Sonic Prime (Netflix Animated Series)

God I love the soundtrack by Steffan Andrews and Mike Shields so much. It might feel a little like they had Green Forest as temp music for Sonic VS Shadow, but they understood the assignment so well. Definitely the best score on a Sonic show.

 

Outside of amnesia I don't think the games have ever done much with him beyond a no-nonsense attitude and actual fighting prowess beyond "living pinball", though the comics have given him more situations and characters for that to bounce off of. I'd say Prime rings pretty close to what I'd expect of the Shadow I saw in the post-reboot Archie material if someone screwed up as monumentally as Sonic has here. (Plus the voice is miles better than anything I've heard out of his game self since they ditched the 4Kids cast.)

 

Honestly, I've developed a soft spot for Kirk Thornton over the years because I he sounds closer to David Humphrey than Jason Griffiths to me, which I prefer for Shadow...I just wish they'd let him vary inflection more like Humphrey did. But yeah, the voice here is also pretty good. I feel like he's a little too gruff at times and it stifles delivery, but some of the line reads in the fight scene the Sonic channel posted to YouTube are really good. Hopefully the second half of the season gives him a lot more focus.

 

Ian Hanlin is voicing Shadow here, not Thornton.

 

Yeah, I'm aware this isn't the games cast, I was just responding to what Iggy was saying about the post-4Kids cast and the comments about Prime Shadow were meant to be separate from that. Sorry for not making that clear.

 

I enjoyed "Season 2" less than "Season 1". Now to wait for December because we are definitely getting JoJo Part sixed with this show.

 

I'm only three episodes in but I'm enjoying Season 2 more than Season 1, and I thought Season 1 was well done. The story is so much better when it's able to start moving instead of building. The set-up is paying off quickly.

 

Okay, I haven't watched Series 2. I did spoil myself by jumping to the last episode and seeing if it left on a cliff hanger again though, as to save myself watching the whole thing and then having to wait ages again for a conclusion.

Spoiler: series spoilers

yes it ends on a cliff hanger. I'll watch series 2 when i'm bored / before series 3 inevitably comes out. So much for the "Splitting the original season into 2" rumour that went about. Maybe 3 parts?

 

We've known since before the show was out that it would be 24 episodes. When "Season 1" came out with only 8 we knew what we were in for. But yeah, 16 episodes so far so "Season 3" will be the actual full show and the end of the actual Season 1.

 

Spoiler

Also, I like this "Chaos Sonic" a lot. Most of my problems with his design went away when it was confirmed that yeah, he isn't meant to be "threatening" like the classic design. He's "evil Sonic". I know there's a lot of "evil Sonics", but I think Chaos Sonic actually having Sonic's jovial and mocking personality while being unabashedly evil is unique. He's like if Shard the Metal Sonic was evil, for a better comparison. EDIT: He's basically what Eggman thinks Sonic is like which is a hilarious and awesome idea.

The fact that he can make Prime Sonic go "you're actually genuinely annoying" is a pretty great character, tbh.

 

If there's one show I think anybody could ever call "non-stop action", it's honestly this one, Like all the slow scenes were crammed into Avoid the Void, and then any other conversation is had in the middle of a large action scene. It's actually a little tiring for all in one sitting.


Also of course I can't talk about this show without comparing it to Mega Man Fully Charged, soooo...

Spoiler

Chaos Sonic is just Chaotique from Mega Man Fully Charged (who you might recognize as my Avatar). Down to how he's animated. with little hints of Elec Man and Namagem even.

So of course I'm a big fan, even though it makes me even more angry that show didn't have the budget to match its ambitions.

 

Spoiler

Didn't care for how Rusty Rose's betrayel was done. Wasn't it established earlier that she didn't have complete free will since Nine reprogramed her to fight by their side briefly before the council regained control? Kinda stunk that she ended up being mostly sidelined afterwards. Chaos Sonic was fun, very much a "evil Sonic/Scourge" like character. Nine continues to be the most interesting character of the show, he's the first character to acknowledge that the shatterverse counterparts might vanish/merge if Green Hill is restored.

 

Theory:

Spoiler

Since she's a cyborg anyways, maybe the idea is that the robot programming allowed her to be controlled (or freed), but the rest of the brain was still loyal in some way, so everything with the council beyond Nine's tampering was a form of the free will.

More general thoughts on the currently final episode:

Spoiler

I really feel like they fumbled with both of Sonic's power-ups. The first one felt like a regular fake-out for a full transformation, fair enough, but then the second one acted like a full transformation but then proceeded to only change Sonic's eye colors and then just defeat Paradox Kaiju Eggman in like 30 seconds. It was Ultra Instinct without any of the charm. They could have at least given him willing access to his alternate shoes and gloves (even though only 2 of those seem to have secondary properties...)

He also didn't use the Boscage gloves in any meaningful way this time while he had them. I was waiting for him to Wolverine claw some dudes but then he just doesn't, when he had ample opportunity during the 20 minute fight scenes.

 

That should tell you how low the bar is for decent characterization.

 

Finished Season "2", and wow I really liked this batch of episodes way more than the first one. A lot of action sequences.

Amazing we got a good characterization of Shadow since... Sonic 2006.

 

I also liked season 2 way more than season 1.

 

Same here, its not anything amazing but season 2 has a lot more going on, and was way more interesting and enjoyable for me. Absolutely looking forward to season 3 now

 

"Season" 2 really impressed me! Thoroughly enjoyed watching.

Shadow was very well done - probably the best he's been written since Sonic '06 - and it was nice to establish some clear goals that would resolve the story. Nine is being handled particularly well as a bit of an anti-hero.

Compared to the first season, the stakes were definitely higher. Having the Chaos Council on the march kept momentum going and gave us a nice "ticking clock" element, and it's enjoyable to see the different versions of the characters beginning to meet and interact with one another.

Chaos Sonic really annoyed me, though. I can't really place it, but something about the personality felt "off". Maybe that was the point. Sonic appeared surprised at the idea of a robot replica of himself, which is another reason why I reckon this doesn't really fit with game canon. I suppose they left it vague enough for people to head-canon it into continuity if they'd like it there.

I can understand the rationale for splitting this show into three parts, but given there were so few new locations or character designs, it's pretty clear that this is all just a single 24-episode run. At least this "season" had a good climax, though, and we have a strong cliffhanger heading into the next set of episodes.

Overall, this is probably the most faithful interpretation of the game series in animation. Not bad at all.

 

Just finished watching the new episodes. If you ask me, there's too much action. Maybe to hide how little is actually happening? Still, not a bad season.