When Sonic is American, it's usually though a Japanese lens, and that's where the difficulty comes in, because then you have people confusing *typical* American-Written stuff that *influenced* the Japanese-written stuff for actually being exactly like it entirely. To make a wild comparison, it's like an actual authentic Burrito from a Mexican restaurant vs a "Burrito" from Taco Bell. American Written Sonic usually gets filled with American Restaurant Burrito Cartoon tropes, and while that's "authentic" in some way, it's very different from how the Japanese Taco Bell Burrito filled with Japanese Cartoon/Anime tropes and references would be, even though it's not authentic, that's why we love it. It's kind of an obvious thing to say but if you told a US studio to make Sonic X with the exact same premise (which is already very American inspired and was also probably prodded at by US studios TMS wanted to sell to) you'd get a very different show. Spoiler: side tangent Imagine if 4kids decided to make "Sonic in SPACE" themselves instead of giving TMS that prompt and a small budget. It probably wouldn't resemble anything like the Metarex saga.
Can't think of anything less American than having to go out of one's way to appeal to Americans. Sonic is extremely Japanese in that it was made through an extremely Japanese lens of what "appealing to the American market" means. The choices of "American" stuff, like the American flag and military emblems, specifically ones that evoke planes, are very much Japanese. Like very few other countries, none of them America itself, would choose these elements to make sure there was American iconography there. Sonic is Japanese through and through.
Arguing that Sonic is "fundamentally" anything is a fool's errand. It was always a melting pot of ideas, goals, and influences. Right from the start, Madeline Schroeder and the SoA crew were able to directly influence SoJ's concept. But that was part of the fun. And now? Decades later? The series has gone through so many iterations, seen through the lens of so many different people and cultures and backgrounds, it would be more accurate to argue that Sonic has been fundamentally everything at some point.
"Sonic is fundamentally American" can't even be defended as an unpopular opinion... it's just a false assertion. Saying you prefer the American take on the character would be an opinion, or that the American influences on the character are more appealing. The Pariah695 video your statement is referencing is genuinely a pretty good breakdown of why he feels the way he does (which I agree with). People can't just, "Nuh uh," it and have that be a counterargument. It's always comic fans too lol. If I were cooking for a Mexican and made sushi to appeal to their palate by using spices and ingredients common in their cuisine, it doesn't magically make the entire thing, "fundamentally Mexican." The FUNDAMENTAL aspects are still retained and remain Japanese, it's the little things that changed. Though I guess a counterargument here is that if a Japanese person made a burger, wouldn't it still be American food? Replace Japanese person with Sonic Team, and burger with whatever the hell Sonic is. Either way, it's a hard thing to definitively say unless we agree on a definition what Sonic's fundamentals even are, and my analogies aren't perfect. The only thing I care about is that, in general, I prefer Japanese-produced Sonic media way more than anything made by Westerners.
The "inspired by American cartoons" argument continues to not really matter, because a lot of things were inspired by American cartoons, including Japanese ones! No Disney, no anime. The emblems which were seemingly a Dr. Slump reference. Also Naka's idea for Sonic to curl into a ball was inspired by an anime called Panda! Go, Panda!
Sonic is so American that Sega of America panicked when Sega of Japan unveiled him and they had to alter his design (and retroactively lie and take credit for existing elements) to make him more American. I recall a quote that they were scared Americans wouldn't even know what a hedgehog is! tl;dr, Sonic may have been an attempt to appeal to Americans but he was still too Japanese for SoA's tastes.
This is probably just me, but Frontiers doesn't feel like a Sonic game I also think Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) isn't so bad as people say, but I don't think the plot/story is good
Sorry, but this is just fundamentally wrong. Sonic is primarily a Japanese franchise that takes influence from things around the world, and I believe that helps a lot with his worldwide appeal. You can even see this in the games themselves. As an example, just look at Sonic CD. Primarily a Japanese game but its image was inspired by how England was treating the brand at the time. If anything I would say it’s the old guys that realise this, and newer younger Sonic fans might just think Sonic is American at the moment as the movies are currently in the spotlight (which I will say are very “American”)
I entirely agree with a lot of what you just said and hate being an obnoxious smartass, but you couldn't have picked a more counter-intuitive analogy to prove your point if you tried, as sushi is actually Chinese.
If sonic were a burger he would be a really fucked up combination of american food, japanese food, and whatever dishes are most popular at the time. Also the patty is slightly raw because the chef had 2 minutes to cook the burger all the way through
I definitely recommend you stop "being an obnoxious smartass" if what you're going to say is "sushi is actually Chinese", because that's not true in this universe or any universe parallel to it.
Literally changes nothing about my point. I originally had burger and “American” food but I’ve run into problems with that example before.
Ooh! Ooh! Here's one! That 'tude that fans think of with Jaleel White's Sonic? The one that's so iconic and so '90s? I'm slightly saddened when I put on some other action cartoon (probably also by DiC) from the same time period and that same "quippy tough guy with a heart of gold" is not exclusive to Sonic but is in fact bog standard. It's kind of weird hearing Link or New York Mario give random lackeys the same exact guff as early American Sonic. I can't really watch any of them nowadays because Sonic singlehandedly wore out my sass-o-meter back then. Hearing SatAM Sonic say "C'mon guys, how 'bout a round of applause? ...A square of applause?" behind a tiled gate in the heart of Robotropolis makes me smirk for some reason. Meanwhile, every single pasta pun in Mario's collective airtime can gain sentience and jump of a cliff.
Are we still taking this as fact after all the concept art that heavily indicates they didn't? I wonder if your Archie Sonic SatAM-design Robotnik profile picture might indicate any bias regarding this patently absurd assertion
I just like the artwork. That's all. And I haven't even talked about any of the US-made Sonic media yet, I've strictly been speaking about the Japanese side of this franchise and the American influences it drew from. SatAM, Archie, AoSTH and even Spinball are a whole other can of worms and have very little to do with what I'm talking about. I was never denying this franchise having any Japanese DNA, I just think that all of the American influences easily outnumber the Japanese ones, and I've yet to be convinced by any person claiming otherwise. If someone were to prove me wrong, I would not object.
