YMMV / Agent Ali

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Uno, better known as Agent Djin, after being confirmed to be a Fallen Hero chief of INVISO agents, is surrounded by many mysteries, from his true motives to his relationship with Rizwan.
    • Is he a Tragic Villain who feels betrayed because all of the chief pillars think he was purely Evil All Along, or a selfish and arrogant man who demands respect from the other chiefs and suffers from Chronic Hero Syndrome due to his narcissist side?
    • His student-mentor relationship to Rizwan. Did he expect to make Rizwan a part of Numeros because he indeed cared about him and wished to make him into his successor, or did he merely use Rizwan to shut down the M.A.T.A agency high security system?
  • Even Cinco, better known as Jenny, also has this. Was she recruited due to being heavily manipulated by Uno and his need for her due to being a TEKNO agent? Or was she a plain, delusional, and traitorous Psychopathic Womanchild whose admiration of him lead her to willingly work under him? The start of Season 3 seems to support the latter, as Cinco takes it upon herself to continue the Villainous Legacy after Uno's supposed death.
  • Cinco and Uno's relationship. Given that she is the only Numeros agent who is never mistreated by him, some fans eventually grew suspicious over the extent of their relationship. Does Cinco see him as her own father-figure or something more?
  • Alicia's hostility toward Kimberly Song in season 3: is it suspicion and fear that she is a mole from the enemy side, because Kim is more superior to her because of her high score in Arena competition, or because of Kim and Ali's closeness? Lots of fans support the last one believing that if she's jealous of Kim because of her skill, she should have had the same feelings toward Rudy during Season 2. "Mission: Black Out" seems to strengthen the last theory due to Alicia becoming flustered when Kim and Iman playfully tease her envious side by saying that they believe Alicia has "other reasons" to feel jealous about the former.
  • Dos's statement that Cinco is a vile woman and a refusal to help her in Numeros after Uno's death despite still has loyalty to him: Is this a sign of Heel–Face Revolving Door because she doesn't like Cinco's method of achieving total control of the other Numeros agents via microbugs ? Because she no longer has a reason to stay in Numeros since Uno died and wants to be free ? Because she wanted to overthrow Cinco to lead the Numeros and continue Uno' legacy all by herself?
  • Alicia is defensive when Kim questioned if she's jealous of Ali. Does she have underlying affection towards him or some insecurity that a complete rookie like Ali is able to catch up to her level without IRIS?
• Designated Hero: Dato' Othman is supposed to be seen as an Anti-Hero of grey morality since he is the founder of MATA. However, the movie shows that Othman is absolutely selfish, never grateful for the agents' hard work or anyone who worked for him, or any crimes involved in Cyberaya. Othman demands the chiefs of MATA to follow his orders or they will be replaced simply for asking the reason behind the order, which is to detain all the Cyberaya higher-ups out of paranoia for himself as one of them happened to be the terrorists' weapon supplier, regardless of the lack of proof of their involvement. This makes some fans feel that Othman is more evil than the series' resident Big Bad, Uno and Niki.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Rizwan is very popular among the fans due to his appearance and his actions. This lead to Rizwan having his own sub-plot in season 2 where he decides to reach Uno and take down the Numeros by himself.
  • Dos is the most popular antagonist in series even more than the main Big Bad. She is especially popular with fans who ship her with Rizwan to the point where some fans hope she will perform a Heel–Face Turn and join Rizwan's side as an Anti-Hero.
  • Agent Kim quickly gained popularity before season 3 aired due to her unique appearance and her fighting skills relying on her Sonic Keytar. This means the fandom consider her more unusual compared to the other M.A.T.A Agents. Her Popularity is so wide that fans were upset of her revelation that she has connected with Jenny/Cinco all along. Interestingly, unlike Jenny revelation as The Mole from Numeros which made her become Hate Sink character, lot of fans still have sympathy toward Kim.
  • Zass is one of the most popular (minor) young agents despite only having one focus episode. He's never said a word, but his endearing Nice Guy personality and coolness have some fans fawning over him.
• Evil Is Cool: Some fans prefer to side with the Numeros as they see their weapons and fighting style as cooler than that of the good guys.
• Fan Nickname: Fans often make joke of Jenny Woo's codename (Cinco) by called her "Cincau".^Explanation Cincau is a small jelly produce in China, Malaysia and Indonesia and usually used as compound of drink with coconut milk. Sometime Cincau is cut into small black cube like Microbug. Which is why fans like to make fun her codename with this since the sound quiet familiar.
• Fandom Rivalry: Between this show's fandom and that of another Malaysian action kid's cartoon BoBoiBoy due to the latter being more comedic in nature in contrast to the former being more serious.
• Foe Yay Shipping:
  • There are a lot of fans who like to ship Rizwan with both female Numeros agents Dos and Cinco. However, Rizwan/Dos is more popular than Ali/Alicia and Rizwan/Cinco.
  • Bakar/Dos also have some subtext, thanks to the Running Gag of Bakar's habit to flirt at her.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Besides the Fandom Rivalry with the BoBoiBoy fandom, it turns out that both BoBoiBoy (Nur Fathiah Diaz) and Ali's (Ida Rahayu Yusoff) voice actresses met since they became voice actresses in another Malaysian kid's cartoon, Upin & Ipin, Where Nur voiced the titular characters and Ida voiced Fizi, who is Upin and Ipin's best friend. Although Nur is no longer voicing Upin and Ipin, it seems that both Nur and Ida have a friendly relationship.
  • Sometimes both fandoms love to make crossover Fanart between Agent Ali and BoBoiBoy. There have been several instances of the official accounts of Agent Ali and BoBoiBoy interacting as if they were the characters themselves, such as BoBoiBoy passing a relay baton to Ali and the latter accepting it as both would release major films in 2019, Agent Ali the Movie being a few months after BoBoiBoy Movie 2, as well as Ali sending a congratulatory tweet for BoBoiBoy's birthday in 2022. These also double as Heartwarming in Hindsight.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Rudy may seem rude to Ali, but it's later revealed that he was an orphaned Street Urchin who grew up poor. He was later rescued by Djin, leading to his admiration and respect of him. Due to his idealized view of Djin as his savior, he had a hard time believing that Djin and Uno were the same man hell-bent on destroying M.A.T.A.. Imagine how shocked Rudy was when he was dismissed, and later attacked after he tried to reach out to Uno before the events of the final fight. His expression alone is heartbreaking.
  • Ocho, the ambiguously robotic Numero who is used as nothing more than a living weapon for the Numeros. His shock at Cinco's command for him to supply more Microbugs despite knowing it would be a dangerous amount for him, as well as him being sacrificed by the others to use his Microbugs to shield themselves from their base exploding, it is proven that not one of the Numeros agents cared about him.
• Magnificent Bastard:
  • (The Movie): Niki steals from the government and other criminals to support the livelihood of her fellow Pinggiran living in Cyberaya's outskirts. She ultimately leads the terrorists targeting Cyberaya's mayor as payback for his mistreatment of her people. In the past, she tries to shoot the government buildings with their own missiles, but Aliya's Heroic Sacrifice stops the attack. She convinces Ali to help her steal the Azurium and weapons she needs to storm Cyberaya with the sake of it being for the Pinggiran, like his mother Aliya aided her before. With her reprogrammed IRIS NEO, she controls surrounding tech and other IRIS NEO wearing agents to kill the mayor. It takes disabling her from the inside once she tries to doom her opponents by exploding herself to defeat her, and she then offers herself to be killed, but is spared instead and allowed a second chance.
  • (Season 3): Agent Kim is introduced as a cheerful, sociable and talented young international MATA Agent of the East Branch, who turns out to be the foster sister to Jenny Woo, a.k.a Cinco. Trained as a child in an Orphanage of Fear about combat, infiltration and gadgetry; she's more agile, cunning and powerful than her fellow agents, consistently earning 1st place among MATA Arena's contestants. Despite her mission as Numeros Intel, Kim's loyalty doesn't blind her heart and she forms a genuine bond with Ali, Alicia and Iman. The Numeros nearly succeed at destroying MATA when Cinco temporarily gains access to Cyberaya's Mainframe because of Kim, but she calls Cinco out when she realises she's gone too far and risks her own life to protect the other MATA Agents. Kim encourages Ali to ignore Cinco's mockery, reminding him that he knows more about IRIS' weaknesses than her, and allows him to use her Sonic Keytar to defeat Cinco. After Ali succeeds and the Numeros are defeated, Kim takes responsibility for her actions and allows herself to be captured by MATA.
• Memetic Mutation: Kita Jaga Kita ^Explanation The title for one of The Movie's soundtracks, which means "We take care of our own." In the 2019 film, it's from the perspective of the slum citizens, the Pinggiran, who must fend for themselves. In March 2020, the song became a theme for Malaysians fighting against the COVID-19 Pandemic, with a hashtag and website being born out of the phrase, as well as variations thereof. The official music video and the short "Misi: Juang" (Mission: Fight), which features a score version of the song, both commemorate those fighting against the virus.
• Moral Event Horizon: While Cinco was always an intimidating villain, she finally crosses it in "Mission: Trap" when she traps the Young Agents and the Mentor of MATA by wreaking havoc in the Cyberscience building by seizing control of the Azurium reactor, endangering both the Agents^note  who were unarmed at the time during their challenge and many innocents' lives, all the while framing Rizwan and Dos for the debacle.
• Periphery Demographic: Has a large fanbase consisting of adults aged from twenty to thirty-something, despite being aimed for kids.
• Rooting for the Empire: A number of fans really wanted Niki to successfully kill Dato' Othman, since this guy was never shown any positive light in the movie with how he selfishly acted toward his (co-)workers.
• Stoic Woobie: Agent Rizwan, one of the greatest M.A.T.A agents, who used to be Chief Djin's favorite student. It seems that Rizwan saw him not only as his mentor, but as part of his family. After believing that Djin died in an accident to protect Azurium, Rizwan became more distant and cold towards the other agents, but he still willingly trained Ali to be a great agent. The Reveal of Uno's identity as Chief Djin all along shocked him stupendously, then he is determined to defeat Uno alone by any methods, even becoming a Fake Defector to get closer to him in Season 2. Despite the risks that almost cost his own life, Rizwan remains strong.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Most Agent Ali fans like the series' Big Bad evil agency organization, Numeros, because of the introduction of its minor members like Cuatro, Seis, Siete and Ocho in Season 2. However, fans want to know how this agency was founded by Uno and the real names of each member of Numeros. So far, only Uno, Cuatro, and Nueve have been given backgrounds and reasons why they become Numeros agents. Aside from them, the other agents' backgrounds, real names and motives have never been revealed. As a result, Numeros still remains surrounded by mystery at the end of Season 2.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic:
  • Niki, the Big Bad from the movie is meant to be as hypocritical as Uno and Cinco. But as the story progresses, she comes across as a Jerkass Woobie due to her backstory and motives. She lost her parents, has paralysis and lives in the slums, a neglected place in Cyberaya. When she befriended Aliya, she genuinely wanted to help the slum citizens since the Mayor only cared about technological improvement rather than its citizens. After her final showdown with Ali, she genuinely regrets her transgressions, and heartbreakingly offers Bakar to finish her for sake of avenging Aliya's death. She is the only Agent Ali villain so far who regrets her own villainous actions.
  • Aaron's ex-teammate at the science fair in this 2-parter comic. His actions such as beating him up and destroying his invention could be seen as out of pettiness towards Aaron, which could be seen as a Freudian Excuse for Aaron's villainy. However, since it was Aaron who took all the credit of their science fair project for his own satisfaction and never learned his lesson, viewers choose to feel bad over his friend instead, who is helpless and fearful by the end of the story as Aaron alters his mind to cover his dirty work.
• What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?:
  • Gets away with showing characters stabbed and almost crushed to death, with the latter shown fully onscreen. Additionally, the show tends to deconstruct the Teen Superspy genre by showing Ali losing his innocence in the process.
  • The movie's climax has Niki attempt to blow herself up before admitting defeat. Given her regret afterwards that she offers Bakar to kill her to avenge Aliya, she's all but implied to be suicidal.
• The Woobie:
  • All the members of the Ghazali family. The episode Mission: Milk occurs during the wedding anniversary of Ali's parents. In this episode, we can see that before Aliya passed away, they were a happy and perfect family, despite both Ghazali and Aliya being busy parents. However after Aliya passed away, they became so gloomy. Both Ali and Bakar could eventally move on from the grief, but Dr. Ghazali was clearly unable to move on.
  • Cuatro, aka Professor Akram. He was absolutely unhappy with being a member of the Numeros. He was solely there because Uno needed him to help Cinco copy the data of I.R.I.S. while also threatening to kill Akram's family if he disobeys his order.

---