Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie

Template:Short description Template:For Template:Redirect Template:Infobox animanga/Header Template:Infobox animanga/Video Template:Infobox animanga/Footer Template:Nihongo or Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie is a 1996 Japanese two-part original video animation (OVA) based on the Sonic the Hedgehog video games by Sega. It was produced by Studio Pierrot and directed by Kazutaka Ikegami. It features Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Dr. Eggman (Dr. Robotnik in the English release), Metal Sonic, and supporting characters created for the OVA.

The first episode was released in Japan on January 26, 1996, and the second on March 22. The series was licensed and dubbed in English by ADV Films, who released it as a direct-to-video film on September 7, 1999, to coincide with the international release of the game Sonic Adventure.

Plot

Part 1

Sonic the Hedgehog is relaxing on the beach of South Island with Miles "Tails" Prower, when Old Man Owl arrives with a message from the President asking Sonic to come to his office. Once there, they discover Dr. Ivo Robotnik has taken the President and his daughter Sara prisoner. After giving exposition of how Planet Freedom works (explaining the two "dimensions" of the planet, The Land of the Sky, and The Land of Darkness), Robotnik explains that a giant mecha named Metal Robotnik ("Black Eggman" in the original Japanese release) has exiled him from his utopian city of Robotropolis ("Eggmanland" in the original) and sabotaged the Robot Generator, which will explode by sunrise the next day. He asks Sonic to head to the Land of Darkness to stop it in exchange for the President and Sara's lives. Once there, Metal Robotnik tries to stop them from reaching the generator. Knuckles the Echidna arrives and rescues them, and all three team up to destroy the mecha. Unbeknownst to them, Metal Robotnik is revealed to have been controlled by Robotnik, with Sara unwillingly in tow. The episode ends with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles heading to Robotropolis.

Part 2

After entering Robotropolis, Knuckles distracts the enemy robots while Sonic and Tails try to stop the generator in the heart of the city. They arrive just in time, but when Sonic pulls the lever, the machine traps him and scans his body. Knuckles frees Sonic just as the machine crumbles to the ground, revealing Dr. Robotnik's newest robot, Hyper Metal Sonic. Dr. Robotnik appears in Metal Robotnik's remains and reveals he lured Sonic to copy his mind, personality, and abilities for Hyper Metal Sonic. Sonic and Metal battle, but Metal easily overpowers Sonic. Tails and Knuckles return to the Land of the Sky, where Tails learns that Metal is out to destroy the planet by digging into the ice caps that hold the Land of the Sky together, allowing lava to emerge and melt the ice. Sonic wakes up in Green Lake City and returns to the Presidential Palace, learning of Metal's goal from the President.

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles go to the ice caps, where Sara is being held hostage by Robotnik, planning to marry her so the two will rule over Planet Freedom after the Land of the Sky's decimation. Sonic encounters Metal and the two have a lengthy battle. Tails manage to corrupt Metal's data, and Sonic severely damages him. During the altercation, the President and Old Man arrive and are trapped in their aircraft, but Metal saves them. Sonic realizes that Metal does have emotions, as he was programmed with Sonic's persona and instincts. Metal gets blown into a crack and falls into a subglacial volcano. Sonic reaches out his hand to help him, but Metal rejects it, telling him "there is only one Sonic" before being destroyed by the rising magma. Robotnik states he still has Sonic's DNA and can re-build Metal Sonic, but one of his missiles from the fight inadvertently blows up the disc containing Sonic's DNA. Knuckles then punches Sonic as revenge for Sonic accidentally stepping on him during the brawl, and the two get into a chase, with all the others following behind, ending the episode.

Production and release

The OVA series was produced by Studio Pierrot, Sega Enterprises and General Entertainment under the supervision of Sonic Team, Yuji Naka and Naoto Ohshima. It is directed and storyboarded by Kazutaka Ikegami, with Mayori Sekijima handling the story structure, Masashi Kubota writing the scripts, Tsuneo Ninomiya designing the characters and Mitsuhiro Tada composing the music. Both episodes feature the ending theme "Look-alike," composed and arranged by Tada and written and sung by Riyu Konaka. The OVA was distributed by Taki Corporation in Japan on a rental-only basis between January 26 and March 22 before a retail release on May 31, 1996.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

ADV Films announced they had licensed the OVA series at Project A-Kon 9, which took place in May 1998.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It was dubbed in English and released as a single direct-to-video film under the name of Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie on VHS and DVD on September 7, 1999, to coincide with the international release of Sonic Adventure for the Dreamcast.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It was later re-released on DVD on January 13, 2004. Due to ADV Films being dissolved and its assets being spun off into Section23 Films and Sentai Filmworks, both releases are now out of print.

Discotek Media attempted to license the show for Blu-ray release in North America. However, Sega was unable to locate key documents related to the OVA's music or voice actors.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Reception

In the United States, the OVA reached number 7 on the Billboard video sales chart and number 6 on the Billboard kids' video sales chart.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The March 1996 issue of the DieHard Magazine gave the OVA a positive review stating that "all in all, the artwork looks amazing, plus it's an O.V.A., so the artists have been given quite an extensive budget. The animation is much cleaner than you could ever expect from a TV show, but the characters on-screen presence is what really makes Sonic so cool. It's like playing the game, but in anime form. After the U.S. Sonic cartoon has been canceled, this anime is definitely a good choice."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Henry Gilbert of GamesRadar approved of the concept of a colorful, fast-paced anime Sonic, noting the fights between Sonic and his evil counterpart, Metal Sonic, as "cool". This is unfortunately accompanied by "scenes of slapstick humor, anime cliches, and childish voice acting" as well as the "perpetually annoying" Sara.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Chris Shepard of Anime News Network praised the OVA for its non-traditional action and said it was "good for Sonic fans". He called the English dub poor, and said the story "strayed from the video games a little too much" and it was "very basic".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> John Sinnott of DVD Talk said "it didn't really pull me in at any time".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Legacy

The 2024 Knuckles miniseries has Knuckles wearing the hat he dons in the OVA.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Sonic the Hedgehog Archie Comics series contained various references to the OVA; in issue #101 the character Metal Robotnik appears in an alternate universe story, although his coloring altered from red to blue. Knuckles the Echidna also dons his hat from the film numerous times across the comic's run.<ref>Template:Cite tweet</ref>

The Sonic the Hedgehog IDW Comics series, like the Archie series before it, also contained many references to the OVA In its Scrapnik Island miniseries, the character Mecha Knuckles from the game Sonic Advance (2001) makes his return with a new beaten up design, this new design sports a tattered version of Knuckles' OVA attire.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the final fight against Mecha Sonic in the miniseries, there are many homages to the film, including a scene mirroring the final interaction between Sonic and Metal Sonic in the OVA.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog features Knuckles wearing a hat similar to the one from the OVA.

External links

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