Sonic the Hedgehog (OVA)

Sonic the Hedgehog is a two-episode 1996 Japanese anime OVA series based on Sega's best-selling franchise Sonic the Hedgehog. The anime features Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Dr. Eggman (Dr. Robotnik in the English release), Metal Sonic and a few supporting characters created exclusively for the OVA.

Setting
Unlike other Sonic the Hedgehog media, the setting of the series is the world of Planet Freedom, which is split into two distinct realms: The Land of the Sky, and the Land of Darkness.

The Land of the Sky consists of an unknown number of continents that drift high in the stratosphere of the planet, all of them connected to a massive ice formation which also serves to anchor them to the planet's surface below. According to Knuckles, if this ice network was destroyed, Planet Freedom's rotation would hurl the Land of the Sky into outer space, undoubtedly killing everyone on it.

The Land of Darkness is the actual surface of Planet Freedom, a post-apocalyptic wilderness with Robotnik as its sole living inhabitant. The Land of Darkness can only be accessed in one of two ways: by a whirlwind-like "portal" in the Land of the Sky, or via a warp zone, an extradimensional link between two points on Planet Freedom. Most of its terrain is untamed and mountainous, but a crumbling city serves as the location of Robotnik's empire. The city and terrain strongly imply that Planet Freedom is a post apocalyptic Earth that was built upon with floating islands, with certain landmarks suggesting that the ruins are those of New York City.

Original characters

 * Sonic the Hedgehog, Voiced by Masami Kikuchi (Japanese) and Jonathan Taylor Thomas (English)
 * Miles "Tails" Prower, Voiced by Hekiru Shiina (Japanese) and Veronica Cartwright (English)
 * Dr. Eggman/Robotnik, Voiced by Junpei Takiguchi (Japanese) and John Hurt (English)
 * Knuckles the Echidna, Voiced by Yasunori Matsumoto (Japanese) and Robert De Niro (English)
 * Hyper "Metal" Sonic, Voiced by Masami Kikuchi (Japanese) and Mary Kay Bergman (English)

Recurring characters

 * Sara
 * Voiced by Mika Kanai (Japanese), Kirsten Dunst (English)


 * President
 * Voiced by Yuzuru Fujimoto (Japanese), Jim Cummings (English)


 * Caretaker / Old Man
 * Voiced by Chafurin (Japanese), Carlos Alazraqui (English)


 * Secretary
 * Voiced by Akimitsu Takase (Japanese)

Production and release
The OVA series was produced by the animation studio Pierrot along with Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films, PolyGram Filmed Entertainment and Silver Pictures. The OVA series was originally released as a two-episode original video animation (OVA) in Japan between January 26, 1996, and February 4, 1996. The series was licensed by Warner Bros., and it was first released on two VHS tapes in 1996 in North America, each containing a single episode with English subtitles. The subtitled VHS versions were released between March 29, 1996, and June 11, 1996. The English-dubbed version was later released as a single direct-to-video film as Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie on September 7, 1999, on VHS and DVD.

Censorship
Due to the number of scenes that were perceived to be offensive to Western audiences, the following scenes were edited or removed from the 1999 VHS release of the film:


 * In a daydream when Robotnik proposes to Sara, she is shown pregnant and breastfeeding one of their future children.
 * Robotnik is violently groping Sara.
 * Metal Sonic accidentally looking up Sara's dress when he crashes through the bottom of Robotnik's ship, resulting in Sara repeatedly kicking his head, calling him a "pervert". Also, Sonic is synched with Metal Sonic and essentially feels what he feels; he even blushes.
 * During the second fight against Metal, Tails, after the Tornado is shot out of the sky, falls down a hill and starts to roll into a snowball and crashes into Sara and Knuckles. When the snowball clears, Tails is revealed to be holding on to Sara's breasts. Knuckles notices this, and thinks Tails did it on purpose.

Both the Japanese and original U.S. VHS releases include all the above scenes and are regarded as fully uncut, although the original U.S. DVD release does not include the episodes in their separate formats.

Critical reception
Henry Gilbert of GamesRadar approved of the concept of a colorful, fast-paced anime adaptation of Sonic, noting the fights between Sonic and his evil counterpart, Metal Sonic, as "cool." This is unfortunately accompanied by "scenes of slapstick humor, anime cliches, and childish voice acting" as well as the "perpetually annoying" Sara.

Chris Shepard of Anime News Network praised the OVA for its non-traditional action and said it was "good for the Sonic fans". He called the English dub poor, and said the story "strayed from the video games a little too much" and it was "very basic".