Sonic X, Episode 2.01: Pure Chaos

Sonic X, Episode 2.01: Pure Chaos

Japanese Title: The Beginning of Disaster

Japanese Air Date: October 5th, 2003

U.S. Air Date: September 18th, 2004

"Sonic X" was, from the beginning, always intended as a multi-season show. 52 episodes were planned out right from the beginning, a second season being in the cards from the get-go. This is probably why "Sonic X" ended up with its somewhat peculiar story structure. The first season was allowed to focus on setting up this show's particular take on the "Sonic" universe, building up its unique supporting cast and firmly establishing its versions of the "Sonic" characters. With the rules and variations on the "Sonic X" lore already in place, the second season could focus on what this show was really intended to do: Promote and adapt Sega's video games. This would begin right from the start of season two, as episode 2.01 — "The Beginning of Disaster" in Japan and "Pure Chaos" in the U.S. — would immediately focus on adapting "Sonic Adventure."

You can see this change of focus slightly in the new opening sequence for season two. The season one opening gave Shadow a prominent role, even though he never actually showed up in the episodes. The season two opening — still set to the generally pretty awesome "Sonic Drive" — is mostly made up of the better animated sequences from the first season... Save for a vividly animated fight between Super Sonic and Hyper Shadow at the end of the song. This seems to deliver a promise to "Adventure" fans: You got through the bullshit of season one so here comes the bullshit you actually care about. 

Six months has passed since Super Sonic defeated Eggman. Sonic and friends have continued to integrate themselves into Earthly society. The residents of Station Square have gotten used to two chunks of Sonic's world — Angel Island and the Mystic Ruins — floating in the bay. The villain has been laying low since then. We soon learn he is in possession of the red Chaos Emerald and has used it to build a new warship — the Egg Carrier — and a new suite of animal-powered robots: The E-100 series. Chris Thorndyke and Cream happen to meet Big the Cat, who is looking for his buddy Froggy, when they run into a new threat: A watery demon called Chaos. Sonic and Knuckles appear to fight the beast. It's soon made apparent that this is all part of Eggman's latest plot. 

All throughout season one, it was hinted that a "Sonic Adventure" adaptation was forthcoming. Big the Cat had a cameo in the first episode and Tikal's voice spoke to Knuckles that one time, after all. Season two announces its intention right from the first second. This episode begins with a direct adaptation of the scene from the game, where Froggy absorbs a bit of Chaos, grows a tail, grabs a Chaos Emerald, and leads Big the Cat on a wild frog chase. This is far from the only scene directly taken from the video game. Chaos' first appearance in Station Square, where cops surround him and fill him full of bullets that he shrugs off, is also right out of the game. This is pretty much what I expected "Sonic X" to be from the beginning, so I greet these moments with a mixture of satisfaction and weariness. Here it finally is but also here's the realization that I'm going to know what happens next. (This also reminds me that I haven't played "Sonic Adventure" in probably ten years or more.)

In fact, the bits of this episode that prove most interesting are the ones that have nothing to do with "Sonic Adventure." It's the six months later time jump that intrigues me the most. We're shown that Sonic and his pals have basically become accepted members of society. Amy Rose is apparently living in an apartment in downtown Station Square, still pining for Sonic. (Who has been off doing whatever it is he does all this time.) Tails has apparently built a workshop on the same bit of land the Mystic Ruins reside on. Cream and Cheese are still living with the Thorndykes and Rouge is still working with the government. It's sort of nice to see this, that the Sonic Team have quasi-normal lives when they aren't fighting Eggman. I like these moments.

This episode is also our proper introduction to Big the Cat, a character I have a complicated relationship with. Okay, that's not true. There's nothing complicated about it: I don't really like Big the Cat. And this episode really emphasizes why. He's just so doofy, you guys. He speaks in an extremely slow fashion, which even sets up a joke here. (If the other characters aren't annoyed by him, they are definitely inconvenienced by him.) He stumbles into things, flattening Chris and Cream in one scene. His single-minded fixation on Froggy and fishing leaves room for pretty much no other personality traits. The fact that he's never really done anything in the "Sonic" franchise, outside of showcasing the Dreamcast's fishing rod peripheral, just proves that Big is a pretty useless character. This is further proven by Big surviving as an in-joke, something fans point out and say "look at how dumb and lame this character is, isn't that hilarious?" But it's not hilarious, it's just a waste of my fucking time.

Anyway... Big is not the only "Sonic Adventure" cast member that makes his animated debut here. A long scene is devoted to establishing E-102 Gamma and his "sibling." (Though E-105 Zeta is strangely excluded.) More pressingly, Chaos splashes into the show here. I do like Chaos, because he's a visceral threat. Shortly after showing up, he begins to smash cop cars like he's the Creature from the Black Lagoon or something. Sometimes, there's value in dropping a crazy monster into a city and just letting it run amok. And, as hopelessly contrived as the gimmick of Chaos growing and changing with every emerald he consumes is, I do kind of like it. It's very animesque, like a giant robot with multiple different transformation, and that's kind of fun. Even if it's also kind of dumb.

As fun as the idea of Chaos changing into a more powerful form with every emerald he eats is, it doesn't always make for very compelling writing. The back half of "Pure Chaos" is devoted to a long boss bottle between Sonic, Knuckles, and Chaos. Eggman feeds the watery critter two emeralds, bulking him up and giving him new abilities. Like a high-pressure water cutter that slices through buildings and some sort of static electricity shield. Sadly, Sonic and Knuckles don't have to outthink these new powers. They just keep hammering the monster until he's defeated... A lot like in a video game. I hope the rest of season two doesn't take its task of adapting the video game mechanics quite so literally. 

The fight scene also features a lot of repetitive animation, making it further disappointing. By the second time I saw the exact same shot of Sonic spin-dashing into Chaos 2 or Knuckles throwing punches at it, I was wondering if the animation time was just trying to fill out the remaining few minutes of the episode. Some banter between Sonic and Knuckles probably would've been equally cheap to animated and added a lot more personality to this fight scene. But I guess kid-centric action anime just has to roll out the stock footage sometimes. If only this show had morphing scenes that could play six times an episode...

Other than that, there's not too much to report here. Since Cream is in this show but not in "Sonic Adventure," that changes the context slightly. Cheese recognizes Chaos upon seeing him, which hopefully suggests "Sonic X" will devote more time to explaining the vague lore that "Sonic Adventure" sprinkled throughout its gameplay. There's also a pretty funny scene where Lindsey Thorndyke gifts Cream the yellow Chaos Emerald, because you can just buy these incredibly dangerous power sources from jewelry stores in this city for some reason. By the way, Lindsey is still an idiot — she's still convinced Cream is a person in a costume — and still a bad mom, as she once again drops Chris like a bag of hot cat shit the minute her phone rings. It's good to know that, even if this show changes, some things remain consistent. 

Whether this cartoon will improve upon its source material, fall to the same flaws as the game, or have trouble adapting the flow of a video game to a serial series remains to be seen. I guess I'll find out soon enough, since it's pretty evident that game adaptations will make up pretty much all of season two. As for this one, it suggests they are still working some of the kinks out of the rhythm, even if there are some moments here that I like too. [6/10]