- This article is about the anime adaptation of the Sonic franchise. For other uses, see Sonic X (disambiguation).
Template:Distinguish Template:Infobox TV
Sonic X (ソニックＸ Sonikku Ekkusu?) is an anime series loosely based on the Sonic the Hedgehog series. It was animated and produced in Japan by TMS Entertainment with the partnership of Sega and Sonic Team. It was first broadcasted in Japan in April 2003 by TV Tokyo. During that same year, 4Kids Entertainment obtained the license to localize and broadcast the show in the United States. The series follows the titular Sonic the Hedgehog, who battles his arch-enemy, Dr. Eggman, along with his allied friends, Miles "Tails" Prower, Knuckles the Echidna, Amy Rose, Cream the Rabbit and Cheese, are both transferred from their home planet into a human world, there Sonic befriends a 12-year-old human boy named Christopher Thorndyke, who helps Sonic and his friends to take on Dr. Eggman, becoming heroic celebrities to the human civilization while retrieving the Chaos Emeralds so that they would be able to return home. The third season chronicles Sonic and his friends, including Chris, befriending an anthropomorphic green plant-like girl named Cosmo, while facing off against an evil robotic alien army called the "Metarex".
Originally planned as a 52 episode series which would be inspired by the storylines of the Sonic Adventure series, Sonic X expanded to 78 episodes between 2005 and 2006. These 26 additional episodes (53 to 78) were never aired on Japanese television but they were streamed on rental services. However, as part of Kids Station's 2020 line-up of programming, it was announced that as part a tie-in promotion for the Sonic the Hedgehog film, the network would finally broadcast the remaining episodes, marking the first time that the full series would air in any format on Japanese television.[1]
From June 2012 to 2014, the copyright and branding of Sonic X in the United States was passed onto Saban Brand's Kidsco Media Ventures following 4Kids Entertainment's bankruptcy due to a lawsuit.[2] Despite this, the show did not receive significant differences from 4Kids Entertainment's changes.
As of 2015, the United States rights for Sonic X now belong to TMS Entertainment USA, Inc. and Discotek Media, who have also made an effort to bring over the Japanese version to the west for the first time.
Plot synopsis[edit]
The 78 episodes in Sonic X are split into eight sagas:[3]
- New World Saga (eps. 1-13)
- Chaos Emerald Saga (eps. 14-26)
- Chaos Saga (eps. 27-32)
- Shadow Saga (eps. 33-38)
- Egg Moon Saga (eps. 39-41)
- Emerl Saga (eps. 42-46)
- Homebound Saga (eps. 47-52)
- Metarex Saga (eps. 53-78)
Series 1[edit]
Season 1[edit]
New World Saga[edit]
At the beginning of the series, Sonic the Hedgehog accidentally gets hurdled though space from his unnamed home planet to Earth via Chaos Control. Sonic is saved from drowning by a kind-hearted, 12-year-old boy named Christopher Thorndyke, whom he befriends. Sonic quickly learns that his other friends from his planet, Miles "Tails" Prower, Knuckles the Echidna, Amy Rose, Cream the Rabbit and Cheese, got caught in the Chaos Control and ended up on Earth as well, along with his arch-nemesis Doctor Eggman and his army of robots, Decoe, Bocoe, and Bokkun. Once Sonic rounded up his friends, they agreed to settle into the Thorndyke Mansion as their new home in Earth. They mainly had to hide from the public because of their unique characteristics but were accepted by Chris' family and friends. Soon, they learn that the source of the Chaos Control, the seven Chaos Emeralds, have also been transported to Earth, and scattered across the planet. Figuring that they may be the key to getting back home, Sonic and friends begin searching for them. But Dr. Eggman vows to achieve world domination over Earth with his robots. Over the course of a few weeks, Sonic and his pals get one of the Emeralds, while Eggman gets two. The President, however, is greatly concerned with Eggman's threats to the public society and issues the military to attack Eggman's base. Sonic and his friends aid the military and manage to take Eggman's Emeralds away from him. At the end, Sonic defeats Eggman himself, and destroyed his base, becoming praised as a hero to the human population.
Chaos Emerald Saga[edit]
Now being hailed as heroes, Sonic's friends are able to get out of the house more often and went on vacations. But Dr. Eggman is quickly able to build, as a replacement base following the destruction of his tower, a flying fortress called the Egg Fort, and resumes his diabolical attempts to achieve world domination. Sometime later, after getting severely damaged from many bouts with Sonic and his friends, the Egg Fort is left behind in the sea and replaced by the Egg Fort II.
Also, the heroes collected Chaos Emeralds, bringing their total to five while Eggman managed to steal one. As Knuckles was desperate to obtain the last Chaos Emerald but knew it was impossible due to Sonic and Eggman's differences, he made the mistake of entrusting Dr. Eggman with the Chaos Emeralds the heroes have collected. The Egg Fort II transforms into E-99 Eggsterminator and harnesses the emeralds' power to defeat Sonic but Chris manages to reclaim the emeralds and give them to Sonic, allowing Sonic to transform into Super Sonic and defeat Eggman. As a result of the seven Chaos Emeralds all being used at once, another Chaos Control occurred, but instead of sending Sonic and his friends back home, parts of their planet (such as Angel Island) are assimilated into Earth.
Season 2[edit]
Chaos Saga[edit]
This saga is an adaption of Sonic Adventure. 6 months after the second Chaos Control, Eggman learns of the legend of Chaos, the god of destruction, who was sealed in the Master Emerald 3,000 years ago. Eggman blasted the Master Emerald to set Chaos free, so he could utilize its potential powers to achieve world domination and to Sonic and his friends' shock, Chaos grew more powerful every time he is fed a Chaos Emerald. While Sonic and his friends attempt to collect each Chaos Emerald they can find to prevent Chaos from growing stronger, Knuckles began to discover the history of his own tribe of Echidnas that lived on Angel Island as he found the pieces of the Master Emerald since it was shattered when Dr. Eggman awakened Chaos.
Eventually, Chaos betrayed Eggman, wanting the seven Chaos Emeralds for its own purposes and began to destroy and flood Station Square by assuming the form of Perfect Chaos. Tikal appeared, wanting to stop Chaos from destroying the world like it did 3,000 years ago so Sonic harnessed the Chaos Emeralds that Chaos discarded to transform into Super Sonic, not knowing that the Emeralds were not completely drained of its powers and defeated Chaos. Calmed down by the appearance of several Chao, Chaos is sealed back in the Master Emerald with Tikal.
Shadow Saga[edit]
This saga is an adaption of Sonic Adventure 2. Following the Chaos incident, Eggman discovers the works of his grandfather, Gerald Robotnik, including Project Shadow, which led to the doctor awakening Shadow the Hedgehog. Authorities mistook Shadow as Sonic as a fugitive for various crimes as well as allying with Eggman. As an act of revenge for the death of his close friend, Maria, Shadow wanted to destroy the humans and tells Eggman about a powerful weapon called the Eclipse Cannon in order to threaten the world. It needed the power of the Chaos Emeralds so Shadow, Eggman and mysteriously Rouge went to gather the Chaos Emeralds. Although the trio only collected six of the emeralds, Eggman demonstrated the Eclipse Cannon's power by blowing half of the moon. Seeing that the source of the weapon and the emeralds are up in Space Colony ARK, Sonic and his friends traveled there to stop Eggman from achieving his goals.
Eventually, Eggman discovered that the heroes had the seventh Chaos Emerald and stole it to harness the full power of the Eclipse Cannon but this triggered a new program devised by Gerald Robotnik, who planned to collide the Space Colony ARK with Earth in order to seek vengeance at the humans when all seven Chaos Emeralds are used in the Eclipse Cannon. Sonic, his friends and Eggman set aside their differences in order to prevent this doomsday by disabling the Chaos Emeralds' energy. Shadow was reluctant to help the heroes but was convinced by Chris to remember Maria's true promise and aided the heroes in distracting the Bio Lizard that attacked Sonic and his friends, allowing Knuckles to nullify the Chaos Emeralds with the Master Emerald but the doomsday was not over yet as the Bio Lizard merged with the ARK, determined to keep on its collision course. Sonic and Shadow used the emeralds to transform into Super Sonic and Super Shadow and together, they defeated the Bio Lizard (then known as the Final Lizard) and teleported the ARK back to its spot, saving the world from doomsday. This however cost the life of Shadow and everyone remembered him for being a hero.
Egg Moon Saga[edit]
Following the doomsday, more guests from Sonic's world began to arrive on Earth, most notably the Chaotix and Cream's mother Vanilla the Rabbit (although it is seen in the comics that the former somehow were transported back to Sonic's world under unknown reasons). All the while, Eggman wanted to repair the Moon as an act of remorse for his evil deeds during the Shadow Saga and does it so in a short amount of time, forming the Egg Moon.
Later, it was seen that Earth was seemingly under a permanent solar eclipse due to the fact that the Egg Moon malfunctioned (or Eggman claimed so anyway). To make up for this, Eggman invented Sunshine Balls which could replicate sunlight. Soon, the citizens started hailing Eggman as a hero but Sonic did not trust Eggman and began sabotaging the Sunshine Balls' source, creating a major disruption within the public and demanded Sonic to be arrested.
Everyone wanted to know why Sonic was doing this until the hedgehog himself told authorities of Eggman's true motives. Now being informed of this, the authorities now swayed their decision to arrest Eggman and with Sonic and his friends' help, they were successful in handcuffing Eggman and escorting him behind bars. Sonic was hailed as the true hero once more.
Emerl Saga[edit]
With Dr. Eggman behind bars, he sends Bokkun to wake up Emerl in his abandoned base. Afterwards, Bokkun goes to fight Sonic in a giant tank with Emerl inside. Sonic beats him, and the tank self-destructs launching Emerl far away. Bokkun explains to Sonic that he was a distraction while another robot is sent to break Eggman out of prison. But the robot is stopped by Sam Speed and Amy Rose. Emerl is later found by Cream and Cheese outside the Thorndyke Mansion hidden in the bushes, in a very serious condition.
Eggman, desperate to break out of prison, decides to work his way out via community service as a mechanic repairing old machines but as he repairs the machines he implants a device that makes them become alive and activate other machines to do his will. While Sonic is busy neutralizing the machines, Bokkun breaks Eggman out of jail.
To counteract Eggman's escape, the President makes a tournament and offers a grand prize of the red Chaos Emerald. Sonic, Knuckles and Rouge are persuaded to enter once they hear about the prize and because the tournament is open for anyone to join. Mr. Thorndyke enters Tails, Amy, Ella, Mr. Tanaka, Chris and Chuck. Along with them, Lucky, Decoe, Bocoe, The President, Hawk, Danny, Sam Speed, Big the Cat, Mr. Stewart, Topaz, "The Black Knight" and Emerl enter.
Emerl is declared the winner of the tournament, and is given the Chaos Emerald. But he becomes violent from the power of the emerald reawakening his old programming and his loyalty to Dr. Eggman. Sonic and his friends try to stop him but Emerl, using his ability to copy moves stops them and begins to wreck havoc on the arena and then the city.
Cream and Cheese then decide to persuade Emerl to stop attacking, Emerl thinks for a second, but the Chaos Emerald's energy was too powerful to change his mind and Cream and Cheese attack him together. As Emerl tries to copy one of their abilities the other gets in the way and strikes him. Emerl falls into the ocean and as he sinks down he begins to cry.
Homebound Saga[edit]
After hearing a battleship of G.U.N. soldiers disappear, Sonic and his friends set off to rescue them. They are eventually led to the remnant of the lost continent of Murasia and discovered that Dr. Eggman was behind the disappearance of the soldiers and is planning to set off a volcanic eruption. Other members of G.U.N. also accompany the heroes in their attack against Eggman but were driven off. Sonic and the others managed to defeat the ship and landed an island of Murasia. Still intent on setting of the hotspot, Eggman explores the island to find it while Sonic and the heroes try to locate him. Unfortunately, they awakened native large robots that attack them but after a heated battle, Sonic and the others are victorious and escaped as the island begins to sink.
Back in Station Square, everyone enjoys a carefree life until Sonic and the other animals learn that their home planet and Earth, which was once one planet that then split apart for an unknown reason, was beginning to merge again as one, which could potentially cause the timelines of both planets to freeze. As a result, Sonic and all the other inhabitants of their home planet have no choice but to return back. Tails and Chuck build a machine that can initiate Chaos Control and successfully send home all the inhabitants of the planet except Sonic, who is stopped by Chris, who cannot bear the fact that Sonic has to leave.
Chris and Sonic escape to a faraway place while Chris's parents desperately try to find him. At the end of their journey, Chris comes to terms with his feelings and admits to Sonic that he was lonely before Sonic came to Earth and that he is afraid of being lonely again. Sonic expresses hope that the two will see each other again. Back in Sonic's home planet, everyone notices that Sonic has not returned yet. Eggman sees this as an opportunity to take over the world but admits that he also wants Sonic back. After a battle between Sonic's friends and the doctor, Sonic charges into the scene and stops Eggman; everyone is glad to have the hedgehog back. Six years later, an older Chris is now developing a project in attempt to travel to Sonic's world.
Series 2/Season 3[edit]
Metarex Saga[edit]
In Sonic's world, a new girl named Cosmo arrives on Sonic's planet, looking for the legendary one who can wield the powers of the seven Chaos Emeralds. Sonic, having been nearly defeated in outer space by a new enemy called Dark Oak, scatters the Chaos Emeralds across the galaxy in order to prevent Dark Oak from using their power. Back on Earth, Chris completes his dimensional portal, and uses it to travel to Sonic's world, much to the concerns of Chris' loved ones. When he gets there, he is shocked to see that his body has regressed back to the age he was when Sonic left Earth.
Chris learns that to Sonic, only six months had passed. During their reunion, Dark Oak and his Metarex Army attack Sonic's planet and steals the "Planet Egg" from it. Without the Planet Egg, all the trees and plants on Sonic's planet will wither and die. Sonic and his friends decide that Dark Oak and his schemes must be stopped, and they venture into space to retrieve the Chaos Emeralds.
This saga uses elements from Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog such as Shadow surviving and being released with amnesia for the former and the common Metarex resembling the common Black Arms for the latter. After many run-ins with Dr. Eggman, and the pursuing Metarex Army, Cosmo's dark secret is eventually unveiled: she has been an unwilling spy for the Metarex all along and the Metarex themselves are actually part of the same race of autonomous, anthropomorphic plants that Cosmo is of, having twisted and modified their bodies for combat after war overtook their planet. They now must depend on the energy of the Planet Eggs to stay alive. When the Metarex enact a plan that could destroy the whole universes, Cosmo sacrifices herself in order to save everybody with the help of Super Sonic and Super Shadow, much to the grief of Tails, who had fallen in love with Cosmo during the course of their adventure. It is Tails himself who must kill Cosmo in order to release her power, which would halt the advance of Dark Oak and return him to his benevolent form. Her essence is manifested in the form of a seed, which Tails later cultivates.
With the Metarex destroyed, Eggman builds an invention that sends Chris home and Chris accepts, willing to leave all his friends to return home. Soon thereafter, Dr. Eggman revives his previous rivalry with Sonic, albeit a lighthearted one. The series ends with unresolved cliff hangers, such as the whereabouts of Chris, Cosmo's true fate (in the Japanese version) and Shadow (although the Japanese version reveals Shadow is alive, depicting him looking at Molly's memorial).
Production notes[edit]
In late 2004, production sketches, model sheets, storyboards and episode scripts of a supposed Series 2 began surfacing. Many dismissed them as a fan-made hoax as neither Sega nor TMS had officially announced continuing Sonic X beyond the original 52 episodes. It was not until early 2005 that Jetix France began to air the 26-episode "Series 2" shortly followed by a Taiwanese station and on 10 September 2005, 4Kids Entertainment began to air "Series 2" calling it "Season 3". On 29 September 2005, Irish network RTÉ Two began to air "Series 2", though it was simply referred to as Sonic X, meaning viewers were completely unaware of the fact that it was airing.
List of characters[edit]
Main characters[edit]
- Sonic the Hedgehog
- Miles "Tails" Prower
- Knuckles the Echidna
- Amy Rose
- Cream the Rabbit
- Cheese
- Cosmo
- Rouge the Bat
- Shadow the Hedgehog
- Dr. Eggman
Recurring characters[edit]
Original characters[edit]
Nazo[edit]
A concept art video/trailer released before Sonic X contains many features which were changed before the show was actually aired. These included a single still picture of a blue-gray hedgehog (the picture to the right). This image was then found on the official Sega website with the name Nazo.jpg. Since he has not appeared in the actual show and Sega has given no more information about him, Sonic fans popularly refer to him as "Nazo", which means "mystery" in Japanese. Because of the lack of canon information at the time, much debate has followed about who he was to be. It was later revealed through a Facebook conversation with Takashi Iizuka that "Nazo" was actually just a scrapped Super Sonic design.[4][5]
Merchandise[edit]
Novel adaptions[edit]
Six Sonic X novels based on the first few episodes of the Metarex Saga were published between 2005 and 2007. These are: Aqua Planet, Dr. Eggman Goes to War, Battle at Ice Palace and Desperately Seeking Sonic by Charlotte Fullerton, Meteor Shower Messenger by Paul Ruditis, and Spaceship Blue Typhoon by Diana Gallagher.
Comic series[edit]
In September 2005, Archie Comics, publishers of the Sonic the Hedgehog comics started a comic book series based on Sonic X, making Sonic X the first Sonic-related cartoon to receive tie-in media. According to writer Joe Edkin, the first nine issues take place in the continuity between episodes 32 and 33, which falls between the Chaos and Shadow Sagas. After this, the stories' chronological positions vary for some time, although in progressively later points in the series, but it never reaches into the events of season three.
The series is based off the English dub of the anime, though it still fits with most of the aspects of the continuity established in the original Japanese version. The Sonic X comic series only contained forty issues.
Toy line[edit]
In Japan, Sega Toys produced various toys for the show, including blind box figures, desk battle toys and plush toys.
The 4Kids version of the show was also backed up by a toyline, being produced by Toy Island. The early figures in this line were re-releases of their earlier Sonic Adventure toyline. The line soon moved onto updated and more on-model sculpts. Similar to a concept from the popular Marvel Legends toys, the Megabot Series 1 wave presents each of the five characters in it with part of a generic E-Series robot. People who collected the whole set were able to complete the RBX-D05 robot as a 'bonus' figure. Further waves included the re-release the first wave with the addition of a special key-chain, the Space Fighters collection, and the Figures with Chaos Emeralds collection.
McDonald's released a set of Sonic X disk shooters featuring Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Shadow as toys for Happy Meals, and other sets for other regions.
Later, some of the toys produced by Toy Island were redistributed by FEVA and made available to purchase in the United Kingdom. A radio-controlled Sonic toy was produced by Spin Master and was also distributed by FEVA.
Leapster game[edit]
An educational game based on the series, also titled Sonic X, was released for the Leapster in 2007.
Browser games[edit]
Multiple browser games based on Sonic X were playable on the 4Kids TV and Jetix websites from the mid-2000s to the early 2010s, including Sonic Snake, Sonic XS, Shadow XS, Sonic X Bowling, Sonic Emerald Grab, Sonic Ring Thing, Sonic Speed Spotter, Sonic X Colorblast, and Sonic X Shuffle 1.
Cast[edit]
Crew[edit]
| Original Concept | Sega |
|---|---|
| Sonic Team | |
| Planning | SONIC Project |
| Executive Producer | Yuji Naka |
| Producer | Takeshi Sasamura |
| Tadahito Matsumoto | |
| Animation Producer | Kenji Mizunuma |
| Associate Producer | Emi Sasaki |
| Story Editor | Hiro Masaki (eps. 1-52) |
| Kiyoko Yoshimura (eps. 53-78) | |
| Supervisor | Akinori Nishiyama |
| Takashi Iizuka | |
| Shiro Maekawa | |
| Original Character Design | Yuji Uekawa |
| Character Design / Animation Director | Satoshi Hirayama |
| Mechnical Design | Yasuhiro Moriki |
| Mechanical Animation Director | Keisuke Watabe |
| Art Director | Yukiko Iijima |
| Color Design | Mika Iwami |
| Background Art | Minoru Ōkōchi |
| Sound Director | Keiichi Momose (eps. 1-52) |
| Keiichiro Miyoshi (eps. 53-78) | |
| Music | Yoshihiro Ike |
| Recording Engineer | Tadaharu Satō |
| Assistant Engineer | Mitsue Narahara |
| Sound Production | MSI (eps. 1-52) |
| Tohokushinsha Film Corporation (eps. 53-78) | |
| Recording Studio | KSS Studio |
| Sound Effects | Toshio Takano |
| CG Director | Takeshi Nagata |
| CG Production | ufotable |
| Director of Photography | Ayumu Hatori |
| Editor | Hisako Hasegawa |
| Editing Cooperation | Okada Edit Room |
| Editing Studio | TMS Photo |
| Program Publicity | Nanae Sasahara |
| Yasushi Nagumo | |
| Assistant | Yoshie Maeda |
| Literary Manager | Kōji Miki |
| Production Chief | Hideaki Miyamoto |
| Animation Production | TMS Entertainment (credited as "Tokyo Movie") |
| Produced by | TV Tokyo |
| TMS Entertainment | |
| Director | Hajime Kamegaki |
| Assistant Editor | Abel Bautista |
|---|---|
| David Etzold | |
| Assistant Music Producer | Jonathan Lattif |
| Associate Producer | Julie Rath |
| AVID Editor | Chris Guido |
| David Etzold | |
| Executive Producer | Alfred R. Kahn |
| Norman J. Grossfield | |
| Graphics | Hisami Aoki |
| Lurialle Dumaguing | |
| Paul J. Baccash | |
| Rob Bruce | |
| Ryan Kelly | |
| Mix Engineer | Ron London |
| Music Composition | Craig Marks |
| Joel Douek | |
| John Angier | |
| Louis Cortelezzi | |
| Manny Corallo | |
| Matt McGuire | |
| Ralph Schuckett | |
| Music Producer | John Sands |
| Producer | Michael Haigney |
| Production Assistant | Joan Vollero |
| Production Supervision | Brenda Dillon |
| Recording Engineer | Alon Namdar |
| Michele Darling | |
| Ohad Tzachar | |
| Ron London | |
| Suzanne Goldish | |
| Script Adaptation | John Touhey |
| Michael Haigney | |
| Ted Lewis | |
| Translation Advisor | Kaz Sano |
| Voice Direction | Andrew Rannells |
| Pete Kaplan |
Music[edit]
There is an album containing select music tracks from the Japanese version of the anime entitled Sonic X ~Original Sound Tracks~, released on 3 March 2004. Four CD singles that feature the Japanese opening and ending themes have also been released.
Regional differences[edit]
Sonic X has numerous edits when the English version was to be dubbed and many items, places, dialogue etc. have been edited from its Japanese version to better suit children and comply with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) laws (in the U.S. and in rare cases even though at some points not followed, Canada), the TV Networks' regulations, and in other cases, social-factors of Americans, including violence, and a few others. Some of them has been done directly (such as violence, cursing and others) or indirectly (such as music). Because of this, there are numerous differences that has been seen as shown below.
- In the Japanese version, all firearm sound effects had a bullet sound effect from a gun. In the American version, it was completely replaced with laser sound effects an any use of handguns was removed as well.
- There are some scenes of blood, violence, death, text and gunfire in the Japanese version that were removed by 4Kids.
- The light from some attacks were made darker with no transparent filter. Also, some backgrounds related to attacks are changed, such as Chaos Control.
- In the Japanese version, the characters (mostly Sonic) will say lines in Engrish, like "Thank you" or "No way", in which they mention other languages. In the American version, the only mention to other languages is Mr. Inteligente, which is Spanish for smart and two characters (Sonic the Hedgehog and Maria Robotnik) saying "sayonara", which is Japanese for goodbye.
- During the third season, Rouge blackmails Bokkun with a pendant. In the Japanese version, it was revealed that a picture of Cream is inside the pendant, thus revealing that Bokkun has a crush on Cream. In the English version, the contents were never seen for unknown reasons.
- The Japanese version features Eyecatch cards at various intervals, displaying details about a character, such as weight, height and age. It even extends to Eggman's various robots. This was removed in the English version for unknown reasons.
- In the American version, Rouge's cleavage is sometimes edited to make her breasts seem smaller.
- All instances involving or depicting alcohol were portrayed as child-friendly beverages instead, such as Champagne being replaced with Cola while beer is replaced with orange juice.
Eyecatch cards[edit]
Eyecatch cards are cards with various information about some of the characters and objects appearing during the Japanese version of Sonic X.
Reception[edit]
Sonic X ratings, have had ranged from mixed to positive. Conrad Zimmerman of Destructoid cited its "horrible localization" as a main reason for negativity.[6] Tim Jones of THEM Anime gave the show two stars out of five and criticized the English voice acting, saying that "it's really annoying how all the recent Sonic games use these untalented actors/actresses in their dubs, because they make the original English voices sound like award-winning performers."[7] Other comments on the show's aesthetics were mostly positive. Staff of Games Radar admitted that "at least the song fits. Can't imagine Sonic listening to Underground wailing Meat Loaf light rock, but he'd definitely jam to Sonic X."[8] Jones praised the rock music from Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2, as well as the "pretty piano music" and "catchy" Japanese intro and outro themes. He also found the backgrounds "nice to look at" but did not like the use of CGI for Sonic's Homing Attack.[7]
The human characters—and, to a lesser extent, the animal ones—were also criticized. Jones decried Chris as "a dull, boring, uninspired character" and also described Tanaka and Ella as "bland" stereotypes of Japanese- and African-Americans, respectively. Jones also criticized the presence of Amy and Big, but took particular issue to the show's portrayal of Sonic, which he summarized as: "'I'm gonna run around downtown until something exciting happens and use a stinking Ring to defeat my enemies'".[7] "Games Radar" bemoaned both the "piss-poor Adventure characters" and the original human ones.[8] In contrast, writer Gaz Plant of Nintendo Life opined that "one of the key successes" of the series was its incorporation of numerous characters from the games, including lesser-used ones like Big the Cat and the Chaotix. Fans were divided on the merit of the Thorndykes.[9]
The show was well received for faithfully following the format of the games. Famitsu offered a uniformly positive review before the first episode broadcast in 2003, commending the skillful transition of the games' speed and style to animation, and expected the series to continue to grow more interesting.[10] Plant stated that "where Sonic X truly succeeded was in its retelling of iconic stories".[9] Independent of the characters involved, Games Radar appreciated the idea of following "Sonic's core concept."[8] The original storylines were also well received. Amidst his criticism of most of the show, Jones praised the first episode in general, especially its humor.[7] Plant acclaimed the character development that built on the stories of the original games, especially Sonic and Amy's relationship and the Chaotix's newfound viability as comedy devices. Concurrently, he found the show "surprisingly touching", particularly in its "emotional" final climax, and favorably compared the space exploration of season three to Star Trek.[9] Famitsus first preview called the story profound (重厚 jūkō?).[10]
Common Sense Media gave it three stars out of five and, while not commenting further on its quality, stated that it was appropriate for grade-school children but that some violent scenes were inadvisable for younger viewers.[11] A second Famitsu review from later in 2003 called the anime an outstanding success and encouraged readers to tune in.[12]
Popularity and cultural impact[edit]
The show was quite popular in the United States and France, consistently reaching the number-one position in its timeslot in both countries.[13][14] By 2007, it was TMS' best-selling anime in the non-Japanese market, despite the fact that the third season did not air in Japan, and it inspired TMS to focus on properties that would sell well outside Japan.[15] Later on, as a means to promote the Sonic the Hedgehog film, the third season was announced to air in Japan through the Japanese channel, Kids Station, in January 2020.[16]
Discotek license[edit]
On 7 April 2015, Discotek Media announced on their Facebook account that they were releasing a series set. The set would only be English dubbed. They also stated that they are doing a test with Monster Rancher to see if the subtitled sets will sell better than the dubbed. The series was released in two separate DVD sets with the first volume collecting episodes 1-52 (seasons 1 and 2) which released on 22 November 2016 and the second volume collecting episodes 53-78 (season 3) which was released on 6 December 2016. The DVD sets had a special feature that showed some storyboards from the anime. An SD Blu-ray version of the complete series was released on 28 May 2019. It is English dub only but it has more special features, such as a sing-along/karaoke of the English theme, and the English pilot, as well as closed captions (English SDH subtitles).
Home video and digital releases[edit]
VHS[edit]
DVD[edit]
- Funimation:
- A Super Sonic Hero
- The Chaos Factor
- Satellite Swindle
- Beating Eggman
- Sonic's Scream Test
- Countdown To Chaos
- Revenge of the Robot
- Project Shadow
- Into the Darkness
- Beginning of the End
- The Complete 5th Season
- So Long, Sonic
- The New World Saga
- Chaos Emerald Chaos
- Chaos & Shadow Sagas
- The Egg Moon, Emerl & Homebound Sagas
- Heads Up Tails
- Cracking Knuckles
- Pure Chaos
- Discotek Media:
Blu-ray[edit]
Trivia[edit]
- The voice actor for Sonic at the time, Ryan Drummond, offered to voice Sonic for the dub, but was rejected by 4Kids for not living in New York. Eventually, Drummond was removed as the voice actor for the Sonic games, after Sega of America decided to replace the entire voice cast for the games with the 4Kids cast shortly before the death of Deem Bristow, the previous voice actor for Dr. Eggman. Allegedly, he was only told when he asked if he would be needed for voice recordings in Shadow the Hedgehog from the beginning. Even though Drummond wanted to continue voicing Sonic, he was declined to voicing him for Shadow the Hedgehog, which resulted in many complaints from fans of the previous voice cast.
- Months after the series began dubbing in English, Sonic Battle, Sonic Heroes, and Sonic Advance 3 would be sent to dub in San Diego, so by that time four Sega projects were being carried out in two different dubbing studios.
- When the first thirteen episodes of Series 2/Season 3 were released on DVD in the US, they were packaged as the The Complete 5th Season (with thirteen episodes being a "season", and those episodes being the fifth division of thirteen episodes); also, the cover art to the DVD resembles the poster for the movie Firefox, with the Blue Typhoon in the same space as the MiG-31, the movie's titular jet fighter.
- The last season only aired on television outside Japan, despite a full Japanese voice track being produced. In 2020, to commemorate the release of the Sonic the Hedgehog movie, all three seasons were set to be rebroadcast in Japan in 2020.[17]
- For the original Japanese dub, this marked the first time that Ryō Hirohashi had voiced a version of Tails, and later became the traditional voice actress for the various incarnations of him since then.
- Sonic X once had the largest number of episodes among the Sonic television series at a total of seventy-eight until it was surpassed by Sonic Boom with their episode "Robots From The Sky Part 2".
- The silhouette of Sonic's head in the logo of Sonic X is from the main 2D artwork of Sonic used for Sonic Adventure.
- The Australian Sonic X DVDs came with a trailer of Sonic Mega Collection Plus.
- Shadow was seen removing his Limiters and receiving a huge power boost as a result in the ending of his story in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), a concept originally used in this show.
- This is the only animated TV show where Sonic doesn't appear in every episode. This is also the first Sonic TV show where he doesn't appear in every episode. The second being the Knuckles TV series.
- In an interview, the English writer of Sonic X states that he doesn't know a thing about Sonic, stating that he never played a single game, watched a single episode from any Sonic show, or even read any of the comics.[18]
- France was the only European country to dub the complete version of Sonic X without any edits.
- Starting with Sonic Generations, the French voice cast (with the exception of Vector) all reprise their roles.
- In an interview, Jason Griffith revealed that he originally auditioned for the part of Chris, but was instead cast as Sonic. He did say that he thought it was exciting to be Sonic's companion, but the producers thought that his voice was better for Sonic.[18]
- In a commercial for season three of Sonic X, there are four videos of the game Shadow the Hedgehog, most likely due to an error. In this same commercial, a small clip from the Japanese opening plays. Both can be seen using frame-by-frame views.
- This is the first Sonic cartoon in America to not have Dr. Eggman referred to as "Dr. Robotnik". The second is Sonic Boom, this is because both Sonic X and Sonic Boom took place in the Modern Era.
- Sonic X is notable for being one of the continuities in the Sonic series of which Sonic and Amy's relationship borders more on romance than most other media. While Amy remains roughly the same in her approach to Sonic, he shows more affection that borders on romance, something that does not happen in most media aside from optional dialog and optional scenes in various games such as Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood and Sonic Unleashed. Another continuity is the Sonic the Hedgehog manga series, where Amy is the love interest of Nicky, whose alter ego is Sonic the Hedgehog.
- 4Kids had Jason Griffith and Dan Green as Sonic and Knuckles, respectively, sing along with other 4Kids voice actors singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" for American Independence Day.[19]
- In Mission Mode of Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut, during missions 3 and 12, a Sonic X poster with Sonic and Chris is visible in Station Square.
- Sonic X has been on the air for fifteen years (including reruns), making it the longest running Sonic television series, and it is still on the air currently on the Video On Demand network Kabillion.
- Sonic X was added to Netflix on 1 December 2019. However, only seasons one and two were available. The third season was never released on Netflix, but is available on other platforms such as Tubi, Hulu, YouTube and Amazon Prime Video. The series is set to be removed from Netflix on 30 November 2024.[20]
- Sonic X is the first television series to include Super Sonic and Super Shadow.
Videos[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ Program info (Japanese). Kids Station.
- ↑ Konami to Get 4Kids' Yu-Gi-Oh! Assets Under Proposed Deal. Anime News Network (17 June 2012). Retrieved on 15 April 2014.
- ↑ Sonic X: Summary. TV.com. Archived from the original on 20 October 2008.
- ↑ Media:IizukaNazo.jpg
- ↑ Hero (3 September 2015). "Nazo" confirmed to be Super Sonic alternative by Takashi Iizuka. Archived from the original on 25 October 2015. Retrieved on 18 September 2015.
- ↑ Zimmerman, Conrad (4 April 2010). Watch Sonic X on Hulu This Easter. Destructoid. Archived from the original on 31 August 2014. Retrieved on 6 April 2014.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Jones, Tim . Sonic X. THEM Anime. Archived from the original on 31 August 2014. Retrieved on 6 April 2014.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 GamesRadar US (23 June 2012). The absolute worst Sonic moments. GamesRadar. Archived from the original on 31 August 2014. Retrieved on 6 April 2014.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Plant, Gaz (October 18, 2013). Feature: A Supersonic History of Sonic Cartoons. NintendoLife. Archived from the original on 31 August 2014. Retrieved on 16 July 2014.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 アニメ『ソニックX』の制作発表会が開催！ (Japanese). Famitsu (18 March 2003). Archived from the original on 31 August 2014. Retrieved on 28 April 2014.
- ↑ Common Sense Media says: Hedgehog and human join together to battle evil. Common Sense Media. Archived from the original on 31 August 2014. Retrieved on 24 June 2014.
- ↑ 『ソニック X』アフレコ現場を潜入取材！ (Japanese). Famitsu (19 June 2003). Archived from the original on 31 August 2014. Retrieved on 28 April 2014.
- ↑ Weiland, Jonah (23 May 2005). Archie Launches New 'Sonic X' Series. Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on 31 August 2014. Retrieved on 22 June 2014.
- ↑ Jetix Europe N.V. Announces Results for the Year Ended September 30, 2004 (PDF). Jetix Europe (8 December 2004). Archived from the original on 31 August 2014. Retrieved on 16 July 2014.
- ↑ Kelts, Roland (13 November 2007). Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the U.S.. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 78. ISBN 978-1-4039-8476-0.
- ↑ Sonic X’s "Metarex Saga" To Finally Air In Japan. TSSZ News (13 November 2019). Retrieved on 7 December 2019.
- ↑ Kori-Maru (13 November 2019). Sonic X to be rebroadcast in Japan to commemorate the release of the live-action Sonic the Hedgehog Movie. Sega Bits.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 Mr. Michael Haigney Interview (4Kids) anime/manga article. Archived from the original on 17 February 2007. Retrieved on 23 August 2914.
- ↑ Tomokocchi (12 September 2006). The stars of 4Kids sing the National Anthem. YouTube.
- ↑ What's Leaving Netflix in December 2024
External links[edit]
- Sonic X at MyVortexx (archived)
- Sonic X at the TV-Tokyo website
- Sonic X release dates and screenshots at TeamArtail (archived)
Template:Sonic X episodes de:Sonic X es:Sonic X fr:Sonic X it:Sonic X lt:Sonic X nl:Sonic X pl:Sonic X pt-br:Sonic X ru:Sonic X uk:Sonic X