Review 3: Sonic the Hedgehog OVA

Back in the Sega Genesis days, Sonic the Hedgehog pretty much lacked a voice... in fact, majority of the characters did. That is unless you watched the Saturday morning cartoons, which I will cover later. Majority of them saw the blue blur being voiced by Jaleel White, who is well known for playing Steve Urkel from the sitcom Family Matters in the 90s. However, he was not part of the Sonic the Hedgehog OVA (Known here as Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie.) This 2 volume OVA was condensed to a hour long feature, sort of like what happened with New Mobile Report Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz (save for the latter having more parts, resulting in a true film-length feature.) Released in 1996 (the same year as Game Gear's Sonic Blast), this film featured Sonic, Miles "Tails" Prowler, Dr. Ivo Eggman (Robotnik), and Knuckles the Echidna, who debuted in Sonic the Hedgehog 3. It also saw the screen debut of Metal Sonic from Sonic CD. Having an original story, this was based off of all the games released at the time, though the OVA had a few original characters as well. Despite being released here as a film, I'll be talking about it in episodic detail, as was released originally overseas.

To keep in line with what we know of Sonic, I'll be treating each volume as an Act. So with that said, Act 1 sees  Sonic and Tails relaxing until Old Man Owl gives them a letter sent from the President. However, they come to learn on arrival that he and his daughter Sara have been taken captive by Eggman, who is supposedly exiled by his own robot from Eggmanland/Robotropolis... which is also rigged to explode within a day's time. A hero's work is never done, but they took the task, with an assist by Knuckles, who joins them. Act 2 sees the aftermath of it where they flee after taking down Black Eggman/ Metal Robotnik, and disabled the rogue generator... but not before being ensnared in a trap that serves as a prelude to one of Sonic's intense rivalries yet. As if saving Sara and the President wasn't enough of a to-do list,he must also go toe-to-toe with his metal doppelganger who, quoting Shadow from Sonic Adventure 2, has "more to it than just looking like him." Of course, there is a bit more at stake aside from who remains true to blue...

Sonic vs. Hyper Metal Sonic

Made by Studio Pierrot (the same studio behind titles like Fancy Lala, YuYu Hakusho, Great Teacher Onizuka, and many others), it's licensing for US was under the now defunct ADV Films, whose copies are now out of print, and unfortunately unlikely to see it claimed again by Section23, its successor. Naturally, there were things that were not kosher for Western audiences, such as Sara being groped by Eggman and Tails on separate occasions, or a dream in which Eggman proposed to a knocked up Sara. Naturally, these were cut, but restored as uncut when re-released on VHS and DVD later, despite them keeping it in film format. The music seemed typical 90s style, though not as loony in comparison to the DiC Studio's Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, nor as gritty and dark as the animated Sonic the Hedgehog TV series succeeding it. The fact that, in terms of the roster, the team behind it focuses only on the essential 4 figures of the franchise (Sonic, Eggman, Tails, & Knuckles) shows emphasis on distancing the plot from the Knothole adventures seen in the two TV productions, as well as the defunct Archie comic book series of the same name. I guess one of the biggest giveaways of this would be Knuckles' inclusion in this at all, since neither of the TV series had him in any shape or form. The second would be Robotnik himself. Just something I analyzed, but they went with his design seen in instruction bookets and sprites of the Genesis games, as opposed to the ones of DiC's interpretation of Ivo Robotnik, nor the non-canon (ableit similar) Julian Robotnik of the darker DiC Sonic series.

Black Eggman / Metal Robotnik

Sonic the Hedgehog OVA has not aged well, and even for nostalgia value, it has seen rust over the years. And without a license, you would really have to look high and low, via a collector's store or on eBay, to even find a physical copy anymore, now that AD Vision (who ironically gave us the still functioning Anime Network) is gone. But the title itself is a gem, albeit an aged one, since at the time, this was as close to crossing with the games as it got before Sonic X came along.  One can argue and say that in terms of the franchises' Genesis era, this would be the second-to-last animation to come out, second only to DiC's final Sonic cartoon, Sonic Underground. The voice acting could be better. I mean, it didn't have the iconic cheesy dialogue that the DiC series' Sonic could do, but to me.. it was a downgrade from even that (given that DiC, despite cheesiness, was still enjoyable to a degree.) I admit, a part of me wanted to see Sara and the others outside of this at first, but with how far we have gotten into it... that's difficult to do, and given the ire Chris Thorndyke received as a character, I doubt fans want another Sonic X situation. So to end things, I'll give the Sonic OVA a 6/10. Not one of Sonic's bests adventures, but in the 90s, it was nice to have around.