character. Of how Ruru seems to be basking in the glow on Kylie’s face, on how he seems to get lost in her eyes, and how his lips seem to be pulled into a bright smile whenever he sees her. It all seems automatic and natural when he’s in a room with Kylie.

Kinakailangan ng iyong ama na bumitaw sa alaala ni Amihan kung nais nyang maging masaya muli

And that quote from Alena. No, Alena. Maybe you’ve never loved someone the way Ybrahim loves Amihan or the way we love Amihan and Ybrahim. But understand this: you don’t let go of someone and their memories just so you can be happy. Happiness finds you when you least expect it. He’s not sad because he keeps Amihan’s memories, he’s sad because he feels like being happy would be like robbing Amihan - like it would be unfair to be happy when she's not around. And because their love was so powerful that it was hard to move on from that. And what he needs is not to let go of those memories but for someone to remind him that it’s okay to keep Amihan in his heart BUT it’s also okay to be happy and to move on with his life. Because Amihan would want that. And that my dear, is how you tell someone to move on (not by telling him to let go of Amihan’s memories)

From Lance Serrano's IG...

So we all know by now that the actress of Amihan, Kylie Padilla, is now 3-months pregnant with her now-fiancè’s baby, and how it has changed the whole ball game of Encantadia. As a result, Amihan was killed off, sacrificing herself to save her loved ones, leaving behind her three sisters, her daughters, her beloved, and her legacy.

Thus was the end of a fictional love story that has barely begun, that is the tragic love story between the Prince of Sapiro and the Queen of Lireo. At least for now, it has reached a stop, with very little assurance of moving forward.

We all knew from the very beginning that YbraMihan was never the intended canon of the show, thanks to the original 2005 run of Encantadia, wherein as every Enca fan knows, Ybarro and Alena’s love story was a prominent element to the whole show with the tagline “Pag-Ibig Hanggang Wakas”.

I have mentioned several times in my Enca posts and comments that I was a big fan of AleBarro during the original run, and why shouldn’t I be?

Their love for each other has been one of the main focuses of the story, Ybarro and Alena’s love for each other never wavered even when several obstacles stood their way, not to mention the actors themselves were in a relationship back then. It was the perfect, dreamy love story that came from fairy tales.

One of the foils? Alena’s older sister, Amihan, who also happens to be the main character and the mother of his child through Emre’s blessing, had also fallen in love with Ybarro.

While Ybarro back then did not display any clear confirmation regarding his feelings for her, Amihan on the other hand could not help but fall for her sister’s lover, albeit unintentionally, and had not loved another man throughout her whole life.

Fortunately for Alena, Amihan loves her sister and cares about her happiness more than her own desires. This also stems from the fact that she is Queen of Lireo, a highly-esteemed position which strictly does not allow her to marry.

And I will admit myself that back then, I was never one who favors the protagonists in a lot of shows. So I was glad that for once, the “prince” did not end up with the main protagonist, a welcome change from typical Filipino teleseryes.

11-year-old me didn’t understand that it wasn’t because Amihan’s the main protagonist that she deserved the “prince”, but because of the genuine development they had as they stayed by each others’ side.

Amihan was willing to sacrifice even her own life to bring joy and safety to her family and kingdom, and that is exactly what she did in tonight’s episode.

Thus, Amihan and Ybrahim’s love story did not come to fruitition during the 2005 run, and we will never know if their love story would’ve truly blossom had Amihan given in to her desires and gave Ybrahim a chance to freely fall in love with her.

It can be argued that even back then, YbraMihan had attracted more fans than AleBarro did despite the outcome. Why the writers did not lean towards the majority of the fans’ clamors, we’ll never know for sure.

So as soon as the requel started, the fans did not hold any hope for Ybarro and Amihan becoming canon, and understandably so. Why would they subject themselves to pain when they know that it was never meant to be in the first place?

I’m also going to take a wild guess and say that perhaps one of the reasons why Ruru Madrid was chosen to play Ybarro aside from being part of the GabRu love team was because he was still a fairly young, teenage actor who couldn’t possibly have that much chemistry with the older, more experienced actress like Kylie.

Even during their first meeting in the dream, I did not feel that certain spark between them unlike Iza Calzado and Dingdong Dantes back in the day, who even I admitted had great chemistry despite not shipping them.

Unfortunately, I did not feel the powerful spark between Alena and Ybarro the way I did with Karylle and Dingdong. Perhaps it was because of how their first meeting was executed, it seemed a little too teeny-bopper and, frankly, cringe-worthy for me. Their following scenes after that did not help at all. Karylle and Dingdong’s version had a certain maturity along with their natural chemistry. Gabbi and Ruru did not have it, at least in my eyes it didn’t on this show. And that for me was one of the biggest disappointments I had in the beginning of the requel, because I expected the most from them.

So for awhile, I did not actively ship anyone during the requel, nor did I follow the show religiously because I didn’t like some of the changes made into the story and the vast introductions of many new characters. I casually shipped AleBarro just because they were the main couple and for sentimental reasons.

There’s also the fact that Ybarro and Amihan were given some sort of tension against each other that the original did not have. In this new run, Amihan found out about Ybarro being her child’s father, knowing that he is also Alena’s lover. So she asked him to leave them alone, he begrudgingly followed her orders and ended his relationship with Alena. At that moment, I disliked Amihan even more, adding to the fact that I initially wasn’t impressed with Kylie’s acting.

Then here comes the Fall of Lireo, wherein Amihan was betrayed and dethroned and was forced to go into hiding. And who was with her during that difficult time? Lo and behold, it was Ybarro.

It was during that “Almost Kiss” episode that I began to fall for their pairing. I saw the spark that wasn’t there before the fall. I didn’t understand how it came to this at first, since I did skip some episodes, but I was alarmed at how my heart jumped as Amihan and Ybarro drew closer to each other.

Like, since when did Ybarro actually have romantic feelings for Amihan? How did it happen? Why do they suddenly have this undeniable chemistry between them?

As I went back a few episodes, I realized how these two have become each others’ support, how they shared their grief about their personal failures with each other, how they began to set aside their past tensions and understand each other instead. Most of all, they helped each other grow in ways they didn’t expect they needed. They were nothing but genuine to each other, and better yet, the natural flow of their relationship and their explosive chemisty held that maturity that GabRu’s AleBarro lacked.

And while it was short, it was beautiful to watch.

So then began my hope for them to become canon and my abandonment of the AleBarro ship. And to my relief, the writers began listening to the majority and turned the story towards an YbraMihan endgame instead of the original AleBarro endgame.

The slow burn, the will-they-or-won’t-they moments, the insecurity of having Alena return because Ybarro might return to her just like that, the growing love they had for each other that they tried to discourage, the way they genuinely supported each other when the other needed help, the happy family moments with Lira… the journey of YbraMihan gave me that sort of excitement that I haven’t felt in a long time for Filipino love teams.

But first, let me explain why I dislike fixed Filipino Love Teams. When a certain popular pairing are given a show of their own, you know that no matter what the struggles are, whether their development in reality would no longer be healthy nor realistic, that certain love team will still end up together in the end. Even if there was a third (or fourth) party who had grown to have a healthier connection with the main protagonist, most of the time they are friendzoned or turned into a secretly evil psychopath who would desperately do anything to steal the protagonist’s love.

Fortunately, Amihan and Ybrahim, or rather Kylie and Ruru, are not that kind of love team. In fact, for a long time their pairing was not recognized or given credit by both the actors and the station itself, perhaps out of respect for the original and intended love team. Fans had to fight hard and struggle to make their love for YbraMihan and the pairing’s worth recognized, and just a month ago, we finally had that validity.

In the story, Alena realized that Ybrahim and Amihan are in love with each other, thus she let him go which finally gave them the chance to follow their true heart’s desire, and therefore a chance to finally accomplish the love story they deserved in the original run. Despite being Queen, Amihan slowly began to outwardly show her affections to Ybrahim, just as much as how Ybrahim finds it harder to leave her side.

And then that accidental kiss happened, thanks to their “pasaway” but good-intentioned daughter Lira. That sealed the deal, and with the following “lechon” moments thanks to Direk Mark, who’s become quite close with the YbraMihan fans, it really seemed as if them becoming endgame was finally going to happen, much to the utmost delight of the original YbraMihan fans who never lost hope for 11 years.

But then, real life happened. Kylie was revealed to be pregnant, thus creating a problem for the staff and the story’s run. Because she needed rest, Kylie had to be either let off completely or minimize her exposure to a certain extent. Despite the loopholes that would be caused by Amihan’s disappearance, it is unfortunate that the easiest way to solve their problem is to kill her off, even if there are other ways to make her stay possible.

And so, another attempt to let Amihan and Ybrahim have their happy ending failed once again. What hurts more is that it’s not because the characters themselves were no longer good for each other. It’s because the outside world didn’t allow it.

Whether or not their love story has truly come to an end in this requel, it is yet to be determined. Unfortunately for us, chances for the ending we’ve hoped for are down to an extreme low.

Since Ybrahim still needs an heir for Sapiro, the easiest way for that would be to have him fall in love with Alena again, thus following the original canon wherein they bore their second child, Armea. While I personally would not like this to happen because it would only ruin Ybrahim’s character and Alena’s growth as an independent sanggre, it would not be far-fetched to believe that this outcome would come true.

Believe me, I’ve been disappointed way too many times for the past year about my favorite pairings’ canon.

A timeskip would be the best route for AleBarro to fall in love again if Book 1 is nearing its close, but even so, their love story will never be able to hold a candle to the one YbraMihan had.

Perhaps fate wants us to be patient a little longer, just like how Ybrahim and Amihan waited for the right time to reveal their love for each other. Maybe another requel a decade from now will give us just that. But at least we can say that the requel put YbraMihan’s love story a step forward, even if it hasn’t reached its goal. Maybe not yet.

I didn’t think that I would appreciate the requel’s theme song “Maghihintay” this much. Pinagtagpuan, pinalayo, pero maghihintay pa rin kahit na umabot pa sa dulo ng huling paghinga. That title and message, although unintentional, speaks volumes about YbraMihan’s love.

Despite everything, there’s still so much to be grateful for. We have all these beautiful scenes between these two that has made our heart jump for joy. Their second dream-meeting, their desperate hand-holds, their recurring “Mahal Kong Reyna/Rehav” scenes, their HHWF (hand-holding while fighting) and EEOWF (embracing each other while fighting), their comforting backhugs, and most recently, their most awaited confession and first real kiss.

All these scenes we have the opportunity to rewatch over and over again. We finally have that hard-earned proof that Ybrahim and Amihan are perfect for each other, had outside circumstances not interfere.

So even if it pains me to know that their love story has most likely come to an end, I’m still grateful to all who made their love story possible.

To Kylie and Ruru, thank you both for being such wonderful and professional actors with unforced, unexpected chemistry so astounding, it has captured the hearts of so many including myself. I pray that this won’t be the last time you’ll both work together as a love team.

To the writers and staff of Encantadia who allowed us to have our moments of happiness even when it wasn’t in the original plan, thank you for the efforts and hard work in making Encantadia’s requel surpass the original, and I sincerely hope that whatever new plans you have for the story will be good and acceptable to all fans.

To all YbraMihan fans who put their heart and soul into making these happy moments possible, thank you for never giving up. Kapit lang, guys! We’re not #teammasokista or the fastest growing fandom for nothing!