Sonic X, Episode 2.14: Sunblock Solution

Sonic X, Episode 2.14: Sunblock Solution

Japanese Title: Eggman Corporation

Japanese Air Date: January 4th, 2004

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

Welcome back to Hedgehogs Can't Swim's coverage of "Sonic X!" This episode begins with the Thorndykes and the Sonic team celebrating New Years on a yacht. Which is some real rich people shit. (And also suggests that this show robbed us of a Christmas special.) The group is aghast when the sun doesn't rise. The moon, half-mechanized following Eggman's actions last episode, has changed orbit and is now permanently blocking out the sun. Eggman insists he's not at fault and even promises the government and the world that he'll solve the problem. His solution involves a year of costly repairs and, in the meantime, metal spheres that generate sunlight... Which he sells for a profit. Sonic is obviously suspicious of this plan and strikes back at Eggman, which causes the public to turn against the blue hedgehog.

Probably the biggest question this episode raises in me is: Why does the U.S. government trust Eggman? The show is treating him like he turned over a new leaf last episode when he rebuilt half the moon. Yet this known terrorist who has attempted to conquer the world multiple times — and recently unleashed a giant monster on a major city, surely generating billions of dollars in damages and ending thousands of lives — has done little to convince anyone he's good now. He hasn't spent time in jail. He hasn't even issued a public apology! Yet all it takes is a proclamation to the President that he didn't do it this time (even though he obviously did) for the government, and seemingly all of America and the rest of the world, to decide to trust this villain. 

I mean, if Eggman began to secretly work with the U.S., like a Nazi rocket scientist after World War II, that would at least make sense. Instead, everyone just immediately decides Eggman must be good now and goes along with his obviously evil plan. How evil is his plan? Eggman essentially finds a way, in this episode, to privatize the sun. He siphons off sunlight from his personal satellite and sends it all over the globe via generators he sells himself. Even though this is obviously an elaborate and definitely illegal get-rich scheme, the public eats it up. Eggman's Sunshine Balls (lol) become immediate bestsellers. This episode sees Eggman becoming the worst type of villain of all: A capitalist. And aside from a brief scene of Station Square's poor population protesting, most people don't seem to have a problem with it. 

Of course, all of this raises a pretty prominent question in my mind: Um, does electricity not exist in this world? I'm pretty sure it does. What service does Eggman's sweaty, glowing balls provide that regular electric lights don't? Characters throughout this episode repeatedly talk about how the balls' light feels just like sunshine... But, for all intents and purposes, they function just like a regular lightbulb. They don't bathe the world in Vitamin C rich solar energy. They just illuminate the immediate area. I fail to see how this makes Eggman some great savior. I'm definitely overthinking it but I feel like even a small child could see the pretty big hole in this plot. 

Of course, this totally absurd plot exists to set up the episode's main purpose: The public suddenly perceiving Sonic as the menace and Eggman as the hero. The hedgehog, who has no actual dialogue in this episode, recognizes an evil plan when he sees one and speeds off to destroy Eggman's generators. This makes the formally beloved blue hero seem like he wants the world to suffer in darkness though, so the whims of the public immediately turn against him. The public being so finicky and having such a short memory seems unlikely but, if the last two years has taught me nothing else, it's that a lot of people are fucking stupid. 

As dumb as the plot is, I'm always up for a decent switcharoo premise, where the good guys are bad and the bad guys are good. The scenes of an angry mob raiding the Thorndyke mansion as revenge against Sonic — and Amy and Chuck debating whether it's okay for her to beat the shit out of people — is funny. So is the scene where Rouge reminds the President that Sonic isn't an official U.S. employee but merely a free agent whose goals lined up with the government's plans in the past. This continues to establish Sonic as an ultimately anti-authoritarian hero — he fights cops again in this episode — who doesn't even care what the president says. 

Part of what makes this completely ridiculous story easier to swallow is how it's presented. This episode represents "Sonic X" in one of its silly moods, which was probably needed after the fairly serious adaptations of the two "Sonic Adventure" games. "Sunblock Solution" is full of surreal, fourth wall breaking gags. Since Eggman is now accepted as a hero and Sonic as a menace, the villain decides he's just going to take over the whole show. The episode ends with him presenting a new title — "Dr. Eggman X!" — and logo to the audience. There's also some totally inexplicable gags, like Bokkun playing a stirring solo on a shamisen, which inspires Bocoe and Decoe to start speaking Chinese for some reason. (The former joke was cut out of the English dub, because 4Kids thinks American children are too stupid to understand what surrealism is.)

Oh yeah, this episode also debuts a new ending theme. After twenty-six episodes featuring the sappy "The Shining Road," we're introduced to "T.O.P." And it's pretty bad! It comes from Japanese/Korean hip-hop duo KP. I don't know anything about the quality of Japanese rap music but this is not a great first exposure to it. The rhymes seem awkward and rushed, the performers making up for their lack of proper flow by just shouting loudly. The rock style backing track seems out-of-sync with the rapping. The quality of the end themes definitely have gone down every time they change. The accompanying animation is kind of neat though. It depicts Sonic going from a vague outline, to a line drawing, to fully animated by the end. 

Anyway, "Sunblock Solution" is definitely a dumb episode but I still managed to have some fun with it. "Sonic X" is only tedious when it turns away from its goofball side. The show usually finds a way to catch me off-guard with its offbeat humor, even when the script really leaves a lot to be desired, like it does here. [6/10]