The Evil Doctor Eggman has gathered the seven Chaos Emeralds for his latest dastardly scheme, but like a bolt from the blue, Sonic the Hedgehog arrives to save the day! Only this time, an accident triggers Chaos Control, Hurling everyone into a different world, a world that looks an awful lot like our own. To get home, Sonic together with Tails, Amy, Knuckles, and all the gang must find the Chaos Emeralds. But he’s not the only one looking for them! Doctor Eggman has come to this world as well, and while the other might just want to return, Eggman sees a new land ripe for making part of his Eggman Empire! The race is on, and when it comes to speed, there’s no way Sonic can lose! Don’t blink and don’t think, because Sonic X is out of this world!
(Warning: Spoilers in this review!)
Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/matthat
Saturday Morning on 4Kids, Second Attempt in Anime
Imagine this: you wake up early in the morning, eat a bowl of cereal, you have no school today and you decide to lounge around and watch cartoons. One of the shows you watch was Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003) and Loonatics Unleashed. One of these shows, you definitely remember by the catchy intro song “Gotta Go Fast” and the sight of a blue speedy hedgehog. The show was called Sonic X. It’s no surprise that Sonic the Hedgehog is well-known whether you experience the video games, watched the cartoons in which was voiced by Steve Urkel’s actor Jaleel White or read the Archie comics. Sonic the Hedgehog made his first debut in the Sega Genesis home console in 1991 as a mascot rival to Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros. Throughout the years, Sonic the Hedgehog has been through a lot of video games from the Genesis, to Sega’s last console Dreamcast and to the modern consoles. Sonic X is actually not the first time Sonic jumped into the anime world. In 1996, Studio Pierrot and anime director Kazunori Ikega would team up and create a two episode OVA for Sonic called Sonic the Hedgehog or the internet called it Sonic OVA. The anime would get an English Dubbed format, but the voice for Sonic was done by Martin Burke rather Jaleel White and the OVA featured Tails, Knuckles, Dr. Robotnik/Eggman and Metal Sonic. In 2003, Sega, Sonic Team and TMS Entertainment got together and created a brand new Sonic anime series and called it Sonic X. Around this time, the English license company 4Kids Entertainment would be the one to license the anime in English Dub and localize it on TV. This is where we also get an updated voice cast for the anime and the voices would carry on even to the video games up until which includes Jason Griffith, Dan Green and the longest Sonic voice actor Mike Pollock. Sonic X is probably one of the most popular Saturday morning anime on TV in America and sometimes on Jetix for those who watched it on day times.
Sonic X broken into three seasons, but into two series
According to Wikipedia, there is a total of 78 episodes of the Sonic X anime. The first 52 episodes is referred to “Series 1” and the remaining episodes is called “Series 2”. However, in the English version done by 4Kids, the episodes was divided into three seasons, whilst the first two seasons had 26 episodes.
Plot: Original story plots with game twists
Season 1
For the sake of this review, I am going to be talking about the anime in seasons to better describe each of the plots. Season 1 starts with Sonic in the middle of trying to save his friend Cream the Rabbit and Cheese the Chao from the evil Dr. Eggman also retrieve the stole Chaos Emeralds. While fighting, Sonic and Eggman accidentally trigger a Chaos Control and ends up warping everyone through time and space into a new world filled with humans. In this confusing world, a human boy named Christopher Thorndyke takes Sonic for refuge as he tries to get adjusted to this world and find his friends. Chis comes from a rich family in which his father is the CEO of technology business and his mother is a movie celebrity. Later on, these two do find the rest of Sonic friends and they work together find their way back home to their world. In order to do that, they have to find the rest of the seven Chaos Emeralds which was scattered after the fight with Dr. Eggman. However, not only Sonic’s friends arrived in this world, but so did Eggman and his robot lackeys Bocoe and Decoe and the childish exploding messenger Bokkun. In this new world, Dr. Eggman wants to gather the Chaos Emeralds and establish his Eggman Empire. Season 1 introduces a new adventure for Sonic and his friends and their quest to return home and also preventing Dr. Eggman from conquering this world.
Season 2
Continuing off from season 1, season 2 mixes in with some video game stories based off from Sonic Adventure 1, Sonic Adventure 2 and a minuscule plot of Sonic Battle. After defeating Dr. Eggman and saving Chris, the Chaos Emeralds once scatters and goes missing. This is where we get to see Big the Cat who first made an appearance in the beginning of Sonic X, but holds no value of the plot of season 1. Sonic and friends once again tries to live in peace after defeating Dr. Eggman. However, Dr. Eggman is not ready to give up and he is willing to do whatever it takes to defeat Sonic. Dr. Eggman destroys Knuckle’s Master Emerald and would unleash the ancient monster Chaos. Dr. Eggman plans to gather all the Chaos Emeralds and feed them to Chaos and become the ultimate living weapon. Helping him, he creates his robot minions and one of them is named E-102 Gamma. A portion of Chaos is consumed by Big’s pet friend Froggy and he goes missing which leads to Big getting involved with the crossover. While Sonic and his friends try to stop Eggman from gathering the Emeralds, Knuckles is having his own story and trying to gather the shards of the Master Emeralds. However, we get pieces of the history of the monster Chaos and the fate of his ancestors.
After the devastation from Chaos, Sonic and his friends move away to a different while the home town of Station Square recovers. After failing, Dr. Eggman sneaks into Prison Island owned by the military named GUN in search of a hidden secret weapon. Upon discovery he learns that this secret weapon is actually a hedgehog named Shadow the Hedgehog and he was made by Eggman’s grandfather Gerard Robotnik. Robotnik created Shadow at a secret space station called the Space Colony Ark and Dr. Eggman wants to use it to bring fear to Earth and create his Eggman Empire. The introduction of Shadow creates an identity crisis as people believes that Shadow is Sonic and he became evil. Sonic and his friends must stop Eggman and also help clear their names.
After the events with Shadow, Sonic and his friends goes back to normality and have mini adventures. We to meet the Chaotix, Cream’s mother Vanilla and the copycat robot Emeral. Season 2 ends with the government informing Chris and his family about the current situation with Sonic and his friends and Dr. Eggman. It turns out due to the Chaos Control from season 1, Sonic and the human world were once on whole Earth, but since Sonic and his friends appeared into the Human World, time will cease to continue unless Sonic and his friends return home, including Dr. Eggman. Chris has to choose between keeping Sonic and never letting time progress or saying goodbye to him and fixing time.
Season 3
In this final season, Sonic and his friends encounter a mysterious robot army called the Metarex. The Metarex plots to steal the Chaos Emeralds and steal every planet’s “Planet Egg” in order to repopulate their desolate home planet. However, Sonic, in his Super form, sends the emeralds across the galaxy preventing the leader of the Metarex from stealing them. However, this doesn’t stop them from Stealing’s Sonic home world Planet Egg. With the help of the mysterious plant girl Cosmo, Sonic and his friends learns about their enemy and must work together to save not only their world, but other planets. Returning to join Sonic, an adult Chris builds a machine to replicate Chaos Control and enters Sonic’s world, but this leads him to returning to his kid appearance; nonetheless, Chris wants to help Sonic reclaim the emeralds and Planet Eggs. Joining them we the comedic group the Chaotix helping Sonic, and Dr. Eggman joins in the space adventure to steal the Chaos Emeralds for himself.
Review: Sonic’s adventure with twists and turns
After finally watching the anime from start to finish, I can finally give you my feedback. As a Sonic fan myself, it’s evident that Sonic has his fair share of ups and downs in his adventures. Sometimes he’ll have a great game like Sonic Generations and Sonic Unleashed, sometimes he will have bad games like Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) and Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric. In this anime, I want to say Sonic X falls in the mediocre rating. Let me start off the pros and the cons. In the positive side of Sonic X, we get some original adventures with Sonic and his friends. As much as it was cool to see the anime adaptations of the games Sonic Adventure 1 and 2, I was mostly entertained by the original stories. Season 1 had many original adventures such as Sonic racing against Chris’ speedster uncle Sam or Sonic playing baseball against Eggman. Season 3 was also entertaining, but it felt like I was watching Dragon Ball GT since it involved the characters trying to find 7 powerful items in a limited time. I speak for many other fans, but the scene with Sonic turning into Dark Sonic and having Dr. Eggman stand up against the Metarex and proving to them that he was a threat was iconic in season 3. I felt like season 3 had fun and serious storyline.
There are some negatives in Sonic X where I have my gripes. In season 2, I mentioned that this is the season where the anime focuses on the Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 story. Despite getting an anime adaptation, the episode arcs don’t last long; it takes an approximate of 6 episodes to complete them. I was able to able finish both the arcs within a couple of days. Emerl from Sonic Battle does appear in the later episodes but doesn’t stick around very long and he gets dealt with shortly. This brings up the next topic which is the characters. The main focus of the anime is mostly Sonic and his group including Chris and his family and Dr. Eggman. There are some side characters like Rouge and the Chaotix, but their roles are minimum. Rouge mostly appears whenever an episode is about claiming treasure or the emeralds and The Chaotix is there for pure comedy. Characters like Big the Cat, Gamma and Shadow the Hedgehog are greatly reduced prior to their Adventure arcs, however, Shadow does appear again in season 3. Overall, these Sonic characters have minor roles in the overall anime and they’re only important until the plot gives them purpose. Ironically, the one character I didn’t care about was Chris. Despite him being one of the main characters of the show, I felt like Chris was a bit overbearing. Throughout the anime, Chris always wants to be part of Sonic’s adventure and get involve in the action even if it means risking his life. We do get to see his friends in the adventure too, but they don’t much attention unfortunately. From fans, some people really don’t like Chris due to his selfishness. Happened twice, when the plot as Sonic and his friend ready to return home, Chris, despite wanting to help Sonic and his friends, has second thoughts and wants Sonic to stay and be part of his life. This kind of act shows like Chris is immature and is not willing to grow up. I mentioned in season 3, Chris creates a device to warp to Sonic’s home world during the Metarex crisis. I liked Chris a little because he matures in the adventure, but it got annoying how he always wanted to be involved with Sonic and his friends.
Whether you like or dislike it, the English Dub was decent. The dub for this was done by 4Kids Entertainment who are well known for shows like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003), Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh. I heard the Japanese version has a better Dub and uncut scenes that wasn’t present in the American version. Even if you bought the homevideoes, you will still get the edited, censored English versions. Unless you like tamed dialogue from the people who worked on your favorite Saturday morning shows, some of the dialogue can be cheesy. I like the voices actors and I do miss Jason Griffith’s voice of Sonic and Shadow and Mike Pollock is still the best voice for Dr. Eggman.
Conclusion
Was Sonic X a good anime? From my experience and as a fan of Sonic, Sonic X feels like a mixed bag of pros and cons. As a kid, this was my favorite show growing up and I looked forward to watching every episode. Now as an adult, this anime does hold some happy, nostalgic memories of my childhood, but I do notice some flaws. If you have time to kill, Sonic X does provide some entertaining episodes. The show offers some original story plots which strays away from the games and even it does go off from the games, they make the adventure unique and different and blend it to the anime. However, sometimes the arcs can either be moderately paced or super fast. Having Chris be one of the main characters for Sonic can either improve the plot or just make him unbearable. The English Dub is passable and it can be entertaining for children. The voice actors were good, but I think it needs better writing.
So what do you guys think about Sonic X? Comment down below on your opinion.
Until then, sayonara!
Matt-in-the-Hat 
I rewatched this recently. IMO, it’s not too bad. I agree that the Adventure arcs were rushed in their adaption, but it certainly felt more on-brand for Sonic than the OVA from years prior did. I’d say as well, while I’ve never played Rise of Lyric, I did finish and review Sonic 06 recently, and honestly, I don’t think it’s a bad game once you get used to what doesn’t work as well as it should.
Yeah Sonic X had a nice story plot. It did offer some fun and brand new adventures that felt different than the games. While Sonic 06 may not have been my favorite game, it has some pros. I like the soundtrack and I enjoyed the platform stages. I didn’t like bugs inside.
The bugs definitely didn’t help with 06. The gel shave
Sorry, phone posted before I was finished.
The real shame for me was that the bugs mostly seemed to appear for Sonic himself. Silver was, for the most part, okay in the other hand. The cam
The camera was the biggest issue for me. In the hedgehog bosses, in particular, that was terrible .
The camera was tricky to handle. I kind of thought Silver’s gameplay was fun. Fighting Silver, I have not gotten trapped by his telekinetic attack where he says “it’s no use”. I had a tough time with the speed stages with Sonic.
It’s a shame, because if teh cmaera was more in line with what we got in the likes of Generations, it would have made the game more playable. Silver was great fun to play as. I know some didn’t like how much slower he was, but I thought the telekinetic attacks were a nice touch.
Yeah I agree. I did hear that players constantly had to struggle with the camera while playing the game. I also didn’t like the load times too. I thought Silver’s play style was fun and interesting. Rather than focusing on the speed like Sonic and Shadow, Silver allowed us to play his powers. Felt like he could explore the stages easily.
The load times are horrendous on PS3, and the occasional lag of there are too many enemies isn’t great either. I heard a rumour they’re porting it to PC though, which should clear all of that up.
Oh nice! I did hear some fans tried to do a PC demo port where they fix the lags and load time. I wish I could try it, but I don’t my laptop is built for that Sonic speed lol.
Lol. Mine neither. My main rig should be fine though. Aye though, there’s a demo of there where someone is remaking it.
The demo videos look good and impressive. I hear the controls are also very responsive. If possible, if this game ever comes back with bugs patched, I will consider playing this game again.
I really hope they do fix it, whether it be SEGA or a fan project. The game really should have been SA3 IMO, and without the bugs, I think it would have been.
Yeah I think I heard 06 was kind of like a SA3, but it was also a retelling. I really enjoyed SA1 and 2. For now, I been hearing fans that they want a SA 1 and 2 Remake.
I certainly wouldn’t object to that, though both do still play well.
Agreed. I enjoyed those games on the GameCube. We can only imagine. If Sega ever agrees to do it, they have to choose to either use the old voices for the characters or find new ones.
If it’s a full remake, I’d guess it’d be a mix of old and new voices. I know they’ve just got rid of a bunch of the VAs.
Probably make sense. I grew accustomed to Roger’s Sonic voice. I wonder who will be the new Sonic. I know Mike Pollock will be Dr. Eggman. I heard Knuckles and Silver got updated voice actors.
I think Tails is staying the same too. It’ll be interesting to see who steps into the other roles.
That’s interesting, but good to know. At least it’s not like before where they changed everyone from the games to the anime. I sometimes miss Sonic’s voice actor Ryan Drummond.
I sometimes forget how many VAs the characters have had.
Me too. I can’t catch up. Besides games, I know Sonic did have Jaleel White in the cartoons and he had Samuel Vincent to voice his singing voice in Sonic Underground.
It’s all good. I can still read and respond back. For a moment, I thought you were going to give me a lengthy post lol.
LOL. Lengthy by my standards, perhaps My comments often end up far shorter than I intend 🙂
Haha it all depends on what you like saying. Sometimes I feel like I could go on and talk, but I also don’t want to over do it and sound boring. If I do short comments, I want it to be meaningful lol.
Lol. It is alway’s a worry that I’ll day too much. Or too little. In fact, commenting is a source of worry for me in general.
Oh really? You comment in order to stay connected? At least it’s nice to get comments and speak up. I appreciate you commenting here.
Thank you. To a point I do. But then I get worried about being misconstrued and so on.
You’re welcome. I understand. It’s tough wanting to say something without having words being interpreted the opposite of what you mean. For me, I try to take time to carefully spell out what I want to say.
You should’ve seen this video as they had his friends from Sonic X in this.
Joining these guys, are every single Jim Carrey movie characters as robots for Dr. Robotnik/Eggman.
I think I know what you’re talking about. I believe it was HISHE video.
Yes, that’s the one. Hilarious in the beginning bit when they fight against every single Jim Carrey movie character as robots.
I thought it was a funny gag. Funny how he brought all the characters he did in the past as robots. Jim Carrey is a funny actor. I heard they want to make a Ace Ventura revival movie.
They did do an “Ace Ventura Jr: Pet Detective” where after Ace Ventura disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle, never to be seen again, he had a son to take his place….
I think I vaguely remember seeing the commercials. I never seen the movie, but it’s strange to see he had a son.
Here’s a trailer….
Here’s Jim Carrey’s hilarious reaction….
And here is the actual movie!!
https://fullmoviehd4k.com/movie/ace-ventura-jr-pet-detective-8438
https://lookmovie.io/movies/view/ace-ventura-jr-pet-detective-2009
I recently watched Sonic X I believe its really good yeah they may have rushed some of the adventure arcs but all in all it really wasn’t bad it just really depends if you’re a sonic fan or not for you to enjoy it
I’m hoping to one day cosplay sonic in a human form just dunno how to start it and where to begin 😅
Yeah it’s a fun show to watch. I guess they wanted to get much of the story in the Adventure stories. The games does take up a lot on the plot. I still enjoy the series. That would be cool if you did cosplay Sonic. Maybe you can be Sonic Man XD.
Yea so true hopefully I can cosplay him it’s just getting the right clothes and makeup or facepaint depend which I decide to do 🤣
That would be cool. Make sure you get the shoes and you will be running like Sonic lol.
Yea I will if I can find them lol
Trying to cosplay is a challenge especially if you’re looking for the right material.
Definitely but I’ll get there eventually
No rush. You can’t rush perfection lol.
Yup defo took me awhile to get good at drawing so lol
Haha it’s better to pace yourself and draw something pretty than in a rush unless you’re really good.
That is true I have gotten faster over the years with my drawing its just the colouring part that takes me awhile to do
Totally. If you have been drawing for a long time, you can breeze through and get it done fast. Coloring is a different story. You gotta focus on shading and the tone.
Yea defo but I’ll get better at it
oh man, i haven’t watched sonic since i was a kid and trying to wake up before my brother so i could get TV rights!! lol. i think its interesting, going back to rewatch things that we love as kids but also kind of scary bc then its like, will i still enjoy it?? it’s nice to see you could still appreciate it! i think i only got into s2 because i don’t remember the time stopping part
I remember doing that too and trying to stay on top on the episodes. Rewatching this show reminded me of my childhood and how much I miss Saturday mornings. Season 2 was fun because we did get the Sonic Adventure stories.