Sonic X, Episode 3.20: Zelkova Strikes Back

Sonic X, Episode 3.20: Zelkova Strikes Back

Japanese Title: The True Form of the Metarex!?

U.S. Air Date: March 18th, 2006

Japanese Air Date: April 22nd, 2020

"Sonic X" is closing in on its big finale, so it's no surprise this episode is full of dramatic reveals. The Metarex have been tirelessly pursuing Sonic and the others, leading our heroes in an exhausted state. They are confronted by Yellow Zelkova, who quickly corners the heroes on a barren, volcanic moon. Zelkova has been outfitted with a new force field by Eggman, making him even more unstoppable. While the Blue Typhoon crew struggle against this enemy, Shadow and Rouge uncover some of the secrets of the Metarex empire. 

The last time Sonic and the gang rumbled with Yellow Zelkova, the results were, from an action perspective, pretty underwhelming. That continues to be true for this rematch. For most of this episode, Knuckles is struggling against Yellow Zelkova by himself. This mostly results in scenes of the echidna throwing punches at the robot, just for them to prove ineffective. I've got nothing against heroes struggling to defeat an enemy. That's good writing! But when the villain constantly establishes that he's got an impenetrable shield around him, and the good guys just keep trying the same attack on him, the results get tedious fast. I can only watch Knuckles get beaten into the ground so many times before I'm bored. And it doesn't help that the animation here is fairly routine. 

Maybe my big problem with this episode is that I find Yellow Zelkova more annoying than intimidating. The big dumb strong guy is a classic villain archetype. His boastful decrees certainly fit that character type. Yet I find Zelkova too farcical a threat when the story around him is so grim. I like "Sonic X's" surreal sense of humor but having the bad guy ask nonsensical riddles before whooping ass drains the tension a little, in a bad way. Mostly, Zelkova is such a blockhead, it's hard to take him seriously. In this episode, he's defeated when Sonic and Chris encircle him with a wire and let a lightning bolt strike him. And this guy just stands there and lets the heroes surround him with this stuff. A more creditable adversary would try and, ya know, stop his imminent defeat. 

Of course, the action scenes in this episode really are beside the point. The true purpose behind "Zelkova Strikes Back" is revealed by its Japanese title: "The True Form of the Metarex!?" This episode reveals that Shadow and Rouge have been investigating the Metarex on their own. They soon discover a small planet, filled with trees and nothing else. A single, artificial Chaos Emerald provides the light and energy to grow this forest. This proceeds another reveal: Yellow Zelkova's mechanic armor falls away and shows that he's not a robot. He's part of the same species of plant aliens as Cosmo. Cosmo's world was genocided by members of her own race! 

This is a pretty dramatic twist... And it might have been more surprising if the Metarex bosses weren't all named after trees. Even if I hadn't had this plot point spoiled for me by the internet, I think I probably could've figured this one out. Weirdly, this episode does not feature Cosmo reacting to this information. Instead, it's final moments are devoted to a big naked Yellow Zelkova – who looks more than a little muppety – stumbling backwards into an active volcano. Knuckles tries to save him, because I guess our heroes operate on an "all life is sacred" rule or something. Zelkova refuses his help and willingly sinks into the lava, while grinning knowingly. I would much rather see Cosmo's reaction to this shocking information than a last minute, half-assed attempt to give the season's goofiest threat some depth with a honorable samurai demise or some shit. 

Honestly, I probably would've liked this episode a lot more if it focused on Shadow and Rouge uncovering the Metarex secrets. Rouge is creeped out by the lifeless forest world, which is a nice character beat for someone usually so unshakable. Shadow's stoic badass persona works as a nice contrast to discovering these horrible secrets. This is especially true when the show throws some unexpected body horror into its final minutes. At the base of the trees, Shadow and Rouge find the human traitors from "A Revolutionary Tale." They are slowly being consumed by the trees, the roots growing under their skin and into their flesh. That's pretty fucking gruesome for a children's show! Weirdly, 4Kids cut a bunch of random stuff from this episode but kept in this moment of "Evil Dead"-like tree horror. 

This might not be the only moment of bodily mutilation in this episode too, though that depends on how you interpret this next scene. As Knuckles' fight with Yellow Zelkova gets more intense, the echidna's knuckles spikes break off. It has always been debated by "Sonic" fans whether Knuckles' hand spikes were part of his body or just something attached to his gloves. In the Archie Comics, Knuckles' knuckles are definitely a physical mutation, sprouting from his bare flesh. I suppose I just assumed that was the case for every version of the character. But considering there's no blood spurting from Knuckles' hands in this scene, I'm guessing that's not the case for the "Sonic X" version. (Which is kind of underwhelming and makes the echidna seem less "special.") Seeing his little hand spikes shatter is still a surprising sight. It feels like that moment probably should've gotten more attention. 

Presumably Cosmo's feelings about the Metarex's true nature, along with the reasoning behind the villain's genocidal conquest, will be covered in future episode. (And, maybe if we are lucky, we'll find out whether every Metarex is actually a plant person or just the top commanders. So we'll know whether or not Sonic and the gang have been blowing up sentient beings every time they use the Sonic Hammer.) As for this episode, it needed more scenes of Shadow and Rouge sleuthing and people being violated by tree roots and fewer scenes of Knuckles and a mustard-colored robot repetitively wailing on each other. [5/10]