Sonic X, Episode 2.07: Project: Shadow

Sonic X, Episode 2.07: Project: Shadow

Japanese Title: The Mystery of Project Shadow

Japanese Air Date: November 16th, 2003

U.S. Air Date: October 30th, 2004

After wrapping up the "Sonic Adventure" adaptation, "Sonic X" immediately launches into an adaptation of "Sonic Adventure 2." And I imagine most "Sonic" dorks in 2004 were fine with this, because they were all ravenously hungry for Shadow the Hedgehog-related content. The series has teased Shadow being in the show from the very beginning, as Sonic's edgier counterpart has appeared in every opening sequence without showing up in an actual episode thus far. Well, Shadow lovers in 2004, fear no longer. The so-called ultimate lifeform finally makes his first appearance, his debut announced in the title(s). 

"Project: Shadow" begins with Station Square still recovering from Perfect Chaos' attack, leading to shake-ups in Chris' home life and school life. Meanwhile, Eggman learns that G.U.N. is continuing to reverse-engineer more powerful robots from his technology. While hacking into their computers, he uncovers a secret, fifty-year old project that was build by his grandfather, Gerald Robotnik. This leads him to Project Shadow, a secret weapon the government has kept under wraps for five decades. Hoping to prevent another calamity, the U.S. government wants Rouge to infiltrate Eggman's operations. So she decides to steal a Chaos Emerald as a bargaining chip. 

Actually, I lied. Shadow doesn't really appear in this episode, save for a misty cameo at the end. Shadow fetishist had to wait a little longer. Instead, "Project: Shadow" is a more laidback episode than what we've been getting lately. It acknowledges that Station Square is still recovering from a major disaster. Sonic is seen running through the ruined city, looking for survivors buried in rubble. Even Chris' schoolmates are getting involved in the rebuilding efforts, as they help carry boxes of food delivered by Chris' dad into the school. (Which seems to be functioning as a shelter.) 

But how does this city-wide devastation effect Chris Thorndyke, rich child? Apparently, the flooding reached all the way out to the Thorndyke mansion. While it's being rebuilt, Chris will be living with his grandfather in an RV. This is yet more evidence that Chris' parents actually hate him. If you had just survived a city-leveling catastrophe, wouldn't you want to be as close to your kids as possible? But not the Thorndykes. They consider the restoration of their mansion much more important and pawn the boy off on his grandfather. Naturally, since Chris is totally used to his parents abandoning him, he's far more upset about being separated from Sonic and the other furries. Once again, I have the deepest sympathies for Chris' future therapist. 

It's been a while since this cartoon portrayed the U.S. government as completely incompetent, so I'm happy to see them getting back to that here. There's a bit about the president mindlessly signing disaster relief bills, while daydreaming about Sonic, with a massive new budget plan for G.U.N. snuck in there too. I kind of doubt this was intentional satire but the military using a horrible natural disaster as an excuse for a budget increase is a pretty accurate observation about America. Also, Mr. Stewart has been reassigned to Scarlet Garcia's news office. He leaks information about Project: Shadow for presumably nefarious reasons. I guess the CIA realized Mr. Stewart was kind of a shitty spy and figured he was better used elsewhere. 

Oh yeah, this episode also reveals that Eggman was born on Earth. Yeah, he uncovers this nugget when digging through Gerald Robotnik's secret folders. The doctor quickly concludes that Earth and "Sonic's home world" must be parallel dimensions of some sort. I already know, thanks to TV Tropes, that this plot point is never developed. It's pretty clear why this happened: "Sonic X" has already established G.U.N. as existing on Earth, so in order for "Sonic Adventure 2's" plot to make sense, Gerald has to be from Earth. Meanwhile, the show has also already established that Eggman is from Sonic's world. I guess the show runners figured it was easier to acknowledge this inconsistency, and then just continue adapting the game, then try and turn this into a plot point.... Even though Eggman being a visitor from Earth would explain why he was the only human Sonic encountered for years and would supply a compelling origin for the villain... Which would also fly in the face of Sega demanding its characters not have definitive origins. I guess that answers the question of why this plot point wasn't further developed.

Eggman, in fact, has more to do in this episode than Sonic does. Aside from rescuing a missing child and a random comedic encounter with Bokkun, Sonic doesn't do much here. Eggman, meanwhile, gets all the big action sequences. He blasts his way into the prison where Shadow is being stored. This leads to an extended scene of Eggman smashing all of G.U.N.'s new robots. This could just be an excuse to showcase the new mechanical designs but, in execution, it's amusing. The government spends all this money to make new robots from Eggman tech and he crushes them — literally in one case — in minutes. 

The Eggman issue isn't the only inconsistency between the established game lore and the established show lore "Sonic X" will have to grapple with while adapting "Adventure 2." When Rouge was introduced in the games, it was as a morally ambiguous figure aligned with Eggman. In this cartoon show, she's already been fighting against Eggman for a while now. It looks like "Sonic X" is going to resolve this just by having Rouge go undercover. She still tries to steal the Master Emerald, further setting up her rivalry/belligerent sexual tension with Knuckles. (Knuckles continues to be an adorable dumb-ass, as he apparently doesn't realize Rouge is female while she's in her ninja disguise. Even though her cleavage, somehow, is visible through the fabric.)

I have no idea yet if, like the "Sonic Adventure" story arc, "Sonic X's" "Adventure 2" will quickly devolve into routine recreations of the game's events. However, this adaptation is certainly off to a livelier start than the last one. As I've said many times before, this show is at its best when showing how Sonic and his pals arriving on Earth effects human society. This episode has a lot of that, which is why it's fairly enjoyable. Hopefully there will be more of that as we head towards the inevitable final boss battle aboard the ARK. [7/10]