SonicJPNews archive blog: 05/05/19

2019/05/05

Naka-san watched Detective Pikachu! And he thinks about Sonic the Movie...

News from 2019.05.05
Archived on 2019.05.07

Naka-san watched Detective Pikachu! And his thought goes to Sonic the Movie, hoping that it will be as good as this one...

We really hope so too, Naka-san.

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Kanemaru-san on Dark Sonic in Sonic X!

News from 2019.05.05
Archived on 2019.05.07

Kanemaru-san looks back on his voice acting for Sonic's transformation into Dark Sonic in Sonic X!
This is probably the first time we hear about it from him. I'm excited!




So that's his thought on Dark Sonic!
He also knew that Dark Sonic is off from Sonic's original character, and it was a risk they took for the anime original story. Some liked it, some did not, but Kanemaru-san thought very well about Sonic's action and emotion to make it sound realistic. The beauty of imperfection - that's what he wanted to tell us through Dark Sonic.

How did you like Dark Sonic? The acting was pretty different between Japanese and English versions. Which version is more convincing to you?

English...

Or Japanese?


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Maekawa-san on SA2 analysis - "Did SA2 take Sonic's life?"

News from 2019.05.05
Archived on 2019.05.06

Do you like heavy and serious stories for Sonic?

Then you definitely like Maekawa-san's script.

He is the man who wrote scenario&plot for Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, Sonic the Hedgehog 2006, and Sonic and the Black Knight, along with his other contributions to the series as game planner and designer.

And today, he stumbled upon a fan's analysis on how Sonic Adventure 2, for it being a masterpiece, "ended Sonic":




Here are my translations and response:



I knew he was joking in his last tweet, but still I felt that he was shocked by hearing this and wanted to encourage him. Because I really love the Sonic scenario he writes and want him back in Sonic Team again for more great stories that give people hope, joy and life lessons.

And even though SA2 was the most successful work in Sonic series, there were many games which came afterwards and had great stories with good balance of comedy and seriousness - incuding Maekawa-san's other works. My top favorites are Sonic World Adventure and the Storybook series (Sonic and the Secret Rings, Sonic and the Black Knight). There are still many games I haven't played, but I hear that Sonic Heroes and Sonic Battle have good stories too.
So even though I partially understand the theory of this fan, I don't agree with it 100%. It's more of the problem of stories from Sonic Colors and on which in some parts lacked the basic essence of character personalities and consistensy as a story. Sure, because I first played Sonic World Adventure and Storybook series and grew up with this cool and caring Sonic, this one would stay as my ideal Sonic. I was also playing Colors a short while later, and thought that story itself is really good - just some of Sonic's lines and his actions in cutscenes were a little too childish compared to the Sonic I met in previous three works. Then Generations came in, with the cool Sonic again but lacking much story. Well, for this one being an anniversary title, I could take it easily. Then Lost World, Boom, and Forces. I had hard time finding the Sonic I knew from few years ago. Sure he had cool moments, but somehow he didn't shine much as a character like before. It's in the story, it's i nthe lines, it's in the actions - all these factors affect a character's impression, And this has changed a lot over the last decade.
It's true that I have hard time accepting Sonic who acts self-centered rather than trying to help others in needs. I do have high ideal of Sonic's character - but so was the depiction of him in the past series  for a very long time. The main points are even written in their character description on official website. And it's been working well. Why did they change it then? Why did they hire somebody who has zero understanding towards Sonic universe as scenario writer?

I hope Sonic Team will have better people for plot and scenario writer who can convey the already establihed personalities of Sonic characters through the game. A game first needs good action, and second they need good stage design, and third, if the game is character-driven, a good story to make players want to continue playing. + great music to make everything better. Sonic Team never fails with the last point, but for other three they sometimes seem to have difficulties with some of them.

Maekawa-san himself has been saying that if he has a chance, he would gladly take the opportunity to write more stories for Sonic series. It would be wonderful if this can be realized.

SEGA, please hire Maekawa-san again for Sonic plots and scenarios! Please---!

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Naganuma-san has been at SEGA for 10 years now!

News from 2019.05.05
Archived on 2019.05.07

Naganuma-san on his work at SEGA - he's having his 10th anniversary at SEGA this year!


With what shall we celebrate it? A new JSR game?!

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Kanemaru-san on TMS's official Sonic X uploads on YouTube!

News from 2019.05.05
Archived on 2019.05.07

Kanemaru-san is happy to know that his tweet about Sonic X was retweetedby TMS Entertainment!

Yes, you can watch the first three epiedoes of Japanese version of Sonic X on TMS's official website for limited time!

Don't miss your chance! Hurry up and go watch it! You can use VPN such as https://www.vpngate.net/en/ if needed.
And don't forget to subscribe, give a thumbs up and comment on the videos so that they will upload more episodes!!

"TMS Entertainment retweeted my tweet!
Everyone, please enjoy Sonic X."
- Junichi Kanemaru


Btw, my tweet on my personal account about Sonic X and MEGA DRIVE MINI's YouTube ad appearing together was also retweeted and liked by SEGA Official and Okunari-san, the producer of MEGA DRIVE MINI! That was cool.

Everybody, go watch Sonic X, now!

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Sonic celebrates Children's Day in Japan!

News from 2019.05.05
Archived on 2019.05.06

5th of May is Children's Day in Japan!
To wish for healthy growth of children, people build kites and special carp-shaped windsocks called Koi-nobori. They also make kashiwa-mochi and chimaki, rice cooked in bamboo leaves, an originally traditional Chinese food. That's what Sonic is holding. And what he is wearing is kabuto, a traditional Japanese milirary helmet worn by Samurai.


And Kanemaru-san aka Sonic himself says hi to you all!

 Did you have a nice day?

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May the Chaos Drive be with you...

News from 2019.05.04
Archived on 2019.05.06

May the Force be with you...

Here, have your favorite Sonic Movie: CHAO IN SPACE!!!
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