Review- "Clash! Sonic VS Knuckles" (Sonic X Japanese Dub)

Hello everyone- if you're reading this, 31 years have passed since the release of Sonic the Hedgehog. With the release of Sonic Origins (which, despite the confusing preorder charts; is well worth it for Sonic 3 and Sonic CD alone) and the upcoming Sonic Frontiers (which, like many in the fandom, I am equal parts hyped for and concerned about); and the success of the second movie (not to mention the upcoming Sonic Prime on Netflix). So, to help celebrate, let's open up this review of the Japanese dub of Sonic X; with the episode "Clash! Sonic VS Knuckles!"

After the absolute banger of the JP theme song, "Sonic Drive," we open on Knuckles the Echidna in a dark alley; as a newspaper of Sonic's fight with Eggman blows toward him. The doctor himself comes to Knuckles and offers a partnership to help find the Chaos Emeralds, using Sonic as his patsy. Of course- Had to make use of the "trick Knuckles into fighting Sonic" plot somehow! Knuckles is more than willing to go along with it for now, since he and Sonic technically aren't friends yet in this anime.

At Thorndyke Manor, Chris, his grandfather the professor and Tails are studying a Chaos Emerald in the attic when their maid Ella comes in to clean up. He hides in plain sight by pretending to be a stuffed toy.

Tails doll? It can't be- He's actually cute and not creepy.

While Sonic is chilling on the balcony, Chris takes Tails with the Professor to seek out further details on the Emerald. However, after Tanaka tells the Professor to get some rest; Chris has to find another way. Seeing a news report about the Emerald in Silver Valley; they decide to head over with Amy in tow under the guise of going out on a picnic. Since Tanaka used the car to take Chuck to his water aerobics class (much to the professor's objections), they decide to head to the valley by way of cable car! 

Joining Tails in posing as a plush toy, Amy gets tugged by a little girl; who she ends up kicking across the train after getting called cute. Her thoughts say only Sonic can call her that. So, Amy briefly turned into Dot Warner in this cable car trip.

Back at Thorndyke Manor, Bokkun delivers a message to Sonic; with Knuckles telling him to come to Silver Valley to confront him. The message self-destructs; and Sonic heads to the valley to meet Knuckles. At the valley, Dr. Eggman captures Tails, Amy and Chris to use them as bargaining chips; even remarking he planted the story about the Chaos Emerald! So, not a stretch, especially with that situation about the OST in Sonic 3 and Knuckles.

Sonic meets up with Knuckles, who is none too pleased with how laid-back his hedgehog opponent is. He outright tells the echidna he's being played; but "Knux" won't have it. Their fight begins, and I do rather like how the sequel to the movie alluded to this scenario (more on that in a bit).

Back with the others, Chris and Amy bemoan how Knuckles has been tricked; while Tails starts tooling around in their prison capsule with a screwdriver. Interesting- I know many versions have him as a tinkerer; but where did that come from? Don't think he has any pockets, so where would he keep any tools? Hidden in his socks, perhaps? Amy is far less patient: after an attempt to break the glass with her hammer proves fruitless, she hits the console Tails is tooling instead. The resulting explosion breaks the glass and alerts Sonic to their presence!

Sonic takes out the joints of the mech, known as E-47; and Knuckles joins the fight after realizing he's been had! Eggman, effectively saying the quiet part loud and vice versa, demands the Emerald in exchange for his hostages. An attempt to goad Sonic into crossing the lake is also fruitless, as he simply goes around the shore and knocks over the already damaged E-47. Amy leaps into Sonic's arms, and this part is cute. If they include her in a future movie; I already have a shortlist of actresses in mind to voice her (Scarlett Johansson, Margot Robbie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Emma Stone and Zendaya; if you're curious).

Eggman activates the final phase of E-47 (not a stretch, wouldn't be the first multi-phase boss I've seen from this franchise); but Knuckles decides to send this wannabe Zaku to the scrapheap! The robot explodes, and Sonic saves Knuckles from being pulled into the wreckage! Everyone is all right; and from the closing moments of this episode onward; Knuckles becomes an ally who softens over the course of this anime. I also apologize for how this took longer than I expected (back-to-back internet outages).

"Clash! Sonic VS Knuckles" is among the best early episodes of Sonic X in any language; even getting an excellent re-animated fan project that Sega; Sonic Team and their other partners are strangely fine with. It's an experience I enjoy even after all this time; and much like their video game source material, Sonic's adaptations have always had something I've enjoyed all while varying wildly in quality (the Boom cartoon was pretty entertaining even if the games were buggy messes- heard Fire and Ice was better; but I haven't played it yet).

On that note, since my review of the first live-action film was a success a couple years back; I intend to look at this year's sequel after it comes out on Blu-ray (or at least after I get Paramount Plus to work). Before that, I have some unfinished business with other posts I was working on before the aforementioned web outages. That will be all for now, take care.

Review- "The Blue Badge of Courage" (Pokémon Chronicles)

(Note: Due to recent events, parts of this review have been reworked so as to not cause further problems at this time.)

Hey everyone- going to be honest and open about this episode; that I don't really like it that much. It's not a complete trainwreck, knowing what lies ahead; but it's also not very good. Let's start this latest review of "Pokémon Chronicles" and open up "The Blue Badge of Courage."

This is another showcase episode for Misty, which also features Tracey Sketchit and Sakura of the Kimono Girls. In the latter case, she's a character who's made appearances in the anime and games before and since. Regrettably, she's really mishandled here; as is the story.

When Sakura comes for a gym challenge, Misty has to get Cascade Badges from a craftsman after her supply is tapped. Huh- it took me eight months to get my Zelda Joycons. After a quick call to her sister Daisy points her in the right direction, she leaves the gym in Nurse Joy's care before leaving with Sakura and Tracey. 

After heading into the hills, the three encounter the craftsman; who injured himself leaping from tree to tree; and they help him back into his cabin. His name is Kinso, and I already have some issues with this episode.

Helping him recover, he agrees to forge more badges on the condition they go through his training regimen. That's about half the episode; and it bogs things down; as does Kinso's demeanor. It goes on for days on end on-screen; and feels about the same off-screen. Trust me when I say I'm sparing you the worst of it.

I also haven't mentioned this, but this episode has the mistaken belief that Psyduck is afraid of water. In reality, the Pokémon is just so airheaded that it not only doesn't know how to swim; but breaks physics by being unable to naturally float. In the main series, it's mostly played as a joke; but for some reason, this episode think's a bug to be corrected rather than a feature.

Anyway, the last step is to paint the badges; which also glosses over the pins to place them inside a coat or in a badge case. Sakura also reveals more of what she's been up to since she last saw Misty, as does Tracey. I once again reiterate that this element isn't the worst; and if the episode focused primarily on the bonding with Misty, Tracey and Sakura; it would probably be better than a conflict that's more manufactured than the badges.

Speaking of which, the entire haul is stolen by a pair of nameless thugs; or at least they try to. These two chuckle-clucks would probably get busted trying to steal from 7-Eleven.

A multi battle ensues to reclaim the badges, and Psyduck is somehow able to damage Poochyena despite the fact that dark-types are immune to Psychic attacks. I'd also like to mention that this episode mistakenly refers to Tracey as being from the singular "Orange Island" rather than the plural "Orange Islands." Good job making a spinoff for fans- not like they'd notice details being wrong like I just did.

Long story short- the badges are reclaimed from the nameless thieves, Misty earns Kinso's respect; and Sakura wins a Cascade badge in her gym battle. They also cut a lot from the dub, but the subbed version isn't much better.

"The Blue Badge of Courage" honestly had me seeing more red. Apart from the odd title (I get that reference, but what kid would get a reference to an old Civil War movie?), the story once again wastes an interesting idea with uneven execution. Crafting badges with Sakura would have been sufficient, so the subplots with Psyduck and the burglars just feels like added fluff. I also wasn't thrilled about the creative liberties taken with the material or the dodgy animation. 

My recommendation for reworking this episode is simple- get rid of the nameless thieves and the Psyduck shenanigans; and focus on the story about crafting badges. Instead of the training injury, Kinso could be a reclusive artist who Misty, Sakura and to an extent Tracey have to convince to forge the badges and rediscover the joy of creating. Better production values would also be great- this was like paying to see Jurassic World Dominion and Lightyear; then getting shown a low-budget mockbuster from Argentina instead.

Post-review followup: Most annoying character of the episode goes to Kinso for his methods and the asinine way he hurt himself training. Dishonorable mention goes to the unnamed thugs who tried and failed to steal the badges.

Next Chronicles review will be on "Oaknapped," which so far marks the only mention of Pokérus in the anime to date; and utterly wastes that concept on a near half-hour of ennui. That will be all for now.

Billy Kametz Dies at age 35.

It is with great sadness I report the death of voice actor Billy Kametz, who has succumbed to Stage IV colon cancer at age 35.

Kametz held a number of voice acting roles in and out of anime, including from the dub voice of Josuke Higashikawa in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable, Durham in Beastars and Nevareth in The Owl House. He recorded several roles in the Pokémon franchise before he passed, including the voices of Ren in Journeys, Dr. Zed in Secrets of the Jungle and Blue in the mobile game Pokémon Masters EX. 

I wish the best for those close to Kametz at this difficult time. May he rest in peace.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet (Switch) Main Trailer Thoughts.

"Why did I move here?  I guess it was the weather, I don't know, that thing; that magic. You know how it is."

At the start of this month, the main trailer for “Pokémon Scarlet and Violet” was revealed. Here are my thoughts on the games, which will mark the ninth generation of the franchise upon their release later this year on Nintendo Switch.

Courtesy- The Official Pokémon Company YouTube channel

Launching this holiday season, these games will mark a variety of firsts for the series. Building on other recent installments in the series, the games will take place in a fully open world setting; which, while still unnamed as of this writing, is heavily-influenced by Spain and its culture. On top of new legendaries Koraidon and Miraidon, each version will have a different professor you study under. Scarlet sees you researching with Professor Sada, who is very primal in both looks and personality (at least as far as fan arts have shown); while Violet has you working with Professor Turo, who appears to have a mech suit under his lab coat; kind of like the nanotech Iron Man armor. Pokémon Centers also appear to be roadside kiosks rather than how they were in previous games; and there will be elements of simultaneous 4-player gameplay.

There are also new monsters among the many to come- Pawmi, this generation’s Pikachu analog, Smoliv, an olive who is as cute and tiny as its name implies, and my personal favorite of the new reveals; Lechonk. This little pig won the internet’s heart upon its reveal, and I will be looking forward to finding out more in the future.

Though there are still details yet to be revealed, one big bit of information has been its release date- November 18 of this year. With the success of BDSP and Legends Arceus, these games are definitely going to be day-one pickups for me. Granted, I will likely have moved by then and will have to decide where I’ll be placing my order; but they should definitely be big hits (especially with the most recent delay of the Breath of the Wild sequel).

As I have done before, I will bring you any new information as I get it; and I hope to speak with you again soon. Take care.