#i've actually grown to like chris a lot in the sub! the more mellow voice does a lot i think

[felikatze]

while i'm talking abt sonic x the s1 finale actually kinda fucks. i actually really liked chris' writing in this bcuz yeah sure he and knuckles fell for eggman's same old trick but that is SPECIFICALLY because chris feels so guilty that he wants sonic to stay, that he just throws himself as much as he can into helping sonic get home so he can feel less terrible about himself

there's def the audience insert aspect to chris w the target demographic and the message of "sonic can be YOUR friend too!" but it's also that chris is introduced to us as a Pretty Lonely Kid

largely absent parents doesn't seem that close to his school friends etc and all that changes for him when sonic comes crashing in bcuz suddenly chris has friends around the clock and he always gets to tag along to all this new stuff. and sonic snarks a lot w his other friends but he's always kind and understanding to kids, which he does seem to view and treat chris as. always w compassion and understanding and surprising patience he doesn't show to anyone else

so like yeah duh chris doesnt want sonic to go. and there is most definitely a spice to that that chris will only admit this when it's actually the moment of truth

also like chris just grabbing all the emeralds even as they burn up his hands and throwing himself into the ocean to get them to sonic is cool as fuck. it is. and here chris saying "I won't let anyone else have them" is yknow obviously also "I won't let anyone else have him" because chris is lonely and 12 and he thinks that if sonic goes back then everything will be the exact same as it started out

and like. there is meta to that?? that sonic is your friend but also you have to let him go and stand on your own two feet eventually. and the s3 timeskip actually adds to that?? that even as an adult you can be sonic's friend and go on an adventure again but you gotta go back to your own life eventually. there's meta to it it's a positive message to kids about escapism while also not putting down their feelings yknow?? yknow????

the other part i also think abt in the finale is Eggman. bcuz eggman actually Feels Bad about trashing sonic w his robot and the six emeralds that he actually tells it to take it easy on sonic. and you can also tell (....not so much in the dub) that eggman feels bad for making chris cry.

when chris is just sobbing his heart out eggman and his two sidekicks get incredibly uncomfortable and just take it even easier on sonic. it's like grand conquest is fine for eggman but the tangible emotional impact he has on others is Too Much.

and add to that that decoe mentions he shut off the power to the emeralds when chris grabbed them. because if he didn't do that, chris would've been fried alive. and eggman does accept this as the right decision for decoe to have made. to, yknow, spare chris' life, and thereby shut off the power source for the whole mech, and cause it to go haywire, and guarantee eggman's loss.

it's that. it's how idw also does eggman, that he needs to win the Right way, and overwhelming force just aint it. it doesn't feel right. it feels bad and icky to have his opponent helpless and to hold a crying kid hostage. it's fine to rough everyone up a bit and throw chris out the hovercraft when tails is there to catch him, but it's not right to just kill a child

it needs to be right and fair or else it's not fun. AND ADD TO THAT like. in the sub. 90% of the meta humor comes from eggman which in a weird way makes eggman just very aware of what his Role is. so through that meta aspect, eggman Knows he's supposed to be lighthearted and silly.

anyways yeah i think the sonic x anime is actually p good. watching the sub and there is actually a TON of solid jokes, i love the stupid sidecast ("I get married quickly, but I also get divorced quickly." - Sam Speed). It loses the plot and switches to being basically just episodic in the backhalf of s1 which can get kinda Meh (the worst offender is i think ep17 or whichever the one on "nature continent" is because it's a nothingburger and my sister and i have branded it "the sacrifice of the animation budget" because it looks scuffed even when compared to other sonic x episodes specifically) but after two that are meh the rest of the episodic ones are just extremely silly and fun and funny and i enjoyed them a lot

tldr yeah watching it w company + nostalgia probably improves my opinion of it but it's also just good