Sonic X

Sonic X (ソニックＸ Sonikku Ekkusu?) is an anime series loosely based on the Sonic the Hedgehog video game series. It was animated and produced in Japan by TMS Entertainment with the partnership of Sega and Sonic Team. It was first broadcasted in Japan in 2003 by TV Tokyo. During that same year, 4Kids Entertainment obtained the license to localize and broadcast the show in America.

Originally planned as a 52 episode series which would be inspired by the storylines of the Sonic Adventure series, Sonic X expanded to 78 episodes between 2005 and 2006. These additional episodes (53 to 78) were never aired on Japanese Television but they were streamed on rental services.

As of June 2012, the copyright and branding of Sonic X in America was passed onto Saban Brand's Kidsco Media Ventures following 4Kids Entertainment's bankruptcy due to a lawsuit.[2]Despite this, the show did not receive significant differences from 4Kids Entertainment's changes.

Metarex Saga
In Sonic's world, a new girl named Cosmo arrives on Sonic's planet, looking for the legendary one who can wield the powers of the seven Chaos Emeralds. Sonic, having been nearly defeated in outer space by a new enemy called Dark Oak, scatters the Chaos Emeralds across the galaxy in order to prevent Dark Oak from using their power. When Chris uses the dimensional portal, he suddenly finds himself in Sonic's world. His age has regressed all the way back to the age he was when he first met Sonic.

Chris learns that to Sonic, only six months had passed. During their reunion, Dark Oak and his Metarex Armyattack Sonic's planet and steals the "Planet Egg" from it. Without the Planet Egg, all the trees and plants on Sonic's planet will wither and die. Sonic and his friends decide that Dark Oak and his schemes must be stopped, and they venture into space to retrieve the Chaos Emeralds.

This series uses elements from Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog such as Shadow surviving and being released with amnesia for the former and the common Metarex resembling the common Black Arms for the latter. After many run-ins with Dr. Eggman, and the pursuing Metarex Army, Cosmo's dark secret is eventually unveiled: she has been an unwilling spy for the Metarex all along and the Metarex themselves are actually part of the same race of autonomous, anthropomorphic plants that Cosmo is of, having twisted and modified their bodies for combat after war overtook their planet. They now must depend on the energy of the Planet Eggs to stay alive. When the Metarex enact a plan that could destroy the entire universe, Cosmo sacrifices herself in order to save everybody with the help of Super Sonic and Super Shadow; much to the grief of Tails, who had fallen in love with Cosmo during the course of their adventure. It is Tails himself who must kill Cosmo in order to release her power, which would halt the advance of Dark Oak and return him to his benevolent form. Her essence is manifested in the form of a seed, which Tails later cultivates.

With the Metarex destroyed, Eggman builds an invention that sends Chris home and Chris accepts, willing to leave all his friends to return home. Soon thereafter, Dr. Eggman revives his previous rivalry with Sonic, albeit a lighthearted one. The series ends with unresolved cliffhangers, such as the whereabouts of Chris, Cosmo's true fate (in the Japanese version) and Shadow (although the Japanese version reveals Shadow is alive, depicting him looking at Molly's memorial).

Production notes
In late 2004, production sketches, model sheets, storyboards and episode scripts of a supposed Series 2 began surfacing. Many dismissed them as a fan-made hoax as neither Sega nor TMS had officially announced continuing Sonic X beyond the original 52 episodes. It was not until early 2005 that Jetix France began to air the 26-episode "Series 2" shortly followed by a Taiwanese station and on 10 September 2005, 4Kids Entertainment began to air "Series 2" calling it "Season 3". Despite being made in Japan and dubbed into Japanese the show has not yet been aired there; in fact, currently, the only way to view "Series 2" in its original native language (Japanese) is to purchase the Chinese video CDs, which feature Japanese dialogue with Chinese subtitles. This video CD uses the second version of the Japanese opening theme, "SONIC DRIVE", and the second version of the Japanese ending theme, "The Shining Road", as well as a new ending sequence with the song "T.O.P."

Recurring characters

 * Sonic the Hedgehog  (Super Sonic)
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Amy Rose
 * Cream the Rabbit
 * Cheese
 * Shadow the Hedgehog (Super Shadow)
 * Rouge the Bat
 * Doctor Eggman

Minor characters

 * Vector the Crocodile
 * Espio the Chameleon
 * Charmy Bee
 * Vanilla the Rabbit
 * E-102 Gamma
 * Tikal
 * Chaos
 * Emerl
 * Maria Robotnik
 * Big the Cat

Season 1, 2 & 3 (Series 1 & 2)

 * Christopher Thorndyke
 * Chuck Thorndyke
 * Ella
 * Mister Tanaka
 * Danny
 * Frances
 * Helen
 * Decoe
 * Bocoe
 * Bokkun

Season 1 & 2 (Series 1)

 * Chuck Thorndyke
 * Nelson Thorndyke
 * Lindsey Thorndyke
 * Topaz
 * Sam Speed
 * Jerome Wise
 * Mister Stewart
 * Scarlet Garcia
 * Hawk

Season 3 (Series 2)

 * Cosmo
 * Metarex
 * Dark Oak
 * Pale Bayleaf
 * Black Narcissus
 * Yellow Zelkova
 * Red Pine
 * Molly
 * Dark Sonic

Nazo
A concept art video/trailer released before Sonic X contains many features which were changed before the show was actually aired. These included a single still picture of a blue-gray hedgehog (the picture to the right). This image was then found on the official Sega website with the name Nazo.jpg. Since he has not appeared in the actual show and Sega has given no more information about him, Sonic fans popularly refer to him as "Nazo", which means "mystery" in Japanese. Because of the lack of canon information at the time, much debate has followed about who he was to be. It was later revealed through a Facebook conversation with Takashi Iizuka that "Nazo" was actually just a scrapped Super Sonic design.

Novel adaptions
Six Sonic X novels based on the first few episodes of the Metarex Saga were published between 2005 and 2007. These are: Aqua Planet, Dr. Eggman Goes to War, Battle at Ice Palace and Desperately Seeking Sonicby Charlotte Fullerton, Meteor Shower Messenger by Paul Ruditis and Spaceship Blue Typhoon by Diana Gallagher.

Comic series

 * Main article: Sonic X (comic series)

In September 2005, Archie Comics, publishers of the Sonic the Hedgehogcomics started a comic book series based on Sonic X. According to writer Joe Edkin, the first nine issues take place in the continuity between episodes 32 and33, which falls between the Chaos and Shadow Sagas. After this, the stories' chronological positions vary for some time, although in progressively later points in the series, but it never reaches into the events of Season 3. The series is based off the English dub of the anime, though it still fits with most of the aspects of the continuity established in the original Japanese version. TheSonic X comic series only contained forty issues.

Toy line

 * Main article: Sonic the Hedgehog Toys

The 4Kids version of the show was backed up by a toyline. The early figures in this line were in fact re-releases of an earlier Sonic Adventure toyline, criticized by many for awkward poses and poor sculpting. The line has currently moved onto more accurate and updated figures. Taking a concept from the popular Marvel Legends toys, one wave presents each of the five characters in it with part of a generic E-Series robot. Fans who buy the whole wave can complete the robot as a 'bonus' figure. Further waves include the re-release the first wave with the addition of a special key-chain, the Space Fighters collection and the Chaos Emeralds collection.

McDonald's released a set of Sonic X disk shooters featuring Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Shadow as toys for Happy Meals.

Leapster game
An educational game based on the series, also titled Sonic X, was released for the LeapFrog Leapster system.

Browser game

 * Main article: Sonic X Ring Thing

In the Vortex Sonic X website, there is a browser game entitled Sonic X Ring Thing.

Music
There is an album comprising of the music tracks that are each played during certain moments in the Japanese version of the anime entitled Sonic X ~Original Sound Tracks~. There are also short albums that mainly feature the Japanese opening and ending themes.

Differences between American and Japanese versions
Sonic X has numerous edits when the English version was to be dubbed and many items, places, dialogue etc. have been edited from its Japanese version to better suit children and comply with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) laws (in the U.S. and in rare cases even though at some points not followed, Canada), the TV Networks' regulations, and in other cases, social-factors of Americans, including violence, and a few others. Some of them has been done directly (such as violence, cursing and others) or in-directly (such as music). Because of this, there has numerous differences that has been seen as shown below.
 * In the Japanese version, all firearm sound effects had a bullet sound effect from a gun. In the American version, it was completely replaced with laser sound effects in any use of handguns was removed as well.
 * There are some scenes of blood, violence, death, text and gunfire in the Japanese version that were removed by 4Kids.
 * The light from some attacks were made darker with no transparent filter. Also, some backgrounds related to attacks are changed, such as Chaos Control.
 * In the Japanese version, the characters (mostly Sonic) will say lines in Engrish, like "Thank you" or "No way", in which they mention other languages. In the American version, the only mention to other languages is Mr. Inteligente, which is Spanish for smart and Sonic saying "sayonara" which is Japanese for goodbye.
 * During the third season, Rouge blackmails Bokkun with a pendant. In the Japanese version, it was revealed that a picture of Cream is inside the pendant, thus revealing that Bokkun has a crush on Cream. In the English version, the contents were never seen for unknown reasons.
 * The Japanese version features Eyecatch cards at various intervals, displaying details about a character, such as weight, height and age. It even extends to Eggman's various robots. This was removed in the English version for unknown reasons.
 * In the American version, Rouge's cleavage is sometimes edited to make her breasts seem shorter.
 * All instances involving or depicting alcohol were portrayed child-friendly drinks. i.e: Champagne is replaced with Cola while beer is replaced with orange juice.

Eyecatch cards

 * Main article: Eyecatch card

Eyecatch cards are cards with various information about some of the characters and objects appearing during the Japanese version of Sonic X.

Reception
Sonic X ratings, have had ranged from mixed to positive ; Conrad Zimmerman of Destructoid cited its "horrible localization" as a main reason for negativity.[5] Tim Jones of THEM Anime gave the show two stars out of five and criticized the English voice acting: "It's really annoying how all the recent Sonic games use these untalented actors/actresses in their dubs, because they make the original English voices sound like award-winning performers."[6] Other comments on the show's aesthetics were mostly positive. Staff of "Games Radar" admitted, "At least the song fits. Can't imagine Sonic listening to Underground wailing Meat Loaf light rock, but he'd definitely jam to Sonic X."[7] Jones praised the rock music from Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2, as well as the "pretty piano music" and "catchy" Japanese intro and outro themes. He also found the backgrounds "nice to look at" but did not like the use of CGI for Sonic's homing attack.[6]

The human characters—and, to a lesser extent, the animal ones—were also criticized. Jones decried Chris as "a dull, boring, uninspired character" and also described Tanaka and Ella as "bland" stereotypes of Japanese- and African-Americans, respectively. Jones also criticized the presence of Amy and Big, but took particular issue to the show's portrayal of Sonic, which he summarized as: "'I'm gonna run around downtown until something exciting happens and use a stinking Ring to defeat my enemies'".[6] "Games Radar" bemoaned both the "piss-poor Adventure characters" and the original human ones.[7] In contrast, writer Gaz Plant of "Nintendo Life" opined that "one of the key successes" of the series was its incorporation of numerous characters from the games, including lesser-used ones like Big and the Chaotix. Fans were divided on the merit of the Thorndykes.[8]

The show was well received for faithfully following the format of the games. "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, and expected the series to continue to grow more interesting.[9] Plant stated that "where Sonic X truly succeeded was in its retelling of iconic stories".[8] Independent of the characters involved, "Games Radar" appreciated the idea of following "Sonic's core concept."[7] The original storylines were also well received. Amidst his criticism of most of the show, Jones praised the first episode in general, especially its humor.[6] Plant acclaimed the character development that built on the stories of the original games, especially Sonic's and Amy's relationship and the Chaotix's newfound viability as comedy devices. Concurrently, he found the show "surprisingly touching", particularly in its "emotional" final climax, and favorably compared the space exploration of season three to "Star Trek".[8] "Famitsus" first preview called the story profound (重厚 jūkō?).[9]

Common Sense Media gave it three stars out of five and, while not commenting further on its quality, stated that it was appropriate for grade-school children but that some violent scenes were inadvisable for younger viewers.[10] A second Famitsu review from later in 2003 called the anime an outstanding success and encouraged readers to tune in.[11]

Popularity and cultural impact
The show was quite popular in the United States and France, consistently reaching the number-one position in its timeslot in both countries.[12][13] By 2007, it was TMS' best-selling anime in the non-Japanese market, despite that the third season never aired in Japan, and it inspired TMS to focus on properties that would sell well outside Japan.[14]

Discotek's License
On April 7th of 2015, Discotek Media announced on their Facebook account that they were releasing a series set. The set will only be Engllish dubbed as of now. They also stated that they are doing a test with Monster Rancher (anime) to see if the subtitled sets will sell better than the dubbed. The release date is not yet known.

Trivia

 * The voice actor for Sonic at the time, Ryan Drummond, offered to voice Sonic for the dub but was rejected by 4Kids for not living in New York. Eventually, Drummond was removed as the voice actor for the Sonic games, after Sega of America decided to replace the entire voice cast for the games with the 4Kids cast shortly before the death of Deem Bristow, the previous voice actor for Dr. Eggman. Allegedly, he was only told when he asked if he would be needed for voice recordings in Shadow the Hedgehog from the beginning. Even though Drummond wanted to continue voicing Sonic, he was declined to voicing him for Shadow the Hedgehog, which resulted in many complaints from fans of the previous voice cast.
 * When the first thirteen episodes of Series 2/Season 3 were released on DVD in the US, they were packaged as the The Complete 5th Season (with thirteen episodes being a "season", and those episodes being the fifth division of thirteen episodes); also, the cover art to the DVD resembles the poster for the movie Firefox, with the Blue Typhoon in the same space as the MiG-31, the movie's titular jet fighter.
 * Sonic X has the most number of episodes among the Sonic television series. (Sonic X has 78 episodes while Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog had 66 episodes counting Christmas Blast, Sonic the Hedgehoghad 26 and Sonic Underground had 40.)
 * In episode 20 of the Japanese version, Cream mentions that she was raised in Green Hill Zone, a reference to the classic 16-bit games.
 * The Australian Sonic X DVDs came with a trailer of Sonic Mega Collection Plus.
 * Shadow was seen removing his Limiters and receiving a huge power boost as a result in the ending of his story in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), a concept originally used in Sonic X.
 * In an interview, the English writer of Sonic X states that he does not know a thing about Sonic, stating that he never played a single game, watched a single episode from any Sonic show, or even read any of the comics.[15]
 * France was the only European country to dub the complete version of Sonic X without any edits.
 * In an interview, Jason Griffith revealed that he originally auditioned for the part of Chris, but was instead cast as Sonic. He did say that he thought it was exciting to be Sonic's companion but the producers thought his voice was better for Sonic.[16]
 * In a commercial for season 3 of Sonic X, there are four videos of the game Shadow the Hedgehog, most likely an error. In this same commercial, a small clip from the Japanese opening plays. Both can be seen using frame-by-frame views.
 * This is the first Sonic cartoon in America to not have Dr. Eggman referred to as "Dr. Robotnik". The second is Sonic Boom, this is because both Sonic X and Sonic Boom took place in the Modern Era.
 * Sonic X is notable for being one of the continuities of which Sonic and Amy's relationship borders more on romance than most other franchises. While Amy remains roughly the same in her approach to Sonic, he shows more affection that borders on romance, something that doesn't happen in most media aside from optional dialog and optional scenes in various games such as Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhoodand Sonic Unleashed. Another continuity is the Sonic the Hedgheog manga series, where Eimi is the love interest of Nikki whose alter ego is Sonic the Hedgehog.
 * 4Kids had Jason Griffith and Dan Green as Sonic and Knuckles sing along with other 4Kids voice actors singing the American National Anthem.[17]
 * In Mission Mode of Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut, during missions 3 and 12, a Sonic X poster with Sonic and Chris is visible in Station Square.
 * Sonic X was on the air for eleven years (including reruns), making it the longest running Sonic television series.
 * Both Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 Battle are the only Dreamcast games appeared in Sonic X except Sonic Shuffle.