Sonic X

Sonic X (Japanese: ソニックX, Hepburn: Sonikku Ekkusu) is a Japanese anime television series based on Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog video game series. Produced by TMS Entertainment under partnership with Sega and Sonic Team, and directed by Hajime Kamegaki, Sonic X initially ran for 52 episodes, broadcasting on TV Tokyo from April 2003 to March 2004. A further 26 episodes aired in North America, Europe, and the Middle East from 2005 to 2006. The American localization and broadcasting were handled by 4Kids Entertainment, which edited it and created new music.
The series follows a group of anthropomorphic animals that accidentally teleport from their home planet to Earth after attempting to save one of their friends from their enemy Doctor Eggman. Separated, Sonic the Hedgehog is saved by a human boy named Chris Thorndyke, who helps him find his friends while repeatedly scuffling with Doctor Eggman and his robots over control of the powerful Chaos Emeralds, and becoming celebrities. The final story arc sees Sonic and his friends return with Chris to their world, where they enter outer space with a newfound plant-like creature named Cosmo and fight an army of aliens called the Metarex.
Sonic X received mixed reviews. Generally, reviewers criticized its American localization and the human characters, but praised its story and animation. The series was popular in the United States and France, though less so in its native Japan. The show's merchandise included an edutainment video game for the Leapster, a trading card game, a comic book series featuring an original storyline, and various toys and other items.
Following a battle between Sonic the Hedgehog and Doctor Eggman, a freak accident involving the seven Chaos Emeralds causes them to create "Chaos Control"—a powerful space-time force that causes both of them, along with Miles "Tails" Prower, Amy Rose, Cream the Rabbit and her pet Chao Cheese, Knuckles the Echidna, and Rouge the Bat, to be transported to a parallel universe containing Earth. Sonic and his friends find themselves landing in the city of Station Square, where they befriend twelve-year-old Christopher "Chris" Thorndyke—a lonely young boy, whose parents, movie-star mother Lindsey, and corporate executive father Nelson, tend to be absent with work, leaving him to be looked after by his grandfather Chuck, maid and chef Ella, and butler Mr. Tanaka.
Seeking to find the Chaos Emeralds in order to go home, the group battle against Eggman as he re-establishes himself on the planet in order to conquer it—aided by his bumbling robotic assistants Becoe and Decoe, and his robotic courier Bokkun—with Rouge joining forces with the local government as a spy in order to help them defend against his attacks. In the course of battling Eggman, Sonic and the others befriend Chris' friends Danny, Frances and Helen, while slowly becoming celebrities thanks to their exploits, eventually being accepted amongst the human population, despite reservations of what might happen when the seven Chaos Emeralds are found.
Six months after the Chaos Emeralds are found and used by Sonic in his Super Sonic form, Chaos Control causes parts of their world to appear on Earth, including Angel Island and the Master Emerald, along with the arrival of Big the Cat and his pet Froggy. Whilst the group adapt to this and carry on with their lives, the government works to establish better defences in anticipation of another attack by Eggman, including the creation of a robotic army to counter the evil scientist's own creations. Much of the first half of this season is focused on adaptations of both Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2. After Station Square is rebuilt following the attack by Chaos, and Sonic and Shadow prevent Space Colony ARK from crashing into Earth, another Chaos Control event brings several inhabitants of Sonic's world to the planet, including the Chaotix Detective Agency—Vector the Crocodile, Espio the Chameleon, and Charmy Bee—and Vanilla, Cream's mother.
Eggman launches further schemes following the ARK incident, even when briefly captured by the government, whilst Sonic and his friends provide shelter for a robot named Emerl, who later goes on the rampage after coming into possession of a Chaos Emerald and forcing Cream to stop it (the story arc being a loose adaption of Sonic Battle). Eventually, after Eggman is thwarted from another world conquering scheme, the government learns that Earth and Sonic's world are slowly merging together, threatening to end time for them. As a result, Sonic, Eggman, and the others are forced to return home to prevent this, with Chris having to bravely allow his new friends to go, but with hope of seeing them again.
Six months after returning home, Sonic and his friends find themselves battling a new threat in the form of the Metarex—a race of villainous robots who seek to conquer the galaxy—aided by Cosmo, an antromorphic plant girl, who seeks to stop them. At the same time on Earth, where six years have passed, Chris finishes completing a portal device to take him to Sonic, arriving in his world to assist with his new found knowledge, despite the differences in time between the two worlds causing his body to revert back to that of his 12 year-old self. Departing their world, the group explore the galaxy for the Chaos Emeralds, after Sonic had to disperse them to avoid them being used by the Metarex. Alongside the group, Eggman also pursues after the Emeralds, accompanied by Rouge, and aided by Shadow, whom he had recovered following his supposed demise.
Much of the journey sees Tails and Cosmo bonding, while Eggman secretly sides with the Metarex in order to uncover their plans, with the Chaotix Detective Agency also journeying into space and providing assistance where they can. The series reaches its conclusion with the group learning of the Metarex's origins, and both groups battling them to prevent them taking full control of the galaxy, culminating in both Cosmo and Shadow sacrificing themselves to achieve this.
The show was created by TMS Entertainment, the animation subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings. It was primarily influenced by other anime rather than work from the West, and was created for a Japanese audience. Yuji Naka, then the head of Sonic Team, filled in as executive producer, and Satoshi Hirayama designed all of the original characters, basing the designs on Yuji Uekawa's original concept. Most of the series consists of original content featuring new as well as established characters, but the second season is mostly based on the plots of Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, and Sonic Battle. While traditionally animated, it includes non-outlined CGI elements for things such as Sonic's homing attack.
Two trailers for the series were produced. The first was developed before Cheese had been given a name in Sonic Advance 2 (2002); it referred to Cheese simply as "Chao". It was made up largely of footage that would later appear in the series' intro, but also of unused scenes featuring unique anthropomorphic people. Sega showed off the second, which was narrated in Japanese, at its booth at the World Hobby Fair video gaming event on February 19, 2003. It consisted mostly of scenes from the first few episodes, followed by introductions to the main characters. However, it also showed a still frame of a silver anthropomorphic hedgehog who never appeared in the series. Fans nicknamed the character "Nazo", based on the Japanese word for "mystery" (謎, nazo). Years later, on April 20, 2015, Sonic Team producer Takashi Iizuka clarified the character was simply Super Sonic in its early contour.
Several of the Japanese performers had voiced their characters in the games, but they were also given ample information about their characters' roles in the anime. Chris' voice actress Sanae Kobayashi was not sure she would be able to effectively communicate Chris' growth as a person owing to Sonic's presence, but found that a worthwhile goal. Chikao Ōtsuka, who voiced Eggman, found him a difficult character to play due to the tension in his voice and the desire to have children who watched the show recognize the character as a villain but not hate him.
Iizuka believed that Sonic X and its merchandise, along with the game Sonic Heroes, had helped expose the Sonic franchise to a new generation of potential gamers in 2003, and he dubbed it a "Sonic Year" as a result. More boldly, Naka hoped that Sonic X alone would cause the popularity of the Sonic series to skyrocket, as that of the Pokémon series did after its anime adaptation was first released.
4Kids Entertainment handled the show's American localization. The episodes were heavily edited for content and length; 4Kids has been described by Destructoid as being "infamous" among anime fans for this type of overzealous editing. 4Kids removed alcohol consumption, coarse language, instances of breaking the fourth wall, and numerous sexual scenes. Unlike some other series that 4Kids translated around the early to mid 2000s, such as Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, Sonic X suffered no full episodes being cut. Producer Michael Haigney personally disliked realistic violence in children's programs, but had not intended to make massive changes himself. Instead, he was bound by Fox Broadcasting Company's strict guidelines, which forbid content such as smoking and strong violence. 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 found new voice actors rather than using those from the games. 4Kids president Norman J. Grossfeld invited Jason Griffith and Mike Pollock to audition for Sonic and Eggman, having known them from their work on Ultimate Muscle and Kirby: Right Back at Ya! and chose him for his yelling and pitch-wavering talents; Pollock and Griffith also voiced Ella and Shadow. 4Kids allowed Pollock to make minor alterations to the dialogue when lines "[didn't] work for some reason." He recalled being given only short samples of Eggman's voice from the games—he was not told specifically which game—and brief descriptions of his characters' roles. The rest of the cast assumed their characters' voice roles after their auditions. Beginning with Shadow the Hedgehog, the cast of Sonic X would assume their respective voice roles in all Sonic games released between 2005 and 2010, at which point all the roles were recast with the exception of Mike Pollock as Eggman.
Sonic X aired in Japan on TV Tokyo's 8:30 a.m. time slot from April 6, 2003 to March 28, 2004. It consisted of three seasons, each of them 26 half-hour episodes long. The first two seasons were also syndicated by delay to a handful of stations outside of the reach of the TX Network: four JAITS member stations (Television Wakayama, Biwako Broadcasting, Nara Television and Gifu Broadcasting) and one station each of the four larger networks (Aomori Asahi Broadcasting (ANN), Nagasaki International Television), SBS (JNN) and Sendai Broadcasting (FNN)). In Japan, the third season was never aired on TV until 2020 or released on DVD, but was available through rental streaming services. 4Kids licensed the series in North America from the beginning, ShoPro Entertainment was also made a license holder in November 2003. It aired in North America on the FoxBox block of Fox channels.
On June 16, 2012, the bankrupt 4Kids sold its Sonic X license to Saban Brands's Kidsco Media Ventures. On April 29, 2013, Saban Brands's Vortexx would partner with Kabillion to add shows like Sonic X to the lineup. TMS Entertainment has since taken US rights, and in 2015, Discotek Media licensed the series alongside several other TMS properties for home media releases. In 2021, FilmRise was given the AVOD rights to 38 TMS Entertainment titles including Sonic X for US and Canada.
Outside North America and Asia, Jetix Europe (previously Fox Kids Europe) held the rights to the series, which the company acquired in August 2003. Buena Vista International Television handled distribution services while Jetix Europe handled all other television rights. The company's Jetix Consumer Products (JCP) subsidiary held consumer product and home media rights to the series in Pan-European, MENA, and Latin American territories.
For the 60th anniversary of TMS Entertainment, the company streamed a select number of episodes on its YouTube channel, available with the original Japanese audio with English subtitles, from August 5–9 and 12–16, 2024.
TMS Entertainment handled rights to the series in Asian territories.
The series was released on DVD, in Japan, only seasons one and two were released, and their 52 episodes spanned 13 discs.
From 2003 to 2009 in the United States, 4Kids Home Video and their exclusive distributor FUNimation Entertainment released VHS tapes (until 2005) and DVDs of the series in single-release volumes and later multi-disc boxsets. The first two to be released were "A Super Sonic Hero" and "The Chaos Factor," released on June 1, 2004.
Another such volume released was "Project Shadow," released on November 15, 2005. It was released to tie in with the release of the game Shadow the Hedgehog, and covered the first arc that focused on Shadow (episodes 33–38).
Discotek Media released the 8-disc DVD set, "Sonic X Collection 1" in North America, which includes the English-dubbed seasons 1 and 2 (episodes 1–52) on November 22, 2016. They later released the 4-disc DVD set, "Sonic X Collection 2" in North America, which includes the English-dubbed Season 3 (episodes 53–78) on December 6, 2016.
On May 28, 2019, Discotek Media released a 2-disc Blu-ray set of the English dub of the series with all three seasons and seventy-eight episodes. Despite the upgraded format, the series is based on the original 4Kids beta tape, retaining a 480p resolution as opposed to the standard 1080p resolution on most Blu-rays. On April 25, 2023, Discotek released a subtitled Blu-ray release of the complete series in its original Japanese language. While remastered, the series is still presented in standard definition like the previous release.
Yoshihiro Ike composed the score for the Japanese version of Sonic X. Its opening theme was "Sonic Drive", performed by Hironobu Kageyama and Hideaki Takatori. The series included three ending themes: "Mi-ra-i" (ミ・ラ・イ, Future) by Run&Gun for episodes 1–13, "Hikaru Michi" (光る道, Shining Road) by Aya Hiroshige for episodes 14–39 and again for episodes 53–78, and "T.O.P" by KP for episodes 40–52. Three songs by Off Course, "Kotoba ni Dekinai", "Midori no Hibi" and "Natsu no Hi", were featured as insert songs in the original broadcasts of episodes 26 and 52; these were replaced in subsequent broadcasts and home releases. Tracks from Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 were used infrequently during some episodes, including Sonic Adventure 2 theme "Live and Learn" by Crush 40 in episode 38. A soundtrack titled Sonic X ~Original Sound Tracks~ was released in Japan on March 8, 2004, it consisted of 40 tracks of original music from the first two Seasons.
4Kids musicians John Angier, Craig Marks, Joel Douek, Louis Cortelezzi, Manny Corallo, Matt McGuire, and Ralph Schuckett, known for their work on the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise, composed a new background score for the North American release "for both artistic and commercial reasons." The North American opening and closing theme (also used as the closing theme in the European version), titled "Gotta Go Fast," was composed by Grossfeld and Russell Velazquez.
Sonic X was extensively merchandised in various forms of media and other products. Two Game Boy Advance Videos of episodes from the first season of Sonic X were released in May 2004. In October 2004, ShoPro licensed four manufacturers to create Sonic X merchandise, they variously produced items such as toys, bedding, beach towels, backpacks, stationery, and pajamas. Six Sonic X novels were published between 2005 and 2007: Aqua Planet, Dr. Eggman Goes to War, Battle at Ice Palace, and Desperately Seeking Sonic by Charlotte Fullerton, Meteor Shower Messenger by Paul Ruditis, and Spaceship Blue Typhoon by Diana G. Gallagher.
Archie Comics, which published Sonic the Hedgehog comics until 2017, started a Sonic X series in 2005. It was originally set to run for only four issues, but was extended to 40 issues due to high demand. The last issue was released on January 1, 2009, and led into the first arc of the Sonic Universe series. The comics were written by Ian Flynn, who also authored the main comic series. Some issues were published in Jetix Magazine in the United Kingdom, Italy and Poland.
While the comics are set during the Sonic X timeline, their plot is original. Eggman imprisons humans inside robots and tries to use them to kill the animals, but the animals destroy the robots. Eggman uses malicious Chao to destroy Station Square, but Tikal and Chaos arrive from the past, return the Chao to normal, and bring them back to the past. Soon, Sonic finds a machine in the desert and thinks nothing of it, but after fighting with Eggman in Paris and a bizarre world created by the doctor, Eggman reveals the desert machine was his and it begins to wreck Station Square. Sonic defeats it, but he is accused of working with Eggman, so he and Eggman are both locked up. Nelson bails Sonic out of jail, and he saves Cream and Chris from some ghosts.
Eggman enacts more malicious schemes based on holidays like Christmas, Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day. Afterwards, he temporarily fires Decoe and Bocoe and creates replacements, Dukow and Bukow, who kidnap Sonic and give him to an organization called S.O.N.I.C.X. Sonic escapes with ease, but S.O.N.I.C.X. repeatedly tries to ruin his reputation. Meanwhile, the animals take on Eggman in his various schemes—including becoming a wrestler and creating a circus—to keep the Emeralds from him. In the final issue, a crossover with the continuity of the main comic series, that continuity's Metal Sonic appears and allies with Eggman to defeat Sonic, but that continuity's version of Shadow steps in and warps himself and Metal Sonic to another dimension, leading into the events of the first issue of Sonic Universe.
In 2003, McDonald's packaged five different single-button dedicated console games, mostly based on various sports, with Happy Meals to promote Sonic X: two featuring Sonic and one each for Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow. Another Happy Meal game based on Big the Cat fishing arrived the following year.
In 2007, LeapFrog Enterprises released a Sonic X educational math game for its Leapster handheld game console. The game stars Sonic and Chris, who must rescue Tails, Amy, and Knuckles from Eggman. It is a fast-paced platform/action game in which Sonic runs and jumps through levels and destroys Eggman's robots along the way. Periodically, Sonic must answer math questions to continue. The game features three levels, each with its own math concepts: the city Station Square (sequencing, counting in increments); Angel Island, the home of the Master Emerald (addition), and Eggman's base (subtraction). There are also math-based minigames unrelated to the levels to supplement these skills.
Score Entertainment created a Sonic X collectible card game for two players released in 2005. Players battle for Chaos Emeralds, whoever gets three first wins. Each turn, both players lay out five cards face-down and flip over one at a time; whichever card has a lower number value is eliminated. Eliminating the other player's cards and combining the special abilities of one's own cards allows one to score rings; whichever player has the most rings at the end of the turn wins an Emerald. As the game does not emphasize collecting rare cards, a few booster packs are enough to build a competent deck. KidzWorld gave a positive review, praising its ease of learning, low cost, and inherent strategy, but also noting that it feels more like a generic card game with Sonic characters than like a wholly Sonic-based product.
Sonic X received divided reviews. Many reviewers were critical of its American localization. Conrad Zimmerman of Destructoid cited Sonic X's "horrible localization" as a main reason for negativity. 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." Other comments on the show's aesthetics were mostly positive. Staff of GamesRadar admitted, "At least the song fits. Can't imagine Sonic listening to Underground's wailing Meat Loaf light rock, but he'd definitely jam to Sonic X." Jones praised the rock music from Sonic Adventure 1 and 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.
The human characters and, to a lesser extent, the animal ones were also criticized. Jones described 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'". GamesRadar bemoaned both the "piss-poor Adventure characters" and the original human ones. In contrast, writer Gaz Plant of NintendoLife 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.
The show was praised for its faithfulness to 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. Plant stated that "where Sonic X truly succeeded was in its retelling of iconic stories." Independent of the characters involved, GamesRadar appreciated the idea of following "Sonic's core concept." The original storylines were also praised. Amidst his criticism of most of the show, Jones praised the first episode in general, especially its humor. Plant acclaimed the character development that built on the stories of the original games, especially Sonic 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. Famitsu's first preview called the story profound (重厚, jūkō).
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. A second Famitsu review from later in 2003 called the anime an outstanding success and encouraged readers to tune in.
The show was quite popular in the United States, France, Indonesia and Malaysia, consistently reaching the number-one position in its timeslot in those countries. By 2007, it was TMS' best-selling anime in the non-Japanese market. Meanwhile, in its native country, Japan, the third season did not air until 2020, and it inspired TMS to focus on properties that would sell well outside Japan. In April 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 eighteen years old. Extending over a decade past the show's initial release, the show has spawned internet memes and the phrase "gotta go fast", the title of the song that plays in the opening and closing sequence, has been used in the titles of video game periodical articles to represent the Sonic series and other fast-paced video games.
Sonic X: Original Soundtrack is the soundtrack to the series of the same name. It was released in Japan on March 3, 2004, by Wave Master Entertainment.