September, 4, 2003 - It's not what you think it is. It’s different, but it’s also not bad.

By The Critic
unrivaled.info

If you don’t know who Sonic is, then you've been missing out on allot of good things. Sonic the hedgehog is Sega’s most popular mascot and was created by video game master and producer Yuji Naka and his team. The side scrolling original video game released on the Sega genesis in 1991, has sold over 10 million copies worldwide and is regarded a classic by many gamers. There were many sequels made, spanning across many different platforms, including the Sega genesis, Dreamcast and the Nintendo Gamecube. I’ve been a fan of sonic the hedgehog since it was first released and hearing of a new anime being made was good news. Still, I did have reservations about it due to the bad experiences with the previous Sonic cartoons and animation OVA.

There have been only a handful attempts at animating Sonic and his friends for TV, and for the most part they all stink. I remember the 2 different TV series cartoons made in the US around 1993 by the crappy animation company DIC. Both were bland and pretty awful in terms of faithfully translating the video game to animation. There was also a Japanese OVA with 2 episodes. The production was a little bit better in terms of emulating Sonic's world and the animation and audio was much better. It was too short however (only one hour long) and quite frankly it was bit disappointing. It didn’t have that special Sonic quality I’ve seen in the video games.

It’s surprising to see no solid Sonic animation has ever been made despite its popularity in the US and Japan. This could all change in 2003 as a new anime series called Sonic X made its debut on Japanese TV early this year. If you’re a big fan of sonic there is good news: Sonic X is making its way to the US via TV syndication September 6, 2003 on the fox network (the series is being produced by 4kids entertainment). But there is also bad news: if you want to see the original Japanese version, you’re out of luck. 4kids has never, nor do they intend to, release a dual language format of the series on DVD or video. I’m glad more anime is making its way to the US, but it’s sad to see companies like 4kids not capitalizing on the demand for original anime. What the hell is wrong with them? I know there is a reason for withholding the original format, but if the demand is there it couldn’t hurt to release it. In fact it may even bring more fans to the license. I can’t recommend the English dub just yet, but I can tell you, for Sonic fans this might be what you’re looking for.

The story starts out with Sonic infiltrating Eggman's (or Dr. Robotnick's) main headquarters in an attempt to save his freind Cream and her chao animal "Cheese" who were being held captive. Of course Eggman had plenty of weapons and traps at his disposal and uses them all in a mad attempt to stop, crush and destroy his long time nemesis (what else is new). Sonic pretty much runs through the traps and attacks with coolness and ease. And during the ensuing action we see appearances by Tails, Amy and Knuckles; each perfectly depicted as seen in the latest batch of Sonic video games. I was pretty impressed with this sequence and it seemed they finally got it right: the animation, music and voice acting were all very good. But the pacing of the story changes halfway through the first episode as one of the chaos emeralds emits an exploding energy due to a reaction of Eggman's malfunctioning machine thus bringing Sonic and all of his friends and enemies to another world: our real world (meaning the world with regular humans like you and me).

As I’ve seen with many popular Japanese video games to anime conversions, there is always some curve ball thrown to make things radically different from the original story (Street Fighter V comes to mind). For Sonic X, this was it. They couldn’t just make a regular Sonic anime with his friends in Sonic’s world as seen in the video game, why not put them in the real world where they can talk and interact with humans like us. I was pretty disappointed because this scenario would takes away from the characters' normal development. But as I continued to watch Sonic X, I found I was slightly wrong in my first impression. Sonic X is pretty good. It may not be a direct conversion of the video game and it may not be the one of best animes out there. But its much more sophisticated and faithful than what has been made in the past, with better animation and characters acting they way they are suppose to. I’m sure many hardcore fans will appreciate it.

The Sonic X series debuts on the fox network Saturday September 6, 2003 (be sure to check your local listing for the time and more info). If you’re a Sonic fan check it out.