Sonic X’s Latest TV Run in Japan Begins

With the new year now in full swing, Kids Station in Japan has started that fresh run of the Sonic X series we told you about in November. When all is said and done, it’s expected to be the first time episodes 53 and beyond air in the country.

It now appears those episodes, known in the West as the Metarex Saga, will debut daily starting in the middle of March, assuming no pre-emptions. That’s according to Mendinso of Sonic Retro, who posted to the forum some additional technical details and differences versus previous runs:

– Just 2 Ad breaks (after Opening, after Ending and before Next Episode Preview)
– Sponsor Cards (blank) are there. Blank Sponsor Cards are not that unusual for Kids Station airings, for the record.
– End Card is also there, which may be the first time the general Sonic community has seen this.
– Masters do appear to have been sourced from a TV master, as certain video changes are not present on the episode, however…
– Non-Composite, unlike Streaming Masters (which affected all Japanese Netflix versions, including France and Korea), which have been composite since the series started streaming since back around 2009 or so. These also used TV masters with minor video corrections (likely UHF airings that happened 4-5 weeks after the TV Tokyo airings).

Last point is a bit interesting, given it was assumed all broadcast masters were composite. However, this does not appear to be the case and now I’m very curious what this would mean for 53+, as some episodes for streaming were from composite masters for select episodes.

The end card can be seen in the video below which Mendinso, or at the link cited above. If you are reading this in Japan, know that TMS Entertainment, responsible for the rights to Sonic X in Japan, have geo-blocked the clip.