My Thoughts on Sonic X Well... this feels weird to come to. A 17 year old boy who does nothing but watch anime for his life actually decided to return to an anime that he once gave a 1/10 out of spite. That boy is me. I originally gave this show a 1/10 out of spite but the more I looked at it I feel a lot different about it. The shows not great for sure. But its not that bad when coming to it again. I guess its the nostalgia of it. So... why do I feel mixed about Sonic X? Well let me just get its points out first. Season 1: Overview So Sonic alongside with his pals have went in and infiltrate Dr. Eggmans base after hearing the fact that the doc has all 7 Chaos Emeralds and is holding Cream held hostage. With no time to waste Sonic goes in and saves them in the neck of time and stops Eggman from any shenanigans hes pulling off. Unfortunately for them one of Eggman robots shot the machine in which the doc made which utilizes the Chaos Emeralds. This causes an explosion in which Knuckles saw the blast as Chaos Control and everyone caught within the blast radius is dragged to wherever the hell it takes them.... Well its already answered as it takes them to a strange world that is filled with humans and humans are quite puzzled with them. Sonic landing in the middle of the street is surrounded by a number of them. Seeing as how the police quite literally think that hes just an ordinary Hedgehog they decided to ahead and catch him. Unfortunately for them Sonic runs away fast and not only he out speeds the police but he also outsped the STeam a team of fast police drivers that go as fast as how the hedgehog goes. Still though Sonic is faster than all of them and he launches himself off of the air enjoying the view of the city Btw its Station Square if you were asking. And unfortunately for the hedgehog he lands in a pool of water which is outside from a rich persons house and mansion. There he is saved by Christopher Thorndyke Just Chris will do and thus kick starts off the adventure. And then from here on out of Season 1 its all of the matter to collect all the Chaos Emeralds. Every one of Sonics friends are gathered and they set off to find the Chaos Emeralds to return to their world. Not a bad start for Sonic X so far. However we do have more of the show to fill so what happened at the end of Season 1 did they managed to go back. Well... no actually after Sonic recieved a beating from one of Eggmans strongest robots Chris manages to take away the Chaos Emeralds from Eggman which was powering his robot and throws it in the water to save the beaten up Sonic. There hes transformed into Super Sonic and starts to break the robot in to pieces. It not only breaks the robot but it also starts Chaos Control in which surprisingly it does not take them back to their world no. It instead takes more of what was in Sonics world. And we see that with Angel Island landing in the ocean. We have another 52 episodes to fill for the show. Season 2: Overview Thankfully for Season 2 there is much less to talk about. Season 2 follows up with the Adventure Games and throwing its own original ideas. Like how Eggman fixes the moon and Chaotix trying to get Cream to reunite with her mother and its also home to one of my favorite episodes In which Ill get to in a bit. Season 2 is not that bad of a season. Thats really all I can say. Lets go to the last season. Season 3: Overview Now originally Sonic X was only gonna be 52 episodes long but someone had the mind to actually continue with it and come up with one of the best arcs to exist in the show the Metarex Saga. This starts off with Sonic ALREADY taking a beating from a formidable enemy named Dark Oak. In his Super State he uses Chaos Control to separate the Chaos Emeralds across the galaxy and because of that Dark Oak is now set off to go find them as that is his original goal. What does he do with them is a spoiler so Im not gonna mention. In a second half Tails alongside with Amy and Cream encountered a spaceship that crashlanded to their planet during a meteor shower. From there they meet Cosmo an alien in which she tells them about the threat that is to come. Of course with Sonic and co. concerned about it they set off in an adventure to space to grab all the Chaos Emeralds again. AND FOR SOME WHAT OF A REASON THEY DECIDED TO PUT CHRIS IN IT. Ill get to the details on him in just a sec but come on.. the season would be much more interesting if Chris wasnt involved. Season 3 from what sounded like a mediocre start turned out to be a literal Sonic Unleashed filled adventure. But instead of the world its the entire galaxy. And from there the metarex saga has its own charm. I really like it for that sort of reason in of itself. The three seasons of Sonic X all has something unique to the table and I applaud it for that. But now we go on talking about the whole thing. Story Sonic X was made to be a kids show thus yes the humor isnt all that great but it does what it does best. Like I said all three seasons have something unique to the table. Each season are on the same level and they have the same amount of humor. But like I said the humor isnt all that great. Its passable though seeing as this is a show made in 2003 Same year in which the very original Fullmetal Alchemist aired. I also quite like the original stories it shares but only some of them though. Season 1 suffers it the most as some are mediocre while others are just bland and it just continues with the story. Characters Characters for the most part its the characters of Sonic that you mostly know and love. Knuckles being the guardian of the Master Emerald Tails being a mechanical genius Amy still being Sonics selfproclaimed girlfriend Cream being the youngest and quite a brave youngster really the main cast of Sonic is still all the same and is represented like how their suppose to be. Even Sonic himself is who he is Although I will admit sometimes hes an asshole. Now its time for the major issue of the show the human characters specifically... Chris in general. I dont dislike Chris but Chris really is quite unremarkable and for somewhat of a reason has the most screen time. His personality I really didnt like seeing as how hes an elementary kid its understandable as to why hes like this but I do wish he was made more useful Hell Chris grandfather Chuck is more useful than Chris himself cause all he does is listen to the conversation and does the objective. Hes just a kid thats there for the sake of having to be there. Nothing else nothing more. Thats all I can really say about him. The rest of the characters are pretty solid. Visuals Believe it or not this is made by the same studio that did Dr. STONE RentaGirlfriend Detective Conan ReLIFE and their best work Fruits Basket. Being such I really do like the artstyle that TMS went with for Sonic X. It definitely suits 2003 standards. They have definitely gotten better with their later works and while that is a given Id like to think that it started with Sonic X actually. They did a decent job. Its passable. Well now is the part where I share to you about the things I liked about this anime Openings Sonic X has a total of 3 different openings. One made for US one for Japan and one for Europe except for France in which it shares the JP opening. https://www..com/watch?v=Z9G1Mf6TZRs The US version is known for the famous meme Gotta Go Fast. In which it exists here in the US opening of Sonic X and ya know what the nostalgia pandrums and memes aside this is a good song. Definitely one of the best things that 4kids has done Alongside with the 1st Pokemon Opening. And I applaud it. It really is catchy too. https://www..com/watch?v=CLkiNUvLZeU Japans version of the opening Im just saying it right now. Its the best opening out of all the three. Its sung by Hideaki Takatori and Hironobu Kageyama. Hironobu best known for his works singing the openings of Dragon Ball Z. While Gotta Go Fast is filled with energy and attitude Sonic Drive has a lot and I mean a LOT more of that. Its positive inducing and is a lot more serious compared to US goofiness in Gotta Go Fast. All I can really say is... its really good. https://www..com/watch?v=qG8O2jOAYvg Europes version of the opening gonna say... its definitely the worst one. Its just the vocalist saying Sonic X over and over again. As if you dont know what the show is already. Its instruments used is also very weak and not that great. France was lucky enough to share Japans OP. Overall not the best OP for the show. Theres just no energy to it. So basically this is the order. JP US EU Endings While US and EU got its OPs played as EDs Japan has a total of 3 endings. Those 3 being MiRaI Hikaru Michi and T.O.P https://www..com/watch?v=2QotfUP08qo Yeah... not a big fan of MiRaI. I dont know maybe its the quirkiness but this ED doesnt really suit Sonic X whatsoever. Its definitely the worst one out of all of them but it does get a pass as the melody does sound nice just the lyrics I guess. https://www..com/watch?v=rvqqp8vH0ok Fun fact about this one. Aya Hiroshige was only 12 at the time the 2nd ED was made. Tell me how does a 12 year old make such a depressing ED this good. FOR FUCKS SAKE THIS IS A KIDS SHOW WERE NOT SUPPOSE TO CRY WERE SUPPOSE TO HAVE LAUGHS DAMN IT Definitely a WHOLE lot better than the 1st ED by a LONG shot. And its definitely one of the sadder ones that it can even fit such a sad scene. Ill get more into it later. https://www..com/watch?v=LBOZgUUDDY T.O.P thankfully isnt quirky nor depressing. Its another attitude ED thats positive inducing and I say best suits Sonic X more. Though because of ED 2 its only 2nd best in terms of EDs. I gotta like its energy the song has. Definitely is something else. In the ED department. ED 2 ED 3 ED 1 Voice Acting This is where Jason Griffeth Mike Polluck and such other voice actors from the 4kids cast debuted as Sonic characters. And bless 4kids for it. They were some of the best Voice Actors that we had in Sonic. And Im glad to see that Polluck is still going strong as Eggman. Hes really the perfect VA for him and I cant really think of anyone else for the job. The 4kids cast definitely did a great job. But even then. I even get a kick out of hearing the Japanese VAs in which Im saying it right now. Sonic X is better if you watch it in Japanese. More on that later but the voice acting in Sonic X JP is really good. I especially love Sonics engrish here. Youre better off listening it to yourself its really great: https://www..com/watch?v=5fOXvXrCaTA uh... anyhow. Moving on. Why Sonic X is best off when watching it in Japanese Well aside from the obvious cut content its sounds better and like I said with the opening its more serious. I have respects to the 4kids cast in fact the first time I watched Sonic X was in English Dub but when I watch the Japanese Dub I noticed how much better it was. First off the OST is great and does set the atmosphere secondly theres all the original stuff that you couldnt see in the original English Dub and thirdly 25 minutes of an episode is better than having like 4 minutes less of the episode. Thus ending why Sonic X is better when watching it in Japanese. I mean I aint forcing you to watch the dub too thats all up to you. Character traits Specifically for Tails case. Tails often relies on Sonic and doesnt wanna be a big bother to him. He wants to stand up for himself and Season 3 definitely highlights it. You know whats unfortunate the brother moments that Sonic and Tails have its not present here. Its mostly Chris that gets all the highlights with him and Sonic and nothing else. But Tails in S3 makes up for it. Hes really trying to do things his own. Hes becoming an independent man you may say. I like that. Dr. Eggman as a villain I really like Eggman here. Theres the one side where hes trying to take over the world and then theres the other in which hes a goofy villain in which thats what Eggman is supposed to be. And he does sound like it too whether itd be Mike Polluck or the late Chikao Ootsuka both do a great job at portraying Eggman. I also like how Eggman does have a soft spot. While he does wanna take over the world he wants Sonic to at least come in and stop him from taking over said world. Its a moment like that where Eggman not only is a really great Villain but does wanna put up a fight for it. Where does that soft spot show? Just Episode 52 in general So... I actually never really got to finish off the anime and while saying that I didnt bother would be a good excuse in truth of reality Im just trying not to watch the heavy hitters. The biggest one being Episode 52 which is the last episode of Season 2 and was originally supposed to be the last episode in all of Sonic X but then another 26 came. Id make a long thesis about why I love this episode so much but instead Ill do it in bulletins. Spoiler Warning btw Overall Statement Never in my life would I actually have mixed feelings about an anime that Ive seen in 2018. And to be fair all the points that I was talking about was based off my experience with watching it back in 2018. Good lord... I was a weird 14 year old back then. Sonic X isnt a bad show but its also not a masterpiece its good and I really liked it a whole lot. Maybe if Chris was written better as a character this show wouldve sat at an 8 or a 7. But Im satisfied with a 69/100. Do I recommend it? No. Especially since its made for kids but if youre really curious enough or if youre a Sonic fan go ahead. But only if you can handle someone like Chris or the humor. Jesus I think this is as long as my KOn review. I did say there that its hard for me to try and compose a 5 sentence paragraph for something that I love the most. This is not an anime that I love this is an anime that I have fond memories about AND THIS REVIEW TOOK 5 HOURS TO MAKE God damn my experience with this anime mightve been the reason why its this long. But like I said it does require a lot of thought. And hey at least you got a review that was lower than an 89. I kept a promise... I guess. If I were to decide to come back to it again for nostalgia Ill indeed do it though not as a modern anime watcher but as a Sonic fan. I grew up with Sonic the Hedgehog and Ive played a couple of games from the franchise. The community is very chill and I like reading the fan comics. Some fan arts are also nice too. And lots of other stuff. I sadly left it at 2018 but then today I decided to come back to it. And Im glad I did because this anime solidified my signature as a Sonic fan. Alright enough rambling Im a end it off by saying this: Go watch it if youre curious enough. Thats all. See you in another review which will take another decade. :