Sonic X (Anime) [Review]

Summary:

If you’re a Sonic the Hedgehog fan, you may remember at least four animated television series that aired in the 90s, such as my personal favorite Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic Underground. There has only been one Sonic series in this decade. Unfortunately, it didn’t live up to expectations.

Review:

Sonic X follows the characters (and story) of the Sonic Adventure games for the console that left us too soon; the Sega Dreamcast. The first few episodes were exciting with all the chaos involving Sonic, Tails, and Dr. Eggman (aka Dr. Robotnik). Later we see other familiar characters, such as Sally the Hedgehog, Knuckles the Echidna, and Bob the Cat. There are also human characters in the series, which was interesting since pretty much all the characters are not human (with the exception of Eggman).

The first episode shows Sonic and his gang putting a stop to Eggman’s plans, with some interference from humans. Sonic ends up on his own in a city, where people raise eyebrows at his presence. Later the military gets word of Sonic’s arrival, but they think it’s an unidentified alien. To find out more about him, they hire a popular race car driver who catches up to Sonic and challenges him to a race.

Sonic X is the second Japanese adaption of an animated Sonic series, with “Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie” being the first in the mid 90s. Sonic X aired in Japan in 2003 and brought over to the States in months later, with (no) thanks to 4Kids Entertainment. The show was worth checking out back then, but today, with the trouble 4Kids is making when it comes to hot Japanese properties (hint: It’s two words, and it starts with a “O” and ends with a “E”), it’s not worth tracking down. I stopped watching the show myself after 10 episodes. A few years later, it was canned by Japanese TV due to low ratings. So I wasn’t the only one who found Sonic X terrible.

Sonic X could have had some potential if there was more humor included. It’s really an Anime clone of the dark, short-lived Sonic SatAM on ABC in the 90s. I do give it props for making that far ahead. I guess Sonic was only meant for video games.