Sonic X

Sonic X
File:Sonic X DVD.jpg Cover art of the Spanish-language DVD of Season 2. In center: Sonic. Clockwise from bottom-right: Chris, Cheese, Amy, Cream, Ella, Chuck, Knuckles, Big, Bocoe, Eggman, Rouge, Decoe, Shadow, Froggy, and Tails.
ソニックX (Sonikku Ekkusu)
Genre	Action, comedy-drama, science-fantasy
Anime television series
Directed by	Hajime Kamegaki
Produced by	Matato Matsumoto Takeshi Sasamura
Written by	Koji Miki, Hiro Masake
Music by	Yoshihiro Ike
Studio	TMS Entertainment
Licensed by	NA: 4Kids Entertainment (2003-2012) Saban Brands (2012-2014)
Original network	TV Tokyo (2003-2004) Kids Station (2004-2005)
English network	AUS: Network Ten (2004) Seven Network (2005–2006) CA: YTV (2003-2008) CBC (2003-present) Radio-Canada (2004-present) NZ: TVNZ (2003-2004) SG: MediaCorp Channel 8 (2011-present) UK: CITV (2004–2006) Jetix (2004–2008) US: Fox (Fox Box) (2003-2005) Fox (4Kids TV) (2005-2008) The CW (The CW4Kids) (2009-2010) The CW (Toonzai) (2010-2012) The CW (Vortexx) (2012-2014)
Original run	April 6, 2003 – March 28, 2004 (last Japanese-aired episode)
Episodes	78
Video game
Game Boy Advance Video - Sonic X: Volume 1 - A Super Sonic Hero
Developer	Majesco Games
Publisher	Majesco Games
Genre	Game Boy Advance Video
Platform	Game Boy Advance
Released	May 5, 2004
Video game
Game Boy Advance Video - Sonic X: Volume 2 - Chaos Emerald Chaos
Developer	Majesco Games
Publisher	Majesco Games
Genre	Game Boy Advance Video
Platform	Game Boy Advance
Released	May 11, 2004
Video game
Developer	Torus Games
Publisher	LeapFrog Enterprises
Genre	Educational
Platform	Leapster
Released	May 5, 2005

Template:Contains Japanese text Sonic X (ソニックX, Sonikku Ekkusu) is a Japanese anime series created by TMS Entertainment, based on the Sonic the Hedgehog video game series published by Sega. It initially ran for fifty-two episodes, which were broadcast on TV Tokyo from April 6, 2003 to March 28, 2004; however, a further twenty-six were first aired in France in 2005. The show's American localization and broadcasting was handled by 4Kids until 2012, when Saban Brands got the rights to the series.

The plot follows a group of anthropomorphic animal friends originating in the games—such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Tails, Amy Rose, and Cream the Rabbit—and a human boy named Christopher Thorndyke whom they meet after warping from their home planet to Earth. While on Earth, they repeatedly scuffle with antagonist Doctor Eggman and his robots over control of the powerful Chaos Emeralds, while also adjusting to their recognition as celebrities. The final story arc sees the friends return to their world with Chris, where they—along with a newfound plant-like creature named Cosmo—enter outer space and fight an army of giant robots called the Metarex.

Sonic X has received mixed reviews. Generally, writers have criticized its English-language localization and incorporation of some of the characters, while being more generous toward various other aspects. The series was merchandised into an edutainment video game for the Leapster, a trading card game, a comic book series, and various toys.

Plot

See also: List of Sonic X episodes, List of Sonic the Hedgehog video game characters, Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, and Sonic Battle

While Sonic the Hedgehog attempts to destroy the base of Doctor Eggman and retrieve the seven Chaos Emeralds, one of Eggman's robots inadvertently shoots a machine containing the Emeralds, which activates the "Chaos Control" technique and warps Sonic, Eggman, and some of Sonic's other anthropomorphic animal friends—Tails, Amy Rose, Cream the Rabbit (with Cheese the Chao), Cream's mother Vanilla, Rouge the Bat, and Knuckles the Echidna—to Earth, the parallel-universe version of their world. Police officers see him and chase him until he escapes, but he falls into a mansion's swimming pool and is rescued by a twelve-year-old boy named Chris Thorndyke, who lives there. Chris lives with his movie star mother Lindsey, corporate executive father Nelson, scientist grandfather Chuck, maid and chef Ella, and butler Tanaka, and tries to hide the animal characters from them for some time; however, Cream accidentally reveals them all, and they build up a good rapport with Chris' family and with Chris' friends Danny, Francis, and Helen.

Despite their warm relationships with the humans, the animals want to return home, so they repeatedly scuffle for the Emeralds with Eggman, his robot assistants—the hyperactive, attention-seeking Bokkun and the bumbling Bocoe and Decoe—and his larger, armed robots. Eggman makes plans to take over the world, which catches the attention of the unnamed nation's President. At first only Knuckles, Rouge, and federal agent Topaz work to stop Eggman, but the other animals soon join the crusade, and when Eggman is defeated, they are all hailed as heroes. However, this does not stop Eggman, with whom they continue to scuffle for Emeralds.

Eggman awakens a mutated Chao named Chaos, who shatters the Master Emerald, a large gemstone that Knuckles' tribe guarded for millenia. Knuckles recollects shards of the Master Emerald while the other animals fight an extended losing battle against Chaos to get the Chaos Emeralds back. When it absorbs all seven, it reaches a form called Perfect Chaos and discards the Emeralds, which are now useless to it. Sonic, however, makes use of the Emeralds to attain his Super Sonic form and defeat Chaos, who becomes placid and returns to sleep. Shortly, Eggman finds his grandfather Gerald Robotnik's diary, which tells of an old project, Shadow the Hedgehog. Eggman finds Shadow in a military base and releases him from his cryogenic capsule; Shadow breaks into a museum to steal an Emerald and is mistaken for Sonic, which gets Sonic arrested. Amy rescues Sonic, but Shadow, Eggman, and the duplicitous Rouge escape to the space colony ARK, where Eggman threatens to use a weapon called the Eclipse Cannon to destroy Earth if the planet does not submit to his rule; he blows up half of the Moon to prove his power. Eggman collects all seven Emeralds to power the Cannon, but this triggers a program set up many years ago by Gerald, which will destroy Earth in a matter of hours. Everyone works together to shut it down except Shadow, who is unsympathetic to humanity because human soldiers invaded the Earth long ago and killed his friend Maria Robotnik. However, Chris convinces Shadow to follow Maria's wish that he save humanity, so Shadow and Sonic power up using the Emeralds, defeat a long-dormant creature called the Biolizard, and reroute the ARK away from Earth. This seemingly kills Shadow, and he is mourned.

The Moon remains wrecked, and Eggman rebuilds it, citing remorse for his misdeeds. However, the Moon's position shifts, creating a permanent solar eclipse. Eggman manufactures "Sunshine Balls" to replicate sunlight and sells them; Sonic sees through his motivations, destroys the towers that provide power to the Sunshine Balls, and reveals Eggman's plan to keep Earth dependent on him, so Eggman is arrested. Bokkun activates a robot named Emerl, who quickly allies with the animals, and Eggman escapes prison. Emerl wins an Emerald in a martial arts tournament involving numerous characters of both alignments, but it goes berserk and begins to destroy the city. Cream and Cheese destroy Emerl, tearing up at the loss of their friend.

Later, two government physicists show up at Chris' mansion to announce that the animals' world and Earth were once a single world split into two by a cataclysmic event, but are rejoining, which will stop time irreversibly. Chris blames Eggman, so he finds him and accuses him, but Eggman claims he is innocent and also wants to revert the process. Tails and Chuck begin to build a gate to teleport the animals back to their own world with Chaos Control, but Chris realizes he does not want them to leave. When it is finished and all of the animals but Sonic have left, Chris suddenly shuts the machine down and whisks Sonic into the woods to hide. Sonic is understanding, and Chris is eventually found by his parents, who promise to spend more time on him; with Chris' approval, Sonic returns to his own planet, stopping the merging of the worlds.

Six months later, a race of villainous robots known as the Metarex attempt to steal the Emeralds from Sonic, but Sonic scatters them across the galaxy. Meanwhile on Earth, where six years have passed and Chris is now 18, Chris builds another device to return to the animals' world and regroup with his friends; he is twelve again when he arrives. A sick plant-like girl named Cosmo lands on their planet and they nurse her back to health, so she joins them. They board Tails' new airship, the Blue Typhoon, scour the galaxy for the Emeralds and "Planet Eggs" (objects that allow life to flourish on planets, which the Metarex have stolen to depopulate the galaxy), and fight the Metarex at every turn. Eggman joins the Metarex shortly after. Along the way, the animals meet their old friends the Chaotix, and Tails and Cosmo fall in love. Later, Rouge finds Shadow alive but hibernating in a capsule on Eggman's ship; she releases him and at one point he saves Chris from the Metarex before disappearing.

Shadow reappears and tries to kill Cosmo for an unknown reason, so Tails protects her. Shadow knocks him aside and is about to do it when Dark Oak, the leader of the Metarex, appears. He reveals that they are related to Cosmo and that Cosmo has been an unwitting spy for them ever since they subversively implanted a tracking device in her brain while extinguishing the rest of her species; this was Shadow's rationale, but Shadow is banished from the ship. Chris, Knuckles, and Tails notice that the device is connected to the area of her brain responsible for sight and hearing and that removing it will likely void those senses forever. Knuckles pushes for it to be removed anyway, but Tails refuses, and they all continue their ongoing battle.

The Chaotix and Shadow meet up and, with the other animals, head to the center of the universe, where the Metarex are ominously controlling a planet made of water and containing a Planet Egg. Sonic is catapulted into it, where he drowns until Amy and Chris rescue him. The planet begins turning into a giant seed; the Metarex reveal that they know they have lost the battle for the Emeralds, so they will destroy the galaxy with this planet. Cosmo sees a vision from her mother Galaxina, telling her that she must sacrifice herself to save the rest. She accepts this role, fusing with the giant seed and instructing Tails to use the Blue Typhoon's cannon to fire Super Sonic and Super Shadow at them and destroy them. Eggman pressures Tails to do it, so he reluctantly does. The Metarex are annihilated, but Tails grieves for Cosmo. Back on the animals' world, Sonic and Shadow reappear and solemnly inform Tails that they could not revive Cosmo and only found one of her seeds, but Cream and Amy try to cheer him up. With an ephemeral change of heart, Eggman builds a device for Chris to return home, but promptly reverts to his old ways after Chris leaves. The series ends by showing Cosmo's seed sprouting.

History

Development and localization

This scene shows (clockwise from top left) Sonic, Tails, and two original major characters—Cosmo and Chris—in the typical outer-space setting. The series' human characters, particularly Chris, have drawn negative feedback from critics.

Most of the series consists of original content with numerous original characters, but the second season is mostly based on the plots of Sonic Adventure 1 and 2. While traditionally animated, it includes non-outlined CGI elements for things such as Sonic's homing attack.

The episodes were heavily edited for content and length, as 4Kids is infamous among anime fans for doing. 4Kids removed all instances of alcohol consumption and coarse language, instances of breaking the fourth wall, and numerous romantic scenes. However, unlike in some other series 4Kids translated around in the early- to mid-2000s, such as Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, no full episodes were cut from Sonic X. Producer Michael Haigney, while disliking realistic violence in children's programs, was bound by Fox Broadcasting Corporation's strict guidelines, which forbid content such as smoking and strong violence, and had not intended to make massive changes himself. 4Kids created entirely new background music for the American release "for both artistic and commercial reasons". In 2006, near the end of the show's American production, Haigney stated in an interview that he had never played a Sonic game, read the comics, or watched any of the previous Sonic animated series.

4Kids used their in-house voice actors. Mike Pollock, the current voice actor for Doctor Eggman, stated during an interview that he was provided samples of the game's voice overs as a reference. The original 4Kids cast included Jason Griffith (as Sonic and Shadow), Suzanne Goldish (as Chris), Lisa Ortiz (as Amy), Amy Palant (as Tails), Dan Green (as Knuckles), Rebecca Honig (as Cream), and Mike Pollock (as Dr. Eggman). They eventually became the official cast for Sega's English localizations of the Sonic games from 2005 to 2010.

Airing and ownership

It began airing on TV Tokyo's 8:30 time slot on April 6, 2003, originally belonging to Ultra Lightning Express Hikarian. The series' 52nd episode was broadcast on March 28, 2004, and the timeslot was used to broadcast Bijutsu Hata no Shi! (美術は他のしっ！) after it ended. It consisted of three seasons, each of them 26 half-hour episodes long. The series suffered from poor ratings in Japan, so the third season has never aired in that country despite being produced there.

Months after the first episode was broadcast, 4Kids Entertainment licensed Sonic X for the United States, with the series being distributed on DVD by FUNimation (US), Alliance Films (Canada) and Warner Home Video (UK). ShoPro Entertainment was made a second North American license holder for Sonic X on December 1, 2003.

In July 2009, 4Kids uploaded a preview for a subtitled episode of the Japanese version of Sonic X. More recently, the Japanese opening and closings were added to 4Kids' YouTube channel. On June 7, 2010, 4Kids had begun releasing Season 1 in Japanese on their YouTube channel. By June 11, 2010, the dubbed version of the complete series and the first season in Japanese with English subtitles became available on 4Kids' YouTube channel, but were later removed in August 2012.

In June 2012, Saban Brands's Kidsco Media Ventures acquired the Sonic X license from 4Kids. Since then, the series airs on The CW's Vortexx block.

Music

In the original Japanese version, Sonic X features four pieces of theme music; one opening theme and three ending themes. The opening theme is "Sonic Drive", performed by Hironobu Kageyama and Hideaki Takatori. The first ending theme, "Mi-ra-i" (ミ・ラ・イ, Future) by Run&Gun, was used for the first thirteen episodes. The second ending theme, "Hikari Michi" (光る道, Shining Road) by Aya Hiroshige, was used between episodes 14 to 39 and again for episodes 53 to 78. The third ending theme, "T.O.P" by Uru, was used for episodes 40 to 52. The series soundtrack was composed by Yoshihiro Ike.

The English language adaptation by 4Kids Entertainment replaces the music with an original soundtrack, with the opening theme "Gotta Go Fast", performed by Norman J. Grossfeld, Joseph Garrity, and Russell Velázquez, used in North America. A different opening theme was used in the United Kingdom and other European countries.

Other media

A Sonic X-themed math game was developed by Torus Games and published by LeapFrog Enterprises for the Leapster. McDonald's released a set of Sonic X disk launchers one with Sonic, one with Tails, one with Knuckles, and one with Shadow on the launchers and the disk themselves. Toy Island also made action figures in 2006 and 2007, some of which were, too, slightly altered re-releases of figures from a Sonic Adventure line and larger molds of part of a series of Gashapon figurines. Jazwares has also made a fairly new version of these figures now available in stores.

Trading Card Game

The Sonic X Trading Card Game is an introductory-level trading card game based on the Sonic the Hedgehog video game developed by Sega. The card game, from Score Entertainment, debuted in August 2005. Each player must provide a deck with at least 30 cards. There is a limit of 5 copies of any single card per deck. Cards can only be purchased in booster packs, which contain 10 cards each. The primary play strategy is related to the arrangement of cards (particularly against the cards of an opponent's next spare row, which is known from the previous turn), and with the order in which cards are revealed.

Comic series

Sonic X
File:SonicX.jpg Sonic on the cover of the 1st issue of Sonic X published by Archie Comics
Publication information
Publisher	Archie Comics
Publication date	September 2005 – December 2008
No. of issues	40
Creative team
Written by	Joe Edkin
Penciller(s)	Tim Smith III
Inker(s)	Jim Amash
Letterer(s)	John Workman
Colorist(s)	Josh Ray
Editor(s)	Mike Pellerito

In September 2005, Archie Comics, publisher of the North American Sonic the Hedgehog comics started a Sonic X comic series based on 4kids' dub of the anime. It began in September 2005 and was originally meant to be a four-part series. However, due to the positive reaction to the series' announcement, it was extended to ongoing status before the first issue premiered. The comic ended in December 2008 with issue #40.

The Sonic X comics are unique among Archie's Sonic-related series in that they do not take place in the same fictional universe as the comic book Sonic the Hedgehog, but rather as one of many parallel universes to that continuity. The comic exists in the expanded universe of the Sonic X fictional universe, existing to supplement the stories from the show. All the stories in the series' run occur between the "Chaos" saga, to sometime before episode 52. Up to issue 15 of the series, it was usually written by Joe Edkin and pencilled by Tim Smith III, but other pencillers such as Tracy Yardley, David Hutchinson and Steven Butler have been featured. Ian Flynn wrote issues 16 and 17, although Edkin returned with issue 18. The comic's editor is Mike Pellerito. Stories from the comic were also published in the UK's official Jetix magazine for a brief period.

Reception and popularity

Sonic X has had a middling reception; Conrad Zimmerman of Destructoid cited its "horrible localization" as a main reason for negativity. 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, as well as the deep story, and expected the series to continue to grow more interesting. Another Famitsu review from later in the year called the anime an outstanding success and encouraged readers to tune in. In contrast, Tim Jones of THEM Anime gave Sonic X a mostly negative two-star review, calling it "mediocre". He praised the show's music, backgrounds, and first episode in general, but derided the use of "annoying" characters like Chris and Amy, Sonic's bland characterization, the use of CGI for Sonic's homing attack, and the English voice acting. GamesRadar praised its closeness to the formula of the Sonic games and the theme song, but criticized its characters, in particular the addition of humans. While giving no further comments, Allgame gave the Game Boy Advance Videos of episodes 1–2 and 3–4 each two and a half stars of five.

The show was quite popular in the United States, consistently reaching the number-one position in its timeslot. In 2009, a six-year-old Norwegian boy named Christer pressed his parents to send a letter to King Harald V of Norway to approve his name being changed to "Sonic X". They allowed Christer to write it himself but did not send it until he badgered them further, and the king responded that he could not approve the change because Christer was not 18 years old. Extending over a decade past the show's initial release, the phrase "gotta go fast" has been used in the titles of video game periodical articles to represent the Sonic series and speedrunning in general.

External links

• Sonic X at Sonic Team's official website (Japanese)
• Sonic X at TMS Entertainment (Japanese)
• Sonic X at TV Tokyo's website (Japanese)
• Sonic X (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Sonic X at Absolute Anime