Who never played Sonic? Even if you haven't had a game from the series, either at the time when SEGA was developing its consoles or later, it's very unlikely that you haven't heard of this character. He is present in several toys, he has even had stuffed cookies, notebooks, comics and several cartoons for TV. However, there is only one developed in Japan, which is considered by the vast majority of fans to be the best of all: Sonic X.
The anime was developed by TMS Entertainment, which is a subsidiary of SEGA, and shows the adventures of Sonic and his friends after being teleported to planet Earth thanks to the Chaos Control skill that Dr. Eggman activated with the power of the seven emeralds. There, Sonic meets Chris Thorndyke, a rich boy (did he win in the mega sena lotteries?) who hosts him at her house and both end up becoming great friends. Basically, Sonic's goal is to find a way to return to his planet along with his friends.
There are three distinct seasons, the first of which has entirely original episodes and has a great emphasis on the character Chris Thorndyke. The second seeks to adapt the adventures of the games of the time, including episodes that comprise the stories of the first Sonic Adventure released for the Dreamcast in 1999, Sonic Adventure 2, from the same video game, released in 2001, and Sonic Battle released in 2003 for the GameBoy. Advance. Finally, the third season, which is considered by the vast majority of fans as the best of all, takes place in the Sonic universe and tells an unprecedented story as well.
Curious that there is a visible evolution of the quality throughout the episodes, mainly in terms of script. In the first season they tried to bet on something more “light” and focused on comedy with some action scenes, something that led to fun episodes, but not so memorable, while in the third and final season the story gets much denser and all the characters start to have fundamental importance. It's even a "pity" that the series ended right at its peak, with very addictive episodes that always end up in a cliffhanger that encourages you to keep watching, in addition to holding the viewer's attention.
Unfortunately, the version that came to us on TV was the adaptation by 4KIDS, which censored several types of scenes and modified the soundtrack to a more generic one, aiming as much as possible to have a more infantile appeal and, in this way, to match North American children. americans. However, those who had access to the original Japanese edition tend to prefer this one, as it has more battle scenes and dramatic dialogue.
The anime was very well received around the world for being very faithful to the format of the games from the Adventure saga, and the game developers themselves were involved in the production of the animation. Everyone respects the individual characteristics of the characters very well and the new ones that appear throughout the plot also match the rest of the cast.
The highlight goes to the exciting final stretch of the last season, with very epic battles and a surprisingly touching ending, which could make the "coldest" hearts shed tears. In addition, this is also the incarnation where Amy and Sonic's relationship are much "closer" than in the other franchises. It seems that he shows some sort of affection for her, indicating that he might reciprocate her feelings, despite there being no official confirmation from SEGA and TMS. There is even in one of the episodes where Amy Rose asks Sonic if he loves her and, when giving her a flower, he responds, but this audio is mutated to the viewer, leaving open what he must have said to her. .
Sonic X achieved great popularity in the United States and France, steadily reaching the number one position in both countries. In 2007, it was TMS's most exported anime, inspiring the company to develop anime that would sell well outside the country.
However, the biggest point of criticism among all is, in addition to the English localization, the presence of the character Chris Thorndyke, who has a great importance in the story, but for many, ends up becoming the typical “boring” character. There's a lot of maturing of him over the episodes, and he ends up being of fundamental importance to the other characters during the last season. Thorndyke was created especially to target Japanese children, and he is very well regarded there and is considered the favorite character of many people. However, for cultural reasons, we end up not having the same view as Asians.
In the end Sonic X is worth checking out. As it is already old, it may have a little old-fashioned animations and some scenarios are visibly in low resolution, but the charisma of the protagonist combined with very fun moments make this the best design of the mascot. Just be careful with the final episodes! Prepare the tissues.
