Benjamin Copelin’s review published on Letterboxd:
MY FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF SONIC X!
It may come to a surprise to some of you that even though I'm a huge Sonic fan, I never got into Sonic X. You see, I was already a teenage before I weirdly got into the franchise. My curiosity got the best of me and I got into the games, comics, and the Satam show which I heard was really good. And after checking that show out, I really grew to love the Freedom Fighter characters in that show such as Sally, Bunnie, Antoine, etc, as well as that intimidating version of Robotnik voiced by Jim Cummings! But as for Sonic X, when I saw clips of it and found out about the mixed reputation with older fans, I thought that the show looked bad. Keep in mind, I was still under the impression that Yugioh was a great show even in the 4Kids dub. I thought that the animation looked weak, the comedy seemed obnoxious, the inclusion of other human characters such as Chris Thorndyke seemed like pointless, bad additions to the cast, and Amy...my god...AMY! If there was anything that gave me the worst impression of her, it was some of those out-of-context clips with her going crazy for Sonic! But since I am a major fan, I had an idea for the longest time that I would go and look over the entire series in order to give it a fair shot and form my own non-biased opinion on it.
Before I get into it, I just want to mention that I have only gotten started with the show. I've only seen five episodes so far and plan to watch more in the future. What I've been doing is looking over each episode in both English and Japanese. I watch one episode in English, then rewatch it in Japanese, and the cycle continues with each and every episode. It should also be mentioned that TMS did the animation for this show, the same company that did the animation for anime shows such as Lupin the 3rd and Bakugan, as well as films like Akira. They've also worked on American shows such as Animaniacs and Batman: The Animated Series, which are known for having some phenomenal animation for TV standards! The main reason I bring this up is because they have a YouTube channel where they post episodes of shows that they've worked on, mainly anime. So while they have the whole series out in English, they've only started uploading the Japanese versions of each episode recently, so I'm eagerly awaiting more of those. The reason why I want to watch both versions back to back is because (a) I thought it would be cool to see how each version differs from each other, and (b) in case 4Kids changed anything major about a certain part of the story (which you know they did at some point), I would like to compare and contrast the two. So without further a due, let's take a look at my first impressions!
- VOICE ACTING: If you're a major Sonic fan like me, then you already know that the 4Kids dub actors in this show would also voice them in the games up until 2010, except for Mike Pollock as Dr. Eggman, who continues to voice him over 20 years later! People have their preferences when it comes voice actors for a lot of these characters, but this specific cast definitely has its fans. And even as someone who hasn't gotten into the show, I agree that a lot of these voices are quite solid...in the games. The show is kinda interesting in this regard, because this was their first time taking on the roles.
Jason Griffith honestly doesn't sound that great as Sonic, at least not early on. He definitely got better in later games, with Unleashed and Black Knight especially being him at his best as Sonic! But it's weirdly a bit inconsistent here in these early episodes at least. Sometimes he starts to sound a bit like he would later on when he finally found his footing, other times it almost sounds like he's doing a half-hearted impression of Jaleel White as Sonic from the earlier cartoons. Mike Pollock definitely fairs better and gives a pretty decent performance, but even then he isn't quite 100% there yet. Mike Pollock to this day is the best voice actor in the current game cast, so it was kinda fascinating to hear him sound slightly different in these early episodes. The Japanese voices actors for these two though, are actually really good! Sonic's Japanese voice actor adds so much personality and makes him sound funnier during the comedic moments. There are even times when he speaks English all of the sudden. Everyone else says "Arigato," but Sonic says "thank you." I don't why he does this, but it's cute.
Lisa Ortiz actually nailed the voice of Amy right off the bat, and she thankfully hasn't gotten too annoying yet, which I appreciate. Tails sounds a bit too girlish in both versions, but it's fine, I guess. I love the fact that Knuckles is voiced by Dan Green in the dub, the same guy who voices Yugi and Pharoah in the original Yugioh! Though, the Japanese voice actor did grow on me the more I listened to him. Cream is just there to be cute, but I honestly thought her English voice is more tolerable to listen to. Chris' Grandpa just kinda sounds like a young guy in the dub. The sub version not only sounds older, but has more personality as well which sold me more on the character. There's this maid named Ella who sounds like a dude in both versions, but Mike Pollock also voices her in the dub doing an Italian accent, which is hilarious! And as for the human extras, they sound more like amateur voice actors in the dub, but the Japanese voice actors do a better job. So far, the Japanese cast is winning me over more, but I also have to give credit to the English-speaking cast for improving over time.
THE MUSIC: I knew that this is one of those cases where the dub and sub version have different music from each other, but man, was it way better in the sub version! I appreciate the fact that the American score tries to be more dynamic with what was happening onscreen, but because this is a low budget synth orchestra, it definitely doesn't sound great, and can even sound kinda bad at times. The Japanese music fits so much better a lot of the time! They don't try too hard to make it bombastic all the time and even try to stay subtle during certain moments. Sometimes, there's not even any music playing, just letting a moment sink in or letting the characters have a casual conversation. It's honestly nice to have moments of silence because it makes it not feel like it's all in your face. Certain parts that stand out to me are the electric guitar (which obviously suits Sonic), Eggman's theme, and the jazz music that plays at the beginning of episode five instead of that low budget synth orchestra. And while Gotta Go Fast is a fun, cheesy song in its own right, Sonic Drive is SO MUCH BETTER!!! IT'S SUCH AN ABSOLUTE BANGER!!!
🎵 S-O-N-I-C GO! 🎵
THE ANIMATION: The animation isn't great, sadly. It's not awful, it's just very standard. Considering that TMS worked on Animaniacs and BTAS, you would expect a Sonic anime series to look a bit better than this. It's mostly fine, but there are definitely some clunky moments here and there, and most of the action isn't anything epic. There's some fun choreography here and there, and the character models look solid, especially for the characters from the games. But overall, I honestly think it could've looked better.
MISC: SONIC CURSES IN THE JAPANESE VERSION!!! In the second episode, Sonic tries to rescue Cream, and when the security cameras start to to show guns coming out to shoot them, Sonic exclaims, "SH*T!" I'm not kidding! He said that in English in the Japanese version in front of a little bunny girl! That's hilarious! I also want to mention that the show starts off not by showing Sonic, Eggman, Tails, or even Knuckles...but Big the Cat! When a show starts off by showing Big the Cat first before anyone else, then you know it's gotta be peak fiction!
In all seriousness though, Chris Thorndyke was a character that I've been dreading to see in this. So far in the first five episodes, he's not too terribly intrusive, but he's just such a bland character in both versions. I understand wanting Sonic to bond with a human character since he's not from this world. But unlike Tom who at least had a cute dynamic with Sonic, Chris just has no personality to speak of other than being nice. He honestly feels like a lesser version of Tails, who is also here and way more capable than Chris will ever be! And the story so far is just trying to find the seven Chaos Emeralds so that Sonic and pals can go back home. It's a bit formulaic now, but I am well aware that they do adapt the stories from the Adventure games later on, which I am definitely interested in seeing for myself!
So overall, even with the occasional eye-rolling moment or whatever I might prefer in each version, I'm actually not hating Sonic X so far. It's not great, but it's certainly more tolerable than I thought it was going to be. And seeing both versions of each episode back to back made for an interesting viewing experience. It did start to get repetitive after a while, but that's why I'm waiting until TMS uploads more of the Japanese episodes so that I can go at a leisurely pace. I'll come back to you when I finish season one. In the meantime, listen to Sonic Drive if you haven't already! IT'S SO GOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!!
