Edit: This is part one of two reviews I'll be posting. The second will be done once the rest of the shorts have been posted.
Disclaimer: I was encouraged to write these reviews due to the review bombs these shorts have been giving. My goal is to be as fair as possible, but I am generally going off my personal opinion and impression of the show. I've also been a long time Sonic fan, about 20+ years, and my introduction was through the classic series. This may also reflect my biases. I may also add that I am a big fan of animation as well which should even things out.
In the long storied history of video games, Sonic has probably been the most successful in cultivating itself as a multi-media franchise. Not just the video games for which his origins lie but through both cartoons, anime, comics and even an upcoming film. It's no surprise that you have many fans who not only grew up with the core gaming series but also the various animated spin-offs and printed media. When other popular gaming icons like Mario have entered media outside of it's pixelled origins, none has seen much more success then Sonic has. It's best to assume that even if the franchise ever goes on a hiatus for a few years, will still have plenty of Sonic media to consume and be entertained by. To me, that's super fascinating and something to consider.
Sonic Mania Adventures is the latest animated outing for the blew blur, this time focused on his classic incarnation. Unlike his previous outings these stories are more compact and are not being broadcast on television. Even still, if I can say one thing when it comes to the promotion of the latest game Sonic Mania and it's "plus" expansion, an animated series was likely the logical step.
The Positives:
If there is one thing that stood out to me immediately from episode one is just how much personality Sonic and the rest of the cast has been given in these animated shorts. From the way the animators have perfectly captured the various nuanced and expressions delivered by Tyson Hesse's character sheets (It's important to point out he did not provide animation from these segments) but generally to the way Sonic moves.
I can't say that this isn't the first time I seen Sonic animated in such a bouncy and energetic way, but I will say that these shorts have provided a very modern sensibility and charm to the classic cartoonish nature of his movements. Sonic himself is able to communicate a wide range of emotion without speaking a single word. You can tell that the animators were just passionate about drawing Sonic's movements, you can see the fun oozing from every frame.
It's interesting how much these remind me of looney tune shorts which I assume were an obvious inspiration. Tee Lope's music seems quite appropriate and I feel like this is the first time I ever heard him try his hand at the sort of "musical sound effects" you find in stuff like classic Tom and Jerry. Of course with the obvious jazzy swing he's been known for.
Every story is short and concise, which I'm okay with the pacing, at least for the first and third shorts remains structured and doesn't feel rushed.
The Negatives:
Short Two (The One primarily involving Tails) is the weakest. I felt it was the least funny, more dry with gags that just sort of felt boring and fell flat. Also, it felt the most rushed. More like a checklist of things to do. I also felt like while they seemed to be able to sustain Sonic's personality and expressions very well even in this episode, Tails was just sort of ... there. This also brings me to a greater problem concerning the animation.
When the animation isn't good it shows. You can tell just how cheap these were. All the hallmarks of the "internet animation" but even then, I seen better internet animation out there. It's much cleaner then amateur animation which I feel at times a detriment. It's almost too clean in places sometimes. I really hope as the next short comes out things can be improved because its too easy to tell when things are rushed. There's a disparity between when the animation is good and when it's just too boring that I'm not a big fan of.
The humor, I didn't put as a positive because there's very little to write about that unfortunately. There's moments but I feel that it seems the they blew the humor quota for the first episode. The other 2 have moments of humor, but there's few memorable bits. I'm not a comedy scientist, but I almost feel like the downside to not having any voice acting is that you have to try harder for silent humor. It's possible the animation is too "Safe"?. It was in dire need of more violence maybe. I'm not a expert on this to be fair, but if you want my perspective on this, Tom and Jerry to me has always been the pinnacle of voice-less comedy, and those shorts tend to be very violent. I'd say there's an utter lack of physical humor and what physical humor exist doesn't have that punch. It ends up reminding me of the dialed back violence of modern Tom and Jerry.
A lot of the humor relies a lot on the expressions, which I do admit are charming and meme worthy, but it's not enough to me and you can only go so far before a wink at the camera gets annoying. I'm not sure if they were trying their darnedest to make this family friendly, but if they were, that may not be the best call. Not saying, I want blood, but it's often difficult to find the balance of creating stuff like this that relies a lot on being action packed.
Lastly, these are just too short. Tacking on five more minutes would have at least given these time to breath, but including the promotional credits, they are really less then 2 minutes. It's difficult to do a lot in such a short amount of time and tell the stories you're gonna tell. This is why the downtime for the animation can be a bit grueling. It just means less time for the REALLY animated parts.
Overall:
Sonic Mania Adventures is not perfect. In fact, I'd argue when it comes to adequate providing humor AND telling a well paced story, I seen something that has done that better. Look up "Night of the Werehog". But, I will say that this is far from bad. In recent years, Classic Sonic .... no .... modern Sonic in general has never moved better then this. If anything it reinforced my idea that I wish modern got more love. Especially in his most recent games and the stiff way he moves during cut-scenes. It's quite depressing. I will say, Sonic is NOT better voice-less. I think there's room for both. Execution is key, especially with comedy.
I can best say that these shorts are great to watch even with the volume muted and it's fun to take snapshots or slow down individual frames to marvel at the movement. It's the best example of style over substance, which I'm fine with if I'm being truthful. All it says to me is that I want to see more and not JUST for classic but Modern Sonic.
Because in the end, at least to me, they are both the same character. They are BOTH Sonic and we really should stop separating the two into different characters.
Thank you. I hope this has been helpful and I been fair to this.
