Sonic the Hedgehog: The OVA - Part 2

Sonic the Hedgehog: The OVA - Part 2

"Sonic vs. Metal Sonic"

Japanese Release Date: February 4th, 1996

U.S. Release Date: September 7th, 1999

As a young developing weeb, it took me a while to get my brain around the concept of an Original Video Animation. We had direct-to-video cartoons over here but the release strategy was largely associated with cheap animation and questionable artistic merit. In Japan, OVAs had bigger budgets and higher quality animation than televised anime, sometimes equal to theatrically released films. Moreover, I think the idea of releasing one episode on a single, full-priced VHS tape really blew my mind. In the U.S., we only got a few episodes of a series on a single VHS and even that seemed extravagant. I guess the point of this introduction is that A.D. Vision made the right decision releasing the "Sonic" OVA as a single movie. Ain't no way my mom was ponying up forty bucks in 1999 for two VHS tapes just so I could see one hour of content. 

Anyway, let's get on with the review. The second part of the OVA, "Sonic Vs. Metal Sonic," is about exactly that. The ploy of Metal Robotnik and the overloading generator was just an excuse to get Sonic into Eggman's base and to copy his brainwaves. Those are immediately downloaded into Metal Sonic, a robotic hedgehog that is just as fast as Sonic and can predict his every move. Sonic immediately gets his ass beaten. Tails and Knuckles soon deduces that Eggman's scheme is to have Metal Sonic activate the volcanos under Planet Freedom's frozen North Pole. This would release the magma underneath and melt the glaciers that keeps the elevated Kingdom of the Sky in the, uh, sky. (Leaving Eggman to rule over the devastated world and take Sara as his teenage child bride, I guess.) When Sonic overhears Tails telling this to the President, Metal Sonic learns it too. Everyone heads off for a rumble at the North Pole, which will determine the fate of the entire world. 

I've often questioned why "Sonic" fans are so enamored of Metal Sonic, beyond the fact that he looks cool and he's in the actual video games. I've never found him any more special than Robotnik's other robot Sonics. (In fact, I generally prefer the "Sonic & Knuckles" version to the default Metal Sonic.) The OVA presents us with a Metal Sonic that's genuinely intimidating. Within minutes of going online, he's beaten Sonic into submission. He moves so fast that the animation becomes a stylized laser light show to show how quick he is. After karate kicking Sonic off a peak above the planet, it seems like Metal has actually killed Sonic. Within a few minutes, this Metal Sonic has already accomplished more than any other version of the character. 

My main issue with canon Metal Sonic is that he doesn't have much of an actual personality, beyond a pre-programmed desire to best his flesh-and-blood counterpart. The anime fixes this too. This Metal Sonic shares a telepathic link with the original, which doesn't just mean he knows every move Sonic makes before he makes it. It means Sonic's personality starts to rub off on the robot. He shares some of his body language, for example. Finally, in the end, Metal starts to display some of Sonic's heroic traits. He rescues the President and Old Man Owl from an explosion and allows himself to melt in the lava, so Robotnik can't use him again as a weapon. Sonic feels a sense of sadness in the movie's final moments, because his enemy didn't have to be evil. That's pretty interesting and makes for a more compelling antagonist. 

But let's talk a little bit more about this version of Eggman. I think this might be the closest adaptation of Eggman, as he appears in the video games. The contradictions baked into the character is on full display. On one hand, he's a total goofball. He harbors a childish crush on Sara and is often humiliated. His eventual defeat doesn't come from Sonic but from a turtle shaped missile he deployed earlier in the episode, which crawls back to him and explodes. As he lays twitching in agony, the good guys all laugh like it's an eighties sitcom. 

At the same time, Eggman also desires the complete destruction of society as the characters know it. If his scheme had succeeded, it would've tossed entire continents into space, killing millions of people. His ultimate goal is to rule over a largely dead world populated mostly by robots. But, sure, the heroes go on a joy ride with him at the end. This is probably why most early Western versions of Robotnik focus on either his tyrannical goals or goofy appearance, as having him do both at once is a bit disorienting. 

But weirdo tonal shifts are more tolerated in Asian pop culture than they are over here. Another thing more tolerated in Japanese children's media is gratuitous fan service. (Or maybe the entire "Sonic" franchise is just horny-on-main, considering how perverted "AoStH" could get...) The second half of the OVA has a mildly concerning focus on Sara. She first appears in this installment via a lingering shot of her ass up in the air. Robotnik makes her change into an equally revealing wedding dress outfit early on. Which leads to a fantasy where Sara is breastfeeding one of a whole horde of little Eggmen. Later, Metal Sonic looks up Sara's skirt, Tails accidentally gropes her boobs, and her kisses give Knuckles the strength to dig next to lava. 

I've referred to Sara as a love interest of Sonic's in the past, which is actually wrong. Seemingly everybody except for Sonic wants to fuck her in this cartoon. I obviously have no issue with sex appeal in "Sonic" media but, considering Sara both looks and acts like a teenage girl, it feels a little weirder than Steven Butler drawing Sally with curves or whatever Rouge gets up to at any given moment. I guess you just couldn't sell an OVA in the nineties without some scantily clad jail bait. 

For what it's worth, there's a lot less goofy comic relief in this half... Save for a baffling sequence where Metal Sonic forces Old Man Owl to wear Sonic's clothes. Which includes a backwards baseball cap, a skateboard, and a pink t-shirt. For twenty years, I've been trying to figure out the motivation behind that particular joke. Oh, also, Sonic smashes his balls after landing crotch-first in Robotnik's little shuttle. 

Perviness and weird humor aside, "Sonic Vs. Metal Sonic" is overall stronger than the first half of the OVA. Probably because it's mostly one long action scene. We begin with a really nicely animated sequence of Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles rushing into Eggman’s base and avoiding shots from a Snail Blaster. Once Metal Sonic shows up, we get a couple gorgeously animated scenes of his turbines whirling around and such. (The mechanical designers really had fun on this project.) After a brief, plot centric scene to determine what the rest of the movie will be about, it's off to the Arctic for another fight. 

What makes these action sequences good, aside from the nice animation and stylish direction, is how the script constantly ups the stakes. Metal Sonic is wrecking some cities and then the entire world is in danger. When the destruction of the glacier that holds the planet together is prevented, the story has the President crash his ship right into the same glacier. Now our heroes have to save someone and keep an explosion at bay. For a film about a super-fast character, it's fitting the pacing rarely lets up and the story keeps striving for more and more excitement. This would probably be exhausting for a feature but for an hour-long two-parter, it works just fine. 

For this review, I watched a couple of different sources of the OVA: My old VHS tape of the English dub (yes, I still have a working VCR), an HD rip of the hour-long cut with the original Japanese audio and English subtitles, and a heavily pixelated upload of the separated OVA release with no subtitles. (Seemingly the only way to watch the original two-part presentation these days.) The difference between the latter two cuts is negligible. Basically, you're missing out on two credit sequences and some Japanese lettering. 

As for the dub... It's not great. A lot of the English actors affect nasally, high-pitched voices for the characters. Sonic sounds like a haughty brat, Knuckles has a perpetually jokey tone to his voice, and Tails seems to have a head-cold. Gravelly Edwin Neal makes an okay Robotnik and Sasha Biesi, Sara's V.O., is a little less annoying than her Japanese counterpart. Tails sounds equally grating in either version but the Japanese audio is overall much better. I especially like how tough Masami Kikuchi makes Sonic sound. The audio mix is slightly different between the two versions but the awesome score is maintained. My copy includes the boob-grabbing, middle finger, and breastfeeding, though supposedly some copies don't. 

The Japanese audio is preferable but you're doing fine watching either cut. Honestly, considering how most of the OVA's joys are visual and the plot is pretty simple, a dialogue-free/isolated score cut would probably work great too. Overall, I really like the "Sonic" OVA. Like all "Sonic" media, it has some peculiar quirks and some of the changes work better than others. Yet it's great to look at, is a fun to watch, and really captures the spirit of classic Sonic. It's not as good as the "Sonic CD" opening but few things are. There was a recent "fan recreation," which hopefully brought a little more attention to the original. I hope it gets license rescued eventually and winds up streaming somewhere. Or at least receives a nice Blu-Ray release. It's a brief but entertaining chapter of "Sonic" history that doesn't deserve to be forgotten. Now lets rock out to the Engrish filled theme song! [7/10]

Sonic the Hedgehog: The OVA - Part 1

Sonic the Hedgehog: The OVA - Part 1

"Welcome to Eggmanland!" 

Japanese Release Date: January 26th, 1996

US Release Date: September 7th, 1999

In 1996, there wasn't much in the way of official "Sonic" lore. Each pop culture spin-off of the game brought with it their own takes on things. By this point, the comics had already built up pretty elaborate universes. Yet the games, far more focused on gameplay than plot, still left a lot of details up to fans' imaginations. This might have been why "Sonic" was attractive to an anime studio at the time. You got the prestige of working with famous characters but still had a chance to, more-or-less, make up your own world. Which is exactly what Studio Pierrot did with their two-part OVA. Though drawing some loose inspiration from "Sonic CD" and featured multiple familiar faces, the OVA stands on its own as a unique take on the "Sonic"-verse. 

The first half, "Welcome to Eggmanland!," has a dotting old man owl bring an urgent message to Sonic and Tails, who were trying to enjoy themselves on the desert island they live on. The president of Planet Freedom has invited Sonic to the White House. There, our heroes discover that Eggman has taken the president and his teenage daughter Sarah hostage. Eggman then explains that Sonic's help is needed. An eviler doppelgänger called Metal Robotnik (called Black Eggman in the Japanese) has taken over Eggman's city. If he's not stopped, an out-of-control generator may destroy the whole planet. Sonic reluctantly agree to help and, after traveling to the ruined city Eggman operates out of, battle Metal Robotnik. Knuckles appears to help them out. Neither of them know it's all been a trap engineered by Eggman... 

In a lot of ways, the OVA presents a unique take on Sonic and his world. Planet Freedom is made up of two "dimensions." The Land of the Sky is composed of continents floating above the world atop icy structures. The Land of Darkness below is seemingly a post-apocalyptic Earth, with Eggman operating out of a ruined Manhattan sinking into the ocean. This fuses together reoccurring elements from various corners of the franchise, like floating islands and grim urban sprawl, to make a far-out sci-fi vision. This anime is also notably the first animated appearance of Knuckles, who is characterized as a traveling treasure hunter who can levitate in the air. A translation error apparently made the Japanese animators think he was a mole too, which is probably why he's introduced digging out of the ground and has a dislike of sunlight. (He also has a cool Crocodile Dundee hat, presumably because the character designer thought it would look neat. It does!) 

It's not just the world here that is radically different from the video games. The OVA also introduces several characters exclusive to this anime. (Who are also owned by Studio Pierrot, which is why Sega got pissed when Archie gave them cameos in the comic.) Old Man Owl is an absent-minded foul who is introduced flying a burning aircraft. Eggman has a small armor of spiky, vaguely SWATBot-like robot warriors, who look pretty cool. There's also the incompetent president – humanoid-shaped but with elf ears – and Sara, his daughter. Sara is a traditional anime cat girl, with big ears and tail atop a traditional human body. She, and the tiny mini-skirt and crop top she wears, was introduced presumably because someone decided the "Sonic" franchise needed a little more sex appeal. 

The problem with these new characters is... They're mostly pretty annoying. Old Man Owl is such a fool that he doesn't even notice his plane is on-fire. Later, he talks to a flower, mistaking it for Sonic, while rambling off an unrelated anecdote. Sara, meanwhile, represents a high-pitched style of comic relief not unknown to children's anime. Even though she's Eggman's hostage, she repeatedly threatens to leave him. She cries and throws a fit when she looses the fighting game she plays with the villain. Eggman, meanwhile, puts up with these temper-tantrums because, I guess, he thinks she's hot. I'm not sure a fumbling old man and a spoiled little rich girl were character types "Sonic" really needed. 

But that points towards an issue the entire anime has. The characters are kind of obnoxious. Tails is introduced building a rocket-powered surfboard, while Sonic chills on the beach. The hedgehog doesn't show much interest in his friend, which gets him yelled at. In fact, Sonic selfishly ignores his little body up until he's in actual danger. Later, after Robotnik asks Sonic to help save the world, he blows the whole thing off at first. Nineties Sonic was defined by his 'tude and this would sometimes result in him being written like a massive asshole, which is clearly what happens here. Anime Eggman is certainly more sinister than his "AoStH" counterpart, as he threatens Sara with a spike at one point. He's still kind of a joke, often comically underminded by the people around him. 

These are all indications that, even in Japan, "Sonic" is mostly for kids. Yet the contrast built-in into the franchise – cutesy characters and goofy humor existing alongside a ruined environment and killer robots – is present here too. The enormous Metal Robotnik, with his intimidating design and machine gun hands, is certainly a threatening presence. He repeatedly tells Sonic he's going to kill him and the hedgehog is almost drowned at one point. This divide is represented in the anime's slightly edgy, but also juvenile, elements. I'm not just talking about sexy little Sara. Sonic extends his middle finger to Metal Robotnik, among a couple other milder but still somewhat rude gestures. In response, the evil robot fires sticky globs of mega-muck.... From a chute in his backside. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's a poop joke. Metal Robotnik took a shit on Sonic. This gesture is returned when Sonic points a missile at Metal Robotnik's ass. 

While these elements are certainly interesting, this stuff probably isn't why I returned to this tape so much as a kid. The truth is the "Sonic" OVA" is definitely the coolest looking iteration of the character up to this point. There are several beautifully animated sequences. Sonic racing along the side of this island's cliffs to rescue Tails and Old Man Owl has the same style and attitude as the beloved "Sonic CD" opening. The stand-out moment of the film is definitely when Sonic and Tails enter the Land of Darkness. They sail through protruding rocks, leap on springs, running along valleys, and smash a Crawlton. There are other notable sequence, such as a pretty cool POV shot of Sonic racing through the tunnels of NYC while Metal Robotnik chases them. The sequence where the Tornado takes off features a lot of detailed animation of a runway deploying, showing that the mechanical designers had fun on this project. 

Despite the obvious flaws, the first half of the “Sonic” OVA is a satisfying watch. Tails' body-boarding skills come back in the second half, as he improvises a surfboard out of some wreckage and uses it to help rescue Sonic. Sonic, despite his ego, still relies on his friends to help him win the day. Even though he's not exactly treated seriously, Metal Robotnik still makes for a creditable villain. In the last third, where Sonic gets an assist from Tails and Knuckles and spin-dashes the big metal baddie in two? Yeah, that shit is satisfying to watch. Also, the score is really good as it invokes the classic Genesis sound and style without the compression or directly replicating any of the games' music.

Clearly, “Welcome to Eggmanland!” leaves me with a lot of things to think about. I'm sure I'll have even more to say about the second half, which we'll get to soon enough. While it's a sometimes obnoxious, or idiosyncratic at the very least, take on the familiar characters, the things I like about it far outweigh the things I find annoying about it. [7/10]

Sonic the Hedgehog: The OVA - Introduction

There is a chapter in “Sonic the Hedgehog” history that I fear is close to being forgotten. Younger fans weren’t there but the Sega Saturn era of “Sonic” was a near desolate one. While it did better in Japan, the Saturn was more-or-less a flop in America. It never developed a hit game library and was quickly overshadowed by the far more popular Nintendo 64 and Sony PlayStation. While everyone my age knew someone who had a Genesis/MegaDrive, the Saturn never reached that level of success. To give you an idea of how much Sega had fallen by this point, I knew more people who had a Sega CD than a Saturn. 

There's a lot of reasons why the Saturn failed in America, which I'm not really prepared to discuss. But a big reason was the lack of the company's star franchise. Ultimately, only three "Sonic" games were released for the Saturn. They were a boosted port of a title meant for the Genesis, a wonky racing game, and a compilation game. None of them made much of an impact and this would go a long way towards solidifying the theory that Sonic could never breach the polygon ceiling. Along with the lack of a popular new "Sonic" game, both "Sonic" cartoon series had ended by this point. This is why so many older "Sonic" fans rallied around the comic books, as that's what really kept the fandom going during these near-famine years. 

Within a few years, Sonic went from being a phenomenon to, at best, a cult favorite and, at worst, a has-been. And the franchise's reputation never really recovered.

I mention all of this because you have to understand the environment of the time for the rest of my point to make sense. It was during these post-Saturn, pre-Dreamcast years that stories of a new "Sonic" production started to filtered out over this recent invention known as the Internet. At the time, anime was just beginning to creep into the American mainstream. This was before even "Pokémon" started to blow up. Anime was still perceived as an edgier, more mature alternative to American animation. So news of a "Sonic" anime was received with intense interest by fans. 

Yes, for those of you who might not know, a "Sonic" original-video-animation (anime mini-series released straight-to-video) was released in Japan in 1996. The two part series was released on two VHS tapes, the first arriving on January 26th and the second on February 4th. There's very little behind-the-scenes information on the series. One assumes Sega commissioned the show to promote the Saturn and its flagship series. We know "Sonic" creators Yuji Naka and Naoto Ohshima had approval over the series and were, to some minor degree, involved in its production. 

This is what I can gleam from Wikipedia and IMDb: It was produced by Studio Pierrot, a company that has worked on mega-franchises like "Naruto," "Bleach," "Urusei Yatsura," and "Yu Yu Hakosho." Its director, Kazunori Ikegami, and writer, Masashi Kubota, have few other credits. (Kubota's most notable other credit is "Those Who Hunt Elves," a fantasy series whose name is familiar but I know nothing about.) Its animation team, however, include people who have worked on various iterations of "Pokémon," "Digimon," "Gundam," "Evangelion," "Cardcaptor Sakura," “Trigun," and "Lupin the 3rd." Key animator Fumie Muroi would go on to direct some of the beloved, and decidedly not-kid-friendly, "Black Lagoon" series. 

But that doesn't really tell the story of the "Sonic" OVA, at least as I remember it. In the days before streaming or file-sharing, it was really hard to get ahold of certain anime titles. Unless you were one of the lucky souls included in the convention tape trading or fan-subbing scene, you only saw what was on TV or in the anime section of your local Suncoast or Sam Goody. Something like the "Sonic" OVA, which was not especially popular or well-received in Japan, was hard to get ahold of for a long time. Screenshots and rumors were all we had to go on. What we did see looked a lot like the "Sonic CD" opening, which was the then-pentacle of "Sonic" animation. (And, you know, might still be.)

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Fans like me were intensely curious about this "Sonic" anime. How did it differ from the versions of "Sonic" we knew in America? Since "Sonic" is a Japanese series, there was this assumption that the anime must be truer in spirit, if not content, to the games. Or would the "Sonic" anime match the then-perception of format and have our hero killing bad guys and ogling big titty schoolgirls? There were rumors that Sonic said bad words or that there was some other naughtiness involved. Either way, we knew the two-part show would look a lot cooler than the American cartoons.

For three whole years, that's really all we had to go on. Some fans had watched the OVA but I'd wager more "Sonic" fanatics had read about the series then actually seen it. I first got a good look at the anime on an early iteration of abusive scumbag/Sonic fan-artist Psyguy's website. He had pictures, clips, and sound bites available for download. Since this was the days of dial-up, it took hours for me to download a two minute long trailer. I really wanted to see this thing, you guys. 

After "Pokémon" hit American shores and video game anime became huge business, the "Sonic" OVA would see an official Region 1 release. A.D. Visions, one of the biggest U.S. distributors of Japanese cartoons in the nineties and early 2000s, picked up the OVA for American release. It came out over here a few weeks before “Sonic Adventure,” A.D.V. surely hoping to capitalize on the more high-profile release. For U.S. audiences, the two installments were fused into a single hour-long presentation and sold as "Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie." Rumors persist that some U.S. releases of the movie had content cut out. Yet the distinctive white VHS tape that I vividly recall buying from my local mall's GameStop had minimal tampering and no censorship.

Finally watching the anime after years of reading about it, my reaction was more bemused than impressed. The much ballyhooed "adult content" amounted to some brief scatological humor, a cat-girl damsel in short-shorts, and one blink-and-miss-it rude hand gesture. Like every "Sonic" adaptation, there was a lot of bizarre deviations from established Sega lore. The English dub was frequently ear-piercing. Mostly, my disappointment in the anime was in its tone. I was hoping for a serious story with a lot of high-stakes action. There was some of that but the movie was also badly hampered by childish humor, annoying side characters, and weird story logic that might've been the result of the shitty dub. 

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Despite my reservations about "Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie," I watched it a lot. Growing into my teen years, I was still a "Sonic" dork and there still wasn't a lot of easily accessible hedgehog media at the time. The anime movie had bursts of bad-ass animation and Knuckles wearing a cool hat, which still put it above "Sonic Underground" in my mind. That tape spent a lot of time in my VCR. I can recall one slightly inebriated night where I popped the movie in for me and my college friends, a good time being had by all. I never loved "Sonic: The Movie" but it had a big novelty factor. Over time and via repeated viewings, I grew fond of it.

In the years afterwards, the "Sonic" franchise and the fandom it spawned would change in countless ways. A proper "Sonic" anime series would eventually arrive and reach a far wider audience than the OVA ever did. In time, A.D.V. would go out-of-business and their VHS and DVD releases of "Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie" would go out-of-print. (Used copies still sell for a hundred bucks or more.) Weirdly, despite being part of a iconic game franchise with a devoted fandom, it has never been re-released by another company. The OVA survives via YouTube uploads but is available for official streaming absolutely nowhere. 

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This lack of availability is why I fear the "Sonic" OVA is on the verge of being forgotten or overlooked. I've talked to younger "Sonic" nerds who didn't even know the anime existed. I will always think of the OVA as the third "Sonic" cartoon but the wider fandom have reduced it to a footnote. And maybe a footnote is all it is. Yet I, nevertheless, recall what this short anime meant to the "Sonic" fandom once. 

And with that, I bring this meandering introduction to an end. I'll be reviewing the OVA in two parts, to give myself more room to ramble about it and to preserve the original Japanese structure. It's time to scrap some knuckles and catch some tails – whatever the fuck that means! – and look back at this retro relic.