Sonic X, Episode 3.12: A Metarex Melee

Sonic X, Episode 3.12: A Metarex Melee

Japanese Title: Clash! Sonic vs. Shadow

U.S. Air Date: November 26th, 2005

Japanese Air Date: April 10th, 2020

As someone who watched a lot of Toonami as a kid, I definitely went through a "Dragonball Z" phase. I was a huge fan of the show as a kid but, as an adult, I find the tropes it relies on tiresome and the constant filler annoying. But it was through that show that I first started to dig into the differences between U.S. dubs of anime and the original, uncut versions. In particular, I was always amused by the differences in the titles. The English titles would be simple and descriptive, like "The Arrival of Raditz" or "The Return of Goku." The Japanese titles, meanwhile, were hilariously wordy, often composed of multiple phrases. Like "Ferocity of the Saiyans! Kami-sama and Piccolo Both Die" and "Mini-Goku is an Overprotected Boy! I Am Gohan." 

This doesn't have much to do with "Sonic X" but the dub/sub difference in this episode is giving me mild flashback to those days. If only because "Clash! Sonic vs. Shadow" has multiple sentences in it. And because the two titles suggest completely different stories, focusing on unrelated aspects of the episode. It's not as bad as a DBZ title, which would be something like "The Great Battle to Protect the Chaos Emeralds! Super Sonic Fights Super Shadow!" But I don't know, it's one of those cultural differences that just make me laugh.

Anyway! It turns out an epic showdown between Sonic and Dark Oak is not in the cards yet, as the villain is just a hologram. Instead, his plan is to keep the heroes on the Metal Plant battle station as it's destroyed by a fleet of Metarex battleships. Sonic attempts to fight off drones specifically designed to fight him while the others scramble for escape. Shadow Chaos Controls himself, Rouge, and Chris onto Eggman's ship. The kid then nabs a jet and flies off to rescue his friends. A series of convoluted events ensue, resulting in Sonic and Shadow both going super as the Metal Plant collapses into a black hole! 

The initial set-up of this episode is exciting. The previous installment ended with a cliffhanger, Black Oak promising that the good guys have fallen into a trap. As a swarm of Metarex goons — each with an extensive analysis of Sonic's fighting history downloaded into their heads — attack, the lead baddie promises that the heroes will die. That seems way more serious than any shit Eggman has pulled recently! We then discover that this isn't even the real trap. The Metarex empire plan to destroy their own space station just to ensure the destruction of their enemies. The good guys have fallen into a brutal double trap that seems like it'll almost be impossible to escape from. That's a hell of a place to start your story and it should've led to a suspenseful episode. 

But it doesn't and there's some clear reasons why. The episode constantly undermines its own tension by cutting away to different events. As the Metarex army closes in and starts to bombard the Metal Plant, the script focuses on Shadow and Chris talking. Or the Thorndyke heir doing shit on Eggman's ship, the incoming barrage seemingly pausing so this interaction can happen. The episode continues like that, randomly shifting its focus to other events and completely disrupting any suspense that might be building. The entire episode should've focused on Sonic and the others trying to escape the fortress before it's too late.

In general, I think there's too much going on in this episode. Sonic is fighting Black Oak's goons. The Metal Plant is being destroyed, by an army led by the newly introduced general Red Pine. Cosmo and Amy are trying to grab the Chaos Emeralds. Knuckles is hanging atop the X-Tornado deep within the Metal Plant, where Eggman left him after his escape. Shadow teleports Chris to the Crimson Egg, Chris steals a plane, and flies back to the Metal Plant. And that's before a series of even more dramatic events in the episode's last third. It's just too much! The script is constantly jumping around in location, following a displaced group of characters. It made my head spin after a while.

If the script had spaced things out a little more, focusing on some of that stuff and tightening the chain of events up, this probably would've been a tense half-hour. Instead, an already complicated string of happenings builds up to the fight between Super Sonic and Super Shadow. Yes, the showdown promised in the Japanese title does occur in the back-half of this episode. And it's even more impressive, because both hedgehogs are in their super forms. Yet, because so much shit is happening here, what should've been an epic dual occupies a few minutes. Super Shadow chases Sonic around, throwing some magic arrows at him. They argue and banter and fly around. And then more important happens and the fight just disappears into the list of events in this episode. I don't know why it got top billing. 

Honestly, Super Sonic and Super Shadow should've put their differences aside for a minute and used their God-like powers to teleport everyone to safety. This is what Shadow ends up doing to the Crimson Egg eventually. The need to escape becomes especially pressing after the Metal Plant starts to be swallowed by a black hole. Where does the black hole come from? Why does one spring up inside the ship? I don't know! As inexplicable as this climax is, it's still the most exciting part of "A Metarex Melee." Probably because it's the only time the episode slows down long enough to focus on what event. It helps that a black hole is so powerful that it even challenge Super Sonic and Super Shadow. (Not that the gravitational pull of the singularity is consistently depicted. The Blue Typhoon escapes easily and then it's revealed that Black Oak's ship was just hanging out nearby the whole time, seemingly unaffected.)

Out of all these contrived scenes, only one really sticks out to me. As Shadow Chaos Controls away from the Metal Plant, Chris leaps into his arm. Aboard the Crimson Egg now, he proceeds to make Eggman aware of his character development. Chris even throws down a ninja style smoke bomb to escape, running off an commandeering a smaller, jet-like shuttle. While I've complained about the show making Chris a little overpowered at times, this is an entertaining scene. Eggman still thinks Chris is a child, so it makes sense that he'd catch the villain off-guard in this moment. It's also funny that Bocoe calls him a "delinquent" afterwards. If this episode didn't have such bad ADHD, we could've gotten a "Die Hard" situation with Chris trying to escape the Crimson Egg. That would've been cool, right? 

Also, Rouge tries to straight-up murder Chris a few scenes later. She picks him up, flies him over a pit in the space fortress, and asks if he's going to give her the Chaos Emeralds. When he says no, she drops him. He's immediately rescued by Knuckles, who coincidentally is hanging out on the X-Tornado right below. But Rouge doesn't know that! In fact, does she even know that Chris is technically eighteen now? Did Rouge just try and murder what she assumed to be a child? Alright, I know I said I like Rouge's amoral aspect but she's officially being written out-of-character now. Rouge's lust for shiny rocks may be all-consuming but I think using that as a reason to try and murder a little boy is a bit extreme. How do you go from "honorable government agent" to "attempted prolicide?" I guess the break-up with Topaz hit her really hard.... 

Anyway, this is a jumbled mess out of an episode. I didn’t even talk about the ambiguous fate of the Chaos Emeralds, the weird shit the Metarex are doing with the Planet Eggs, or the much hyped first appearance — and subsequent abrupt dismissal — of Red Pine. There's enough plot points here that you easily could've made two or three episodes out of this one. To bring things back around to "Dragon Ball Z," I guess that would've threaten to extend a deadline inexcusably far. But I would've prefer that to an overstuffed, rushed half-hour like this. [6/10]