How would you change/improve the Sonic OVA?

[Austroid]

 

While the Sonic OVA proper is a charming and entertaining take on the series (that deserved to continue), there are some things that could be tweaked to arguably make it even better:

-I always felt that Amy should've been in place of Sera; to both further the game connections with our heroes, Metal, etc. (and to also get rid of the [imo creepy ] Eggman romance scenes with Sera) Have Amy be visiting the president because she saw something bad/ominous in her tarot cards about the planet [a near forgotten trait of hers] or something, and THAT'S where Eggman comes in to hold them hostage. 

-Introduce and/or mention Knuckles a bit earlier as opposed to him quite literally popping into the story with no real explanation. Something like a throwaway line where Tails asks Sonic if he's heard from Knuckles since he left to go treasure hunting X days ago. 

-Don't reveal that Eggman's piloting Metal Robotnik the whole time until after he's beaten. It always seemed weird that we never saw any scenes inside the mech with him and Sera. Like, did he trick her into thinking they were playing a simulation or something? I always wondered what was going on in there during all the fighting.

Feel free to add your suggestions!

 

[MetalSkulkBane]

55 minutes ago, Austroid said:

series (that deserved to continue)

...really? It self contained story, with very little unique ideas and small following in fandom. I don't know how many people would demand sequel, but I think you would all fit in once blue police box, and I mean without Tardis technology.

But back to the question, I don't see much to be improved specific, just broad "make it better". A lot of jokes aren't that funny. Animation is good, but could been better. Planet could be called "Mobius" for consistency sake. Add few more scenes to Metal Sonic or Knuckles, shorten the "Mecha Robotnik" time.

- Replacing Sara with Amy removes what little identity OVA and a lot of scenes wouldn't work anymore (like why President would care so much that random person got kidnapped or many jokes). Plus it it makes a lot of scenes even creepier, like Eggman wanting to marry her or Tails accidental feel.
But if you insist then I think Amy and Sara could been merged into one person and all the "funny" moment like looking under her skirt could just been removed. I don't think many people would care.
- Mentioning Knuckles doesn't help much, he's still random. Part of me just wants to remove him, he adds little to the story. Alternatively president could be shown deicing Sonic might need some help and contact him. Or let Sara/Amy do it if you want her to contribute something other than comedy and damsel in distress role.
- Lastly, I wold remove Mecha Robotnik, that misdirection is completely pointless. Eggman kidnapped Sara, Sonic goes to safe her, what more do you need? You're not fooling anyone anyway. Everyone know story will be about Metal Sonic, he's plastered everywhere.

 

 

[Diogenes]

8 hours ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

- Lastly, I wold remove Mecha Robotnik, that misdirection is completely pointless. Eggman kidnapped Sara, Sonic goes to safe her, what more do you need? You're not fooling anyone anyway. Everyone know story will be about Metal Sonic, he's plastered everywhere.

Well remember that the OVA was originally two separate episodes; Metal Sonic's not exactly a secret, he's in the very first scene, but otherwise he doesn't appear at all until the second episode. Metal Robotnik lets them have a big fight and give the heroes a win to conclude the first episode. That said it could all be rewritten to be more straightforward; Robotnik imprisons Sara in Robotropolis, "Metal Robotnik" is just Eggman's new mech that he uses to confront the heroes at the end of episode 1, they go to rescue Sara at the start of episode 2 but Sonic gets trapped and scanned to finish Metal Sonic...but I'm not sure if that'd actually be a meaningfully better story than what we got. The OVA is pretty goofy and the whole farce of the Metal Robotnik plan is part of the fun.

[SBR2]

I wouldn't because it's basically perfectas is.

[Meta77]

Would not change a thing. It was great as was. loved sara (probably my favorite neko), loved the story, loved the fights. Only thing i wanted was a release of the soundtrack and maybe a few more (3 at most) episodes. it was a thing of the times (a ova in the 90s) did not expect it to be drawn out.

[Rabbitearsblog]

A few things:

1. I would have probably given Metal Sonic more scenes in the movie since I really enjoyed his fight scenes with Sonic.

2. I would change Sonic's personality.  I mean, I understand that this series was made in Japan and so, Sonic's personality is much more different from his personality in the western cartoons, but I guess I'm not a huge fan of Sonic acting like a jerk most of the time.

3.  Flesh out the world setting a bit more.  Like, I wanted to know more about Sonic's home planet and how it operates.

Despite a few criticisms I have with this OVA, I still liked it and it's a great nostalgic movie for me.

 

[Austroid]

On 4/17/2021 at 11:07 AM, Rabbitearsblog said:

Flesh out the world setting a bit more.  Like, I wanted to know more about Sonic's home planet and how it operates.

Yeah, definitely! I always wondered if planet Freedom was intended to be a post-apocalyptic earth, and new islands formed over it somehow. 

Are "Warp zones" just a common way for people to travel, if so where'd they come from? Was the portal to the Land of Darkness created by someone or something to seal away its impurities? Why does Eggman want to live in such a depressing hellhole? So many thing to explore! 

[StaticMania]

14 hours ago, Rabbitearsblog said:

...but I guess I'm not a huge fan of Sonic acting like a jerk most of the time.

I can't see how changing Sonic's personality would effectively change any of his interactions in that cartoon.

Basically he's not a jerk to anyone outside of Eggman and the old owl.

[Rabbitearsblog]

9 hours ago, StaticMania said:

I can't see how changing Sonic's personality would effectively change any of his interactions in that cartoon.

Basically he's not a jerk to anyone outside of Eggman and the old owl.

He's a bit of a jerk towards Tails at times.

[Natie]

I quite love the OVA, especially the characterizations and artstyle, but yeah maybe a higher animation budget and less annoying sarah gags would be good.

I just wish they coulda made it inro a full-on anime like the OVA was essentially piloting for, but, as I've heard, Sonic's never been all that popular in Japan, so it makes sense it didn't.

[Cuz]

6 hours ago, Rabbitearsblog said:

He's a bit of a jerk towards Tails at times.

It's really just the one scene IIRC. 

 

But, yeah I can't imagine editing the film in any way. I tend to theory craft continuations instead. 

Like I'm with the spirit behind getting Amy in on this, but just superimposing her into Sara's role is clumsy and not what I want. Instead I'd introduce Amy as like a part of Sara's circle of friends, again in a hypothetical extended series. 

and I'd love to expand on Knuckles, but I would need to be careful not to ditch this treasure hunter version in favor of something more game accurate. 

[StaticMania]

2 hours ago, Cuz said:

...be careful not to ditch this treasure hunter version in favor of something more game accurate. 

Game accurate Knuckles would still be treasure hunter...

[Cuz]

1 minute ago, StaticMania said:

Game accurate Knuckles would still be treasure hunter...

True, though that the OVA is kind of the progenitor of that idea. ^^;  

[OmegaSonicX]

it's (nearly) perfect as is, maybe up the budget a little more, make an entire TV Show in the OVA universe.

it has potential.

[DabigRG]

Wasn't it basically a pilot?

[Meta77]

It was. It was meant to be a full anime series but upon release it did not hit the numbers they wanted so they just ended it after the metal fight. Would have loved to see a full series in this 90s style. 90s anime just have something unique to that art style that makes me like anime more. Sort of like slayers or yu yu