SONIC X SHADOW GENERATIONS - Dark Beginnings

Well, yeah

Battle's higher ups becoming impatient and making a power grab for Project Shadow for their own weapon isn't that different in effect as the unrelated military organization making a power grab for someone else's research, but at that point it's just preference rather than what was originally there. There is enough difference in these details that one frames him as someone who's existence was that of a weapon from the start, (Battle!Shadow's whole arc revolves around it) while the other frames him as a cure for mankind at first and becomes a weapon after GUN and even Gerald attempt to vie for control over him, alongside his later villains.

 

consistently great narrative content coming out is weird

 

This much consistent quality Sonic content definitely is unusual for the IP. Just enjoy it while we have it, hopefully they keep the positive train going and don't relax too much.

 

Definitely lmao. Really hoping they stick the landing with Shadow Gens, feels like we’re in a low key renaissance period here

 

Doesn't seem like both explanations are in conflict with each other IMO. President commissions the project, GUN finds out on their own and eventually make themselves known, Gerald tries to persuade them away from Shadow with the other project, something changes their mind (maybe Emerl going berserk) and they do the raid anyways.

 

You could make it work that way, maybe, but the devil is in the details for Battle itself. Handing Emerl over to the "higher ups" only resulted in other researchers onboard the ARK experimenting on him, leading to the destruction of the ARK and those other researchers having to subdue him somehow. If handing him over to the higher ups simply resulted in a change of staff that are still based in the ARK, and GUN constituted these higher ups, then GUN would already be operating within the ARK to begin with, at least to the degree that they partake in research of their own using the same organization the ARK is under.

On top of this, Gerald cites Shadow as a weapon that he created a heart for in journal 8. Shadow asks Eggman's computer and later Rouge, "We were created as weapons, so why is it that we have hearts? Why do we have souls?! What the heck are we?!" And Rouge answers, drawing from Gerald's research files, "He was not interested in researching weapons, he was researching a way to bring happiness and hope to all people. But, he was forced by the government and the military to use his research for war. That's why he gave you and Gizoid a "soul." A soul identical to his beloved granddaughter, Maria. [...] His hope was that no matter how crazed and obsessed with destruction Mankind might become, the weapons themselves would never fight." (and then goes on to say that Shadow has never used his power recklessly or selfishly smh)

When you bring the thematic through-line of his entire story in Battle into focus alongside the differences in lore between the two, it doesn't really allow for compatibility between these. The effect of Shadow being created as a weapon for the military with a heart as a failsafe, under SA2 and TTo50YA's rules, would basically require it to be post-ARK-raid, and alongside Gerald's own malice for the world in tandem. It would have to be during the very beginning of Project Shadow's conception, in which case, "the military" is the reason why he gave Shadow a soul, and were the ones who commissioned the project to begin with. Either TTo50YA's account of Project Shadow's creation is maintained, Battle gets grandfathered in as a retcon, or some middle ground is made where neither one of them is accurate anymore to the new details.

And tbf, I personally think it is extremely unlikely that GUN don't get grandfathered in to the ARK's operations anyways; GUN being in Lost Impact was the biggest point towards TTo50YA potentially getting retconned, with GUN operating on board the ARK like Battle pretty much leans on. But there's further subtext in the stage that probably points towards it being a part of TTo50YA's narrative instead: someone suspiciously prepared the ARK's defenses ahead of time to help with taking care of the Artificial Chaos, the Artificial Chaos themselves going out of control and Maria commenting that their eyes "look sad", paired with the alleged leaker kickstarting the GUN invasion in TTo50YA and GUN responding to a "Biohazard" during the 7 days of the operation. But... that takes a lot of jumps to arrive at, and for the most part I feel like it will just be taken as GUN being there all along, either as a general observation from people who didn't write the games, or possibly even the people who did lol. If the entirety of Gerald's journal maintains a divide between the two I will honestly be shocked and impressed.

 

Wasn't sold on the animation style at first but I totally get why they chose it, especially for the more complex action sequences. It looks fine in motion.

I'm actually excited to see the rest of this series, it's cool to see them do stuff like this. Hope it leads to like a full Sonic anime series or something

 

Y'all gonna jinx it and we're gonna be right back in the trenches.

 

Probably tbh

what’s funny is that it’s not like things are THAT good. Frontiers was okay, Superstars was okay, and I’m sure Shadow won’t be like legendary or anything. It’s cool they’re doing annual releases again though that are at least pretty good, lmao

 

It was definitely good. I liked the aesthetic.

But I'll break from everyone here in the sense that I feel like a newcomer watching this would have absolutely no idea what's going on. I know a certain level of backstory is expected, but a big reason Sonic X Shadow Generations is coming out is because many kids have no idea who Shadow is for Sonic Movie 3. I feel like with no context the clip would make no sense. Maria gets some introduction but it's still not entirely clear why Shadow has such a strong connection with her. I think more time between the two of them at the outset would have been good. You would have no idea about Emerl, Gerald, etc. It's possible the show might go on to explain all this in future episodes (as it is ultimately seeming to point towards Shadow recovering his memories) but I fear that it'll just go in the general direction of dark and moody aesthetic but little of substance narratively actually happening. And a lot of people liking it simply because it suits their tastes. Could be wrong!

I feel like Mania Adventures was better in this regard. The short presented a clear story which was very simple but easy to follow. Mighty and Ray were introduced properly to people who had no idea who they were. Metal Sonic comes in abruptly but it's easy to understand his role in the story. Here it felt very much made for fans of Shadow and the darker aesthetic of SA2 but not much else was going on.

 

I keep bouncing around regarding my reception to the short, because on the one hand, and especially after the Shadow Manga chapter, I was expecting a lot more concrete new backstory with satisfying narrative beats capping them off, but the short obviously ended everything abruptly for emphasis on the dream sequence. On the other, circling back around and appreciating that angle does make it feel pretty cool, and I feel like the episode captures a nightmare moment pretty well. And then on the third hand, it is really up in the air with how much the general audience is able to gel with it, like you say. It might be too fragmented for someone to get invested, or the obfuscation might draw someone in with questions; it could go either way. It's especially funny watching some reactions to the short and hearing people say "I don't really remember the whole deal with Shadow's backstory", and then they come out of the episode with even more questions than before.

We can assume from the preview that the next episode at least will involve Team Dark looking for a way to the ARK, leading to the space shuttle, so I don't think we'll be getting much more than this either, unless the third episode deals with it again and hasn't been shown yet.

 

As nice as the short was to watch, it only left me wanting more. We saw so little of everything. Shadow and Maria got all of 30 seconds of screen time together, and that was the most developed part. Seeing Emerl in the teaser a few months ago was so exiting, but that turned out about to be virtually his entire appearance.

It's all top quality stuff right here. But it's painfully short on the quantity. If the other episodes are the same, Dark Beginnings will be a fantastic disappointment!

 

I mean I agree with you but as someone who knows the backstory, of course I didn't need that and I loved the short. I think it's a valid criticism, but ultimately one that doesn't affect my enjoyment, and I don't think it's necessarily wrong to put out something like this once in a while that does cater towards longtime fans and/or fans who have consumed specific parts of the series. Anecdotally, a big want of the fanbase for a while now has been for the series to get back to more serialised storytelling with proper continuity between games. That's what Sonic Team seems to have decided to do and myself and many others are here for that, but ultimately a degree of continuity lockout is the price to pay there.

 

I think you're mostly right, but when it comes to complicated anime-esque storylines and culture these days, young viewers jumping into big IPs without much context is surprisingly normal now. If a piece of work gets a huge social media reaction (which this definitely did), people jump on it and start following along regardless. That's just the way things are in the smart phone age. And while Shadow's may be the most complicated backstory of any one character, his story isn't rocket science either and people can catch up with a single youtube video summarizing it (of which there are hundreds out there).

I saw a full panel room audience reacting to this thing at AX this year, sitting near a number of SEGA execs and marketing team members too. This entire thing got a massive reaction and the game itself is likely to do very well overall. My only disappointment is that this first episode is only 6 minutes long, but the hype is there and I think will carry people past any of the confusion.

 

Shadow has been a staple of this franchise for over 20 years now, I feel like the only people who say he's "too complicated" are operating under that context from 20 years ago (i.e. people who came up with the series transition from Classic to Modern).


Ignoring the digital age making looking up his story a trivial exercise, this short cuts right to the point; he was born as means to help his friend Maria and he feels insecure about it, before tragedy strikes.

There's really not much more you need to understand than that.

 

Since nobody posted it, here is the Japanese dub (with the option for English subs):


My opinion on it: The animation and direction are great. I went in blind without watching the teaser, and I have to say it's nice to see them remembering Emerl and the broken moon, although I don't think it should have passed a long enough time since SA2 for its debris to form rings around it (I'm no astronomer though). Hate how they gave Shadow the stupid "Flash lightning bolts" from the movie

 

While I do think the game is likely gonna provide the new solid details on that the series and and fans will operate under going forward. I've operated under the assumption that nothing from battle is canon besides emeril existing. The series treats that game like that, it had been previously spoken on by someone at sonic team that basically projects during that period were allowed to have pretty varied takes on the world and characters. So all of battles plot details that don't line up i just file under " it isn't canon besides the robot". And to be honest given the robot is in a short advertising the game and seemingly as far as we know not in the game itself ( though i think he is because I think the studio did not make those models i think similar to prime they may have been given models by sega to use that were modified/ used as reference. ) It would line up with sega using elements people are interested in but they have no vested interest in themselves to sell a game that does not use or feature them. This also may unfortunately track with team dark being together in the short as well.