Seeing Maria's illness actually affecting her, the Emerl fight, Gerald's firing squad and Maria shattering like glass in the illusion was absolutely shocking. I'm loving this so far
The animation was already amazing with Maria and the Emerl fight, but when we saw the moon actually desfroyed in modern day, I knew we were in for something great. Looking forward to the future episodes
I grew up with David and Jason as my Shadow VAs, but I have to say, after actually hearing Kirk's performance with REAL, WELL WRITTEN dialogue, he is the perfect Shadow the Hedgehog. There is, at least for me, no other voice actor I'd want to voice him at this point. Kirk is the perfect mix of both David's softer, empathetic tone and Jason's more gruff and aggressive interpretation. Thank you, Kirk. Shadow has been my favorite character since day-one release of SA2 and I've been so critical of your performance of Shadow for so many years...but I see now that you actually have real material to work with, you ARE Shadow the Hedgehog.
@brokendreamsbrokenheart5601 same. I think Ian Hanlin is probably my favorite Shadow now, but Kirk... I'm so sorry for doubting him. I should've known after the Twitter Takeover that when he has something to work with...he can bring Shadow to life.
I was really happy to see that the moon is still broken. We have only seen it looking normal which I think the devs just forgot about and gave a throwaway “oh umm this is from the back side of the moon” it’s nice seeing people or just someone remembering the past and actually including this detail.
Maria's death was always sad... But seeing her so expressive and having her personality on full display in the short time she's in the episode, it makes it even more tragic. It hits harder now than it ever did before.
I hope this is a sign that Sega is finally taking the Sonic franchise seriously again, and that we might see more Sonic anime, hopefully even a full series. Fans have been asking for this for years, and it's great to see Sega and Sonic Team starting to acknowledge it. Future is definitely bright for Sonic!
I do believe they are, I think the praise that Frontiers got along with the positive reception to all the animations, as well as having employed people who seriously care about the franchise, have finally made SEGA start listening to the fans about wanting actual development for the series and characters again
It's surreal to see the moon destroyed getting acknowledgement again. For all I love Unleashed, it was really the point in the series they stopped acknowledging it until now
What i thought was ballsey was the using actual gun sound effects for the Maria scene, I’m not sure how much that will translate into things going forward but at least they’re willing to do it with shadow’s story
I’ve wanted Shadow to get proper closure over what happened to him since 06 ended and Shadow was reverted back to how he was at the end of his own title game. I see this as his closure
Same. It'll finally put things to rest for the dark Hedgehog. Everyone always seems to get this wrong in terms of his solo game. Shadow's story has NEVER been about actually confronting his past then moving on. It's all about finding things out since he's such a mystery. But now it looks like Ian can finally just lay it all out in the open. There's a huge difference in saying you've put the past behind you vs confronting it dead on THEN moving on. Will Shadow be able to make that choice? You never really know with him. With the trauma he's suffered, it's no wonder he is the way he is.
As someone who actually does like the ending to Shadow the Hedgehog and thinks it was important for the characterization he has in 06, I am interested to see what they do with Shadow actually having to face Maria dead on (in this case alive on). Something I do hope happens is that with this new adventure, a similar conclusion is drawn. That the past was in the past and after he can finally get real closure, he can finally move on and keep doing what *he* wants to, not being influenced by it and now putting everything to rest.
@@castform7 I’ve always said that to Shadow, Mephiles is what he could’ve become. So to our fav black and red hedgehog, facing Mephiles his way of dealing with his past. But without that encounter, Shadow is still dealing with his memories and his trauma.
@@MelonTartVA I never really saw Mephilis as a dark mirror to Shadow. Yes he literally looks like Shadow but unlike Shadow, the worst Mephilis has gone through is being sealed away for 10 years so that he couldn't recombine with Iblis and destroy everything. If anything, as much as I love Mephilis, he's Black Doom 2. Someone trying to get into Shadow's head and manipulate him into joining their selfish, destructive causes. It's why Shadow, at every opportunity shuts down everything Mephilis tries to feed him. Someone else has tried to do it before and the result of that is Shadow developing a stronger conviction.
The animation was really cool. The visuals and effects were amazing. And the music and atmosphere were phenomenal. Kirk Thorton’s Shadow has greatly improved as well. Goes to show the importance of good writing and direction. And it’s great to see them acknowledge some older elements of the continuity again such as the moon still being partly destroyed and the ARK still orbiting the Earth.
Yeah I feel some more time with Maria and Emerl was warranted but if they've only got 5 minutes to play with, I get it. If it had been a full 10 minute episode it would only have been the best bit of Sonic media ever, no big deal.
I REALLLLLY hope SEGA and Sonic Team learn the right lessons with this series of animations and make a full animated series with a genuine quality and an extensive use of the cast of characters and lore. This episode was so awesome, but so short and felt they had a well of untapped potential they could access with these!
Me pretending to be in Editorial: It makes sense in hindsight that Shadow didn’t run from the virus during the Metal Virus Arc. He is the Ultimate Life Form. His Maria flashbacks were kicking in specifically the sore spots about curing Maria’s disease.
That's what I've been saying! He's the ultimate lifeform not because he's the strongest creature around, but because he's immune to all illnesses, which would've been put to use to create a cure for Maria if GUN didn't happen. Given the context that the heroes thought the Metal Virus was exactly what Eggman said it was and not a misnomer, Shadow would've been the perfect candidate for taking out fodder zombots, the only problem was that the Metal Virus wasn't an actual virus, it's a culture of nanobots that act like a virus. People still get on IDW's case for Shadow and how he was portrayed in the Metal Virus arc, but I've literally never had issues with how events transpired during the arc and how Shadow is handled.
@@aaronhussey8522This! That's always how I've seen it, plus people make mistakes when they're upset and Shadow was really angry with Sonic for convincing him to spare Mr Tinker, since Starline turned him back into Eggman.
@@AstroTomsonic couldn't have known this would happen though. Yes his grandstanding can be grating, but Sonic isn't about enforcing his will on others. He just believes people should have that freedom to make their own choices. Starline made his choice. So did Eggman. That's not Sonic's fault and what Shadow said? That he deserved to be infected? That was out of line.
@@aaronhussey8522is less about that and how he went out. Ian originally wanted Shadow to go out in a blaze of glory moment, with him taking off his inhibitor rings as a self sacrifice. But it was Sega who held him back and wanted the "cowards run I win." That's so anti shadow to say. Shadow essentially calling sonic a coward isn't Shadow. Shadow being so arrogant to think he can just take on an entire horde of zombies isn't Shadow. Shadow is smart, yes you act irrational when pissed off bur that's not what Shadow does. Shadow should've had a sacrifice moment at Sunset City. But instead we just get more of the same issues with how Sega THINKS we want Shadow to be. Versus how we KNOW Shadow to ACTUALLY be and want THAT Shadow back.
We were all blown away by this! I do agree with saying these shorts promoting the games are the best shows, and I’m a big Sonic Boom fan. The quality, the nods, voice actors showing their stuff.. it was cool that we finally see how Maria’s illness affects her. I’ve seen people say they forgot she was, or didn’t even know she was sick. The calmness of Shadow’s interactions with her is wholesome, even when he still comes off as serious. “Enjoy the ride and see where it goes.” Beautifully put. We’ll all think about what will happen next, but for now, let’s just take joy in what we got.
Amen!!! I am so excited to see Shadow being set back to status quo. The short was amazing although I would have loved to see Maria more. She was such a sweet character and we see so little of her. I am excited to see how the story plays out in the game.
@@phonesjuda7318 I mean going back to the Shadow from Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic 06. And not making him an overly aggressive, cold hearted, bull headed, and antisocial who laughs at the thought of friendship character.
@@lilbasenji1 Shadow never saw anyone in the living cast as friends in game canon. And he was always arrogant, reckless, scornful of enemies like Infinite and cared not for much of life in the world.
I believe it's only ever been mentioned in the Japanese SA2 manual (which also named the illness Neuro-Immuno Deficiency Syndrome). It's great that this obscure lore is presented to a larger audience
The animation style of this series already looks so amazing, but there's something that i find weird Idk how to properly explain what i mean but they somehow made Maria look...smug? Confident? She looks a little weird in some shots in my opinion. But, BUT this does not mean i dont like that. It looks amazing and we still got 2 episodes coming
Speculation, ATM: I'm almost anticipating that they're going to retcon Black Doom into some kind of eldritch deity, with the form Shadow fought in 2005 being an avatar of sorts, and the giant, biblically-accurate angel-looking thing from the recent trailer and poster being his "true" form that existed outside of time and space, until the Time Eater shattered the timeline and let it in. He already had tons of religious, almost Lovecraftian iconography about his design, so doubling down on that and re-establishing him as an entity on-par with the likes of Solaris and the End would actually be pretty sick. Maria says "remember" right before the flashback of her getting shot, which to me, says there's a big retcon of Shadow's backstory coming. Something buried beneath all the memory rewrites and amnesia that somehow correlates to Black Doom's return. The aforementioned Eldritch Doom retcon could be part of that, or it could be something else, entirely. The Shadow manga seems to imply that there was a Doom's Eye in captivity somewhere on the ARK (which, shockingly, makes more sense the more I think about it), so maybe it's still there, somehow, and calling out to Shadow in a way that's triggering these flashbacks.
THEY KILLED IT not only that but one of the directors of this worked on my beloved ninja turtles in rise of the tmnt and the recent tales of the tmnt but on top of all that he's a storyboard artist on sonic movie 3 how cool is that. Also I'm extremely happy that we have sailor moon as Maria if you watched that anime that's kinda fitting 😅
I'm so glad I'm not the only one that noticed the Archie parallel considering that comic is very similar to cyberspace in Frontiers not only the end of story trailer we see Gerald and Maria in the white void so Shadow getting to meet Maria again just to give her up again is really going to hurt despite finally saying goodbye
this really is shadow's year!(looking back on it makes me feel bad for how luigi's year was handled by comparison as i love the underdog plumber but with how much shadow's being given/the ambitious passion done for the series in general. :3) really loved this special/the animated shorts remembering the charm of sonic's world as it remembered the details of shadow's story showing them so well like maria's relationship with shadow being like siblings(especially noting his powers possibly being able to heal her.),emerl(both showing shadow's stance on him in battle/the ancient history they have.),gerald's execution squad(alongside them actually showing it with how way more dark than maria's death it was.) visually switching to the ones that shot maria,the moon being in pieces(when the most we got was it being stated to be still blown in half but forgotten.)with the foreshadowing to black doom/the time eater and the most well handled shadow/maria's(helps her voice actor's voiced similar characters like orihime & hinata that have protectors that open their hearts caring side to.) voices have been in a while that excites me for the series having the characters look back on their lore that i definitely would love a sonic anime series(really love one from trigger.:3)/sega to do something similar to these for their 65th.
✨Many possibilities🤔 that they can show us. More of how shadow🔴🦔 came to be, more in depth of how "👁🗨Doom" found out about shadow🖤 and more. Take care & god bless🙏 Apologist crew. Can't wait for the next one Mr. Apologist💚.
I will always defend Shadow's game, despite its flaws. However, the fact that they didn't include the broken moon seemed like a major oversight. The image of Shadow looking up at the damaged moon, that he is responsible for, almost like a constant reminder of his past mistakes seems like such an obvious thing to do. And this short made it even better by having the debris floating around it.
Someone on Twitter pointed out that Emerl having a blue light trail when doing the Spin Dash could imply that the memories of Sonic Battle are getting mixed in with Shadow’s memories of the Ark which is really good subtle foreshadowing if true.
Yeah but they were never really upfront if it was OUR earth or just...A earth. With Sonic Unleashed they never referred to places in real life like they do in the movies. With Maria even showing Shadow the aurora borealis it's a pretty clear cut indicator that this is our Earth. The one filled with humans to the brim, the one that Shadow tries to destroy. And I'm glad it's our earth here. It'll finally put to rest the stupid arguments of "why does Sonic need to have human friends?".
This is the same fanbase that convinced itself that humans don't belong in Sonic's world despite half of the two characters in the first game being human. It needs constant reminders.
The attention to detail is so insane, you can actually hear maria's congestion in her line deliveries. (Im not crazy I swear) EVERYONE involved deserves ALL of the love
All this Shadow content is AMAZING AND the GREATEST thing ive seen. Im so happy about this since Shadow has been my fav character since SA2 came out, it’s like im a kid again
@yoshimasterleader The Sonic movies only did that since they're trying to be the MCU but with furries. And in the MCU, nothing actually changes in society in anything notable way despite all the gods/aliens/other.
Had to wait till 1am but I’d say it was worth it. Overall loved this episode, do wish there was more Shadow and Maria interaction. But aside that, HOLY MOLY the looks, the sounds and music, the emotions, the voice acting, the battle with Emerl and the nightmare sequence at the end… so Damn good! ❤🖤
Nobody seems to be bringing up Maria's shattered image near the end of the dream saying _"Shadow, remember!"_ hinting at Shadow fully recovering his memories rather than simply some equivalent of finding an old family scrapbook. This could potentially have a HUGE influence on Shadow's character moving forward. Edit:typo
okok hear me out: the moon wasn't actually intact in later games, we were just seeing it from a different perspective, so it looks like it is intact even though the other side is destroyed
one thing interesting i noticed was when Maria grabbed Shadow’s hand and it cut to the GUN soldiers you can see for a moment that the soldier have what look like monstrous grins drawn over them , thought this was interesting cause i interpreted it as how Shadow remembers the people who killed Maria ; as monsters
The thing that bothers me is that Shadow has the Yellow Emerald in his hand at the end, much like how he does in base Generations, which sucks because either it means it screws up the timeline with Shadow knowing all this future stuff, or Shadow is going to forget everything in this game, and basically delete all of the developments he gets, such as his new powers. I really hope that this is a red herring, and that we're playing as Present Day Shadow; the Shadow post-Frontiers.
I love it when people question how a moon that's only partially destroyed, can appear full. This animation directly notes it. They are on Earth. And Our Earth's moon rotates on its axis. The moon could easily rotate and show no damage what so ever, with the Debris being obscured by ambient Light Pollution when you're on Ground. But I am also betting that none of the Game Devs thought of that when they wanted the Cool Cocks gun back to the Moon they did in Shadow the Hedgehog.
seeing Maria like this and, honestly just, seeing more of her. It really justifies a lot of what we saw in SA2 and Shadow's title game. I too would sell my soul to space satan to find a cure to her illness. I too would swear genocide if anything ever happened to her.
Sonic prime has the best sonic animation for a show and the games but I would like for sega to spice things up do a anime cell shaded show or a art style like this heck even a spider verse style show.
frankly if they made the explanation of the whole moon that its no longer tidal locked and we just happen to see it in its whole face i wouldn't even be mad, I think that'd be fun if they play around with it and actually make it show up in future.
My theory is that gun hacked emerl and told it to capture or kill Gerald so they would not have to storm the ark but shadow damaged emerl and defeats him forcing gun to do their own dirty work which means inadvertently shadow got Maria killed which is what shadow will find out in this series as like an emotional gut punch makeing him feel more guilty.
Watching the beginning about the cartoons comments, we should get a cross-universe sonic cartoon movie between the Archie and IDW comics. LOL a man can dream!
Something interesting about Maria here is this few minute short makes it clear she is a Robotnik. She is supportive and kind, but she is smart and seems to understand more than what she initially appears to. There may be more reasons than we fans think for why she was taken out along with Gerald. Seeing her grandfather killed could changed her motivations, kind nature, and world view, she could have been an earlier version of an evil female Eggman. The scenes with Gerald and the darkness with the swaying light was a creepy well done animation scene.
The moon always mattered to me because it was always indicative that _Sega_ didn't care about their own series' canon. But hey, it's not like subsequent games proved that or anything.
Another thing I think we should point out is that Shadow seems to have this orange lightning effect. I know he’s had some orange lights associated with him before in other games, but they obviously are using the lightning to indicate speed, similar to how Sonic has it in the Paramount films. You guys think this lightning thing will be a permanent addition to Sonic and Shadow, just Shadow, or this is just for stylization for the short? Just curious.
Seeing Maria's illness actually affecting her, the Emerl fight, Gerald's firing squad and Maria shattering like glass in the illusion was absolutely shocking. I'm loving this so far
Agreed. (This short also made me realise that her illness did affect her one other time: shadow 05...but only if you do a maria mission)
The animation was already amazing with Maria and the Emerl fight, but when we saw the moon actually desfroyed in modern day, I knew we were in for something great. Looking forward to the future episodes
Just made that shot my lock screen background. It’s so gorgeous! Most beautiful thing I’ve seen come from Sonic the Hedgehog in a long while!
Why is no one talking about Kirk's voice acting? He was great here as Shadow.
I grew up with David and Jason as my Shadow VAs, but I have to say, after actually hearing Kirk's performance with REAL, WELL WRITTEN dialogue, he is the perfect Shadow the Hedgehog. There is, at least for me, no other voice actor I'd want to voice him at this point. Kirk is the perfect mix of both David's softer, empathetic tone and Jason's more gruff and aggressive interpretation.
Thank you, Kirk. Shadow has been my favorite character since day-one release of SA2 and I've been so critical of your performance of Shadow for so many years...but I see now that you actually have real material to work with, you ARE Shadow the Hedgehog.
I been saying this since Forces 😭
@brokendreamsbrokenheart5601 same. I think Ian Hanlin is probably my favorite Shadow now, but Kirk... I'm so sorry for doubting him. I should've known after the Twitter Takeover that when he has something to work with...he can bring Shadow to life.
Perhaps we treated him too harshly.
@@TheRibottoStudiosthere’s a nother bot
I was really happy to see that the moon is still broken. We have only seen it looking normal which I think the devs just forgot about and gave a throwaway “oh umm this is from the back side of the moon” it’s nice seeing people or just someone remembering the past and actually including this detail.
Colors is in space which make sense that it would look whole
Maria's death was always sad... But seeing her so expressive and having her personality on full display in the short time she's in the episode, it makes it even more tragic. It hits harder now than it ever did before.
I hope this is a sign that Sega is finally taking the Sonic franchise seriously again, and that we might see more Sonic anime, hopefully even a full series. Fans have been asking for this for years, and it's great to see Sega and Sonic Team starting to acknowledge it. Future is definitely bright for Sonic!
Stay frosty though, remember the shorts they made when the remaster of colors were dropping?
@@brycekerr9090Execpt that was fitting for the tone of that game
I do believe they are, I think the praise that Frontiers got along with the positive reception to all the animations, as well as having employed people who seriously care about the franchise, have finally made SEGA start listening to the fans about wanting actual development for the series and characters again
It's surreal to see the moon destroyed getting acknowledgement again. For all I love Unleashed, it was really the point in the series they stopped acknowledging it until now
The lore is being cared about again now and I love that kingdom valley is confirming that 06 is still canon
They stopped acknowledging it in Heroes. Mystic Mansion made a point of showing off the full moon any chance it got.
What i thought was ballsey was the using actual gun sound effects for the Maria scene, I’m not sure how much that will translate into things going forward but at least they’re willing to do it with shadow’s story
They also in a very brief shot (pun intended) showed a close-up of one of the firing squad's members actually pulling the gun trigger on Gerald.
DO A MECHA MARCH MADNESS ON THE E-100 SERIES ROBOTS AND MY LIFE IS YOURS🙏
"E-123
you didn't know
now I'm gonna show you
The power that is me."
@@IntellectualBA001”It’s my pleasure. *doot-doot* Beta.”
I’ve wanted Shadow to get proper closure over what happened to him since 06 ended and Shadow was reverted back to how he was at the end of his own title game. I see this as his closure
Same. It'll finally put things to rest for the dark Hedgehog. Everyone always seems to get this wrong in terms of his solo game. Shadow's story has NEVER been about actually confronting his past then moving on. It's all about finding things out since he's such a mystery.
But now it looks like Ian can finally just lay it all out in the open. There's a huge difference in saying you've put the past behind you vs confronting it dead on THEN moving on. Will Shadow be able to make that choice? You never really know with him.
With the trauma he's suffered, it's no wonder he is the way he is.
@@TheRibottoStudios yeah. I’ve always sort of related to him in that way. Now he can get the closure he needs to truly move on
As someone who actually does like the ending to Shadow the Hedgehog and thinks it was important for the characterization he has in 06, I am interested to see what they do with Shadow actually having to face Maria dead on (in this case alive on). Something I do hope happens is that with this new adventure, a similar conclusion is drawn. That the past was in the past and after he can finally get real closure, he can finally move on and keep doing what *he* wants to, not being influenced by it and now putting everything to rest.
@@castform7 I’ve always said that to Shadow, Mephiles is what he could’ve become. So to our fav black and red hedgehog, facing Mephiles his way of dealing with his past. But without that encounter, Shadow is still dealing with his memories and his trauma.
@@MelonTartVA I never really saw Mephilis as a dark mirror to Shadow. Yes he literally looks like Shadow but unlike Shadow, the worst Mephilis has gone through is being sealed away for 10 years so that he couldn't recombine with Iblis and destroy everything. If anything, as much as I love Mephilis, he's Black Doom 2. Someone trying to get into Shadow's head and manipulate him into joining their selfish, destructive causes. It's why Shadow, at every opportunity shuts down everything Mephilis tries to feed him. Someone else has tried to do it before and the result of that is Shadow developing a stronger conviction.
The animation is amazing. I hope they use this style more often in cutscenes
When Kirk screamed Maria it sold me on him as a shadow like legit gave me chills
The animation was really cool. The visuals and effects were amazing. And the music and atmosphere were phenomenal. Kirk Thorton’s Shadow has greatly improved as well. Goes to show the importance of good writing and direction. And it’s great to see them acknowledge some older elements of the continuity again such as the moon still being partly destroyed and the ARK still orbiting the Earth.
I have faith that, one day, every cutscene in new Sonic games will look like this.
Yeah I feel some more time with Maria and Emerl was warranted but if they've only got 5 minutes to play with, I get it. If it had been a full 10 minute episode it would only have been the best bit of Sonic media ever, no big deal.
Man we need an anime made like this.
Since this is all 3d they should make a game that looks like this it would be beautiful
The 2010's era is truly over. This is the Shadow I remember
*WE NEED A FULL SERIES THAT LOOKS LIKE THIS ONE* 🔥💯🐐😫
All I will say is that Maria was adorable and precious and I wish I could hug her IRL
I REALLLLLY hope SEGA and Sonic Team learn the right lessons with this series of animations and make a full animated series with a genuine quality and an extensive use of the cast of characters and lore.
This episode was so awesome, but so short and felt they had a well of untapped potential they could access with these!
Me pretending to be in Editorial:
It makes sense in hindsight that Shadow didn’t run from the virus during the Metal Virus Arc.
He is the Ultimate Life Form.
His Maria flashbacks were kicking in specifically the sore spots about curing Maria’s disease.
That's what I've been saying! He's the ultimate lifeform not because he's the strongest creature around, but because he's immune to all illnesses, which would've been put to use to create a cure for Maria if GUN didn't happen.
Given the context that the heroes thought the Metal Virus was exactly what Eggman said it was and not a misnomer, Shadow would've been the perfect candidate for taking out fodder zombots, the only problem was that the Metal Virus wasn't an actual virus, it's a culture of nanobots that act like a virus.
People still get on IDW's case for Shadow and how he was portrayed in the Metal Virus arc, but I've literally never had issues with how events transpired during the arc and how Shadow is handled.
@@aaronhussey8522This! That's always how I've seen it, plus people make mistakes when they're upset and Shadow was really angry with Sonic for convincing him to spare Mr Tinker, since Starline turned him back into Eggman.
@@AstroTomsonic couldn't have known this would happen though. Yes his grandstanding can be grating, but Sonic isn't about enforcing his will on others. He just believes people should have that freedom to make their own choices. Starline made his choice. So did Eggman. That's not Sonic's fault and what Shadow said? That he deserved to be infected? That was out of line.
@@aaronhussey8522is less about that and how he went out. Ian originally wanted Shadow to go out in a blaze of glory moment, with him taking off his inhibitor rings as a self sacrifice. But it was Sega who held him back and wanted the "cowards run I win." That's so anti shadow to say. Shadow essentially calling sonic a coward isn't Shadow. Shadow being so arrogant to think he can just take on an entire horde of zombies isn't Shadow. Shadow is smart, yes you act irrational when pissed off bur that's not what Shadow does.
Shadow should've had a sacrifice moment at Sunset City. But instead we just get more of the same issues with how Sega THINKS we want Shadow to be. Versus how we KNOW Shadow to ACTUALLY be and want THAT Shadow back.
@@TheRibottoStudios I'm not saying Shadow was right to be mad at Sonic, but rather saying I understand why he acted out during the Metal Virus.
We were all blown away by this! I do agree with saying these shorts promoting the games are the best shows, and I’m a big Sonic Boom fan. The quality, the nods, voice actors showing their stuff.. it was cool that we finally see how Maria’s illness affects her. I’ve seen people say they forgot she was, or didn’t even know she was sick. The calmness of Shadow’s interactions with her is wholesome, even when he still comes off as serious.
“Enjoy the ride and see where it goes.” Beautifully put. We’ll all think about what will happen next, but for now, let’s just take joy in what we got.
Amen!!! I am so excited to see Shadow being set back to status quo. The short was amazing although I would have loved to see Maria more. She was such a sweet character and we see so little of her. I am excited to see how the story plays out in the game.
What do you mean with being set back to status quo?
@@phonesjuda7318 I mean going back to the Shadow from Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic 06. And not making him an overly aggressive, cold hearted, bull headed, and antisocial who laughs at the thought of friendship character.
@@lilbasenji1 Shadow never saw anyone in the living cast as friends in game canon. And he was always arrogant, reckless, scornful of enemies like Infinite and cared not for much of life in the world.
Shadow is always a reminder to take a few minutes to look back and just remind, refresh, remember what you have to hold value to.
Blessed family.
The ring of debris around the moon reminds me of the Sega Saturn logo. Easter egg or coincidence?
Me when i see the sixth planet in the solar system: no way
@@cake2943 I can't believe the 6th planet in our solar system was a Sega reference!
I dont remember if this was ever discussed before, but I appreciate them explaining why Maria had to be treated on The Arc
I believe it's only ever been mentioned in the Japanese SA2 manual (which also named the illness Neuro-Immuno Deficiency Syndrome). It's great that this obscure lore is presented to a larger audience
The animation style of this series already looks so amazing, but there's something that i find weird
Idk how to properly explain what i mean but they somehow made Maria look...smug? Confident? She looks a little weird in some shots in my opinion. But, BUT this does not mean i dont like that. It looks amazing and we still got 2 episodes coming
Good, Maria actually has a personality other than nice, and dead.
Speculation, ATM:
I'm almost anticipating that they're going to retcon Black Doom into some kind of eldritch deity, with the form Shadow fought in 2005 being an avatar of sorts, and the giant, biblically-accurate angel-looking thing from the recent trailer and poster being his "true" form that existed outside of time and space, until the Time Eater shattered the timeline and let it in. He already had tons of religious, almost Lovecraftian iconography about his design, so doubling down on that and re-establishing him as an entity on-par with the likes of Solaris and the End would actually be pretty sick.
Maria says "remember" right before the flashback of her getting shot, which to me, says there's a big retcon of Shadow's backstory coming. Something buried beneath all the memory rewrites and amnesia that somehow correlates to Black Doom's return. The aforementioned Eldritch Doom retcon could be part of that, or it could be something else, entirely.
The Shadow manga seems to imply that there was a Doom's Eye in captivity somewhere on the ARK (which, shockingly, makes more sense the more I think about it), so maybe it's still there, somehow, and calling out to Shadow in a way that's triggering these flashbacks.
THEY KILLED IT not only that but one of the directors of this worked on my beloved ninja turtles in rise of the tmnt and the recent tales of the tmnt but on top of all that he's a storyboard artist on sonic movie 3 how cool is that. Also I'm extremely happy that we have sailor moon as Maria if you watched that anime that's kinda fitting 😅
I'm so glad I'm not the only one that noticed the Archie parallel considering that comic is very similar to cyberspace in Frontiers not only the end of story trailer we see Gerald and Maria in the white void so Shadow getting to meet Maria again just to give her up again is really going to hurt despite finally saying goodbye
Can't believe someone at Sega forgot to rotate the moon for this short. Sure hope someone got fired for THAT blunder!
I love how everyone's mind immediately went to Steamed Hams when Maria mentioned auroa borealis.
this really is shadow's year!(looking back on it makes me feel bad for how luigi's year was handled by comparison as i love the underdog plumber but with how much shadow's being given/the ambitious passion done for the series in general. :3)
really loved this special/the animated shorts remembering the charm of sonic's world as it remembered the details of shadow's story showing them so well like maria's relationship with shadow being like siblings(especially noting his powers possibly being able to heal her.),emerl(both showing shadow's stance on him in battle/the ancient history they have.),gerald's execution squad(alongside them actually showing it with how way more dark than maria's death it was.) visually switching to the ones that shot maria,the moon being in pieces(when the most we got was it being stated to be still blown in half but forgotten.)with the foreshadowing to black doom/the time eater and the most well handled shadow/maria's(helps her voice actor's voiced similar characters like orihime & hinata that have protectors that open their hearts caring side to.) voices have been in a while that excites me for the series having the characters look back on their lore that i definitely would love a sonic anime series(really love one from trigger.:3)/sega to do something similar to these for their 65th.
✨Many possibilities🤔 that they can show us. More of how shadow🔴🦔 came to be, more in depth of how "👁🗨Doom" found out about shadow🖤 and more. Take care & god bless🙏 Apologist crew. Can't wait for the next one Mr. Apologist💚.
I will always defend Shadow's game, despite its flaws. However, the fact that they didn't include the broken moon seemed like a major oversight. The image of Shadow looking up at the damaged moon, that he is responsible for, almost like a constant reminder of his past mistakes seems like such an obvious thing to do. And this short made it even better by having the debris floating around it.
Someone on Twitter pointed out that Emerl having a blue light trail when doing the Spin Dash could imply that the memories of Sonic Battle are getting mixed in with Shadow’s memories of the Ark which is really good subtle foreshadowing if true.
This nailed the most important past of shadow and ALMOST MADE ME CRY! THIS WAS PEAK!
aight imma say it right now, we better get a "sayonara, shadow... the hedgehog" in either the movie or shadow generations or imma be med
They've called it earth many times in the games. That's not new.
Yeah but they were never really upfront if it was OUR earth or just...A earth. With Sonic Unleashed they never referred to places in real life like they do in the movies. With Maria even showing Shadow the aurora borealis it's a pretty clear cut indicator that this is our Earth. The one filled with humans to the brim, the one that Shadow tries to destroy.
And I'm glad it's our earth here. It'll finally put to rest the stupid arguments of "why does Sonic need to have human friends?".
@@TheRibottoStudios but they still used the name earth. Same as here. That's what the planet is called
My dumbass was so use to the terms Mobius that I completely forgot that the term was only canon for SaTAM, Archie and such 😭
@@TheRibottoStudios It's still not the actual earth. What with the islands and the United Federation.
This is the same fanbase that convinced itself that humans don't belong in Sonic's world despite half of the two characters in the first game being human.
It needs constant reminders.
Genuinely spat my coffee at AURORA BOREALIS! 😂
That fight choreography sequence was insanely good
Ian Flynn is the goat and really cooked!
Wonder the usual suspects will cry about him referencing the moon...🙄
Who are the usual suspects that cry about Ian doing anything? I actually wanna know
@@rickyronny4019 People on *Twitter* act like Ian Flynn killed their dog.
A VERY bright future ahead! I was left stunned by Dark Beginnings
This animation was amazing! Looking forward to episodes two and three! I had no complaints
The attention to detail is so insane, you can actually hear maria's congestion in her line deliveries. (Im not crazy I swear)
EVERYONE involved deserves ALL of the love
THE MOOOON
All this Shadow content is AMAZING AND the GREATEST thing ive seen. Im so happy about this since Shadow has been my fav character since SA2 came out, it’s like im a kid again
I’ll be surprised at this point if the next Sonic show isn’t an anime. Honestly having the people who made this would also be perfect
I was so hyped for this animation, and the hype was rewarded with an AMAZING piece of art.
It felt like it was 1 minute long. Sooo good.
I hope the next Sonic animated series where humans and the animal characters just live together on the same planet and neither are aliens.
I would actually really enjoy that.
@yoshimasterleader The Sonic movies only did that since they're trying to be the MCU but with furries. And in the MCU, nothing actually changes in society in anything notable way despite all the gods/aliens/other.
Had to wait till 1am but I’d say it was worth it. Overall loved this episode, do wish there was more Shadow and Maria interaction. But aside that, HOLY MOLY the looks, the sounds and music, the emotions, the voice acting, the battle with Emerl and the nightmare sequence at the end… so Damn good! ❤🖤
I really liked this video👍
This is what I’ve been waiting for with shadow for so long
Nobody seems to be bringing up Maria's shattered image near the end of the dream saying _"Shadow, remember!"_ hinting at Shadow fully recovering his memories rather than simply some equivalent of finding an old family scrapbook. This could potentially have a HUGE influence on Shadow's character moving forward.
Edit:typo
Sega's explanation for the moon is that when it looks normal, it's just that the side that go blasted happens to be facing away from earth
They brought back my BOY, MY LITTLE BABY GIZOID IS BACK IN THE CANON! BABY, EMERL, I LOVE YOU.
The most impactful six minutes of my life.
the only sad thing about this cartoon is that you know the next full sonic tv show will be just for kids. I WANT MORE OF THIS COOL SOMBER STUFF
I hope they make that moon visual a permanent feature of this franchise from now on.
Honestly, what I find most interesting is that GUN A: has a space fleet and B: brought all their best instead of just a strike team.
Sorry Game apologist. I actually do care about the moon lore and why it was intact in later games 😅
The moon blasting was faked
@GameApologist No way dude! Lol
okok hear me out: the moon wasn't actually intact in later games, we were just seeing it from a different perspective, so it looks like it is intact even though the other side is destroyed
English isn't my first language so...I'm not familiar about the slang Dang but the the short episode was very exciting.
It's used to emphasize something, especially to express anger or frustration. A more family friendly way of saying "damn"
The fight animation gives off some Monty Oum vibes. Super fast, flashy, but with substance
one thing interesting i noticed was when Maria grabbed Shadow’s hand and it cut to the GUN soldiers you can see for a moment that the soldier have what look like monstrous grins drawn over them , thought this was interesting cause i interpreted it as how Shadow remembers the people who killed Maria ; as monsters
Shadow:this is where I watched Maria die sonic
Sonic : AH YEAH, LOOKS LIKE THE PARTY'S
GETTING STARTED! TIME TO ROCK AND ROLL
What is that Sonic Man at the end? My word XD
Yay, the original avatar is back.
The thing that bothers me is that Shadow has the Yellow Emerald in his hand at the end, much like how he does in base Generations, which sucks because either it means it screws up the timeline with Shadow knowing all this future stuff, or Shadow is going to forget everything in this game, and basically delete all of the developments he gets, such as his new powers. I really hope that this is a red herring, and that we're playing as Present Day Shadow; the Shadow post-Frontiers.
True
I love it when people question how a moon that's only partially destroyed, can appear full. This animation directly notes it. They are on Earth. And Our Earth's moon rotates on its axis. The moon could easily rotate and show no damage what so ever, with the Debris being obscured by ambient Light Pollution when you're on Ground. But I am also betting that none of the Game Devs thought of that when they wanted the Cool Cocks gun back to the Moon they did in Shadow the Hedgehog.
I still don't care that much about Shadow, but Emerl will ALWAYS have me interested.
seeing Maria like this and, honestly just, seeing more of her. It really justifies a lot of what we saw in SA2 and Shadow's title game. I too would sell my soul to space satan to find a cure to her illness. I too would swear genocide if anything ever happened to her.
yeah that was some amazing 3D animation thought it was 2D for like a minute or 2
The animation is giving Attack on Titan vibes. I agree, the next animated series needs to be done by this new studio. We need modern Sonic Anime!
Sonic prime has the best sonic animation for a show and the games but I would like for sega to spice things up do a anime cell shaded show or a art style like this heck even a spider verse style show.
Shadow is so cool I wish hedgehogs were real
frankly if they made the explanation of the whole moon that its no longer tidal locked and we just happen to see it in its whole face i wouldn't even be mad, I think that'd be fun if they play around with it and actually make it show up in future.
I came back to say Shadow Generations is actually peak!!
My theory is that gun hacked emerl and told it to capture or kill Gerald so they would not have to storm the ark but shadow damaged emerl and defeats him forcing gun to do their own dirty work which means inadvertently shadow got Maria killed which is what shadow will find out in this series as like an emotional gut punch makeing him feel more guilty.
She got shot 🔥🔥 RAHH
Part 1 really activated my almonds
So we now pretty much can confirm Maria got capped multiple times, this better be in the Movie the kids need nightmares.
Watching the beginning about the cartoons comments, we should get a cross-universe sonic cartoon movie between the Archie and IDW comics. LOL a man can dream!
Something interesting about Maria here is this few minute short makes it clear she is a Robotnik. She is supportive and kind, but she is smart and seems to understand more than what she initially appears to. There may be more reasons than we fans think for why she was taken out along with Gerald. Seeing her grandfather killed could changed her motivations, kind nature, and world view, she could have been an earlier version of an evil female Eggman.
The scenes with Gerald and the darkness with the swaying light was a creepy well done animation scene.
As silly as it is i still really want them to turn the metal virus arc into a game.
I ALWAYS SAID SONIC NEEDED AND ANIME!
This is also the first boost era Sonic game where you can play someone other than Sonic
Willing to bet they could adapt issues 170-171 from Archie comics.
Dude I now don’t want to see maria die
Imo, I think the Shadow talk with Maria was a bit too dramatic imo, they definitely could've took it a bit slower but overall good
You should do a video on the Sonic x Shadow manga
When does Shadow Sonics begin again? Boom?
SEGA seems to be on a roll now, i just hope the Game doesn’t ruin it.
I can not see Shadow ever let Maria die. If he chose her or the world, he would choose her.
Maria, on the other hand, wouldn't let that happen
The moon always mattered to me because it was always indicative that _Sega_ didn't care about their own series' canon.
But hey, it's not like subsequent games proved that or anything.
I realize it’s unrelated to the video, but it is for the channel overall. Funko announced a Metal Knuckles POP for New York Comic-Con 2024
damn you cooked with that video title
Another thing I think we should point out is that Shadow seems to have this orange lightning effect. I know he’s had some orange lights associated with him before in other games, but they obviously are using the lightning to indicate speed, similar to how Sonic has it in the Paramount films. You guys think this lightning thing will be a permanent addition to Sonic and Shadow, just Shadow, or this is just for stylization for the short? Just curious.