Ejen Ali (Jawi: ايجن علي, ) 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 (IRIS), a device prototype created by the Meta Advance Tactical Agency (MATA). 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 and franchises published and owned by Media Prima Berhad (MPB)."Dunia risikan Ejen Ali di TV3" Harian Metro. 30 March 2016. Retrieved on 29 May 2016.
Background Setting Based in Cyberaya, a fictional city inspired by the real city of Cyberjaya, Selangor. The series revolves around Meta Advance Tactical Agency (MATA), 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."Fenomena Ejen Ali" Harian Metro. 2 April 2016. Retrieved on 29 May 2016. 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 Making of Ejen Ali. TV3. 1 April 2016, 5.30 pm. The first movie was finally released after two seasons on 28 November 2019.
Characters Main Ali bin Ghazali Voiced by: Ida Rahayu Yusoff (Malay); McKenzie Atwood (season 3) (English) The titular character and protagonist, a lazy, school-going boy with a lack of complete maternal love for his only best friend, Victor. He lives with his father Dr. Ghazali, a tech prodigy from Cyberaya. In seasons 1 and 2, and the movie, Ali's primary gadget is the "Infinity Retinal Intelligent System" or "I.R.I.S.", which he accidentally wielded while being struck into pursuit by Dos. Since the gadget had scanned Ali's iris for the first time, it was permanently conjoined with his optical biometric interference. He used I.R.I.S. until he unlocked its hidden "override mode", which performed on higher capabilities but would keep Ali unconscious during the time. Ali would make a device mirroring the original, named IRIS Atlas, which evolved to become IRIS Neo. Due to its defects and his collaboration with Niki, he was officially separated from the original gadget. His other devices included his yo-yo (gives an impacted blast), aero boots (for boosts like hovering and high jumping), and a magnetic suit, introduced in season 3. He was temporarily transferred to the Kombat pillar in the eighth episode of the third season. In the season 3 finale, Ali was assigned as the new operator of SATRIA armor.
Bakar Voiced by: Shafiq Isa (Malay); Bill Butts (season 3) (English) Bakar is Ali's uncle, a combat M.A.T.A agent and a younger brother to Ali's late mother Aliya. He has a tough body and is excellent at fighting. He is always caring for Ali. He usually fights physically and wears gauntlets that can activate a plasma shield to defend himself from enemy attacks. Bakar was framed as the "enemy's spy" when a CCTV camera showed him sending the data of the I.R.I.S. blueprint to the enemies. However, Ali finds out that Bakar's brain was controlled after receiving a strange phone call from Dr. Aaron/Nueve, causing him to do so. In season 2, he became a mentor in the Combat Pillar.
Alicia Kheng Voiced by: Noorhayati Maslini Omar (Malay); Lizzie Freeman (season 3) (English) An adopted daughter of General Rama, she is a Chinese-Indian young agent from the Neuro Pillar and Ali's classmate. She is first introduced as the 'Masked Menace', who wears jet-black clothing and a full-face helmet and helps Ali defeat the enemies at the port. Alicia initially hates working in M.A.T.A. with Ali. Due to her egoism and Ali's stubbornness, they always fight, which makes them rivals. After Ali saved her from the Azurium explosion, she developed a more caring and friendly personality towards Ali. She can be quite hostile sometimes. After saving Ali from Uno and Jenny (Cinco), she is trying her best to protect I.R.I.S. from being taken by the enemies. Her weapon is a slingshot that is used to shoot various metal balls. Some deal damage, some function as smoke bombs, and some generate a magnetic field that attracts enemies within its vicinity. In the third season, she was given a bow and arrow set as a new signature weapon. She was temporarily an Inviso agent in the third season's eighth episode. At the conclusion of the third season, she becomes the new wielder of IRIS.
Comot Voiced by: Ida Rahayu Yusoff (Malay); Kayli Mills (season 3) (English) Ali's heterochromatic pet cat. Initially mistaken for Labu, Ali's previous cat, he ran away from home after the death of his mother. She used to work for Abang Bear and was requested to steal I.R.I.S., but she betrayed him because she didn't want to be abused anymore. As a subject of illegal transgenic pet experiments three years ago, she has the ability to camouflage. She had fought Kim after seeing her planting spy devices and transmitting the location outside. She was believed to have been killed by her, but she returns in episode 12.
Supporting General Rama Voiced by: Azman Zulkiply (Malay) The fierce general of M.A.T.A. and Alicia's adoptive father. He always announces "Act immediately!", instructing the agents to immediately proceed to their assigned missions. A running gag in the series is that whenever the agents are being noisy in his presence, he screams "Dey!" that echoes throughout the room (Alicia would later mirror this at the M.A.T.A. Academy).
Rizwan Voiced by: Azman Zulkiply (Malay); Johnny Yong Bosch (season 3) (English) The greatest agent of the Inviso Pillar. He can disguise himself as someone else by putting on a cap. He is often seen with a lollipop in his mouth, so he always uses the lollipop stick as his final shot. His gloves can temporarily disable the enemies' nervous systems. In season 2, he betrayed M.A.T.A. and joined the Numeros, in a failed attempt to negotiate with M.A.T.A. to end their rivalry with Numeros. In season 3, he was being treated at Professor Akram's hideout to remove Azurium and nanobots implanted by Jenny (Cinco), and it was shown that he was immune to nanobots as almost all of them were removed from his bodies. He is now partnered with Dos and later Trez as vigilantes outside M.A.T.A.
Dos Voiced by: Nurul Radhiah Ibrahim (Malay) (season 1), Azi Shafian (Malay) (season 2), Anne Yatco (season 3) (English) A former member of Numeros. During her days at Numeros, she, together with her former partner Trez, broke into M.A.T.A.'s headquarters and stole I.R.I.S. Her weapon is a taser hair ornament that can electrocute her target and plasma blades that are capable of cutting through anything. She wears a pair of special boots that enable super speed and agility. She eventually joins Rizwan to assist in finding Cinco, who escaped in season 3.
Uno Voiced by: Azuan Wanji Shamsir (Malay) The previous leader of Numeros, with the main objective being to retrieve I.R.I.S. It was later revealed that he was the former leader of Inviso Pillar, whose real name was Djin, who was Rizwan's mentor and was rumoured to be killed in an Azurium explosion following their mission against terrorists, which nearly threatened to destroy Cyberaya. He feels betrayed by the other Pillar Leaders who neglected him five years ago, which led to his grudge against M.A.T.A. He is able to move at super speed and is very agile while fighting. His weapon is a plasma sword. In the finale episode of season 2, he was killed in the laser satellites explosion after overriding M.A.T.A. Academy's defense systems to destroy the place along with the agents, in which Zain also perished.
Trez Voiced by: Megat Zahrin Megat Hisham (Malay) A big-bodied former Numeros member with cybernetic arms that enables him to lift a load 10 times heavier than a normal human.
Cinco Voiced by: Nor Meirysha Nurol Ashikin (Malay); Kimberly Woods (English) Cinco's real name is Jenny Woo, and she was previously M.A.T.A's special inventor. She created weapons, suits, and devices for the M.A.T.A agents. As Jenny, she appears as a soft-spoken and gentle woman who always shows her concern towards the agents. She revealed herself to be the enemies' spy and never sided with M.A.T.A. as Cinco in the 12th episode of season 1 as she is responsible for the research in order to separate I.R.I.S from Ali. She is always seen holding a tablet with its pen, in which the pen functioned as a taser and communicator. In season 2, it was realized that every Numeros member (except Uno) was implanted with the special nanobots (similar to that being of Ocho) and she could control the neural system to make the victim work in her command. In season 3, it is revealed that she replaced Uno as Numeros' leader and underwent a bionic arm replacement of her left hand, which now possessed a sharp talon-like palm and nanobots hidden under her shoulder and arms. In season 3 at the start of episode 8, her back story revealed that she was an orphan when young, and she took Kim under her wings. In the conclusion episode of season 3, she was engulfed and killed by her own malfunctioning nanobots.
Seis and Siete Voiced by: Iliyas Abdull Latif (Malay) A pair of twins who share the same weapon, a football that produces high impact when it is kicked to the target. In the third episode of season 3, they were shown to work for Brother Bear.
Dr. Aaron Edison / Nueve Voiced by: Adi Bahari (Malay) A mad scientist who formerly worked under Alpha Tower and Dr. Tong. He is a mad scientist with the mission to advance humanity. Aaron invented the NeuroGear, a helmet that can control a human's mind, and his invention is rejected by Dr. Tong before he gets fired. He was imprisoned and created NeuroLink, in order to transfer the data of Dr. Tong's brain to his own brain. After being successfully defeated by Ali and his team, he was kidnapped by Dos and Trez, in which he later became a member of Numeros and invented the I.R.I.S Separator.
Jet Voiced by: Mohammed Haziq Mohammed Hilmy (Malay); Christian Banas (season 3) (English) A self-proclaimed young agent of the Neuro pillar who can fly with his weapon, a jetpack. He was eliminated from M.A.T.A. along with Bulat and Moon in season 3.
Moon Voiced by: Ain Hafizah (Malay); Francesca Monet Calo (season 3) (English) A cheerful and chatty young agent of the Inviso pillar. She is one of the young agents who is very friendly toward Ali. Moon can produce her own clones with her suits that can project holograph images of her. Her weapon is a pair of gloves that causes impact shocks to anything she touches. She was eliminated along with Bulat and Jet in season 3.
Iman Voiced by: Salina Salmee Mohd Ali (Malay); Rogin Rashidan (season 3) (English)