Sonic X, Episode 1.22: Little Chao Lost

Sonic X, Episode 1.22: Little Chao Lost

Japanese Title: Summer Vacation, a Chao Observation Diary

Japanese Air Date: August 31st, 2003

U.S. Air Date: February 28th, 2004

Episode 22 continues the globe-hopping theme of the second half of "Sonic X's" first season. Chris and friends — including the Sonic team — have taken a vacation to Japan. Specifically, the Japanese countryside where Mr. Tanaka grew up. While the kids explore the woods, Sonic goes sight-seeing around the island. It's all fun and games until Cheese gets swept away while swimming in a stream. They rush off to find the little Chao and end up discovering a whole horde of them. Meanwhile, Eggman is also on the island. When he spies the good guys looking for something, he assumes they are after a Chaos Emerald.

I've been mentioning lately that, despite the season nearing its end, "Sonic X" has mostly been screwing around the last few episodes. This trend continues with "Little Chao Lost." This is a hang-out episode with low stakes, mostly devoted to our heroes just enjoying themselves. Yes, Cheese's disappearance provides motivation for the story. Yet this is resolved — with the reveal that Cheese has actually been fine the entire time — with still a lot of time left to go. Meanwhile, there's scenes of Tails and Chris catching bugs or Amy staying in the kitchen and chopping vegetables. I don't mind a laidback episode but the show has basically been doing a lot of these lately.

"Chao Observation Diary" does see "Sonic X," once again, touching briefly on the ecological themes that characterized the early days of the franchise. After discovering the Chao garden, it's pointed out that Chao need clean water to survive. At this point, Tails opines that places like this are getting increasingly rare both here on Earth and on Sonic's home world. The climax of the episode, I guess, has the heroes cleaning mud out of Chao garden's lake. The water got dirtied thanks to Eggman stomping around in a giant robot, showing how a lot of people don't consider how their actions affect the natural world. (Though it is weird that a natural phenomenon like mud threatens the water, instead of oil or machine grease or something.)

While I always like to see later iterations of the "Sonic" series harken back to this older trend, we've got to be honest: The environmental aspect of this story is almost incidental. The true point of this episode is to introduce Chao gardens. No explanation is provided for why there is a Chao garden in the Japanese countryside, when the blue baby-blobs were previously assumed to be exclusive to Sonic's world. Nor is it questioned why no humans have discovered this previously. (It's suggested Mr. Tanaka discovered the garden as a boy. If a literal child could stumble upon this location, why couldn't a zoologist or something?) It doesn't matter if this plot point makes no sense. The Chao are a highly marketable component of the "Sonic" franchise and will be represented in this cartoon show, goddamn it.

This is another episode where Sonic isn't involved in most of the plot, weaving in and out until it's time for him to save the day at the end. What is interesting is what Sonic gets up to in his run around the island. "Sonic X" is a Japanese cartoon, mostly set in America. Which means it provides an interesting observation of what Japan thinks America is like. You'd expect this episode to flip the script and gives us a peek at an insider's view of Japan. Instead, it mostly reduces Japan to some tourist friendly highlights. Mount Fuji is prominently featured early on. Sonic mingles with some women in kimonos and white, Geisha-like face paint. Later, he enjoys a lantern festival and some deep-fried snacks, climbs a pagoda, and gets ogled by some schoolgirls in short skirts. Maybe the Japanese corporation that made "Sonic X" wanted to present the most attractive version of their country in this cartoon, which they knew would be exported all over the globe. Or, since Sonic is beloved by everyone he meets in this episode, it was Sega practicing some wish-fulfillment that their mascot would be as popular in their home country as he is abroad.

Like I said, this is not an action-packed episode. Honestly, the action really seems like an afterthought. Eggman eventually calls in the Robot-of-the-Week, the bell-shaped E-66 Da-Dai-Oh. All it does is fly over the woods and stomp around on the soft Japanese soil. It doesn't get a single chance to swing the big spiked balls in its arms before Sonic tears through its head and blows it up. He didn't even need a Power Ring this time! (Also, you'd think an enormous robot exploding would be more harmful to the local environment than some displaced mud.) All Eggman really does in this episode is provide some jokes, disliking the hot weather and the long hikes, much to Decoe and Bocoe's annoyance.

At least this episode isn't totally disconnected from the on-going arc. The Chaos Emeralds are frequently mentioned, even if one never physically appears on-screen. Mr. Stewart tags along in this journey with Chris' friends, causing me to think this was a school trip... But, nope, he just invited himself. He's still reporting back to the government, though I'm not sure why since Sonic's existence is public knowledge now. Danny and Francis also join Chris on this trip. I guess random international vacations is what you get when you're friends with a billionaire's child.

It's a pleasant episode but lacks the manic comedic heights or the satisfying action and storytelling of the show's best installments. Presumably, those Chao gardens will become important whenever "Sonic X" gets around to adapting "Sonic Adventure," so I suppose this episode is significant to the program's overall lore. Otherwise, it's a pretty disposable half-hour with very little about it that is memorable. [5/10]