Analysis of Sonic and the Secret Rings' Plot Part 1
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AmusantTranscription
00:00And now I'm gonna talk about Sonic and the Secret Rings.
00:04The Genie, Shara, wakes Sonic up from his sleep.
00:07I like that the game never confirms whether this is Tails' or Sonic's house, and the wiki never confirms it either.
00:14There's also no indication that Sonic's in this house alone.
00:17Shara wakes up Sonic and explains their situation.
00:21Sonic reveals that he's got a cold, which is rare for a video game protagonist,
00:25and it's barely shown so that it doesn't get in the way.
00:29I love Shara's design, but I can't help but wonder how she found out about Sonic in the first place.
00:35There's no way Sonic would be mentioned anywhere in the Arabian Nights world when he doesn't come from that place,
00:40and it has no contact with his.
00:43Sonic touches a bracelet and Shara is released.
00:47At least the Genie of the Rings sounds like a unique concept, but she should be called Genie of the Bracelet.
00:54We don't call bracelets rings.
00:56I'm assuming Shara had no choice but to send her Genie ring out of the book instead of herself,
01:02because convoluted rule of fantasy.
01:05Because if she was always trapped in that ring unless she had a master releasing her,
01:09I can't imagine her being able to live a life without one.
01:12How did a newborn Genie live then?
01:15I guess they'd have to have the midwife instantly release them as their master.
01:21Even though Genies are known for only giving you three wishes, Shara doesn't have that limitation.
01:27Shara explains that some of the pages of the book are having their text vanish because of an evil Genie called the Eraser Djinn.
01:34Sort of mad I didn't have the D in front of Djinn,
01:38because that game was smart enough to realize how hard that word would look to pronounce.
01:43I like the music in this cutscene.
01:46He uses evil magic to become even more powerful.
01:49If you can use your own magic to make yourself even more powerful,
01:53then why didn't everyone with magic could do that to themselves and make themselves omnipotent immediately?
01:58You'd think you'd be born with your magic and be as powerful as you could be with it.
02:01You don't see all wizards turning themselves into gods, then they'd no longer be wizards.
02:06And second, they're seriously calling it evil magic.
02:10And to imply that magic itself can be evil?
02:13Never mind that magic is just a tool.
02:16I've always hated how they call offensive magic black magic.
02:20Even though you can use black magic for good or neutral things like self-defense, saving someone's life,
02:27or simply cooking using fire.
02:29Shara explains that the villain couldn't bear to remain in the book any longer.
02:34How did he find out he was in a book in the first place?
02:36And why is being in a book-based universe a bad thing?
02:40We could be in one we'd never know.
02:42It doesn't seem like the universe being a book is really affecting the universe and its quality of life.
02:48So why does he care?
02:49How did he even find out?
02:51I guess a psychic told him?
02:54Wouldn't it negatively affect his sanity to find out the universe is a book?
02:57Like a fictional story?
03:00He's lived his whole life in that universe, so why would he ever see it as inferior?
03:04Just keep it simple and explain that he wants to conquer the multiverse.
03:08How does he absorb the power of the book itself?
03:11How does a normal book have power?
03:14It's not like the book can let you fly or anything.
03:17It's a book that happens to have its own universe.
03:20It'd be so much easier to understand if they just kept it simple and explained that every copy of the Arabian Nights book...
03:27does have a portal to another universe.
03:30Which can only be explained by a witch did it.
03:33And she put them in libraries specifically so this could happen.
03:37And Sara's question is never answered.
03:40Sara repeats herself.
03:43Wouldn't a Razor destroying the book...
03:46make himself cease to exist?
03:48Because he made the world that he was in cease to exist?
03:52He'd have nothing to gain from destroying that world...
03:55even if he was outside of it.
03:58It's just wasted effort.
04:00Sonic naturally wonders how he's supposed to answer this story.
04:04I take back naturally.
04:06He's in front of a genie, how do you think?
04:08How do you not know how genies work?
04:11It's never explained how she's only capable of simple wishes.
04:16There are better ways to make a character react to something than having him repeat what was already said.
04:21So then magical beings like the villain of the game exit the book before and become familiar with the real world enough to find out about Sonic...
04:29only to go back into the story and spread the word?
04:32I guess he wanted to make money off of it so he published books about it.
04:37If the villain really wants to get out of the book, then that means he thinks the real world is better than his book.
04:42The only way to know that is if people escape the book before.
04:46Sara can escape the book effortlessly.
04:49A Razor is supposed to be more powerful than her.
04:52And the entire game he tries escaping the book.
04:56I guess he's got a curse on him.
04:58Somehow Sonic doesn't point this out.
05:01So Sonic puts a ring on his finger.
05:04Because Sara simply using her magic to fly around with him wherever he goes would be too much work.
05:10Wouldn't he be opposed to restraining somebody's freedom by keeping them trapped in a ring?
05:16Why does that have to happen for the contract to be sealed?
05:20Sonic asks for a few tissues for his cold and gets a massive pile.
05:25She'd have to intentionally imagine that many at once.
05:29He explains casually that he caught a cold recently.
05:32Instead of showing compassion, she tells him to be serious.
05:37She does this way too often.
05:39Pausing interruptions is also annoying me.
05:42They could have easily fixed that.
05:44Sonic thanks the genie.
05:46And she proceeds to not react to this at all.
05:50And who says hankies when they mean tissues or Kleenex?
05:54Sonic responds to Sara calling him master for the umpteenth time by telling her to stop.
05:59Now that's sweet and all, but why did it take him that long?
06:04Sara calls him Sonic the Legendary Hedgehog.
06:07Which again makes me wonder how the hell he's legendary in a book without him in it.
06:12There's actually people who think that he's not arrogant at all in the games.
06:17Why doesn't he instantly tell her to cut it out?
06:19Because that's not very humble of him.
06:22The beginning cutscene takes far too long to explain something that could be explained with just a few sentences.
06:28Just to try to be cinematic.
06:31A plot with cutscenes looking like this can't be cinematic.
06:36So Sonic goes into the story of the Arabian Nights.
06:39Sonic encounters the villain of the game.
06:42And is almost attacked by his sword.
06:45And he instantly quips about it to feel better.
06:47Sonic, you don't need them sharpened.
06:50Is hedgehogs getting their quills sharpened a common thing in this universe?
06:55I do really like his dialogue for the most part in this game.
06:59He's not boring and bland here.
07:01When I first heard the voice of the Erasered Djinn, I couldn't take him seriously at all.
07:06He doesn't sound intimidating.
07:08He must be intentionally calling him a rat to annoy him.
07:12Since he doesn't look like one at all.
07:14How did he know that Sonic showed up?
07:16He's not on the science.
07:18As we'll find out later.
07:21The villain says that he cards up the world as he sees fit.
07:24And this is Sonic's response.
07:27Can you at least wait until I'm done reading it first?
07:29Whoa.
07:31That's really callous of him to say.
07:34Considering that a denizen of the world is right there.
07:37It's not just the comics where Sonic can be a jerk.
07:41Obviously, he is opposed to this.
07:43Obviously, he's just pretending he doesn't care because acknowledging that he cares would make him feel even worse.
07:50You'd think the fact that he calls her my dear would make it obvious that he used to date her.
07:56You'd think Sonic would assume he was dating her immediately.
08:00The villain sounds so bored in that line.
08:03He says so slowly that it's tedious and drags out the cutscene.
08:08Char complains that those things don't exist and she'd never give them to him.
08:12Her standing up to him that easily is kind of confusing considering what we learn about their relationship later on.
08:19The villain tries to punish her and Sonic goes in front of her and takes the fire arrow for himself instead of just pushing Char out of the way with his super speed like would be logical.
08:29And is told that his life will drain unless he gives him the seven world rings.
08:34It's too disturbing for my liking.
08:37I'm not opposed to dark concepts on sight.
08:40I am opposed to it dragging out too long.
08:43After the villain says he wants to collect the life of the king for some reason,
08:48Char says that the king is the creator of the Arabian Nights and the main character of the story.
08:54So I guess the king created the book and then magically teleported himself into the universe to live there.
09:00Sonic's brave enough that he doesn't even comment on a flaming arrow piercing into his chest.
09:06I doubt that would be painless.
09:08I was expecting Char to scold him for being optimistic again, but she didn't.
09:14Good.
09:15I'm just gonna call the king, King S.
09:17It's much faster and simpler.
09:20Why did he create the Arabian Nights?
09:22What about the world caused him to stop wanting to live there instead of trying to take it over?
09:29Considering that he looks like Eggman.
09:32So clearly this is a parallel universe situation.
09:35Even though Char has heard of Sonic, she hasn't heard of the villain that he stopped making him worthy being called legendary in the first place.
09:44Which would have caused her to warn him not to treat the king like Eggman in the first place.
09:49So why did she think Sonic's a legendary hedgehog if she doesn't know about Eggman?
09:54She just knows about his special powers?
09:57Then why didn't she go to Shadow instead?
10:00Why didn't she, as soon as she left the book, teleport to Shadow?
10:05Sonic talks to him in the tone of a parent scolding his misbehaving child, which is pretty amusing.
10:12The king tries to call his guards out of force of habit, but nothing happens.
10:17He explains that when evil spirits showed up, everyone evacuated.
10:21Eraser calls up a flying creature to kidnap him.
10:26It's a little insulting that you assume the only reason you would care about the characters is if they looked like the Sonic characters with no explanation.
10:34And just have to assume that it's a parallel universe.
10:38You don't need to have them look like Eggman or Tails.
10:41Sonic has to save him from some monsters because even though he's a mechanic, he didn't make any weapons just in case.
10:50You'd think he'd be offended at being called Tails.
10:53His tone implies it.
10:55But that's the end of it because of how polite he is.
10:58He doesn't call him out any further than that.
11:01I mean, you'd think he would have been called Tails as an insult tons of times by this point.
11:07Why is he acting like this is the first time he's ever been called that?
11:11Why isn't he surprised that he revealed that he has a friend who also has multiple tails?
11:17You'd think he'd really want to meet a second two-tailed fox after spending his entire life as the only one.
11:23He's just keeping it really subtle.
11:25Sonic's still getting used to the idea that it's a parallel universe where people look just like his friend.
11:31But the fact that he's dressed like this makes it instantly obvious that it's not Tails.
11:37Because he'd have no reason to dress like this.
11:41Sonic sees a monster summoned by the villain and naturally wants Charo to do something about it.
11:48If she can make tissues appear, she can make bombs appear too.
11:52How are they this stupid that they don't think of that?
11:56I guess we're supposed to assume that the more powerful magical being enchanted is conjured up things so that no less powerful beings can use magic against it.
12:06Why do we have to assume though?
12:08It's implied by what she's saying.
12:11It should have had her try to use magic against it and fail.
12:15Sonic gives Charo a pinky swear promise that'll have her smiling by the end of the adventure.
12:21How does Charo immediately know what to do when Sonic holds out his pinky?
12:24Do they have the concept of pinky swears in the Arabian Nights?
12:28Sonic has no qualms whatsoever about killing living creatures.
12:33Sonic gets a secret ring after beating that monster.
12:36Why is the villain making him fight these monsters to get the secret rings that he wants?
12:42Why doesn't he just destroy the monster himself to get it out of it?
12:47If it's in the monster because he put it in it, why did he put it in it?
12:54If Sonic died, there goes his plan!
12:58Charo, despite being a magical genie, can't even touch the ring and yet Sonic can.
13:03And yet the Erasered Genie would still be able to power himself up with it in the first place.
13:09There's an inscription saying that Sonic is the one prophesied to come to the Arabian Nights.
13:14He would have said this last time she said legendary.
13:18Sonic finds it painful to touch the ring.
13:21You'd think Eraser would find it painful to touch the ring.
13:26Charo apologizes sincerely for being too useless to save him and dragging him into the whole thing.
13:32With a paused interruption before Sonic reassures her.
13:36I wish he talked like this in 06 and Riders.
13:39I like his character in this game more than in SA2.
13:43So Sonic goes into the dinosaur jungle.
13:46The people who wrote the Arabian Nights couldn't have known about dinosaurs.
13:51Unless they came from a more advanced planet that figured them out.
13:55It's pretty weird, but at least it's creative.
13:58So Eggman gets dropped by the flying creature for some reason.
14:02Why would it drop such a large meal?
14:05We're never told why.
14:07It has to be that it couldn't handle his weight anymore.
14:11Eggman falls nearly off a cliff and Sonic stands still with his arms crossed and then his foot manages to catch Eggman by his clothes.
14:19Which is pretty amusing.
14:21The clothes must be made of the best material ever because otherwise they would have gone torn off from that.
14:27So he would have fallen anyway.
14:29Sonic must be really super strong then.
14:33How else could he have pulled him up from the cliff?
14:35And we don't see him actually do it even though it's important.
14:39Shaw says there's a giant fortress just ahead.
14:44A fortress isn't a castle.
14:46And that's the last time we see Eggman.
14:49It's such a wasted opportunity that we never learn how he runs his kingdom.
14:54It makes me wish that it didn't look like Eggman.
14:57Because then I wouldn't be wishing that I saw more of him.
15:01Do Sonic and Shaw escort him back to his empty castle off screen?
15:05He can't stay there because it's dangerous.