Sonic X

For the comics, see Sonic X (comics).

Sonic X
File:Sonic X DVD vol 1.jpg Japanese cover of the first volume of Sonic X
ソニックX (Sonikku Ekkusu)
Genre	Adventure, Comedy-drama, Science fantasy
Anime television series
Directed by	Hajime Kamegaki
Produced by	Matato Matsumoto Takeshi Sasamura
Written by	Kouji Miki
Music by	Yoshihiro Ike
Studio	TMS Entertainment
Licensed by	NA: 4Kids Entertainment (2003-2012) Saban Brands (2012-present)
Original network	TV Tokyo (2003-2004)
English network	AU: 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 Box (2003-2005) 4Kids TV (2005-2008) The CW4Kids (2009-2010) Toonzai (2010-2012) Vortexx (2012-present)
Original run	April 6, 2003 – March 28, 2004
Episodes	78

Sonic X (ソニックX, Sonikku Ekkusu) is a american and Japanese anime series based on the Sonic the Hedgehog video game series. It was created by Sonic Team, produced in america by TMS Entertainment. In the United States, Saban Brands currently owns and manages the copyright and branding of the series. In Japan, it airs on TV Tokyo.

Plot

See also: List of Sonic the Hedgehog video game characters

Several years ago, Earth was a single planet until a cataclysmic event splits it in two, sending them into two dimensions. After being transported to Earth by the seven Chaos Emeralds while rescuing Cream from Doctor Eggman's clutches, Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends meet Chris Thorndyke, a young boy. Despite their initial conflicts with the police, Sonic and his friends are hailed as heroes.

However, as Sonic and his friends were transported to Earth, the two worlds start to remerge, cancelling out their respective time lines and freeze time itself forcing Sonic and friends to return home. Six months later a new villain Dark Oak attempts to get the Chaos Emeralds from Sonic, but Sonic scatters them across the galaxy to prevent Dark Oak from using their power. Meanwhile, six years having passed in the human world. Chris uses a portal to travel to Sonic's world, where only six months had passed, but ends up in the form of a twelve year old. During their reunion, Dark Oak and his Metarex army (similar to the Black Arms from Shadow the Hedgehog) attacks and steal the "Planet Egg" from Sonic's planet. Without the Egg, all the plants on the planet wither. Once again, Sonic and his friends venture into space to retrieve the Chaos Emeralds. Eggman follows soon afterwords with his ship: The Crimson Egg.

On the course of the season, Sonic and his friends end up on several different planets, searching for the Chaos Emeralds and restoring life to almost barren planets. Eggman joins up with the Metarex and becomes one of the five Metarex commanders soon after, along with: Pale Bay Leaf, Black Narcissus, and Yellow Zelkova. It is later revealed that Dr. Eggman was stealing technology, he, along with Decoe, and Bocoe, were later captured by Pale Bay Leaf and detained. Sometime later, Chris shows up and tries to save him, only for Dr. Eggman to point out that he never needed any help breaking out, and the crew proceed to escape.

Cosmo is eventually unveiled as an unwilling spy for the Metarex, who are part of the same race of anthropomorphic plants as Cosmo. When Dark Oak, Pale Bay Leaf, and Black Narcissus enact a plan that could destroy the galaxy, Cosmo sacrifices herself with the help of Super Sonic, Super Shadow, and Tails. Her essence is manifested in the form of a seed, which Tails plants once they return to their own planet. With the Metarex destroyed, Eggman helps Chris return to his home, implying he may never be able to return. Soon thereafter, Eggman revives his previous rivalry with Sonic, albeit a more light-hearted one.

Original characters

• Chris Thorndyke: Chris is a boy who becomes Sonic's best friend and good friend of his companions. He is mainly raised by his grandfather, Chuck, and his maid, Ella. He lets Sonic and his companions stay at his mansion, and he helps them find the Chaos Emeralds. After they return back to their dimension, Chris spends six years working on a gate that will allow him to transport himself to Sonic's world. After he arrives, due to one year being one month in Sonic's world, he is only 6 months older (making him look identical). Voiced by: Sanae Kobayashi (child) and Masakazu Morita (adult) (Japanese); Suzanne Goldish (child) and Michael Sinterniklaas (adult) (English)

• Helen: Helen is one of Chris' closest friends, and one of the few who readily accept Sonic and his friends from the start. Helen was born with a condition that restricts her to a wheelchair and has spent much of her life a paraplegic. Despite this, Helen thrives for adventure - she showed very little fear when Sonic pushed her chair faster than anyone else. Six years later, Helen is seen to be in a relationship with Chris. Also, she now has a new wheelchair she can control with a joystick. Voiced by: Noriko Hidaka (Japanese); Amy Birnbaum (English)

• Frances: One of Chris' friends at school. She is notable for wearing deep salmon pinkish-red overalls. Voiced by: Yuka Shioyama (Japanese); Kerry Williams (English)

• Danny: One of Chris' friends at school who occasionally helps Sonic. He fights and loses to Chris in the Battle Tournament. Voiced by: Naomi Shindoh (Japanese); Rachael Lillis (child) and Greg Abbey (adult) (English)

• Chuck Thorndyke: Chuck is the paternal grandfather of Chris Thorndyke. He is a scientist and inventor, who bonds with Tails due to their shared interest of inventing. Voiced by: Bin Shimada (Japanese); Jerry Lobozzo (English)

• Lindsey Thorndyke: Born "Lindsey Fair", she is a beautiful famous actress and the mother of Chris. She initially had trouble accepting Sonic and his friends weren't human, thinking they were wearing costumes. Voiced by: Naomi Shindoh (Japanese); Jennifer Johnson (English)

• Nelson Thorndyke: Chris' father who is the wealthy owner of a computer and housing business. His father is Chris' grandfather, Chuck. Voiced by: Ken Yamaguchi (Japanese); Ted Lewis (English)

• Ella: Ella is Chris's large, jolly and Hispanic maid. She befriends Amy and Cream after discovering their existence. She enjoys her job and she is very hotheaded. Voiced by: Kujira (Japanese); Mike Pollock (English)

• Mr. Edward Tanaka: Mr. Tanaka is Chris's Japanese butler, who discovers that Chris is hiding the existence of Sonic and his companions. He is a skilled martial artist and he works with Topaz on occasions. During the six years (or months in Sonic's world) he taught Chris martial arts (which prove ineffective when he reverts to a kid). Voiced by: Naoki Imamura (Japanese); Darren Dunstan (English)

• Decoe and Bocoe: Decoe and Bocoe are Eggman's personal humanoid assistant robots. Decoe is tall, slim and gold-colored, while Bocoe is short, stubby and silver. They are almost constantly seen with Eggman, helping him pilot his machinery among other things. They are somewhat clumsy and stupid (similar to Scratch and Grounder), and they constantly reflect on their failures and insult Dr. Eggman behind his back. In Japanese, the word 'dekoboko' (凸凹) means uneven, bumpy, jagged. The symbols on Decoe and Bocoe's chests represent the two kanji in this word. Their character designs are based on the villains Omega and Epsilon from previous TMS series Kinkyū Hasshin Saver Kids. Voiced by: Ken Yamaguchi (Decoe) and Bin Shimada (Bocoe) (Japanese); Andrew Rannells (Decoe) and Darren Dunstan (Bocoe) (English)

• Bokkun: Bokkun is one of Eggman's workers who sends messages to Sonic that come in a form of a TV that blows up in the recipient's face. There is debate as to what species he is, as in the Japanese version of Sonic X Bokkun is occasionally referred to as "Messenger Robo", implying that he's a robot, but he can consume both oil and food. Some think that he may be a Dark Chao or a robotized animal because of his ability to show emotion to a further extent than Eggman's other robots (even to the point that Bokkun has a crush on Cream the Rabbit), but there has been no concrete evidence to support these theories. Bokkun is constantly mistreated and abused by Eggman, though he still is very loyal to him (In one episode where Eggman left a bomb in the town square, Bokkun was ordered to stay and countdown for it, even though this meant that he would be destroyed in the blast as well; knowing this, Bokkun still complied). He enjoys using bombs to annoy people and he flies using a jetpack. He has a weakness for sweets, as seen in episode 44, the Sewage Search, when he was bribed by Chris' friends to call for Sonic's help in exchange for Ella's apple pie and strawberry shortcake. Bokkun was also forced into helping Rouge the bat when she found out a secret of Bokkun's in episode 56, An Enemy in need, which she used to blackmail him. She found a heart shaped locket with a picture of Bokkun's crush, Cream, which was revealed at the end of the Japanese version of the last episode. Voiced by: Yumiko Kobayashi (Japanese); Andrew Rannells (English)

• Cosmo the Seedrian: Cosmo is a young member of a plant-like alien species known as Seedrians, whose homeworld was destroyed by the villainous Metarex. During Season 3, she escapes to Sonic's homeworld after the attack and meets Sonic and his companions. She has the ability to empathize with plants, trees, or the planet and determine their state of life. She also can decipher the Metarex language. Her skirt allows her to jump to high heights, and gently float down to the ground (as an homage to Alice in Wonderland). She falls in love with Tails later on. Voiced by: Etsuko Kozakura (Japanese); Amy Birnbaum (English)

• Metarex: The Metarex are a group of five robotic cyborgs, Pale Bay Leaf, Black Narcissus, Yellow Zelkova, Red Pine, and their leader, Dark Oak, who use an endless army of robots to rob worlds of their "Planet Eggs," the source of all life, leaving the worlds dying in their wake. They later reveal that they are the masculine members of Cosmo's species, who turned their back on their own kind after using their own planet's planet egg to become extremely powerful, which eventually corrupted them. In his first appearance, Dark Oak easily outmatches Super Sonic (though it should be noted that Sonic was, by his own admission, holding back). Dark Oak is voiced by Jouji Nakata in Japanese and Matt Hoverman in English.

• Mr. Stewart is a government agent posing as a school teacher assigned to watch Sonic and his friends by the President. He is a fan of Chris' mother, Linsey Thorndyke. He always looks out for Chris and the other kids in his class. Voiced by: Michio Nakao (Japanese); Andrew Rannells (English)

• Scarlet Garcia is a reporter for SSTV news in Station Square and the granddaughter of one of the researchers aboard the Space Colony Ark. Voiced by: Yuka Shioyama (Japanese); Megan Hollingshead (English)

• Sam Speed: Sam is Chris's maternal second uncle and the leader of the Speed Team, a special unit of the Station Square police force that uses high-performance Formula racing cars. He forms a rivalry with Sonic. In the Japanese dub, in every appearance he makes, he has a different nickname. Voiced by: Souichirou Tanaka (Japanese); Greg Abbey (English)

• Topaz is a GUN agent and the human partner of Rouge the Bat. She initially disapproves of Rouge, though they later become friends, and their main assignment is to retrieve the Chaos Emeralds from Eggman. When Rouge departed back to her own world, Topaz was gifted with a gem, which Rouge says was a steal; she could have been using a metaphor, but knowing Rouge, she might have actaully stolen it. Voiced by: Yukari Hikida (Japanese); Kayzie Rogers (English)

Localization

In 2003, 4Kids Entertainment licensed Sonic X for the United States, with the series being distributed on DVD by FUNimation, Alliance Films (Canada) and Warner Home Video (UK). The episodes were heavily edited for content and length. 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), Lisa Ortiz (as Amy), Amy Palant (as Tails), Dan Green (as Knuckles), Rebecca Handler (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.

When asked about any prior experience with the Sonic franchise, producer Michael Haigney replied, "I've never played the game, seen the series or read the comics."

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. The complete series is currently available for viewing on Hulu in both languages.

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.

Theme songs

For the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, much of Europe, and Brazil, the opening song was performed by a female singer repeating the show's title numerous times, the U.S. ending theme was kept, however, and all of the inserts were edited out of the English version. In addition, the DVD release in Japan often replaces insert songs with either an instrumental version of Hikaru Michi, or the song itself with vocals. For the United States, the opening theme is called "Gotta Go Fast", while "SONIC DRIVE" is served as the theme for the Japanese version. South Korea has the same melody of the Japanese theme, but it's translated into Korean lyrics instead. Italy has a different opening theme with different music. Like South Korea, France has the same melody of the Japanese theme, but it's translated into French lyrics instead.

Japanese opening themes

• SONIC DRIVE, sung by Hironobu Kageyama & Hideaki Takatori (影山ヒロノブ＆高取ヒデアキ)

Japanese ending themes

• Mi-ra-i (ミ・ラ・イ), sung by RUN&GUN
• Hikaru Michi (光る道), sung by Aya Hiroshige (廣重綾)
• T.O.P, sung by KP

DVD releases

See also: List of Sonic X episodes § DVD releases

All Sonic X episodes were released in America and Australia. In 2005, four volumes were released in the UK by Warner Home Video, which featured two episodes per disc. In Australia, 17 volumes of the first series were released by MRA Entertainment in 2005-2006, which featured three episodes per disc. In America, after complaints about confusion among which episodes were on which volumes, 4Kids released all three seasons on 13 episode collection box sets by Paramount Home Entertainment & Contender Entertainment Group.

Tie-ins

In September 2005, Archie Comics, publisher of the North American Sonic the Hedgehog comics started a series based on Sonic X. The series was canceled after forty issues.

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. The Leapster, from LeapFrog Enterprises, released a Sonic X-themed math game intended for kindergarten and first grade students. 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.

A Sonic X Trading Card Game was also created.

See also

• List of Sonic X episodes
• List of television programmes broadcast by ITV

External links

• Sonic X at Sonic Central (link broken)
• Sonic X at Sonic Team
• Sonic X (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Sonic X (anime) at Absolute Anime
• Sonic X at TV Tokyo (Japanese)
• Sonic X at TMS Entertainment (Japanese)
• Sonic X at Vortexx