While I will now always watch the Japanese original over the English Dub of Sonic X, this scene from the dub will always have a special place in my heart. Between the music and the pacing, it balances the grandiose nature of Sonic’s abilities and life with his youthful charm and excitability.
This is something that the same moment in Japanese doesn’t do as well, in my opinion. The entire pilot does great at showing this off in both versions, but something about how the English dub closes the episode really sets up the viewer with expectations for something big while the Japanese plays it straight. Sonic’s natural confidence (read: ego lol) seeps through the English scene in a way I think is welcome to the episode.
It’s subdued compared to English Sonic’s performance throughout the show—much more akin to Japanese Sonic’s characterization—but it’s a moment that feels well deserved in the scheme of the episode. I feel like Japanese Sonic gets more of these moments in the original, where they lets Sonic sit in his Sonic-ness while the dub moves at a break-neck, zany pace that never gets too serious, and so this rare moment of respite from the chaos is nice and very well done.
For all the strange choices that the English dub makes, smaller decisions like this one make me happy.
Soda, in his letter: Ponyboy we miss you so much :(((( Come back Ponyboy :(((( Darry's so upset because you're missing :(((( Things have been so awful Ponyboy :((( Ponyboy :((((