This feels like a sort of rebirth for the franchise where they aren’t ashamed of all the crazy lore that’s been created over the decades, Shadow has a cool ass backstory that’s been LONG overdue for treatment like this

The zoom in at AX was actually INSANE, I knew I wasnt crazy

Shadow: "Why did you show me that?" Black Doom: "It's a canon event, Shadow"

To be exact, GUN hired Gerald to create an Immortality Serum. Hence Shadow's own Immortality. Gerald was also going to use that Research to cure Maria's Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome. And the most tragic part of the entire story is that if the raid hadn't happened, Gerald would have succeeded. Curing Maria, giving GUN their Immortality Serum and The Black Arms would have been destroyed by The Eclipse Cannon, before they could ever Invade Earth. Since Gerald would still be around to fire it at the Black Comet.

The fact that SEGA is going all in on the Sonic lore in just about every new media so far is just making me SO DAMN HAPPY

Since we’re talking Sonic Battle after over a decade: Emerl is still one of the coolest ways I’ve seen a custom-character be implemented in a fighting game. Like, you could customise *everything* from his idle Stance, down to every separate hit of his regular combo chain. So I‘m really glad to see him again.

I'm actually surprised at how much old lore they're incorporating, even some deep cut stuff i thought was forgotten. There's a lot of subtle, ambiguous details in old material and im excited to see if we get more answers

I love how they weren’t scared to fully go deep into the lore of the ark and what happened to everyone. For so long most people only really knew about the ark being raided by GUN and Maria getting shot but never anything more deeper so to see them really going deep within what happened at the ark is so cool, couple that with the nice animation and you got what I think will be the best Sonic animation tie in we’ve gotten so far.

I’m so happy they’re bringing in lore from Gerald’s diary in sonic battle cuz he talks about emerl going rogue and destroying part of the ark and I think he says he doesn’t even know who stopped it (now we know it’s shadow) two whole people knew about that diary entry but they’re still bringing it in anyways I love this game

I don't think the GUN Soldiers Glitch is any form of prophetic vision. Remember this is a PROLOGUE Animation for the game. Meaning it takes place just before the start. This Prologue may be before Shadow realizes he's only reexperiencing his memories. He might be fully immersed, unaware, and reliving everything on the ARK. Or maybe he is aware and simply trying in vain to play along and change the past. It would explain why, when he leaves Maria, it pans back from the room, through the hallway he's running in, directly to where Gerald and The Gizoid are. Despite that not being spacially consistent with the direction Maria said Gerald's Lab was. These physical environments are likely just a nonsensical jumble of highlighted memories too. The moment when Maria grabs Shadows hand likely triggered his other memory of the GUN soldiers during the raid on the ARK, as he was holding her hand when trying to get her to safety. This may intend to tell us that any memory of holding Maria's hand is likely tainted by the last time he held her hand before she was shot. Side note: the second playable character in Shadow Gens may be Gemerl instead of Emerl, as Emerl died and Gemerl is both alive and basically a technological reincarnation of Emerl. The games talk about how Gerald encoded a soul into Emerl based on Maria's, and how Gemerl eventually got the same soul encoding. Idk though, pure speculation on my part from stuff I only partially remember.

I honestly didn't notice that the series blends 3d with 2d when i watched it on stream they did a great job at hiding it in my opinion

Bro the delivery on "professor Gerald made me the ultimate life form I should be the key to all manners of medicine" Was absolutely peak I apologize for ever doubting kirk

Im so glad that they're starting to handle their franchise and characters with more care. Though I am still stunned at the fact that they took more than 10 years to give Kirk Thornton some backstory of the character hes been voicing. Like, how do you fumble that bad??

The visuals, the effects, the animation itself are all amazing, I do like that they went with the 3D animation. I am very excited to see all 3 episodes of Dark Beginnings and it will definitely make me cry!!

I forgot to include this in my first comment but I have a theory what if the reason why it glitches and shows into the future with Maria getting shot is because of black doom like maybe black doom is making shadow re live his past cuz it looks like the same glitches from the radical highway level. But the illusions breaking its like shadows remembering that Maria’s actually dead for a little bit

The Sonic Franchise going full anime and taking itself seriously is the best thing to happen to this franchise imo I'll take all the content if it's anything like we're seeing here and I've been a Sonic fan since Heroes! Gimme more!

Although understandable, it's going to be a bit frustrating to properly inform most new fans, that have unfortunately, always been ignorant to so many things concerning shadows real character, and different parts of old forgotten lore, that's currently slowly beginning to resurface. I've already seen a few people thinking that sega is retconing shadows past, based off of this preview alone. Clearly, that's not the case man...😑 but, it's okay. Because, it's on Sega for choosing to ignore this interesting lore for so long(especially throughout the 2010s...) and it's up to us ancient old sonic historians, to properly inform these newer fans of what's happening, and correct what they've been ignorant of like it or not.

I feel like a Sonic shonen HAS to be their next animated project after Prime (Even if it's a western anime, like Castlevania). Between this and the Knuckles Prologue, it's so clear that there are people at SEGA who want to explore these characters and worlds in a semi-serious setting. Even if it can't go as hard into the lore or darker plot points to appeal to kids, I'm praying we get peak series in the next decade.

Can’t wait to see how crazy Shadow Generations’ story gets, especially these episodes. Hoping the second or third might give some hint to Mephiles.

Ian Flynn vaguely suggested the GUN Commander may also appear on the prologue as a kid like in the Shadow the Hedgehog game.

Man seeing Maria and Shadow interacting always makes me tear up. I’m so happy we’re getting more 🥹

I'm gonna frame every single second of the three episodes and put them around my house, the animation and style is seriously so beautiful

I've been feeling so much gratitude as a Sonic fan these past few years, getting an animation with this level of style and care for the history with Shadow is beyond what I could have imagined happening, especially from like 2010 onwards. Seeing Emerl remembered, seeing a greater spotlight on Maria and Shadow's friendship, seeing the ARK explored fills me with hope and fulfillment

this was truly a dark beginning

8:39 Shadow gives Maria's hand a reassuring squeeze. It's these kinds of details that hit so hard.

one thing that I haven't seen anyone talk about is how the Gizoid (Emerl) does the EXACT KICK Shadow does, which means the Gizoid learned Shadow's attacks (just like in Sonic Battle), also, I agree, I want humans back in the Sonic Universe (just don't repeat an Elise) man... I can't wait for this game

Those scratches i noticed during the teaser but this zoom out shows it so much worse. Without it, theyre just soldiers. With it, its like theyre LAUGHING at the situation, enjoying it, demons. From shadows prespective theyre demons, they came in and ruined everything when they were so close to finishing their research. Its like a big joke, and the only ones laughing are the demons.

Kirk Thornton here sounds like what I imagine Keanu Reeves will sound like as Shadow but we'll have to see.

I'm calling it right now, once you beat sonic gens and shadow gens their will be a final story where you fight time eater as super sonic and super shadow

Seeing SEGA care more and more about the series as time goes on makes me have actual hope that after everything is said and done for Shadow, they may go into more stuff for other characters. I am especially looking forward to whenever they start doing stuff for Blaze due to her having an entire dimension and they could also tell more of her backstory along with what she was doing before the events of Sonic Rush.

The big two things I took away from this teaser are the voice acting and the music, both hinting at much more serious and dark tone. This is how you make Shadow be Sonic but for 18+. Not with edgy lines or gun violence but with themes and story lines that are more serious and adult in nature. And I gotta mention Kirk Thornton's Shadow performance. Honestly the moment I became old enough to distinguish between different voice actors, I hated Thornton's Shadow, the same way that I came to heavily dislike Roger's Sonic but I gotta say, with Frontiers, Shadow's DLC in Forces and now this snippet of animation, both Roger and Kirk's performances have really grown on me and I think Fadel really hit the nail on the head. Both Roger and Kirk didn't reall have much to work with, both writing wise and most likely voice direction wise. But now SEGA's finally getting it's shit together and the future of Sonic has honestly never looked brighter. While Jason Griffith will always be my Sonic and Shadow, I can't wait to see what Kirk brings to the character and who knows, maybe by the end of the animation, Kirk will be the de facto Shadow. All I can say is, we eating good boys

Shadow's personality is so sOft when Maria is near 😢❤

I really hope whoever wrote the team dark segments gets it right, I remember sega saying that team dark weren’t friends and everyone disliked that.

I agree with what you said about what episodes may be. Episode 1 most likely is going to be Early life on the Ark, maybe of bit of Shadow's creation and everything about Emerl Episode 2 The Raid, Maria's Death, Gerald's Execution(The poster shows the scene of his execution), Shadow's capture Etc Episode 3 SA2 stuff, Shadow meeting Rouge, Omega being made, Stuff about Sonic, and how Shadow got captured by time eater.

Thanks to AX, I couldn’t see the smiles from the GUN soldiers, or the soldiers themselves, I CAN SEE IT ALL NOW!

Imagine showing this to journalists in the early 2010s, they would be malding lol

13:24 it's crazy to think that they're showing us so much and so little at the same time

I love ice cream but remove the cream and make it a rabbit -fadel probably

Holy crap, I didn't even notice the twisted smiley faces on the GUN soldiers at first. Who thought of that?? Totally agree about Kirk's voice direction. He's sounding better now instead of a high school kid going through a goth phase.

10:15 gerlad looks like how he looked when he was giving his last words before the firing squad got him so I wonder if we will get a part that retells that

It really does feel like a great time to be a Shadow fan. I'm excited to finally see more of the Ark and what it was like outside of the pivotal moments, and seeing Shadow and Emerl fighting really does make me feel great. It does make me wonder how much of this we'll tread in the game, but regardless, I love to see more exploration of Shadow's past.

I’m guessing this is all a memory illusion by Black Doom which he did in Shadow’s game. Probably why in Shadow Gen level it shifts from the arc to a warping city.

This was the biggest step in the right direction. The franchise would go absolutely insane if they keep up this momentum.

My interpretation of Gerald is a very loving man hardened with a strong nihilistic perspective towards others. He's battled depression, nihilism, and perhaps anarchism his whole life, Robin Williams kinda vibe. But his saving grace is that hes sees himself as an Nietzsche-like Übermensch capable of overcoming the struggle. His love for good and family fueled the ambition to become or even create a saviour. Maria's own experiences have been curated as she's living in a bubble boy type environment by Gerald's design, thus developing a distilled counterpart of Geralds attitude, the good without the bad. It's so tragic that he was a good man corrupted by the sins of reality. He had a tactic for every card he played but he was also a gambling man that toyed with powers far beyond him. Ironic too it wasn't the ancients, the science, or the cosmic horrors that got to him; instead he was robbed by the very thing he fought both vaultingly for and defiantly against... Humanity.

Its so awesome to see Emerl, the Gizoids have always been the coolest but sadly most forgotten about Robots in the series.

With this game and the animation I feel like it is a mix of a lot of things, Black Doom is making him remember everything down to the core. But some of the glitches like when we saw the gun soldiers, could be a representation of the memory manipulation that Gerald did to Shadow when it came to his revenge. To me it looks like we will see not only everything Shadow had personally went through, but also the personal hell that Black Doom causes him along with the fades of False Memories all coming back to him. The soldiers even look demonized because Gerald snapped in prison, hating them and all of existence for what they have done. So I can definitely see them diving deep into Shadow's way of dealing with all of this and how he had to go through his own mental morality.

Bro it makes sense that it was emerl, it all makes sense my mind is blown, THIS IS GETTING PEAKER AND PEAKER

the shadow glitching effect to gun soldiers really reminds me of Jinx's hallucinations from Arcane! Looks like SEGA is taking that inspiration to Shadow!

I hope the animators that worked on this get a huge paycheck because this is one of the coolest sonic animations I've ever seen and the fact its not just a 7 min animation but a 3-part episode?! It's just comes to show Shadow is the ultimate KING!

This is the second time that people who had worked on the TMNT IP, eventually also worked on sonic (the first being IDW (I know they're seperate teams, but both are published by IDW))

The fact that the guys that worked on rise of the tmnt are working on not one but two projects involving sonic is crazy because I just know were gonna be settled for peak animation

hey yo thanks for making this vid ur energy always makes my day man :)

SO HYPED, CAN'T WAIT FOR MORE

My 2014 self after the Boom disaster would have shed tears after what happened this year. First Shadow is making a comeback with Shadow gens, real life Shadow motorcycle, Year of Shadow Fearless marketing, movie, and now 3 episodes of Shadow Anime that will be produced from the same folks who done Rise of TMNT. Man I don’t want this year to be over quick, loving how Shadow finally gets respect in a big way. Still once year of Shadow is over, then hope Tails gets love n his own year cuz he didn’t shine that much compared to Knuxs n even Amy. Then once year of Tails is over, then hope Silver or Blaze or Team Chaotix or Babylons gets their shine next

Not gonna lie, the animation is actually goated

4:55 who is speaking when Emerl is looking around?

This is like, a mini Sonic anime if you really think about it (starring Shadow as the main character too!).

I can't believe Sonic Team is making the Project: Shadow fan project into their own thing. These 3 episodes will be a joy to watch

As an animator myself, I love seeing the effort they have put in the show so far. The direction, cinematography, storyboards are a great step up from the short animations we've had recently.

WE ARE ON THE BEST TIMELINE!! EMERL AS A PLAYABLE CHARACTER👀

I'm pretty sure the entirety of the teaser is a flashback/dream sequence and that's why there's that brief scene with the GUN soldiers. It's Shadow's memories overlapping with each other.

I wonder if Emerl will basically be one of the boss battles or more like a rival battle like they did with Sonic vs. Shadow and vs Silver. That would definitely be awesome, in my opinion.

We might get a young gun commander in the prequel animation, I say this because Ian flynn responded with his signature catchphrase when someone pondered that idea on Twitter. I am slightly disappointed that the game director seemed to have canned any hopes for another playable character. The best case scenario in my eyes is that mystery character (maybe characters if Sega is feeling generous) will act like amy/Tails pre final horizons update

The gun soldiers with the faces drawn over them, remind of jinx in arcane when she has her little episodes 😅🙈

I got my screen sticky after seeing this teaser🥵😫😫

We're watching Maria die twice (maybe three times) this year boys, let's go!

My question if Emerl's existence is going to be elaborated on any further. If so, will it treat Dark Brotherhood like it doesn't exist? Lord knows they can't make a sequel without risking legal issues from the inventor of parents and echidnas in Sonic media.

we’re actually so back

6:23 THIS IS A FRAME FROM A SONIC ANIMATION!!!

I'M SHOOK

some notes I want to share (: 6:07 looks inspired by jinx from arcane and how she deals with trauma and schizophrenia. 6:56 The music looks an orchestral version of Lost Impact, the stage in shadow the hedgehog where you're guided by maria and its 20min long. Edit: ( its actually sky troops )

I did not see the drawings on the soldiers faces 🤯🤯🤯 Mannn I need the episodes to come out like yesterday!! I can’t wait !!

I do hope these are available in game, they could easily be an unlockable. Looking forward to what else they show off, cause damn this is looking great

11:51 WTF THATS RAW ASF😭😭

considering Maria’s touch causes that jump to the G.U.N soldiers, which caused Shadow to stagger in shock/fear. I’d chock this up as a nightmare, rather than a glimpse into the future from that point in time. edit: also! Rouge and Omega on the poster? sega finally bringing Team Dark back into canon?

The animation in this short clip is top tier insane and I liked it so much. And like you just said at the end of your video, if this was an anime series in this style would absolutely be OVER and fans would rejoice over it. That's what exactly I was thinking in my head all this time watching this video.

I see why they call it a teaser because We're getting getting TEASED

I wouldn't be surprised if there will be one a week in the build-up to Sonic x Shadow Generations.

I want to cry I didn't think we could get any higher then we already were, and this is just a TEASER for 3EPS

So..I'm low-key now think that Shadow's battle with Emerl is what made GUN afraid of him. If they couldn't control the gizoid, whose to say they could control the Ultimate Life Form? Hence why the ARK Raid happened, fear.

The zoom in did give a level of intimacy and vulnerability to the Maria moment but thank god we got my goat Emerl in his full zoomed out greatness

Im Surprised Sonic Battle was Brought Back and Emerl Gets a Chance to shine

I love the animation so much! Makes me wish we got a sonic game like this. Here's how I think the episodes will go. Episode 1 will be life on the Arc and it will end at Maria's death and Gerald's arrest. Episode 2 will be Pre Black arms. Essentially what happened directly after Heroes leading up to Shadow 05. And Episode 3 will be longer than the last 2 episodes. It will be about Shadow tracking down who ever he's tracking down, Which leads up to the beginning of Shadow Gens.

Project Shadow Fan Film has now competition

Any idea on how long each episode could be? Most of the official Sonic animations are 5 minutes tops, so we're probably looking at 15 minutes of PEAK. But I really hope each episode is longer, since I just want more of this kind of animation for sure

I still cannot stress enough that I thought this animation was fan made until they dropped the teaser on their official channel... The true "dark age" of sonic is finally over man.. actual new era

It managed to get even more peak 😭😭😭😭 They put so much love and care into this. They truly get it. We’re in such a fantastic spot within the series. The hype is real, and we crave an anime

I’m so happy SEGA is no longer ashamed of the stories they created in the past. The hype I feel for this prologue and Sonic X Shadow Generations is the most hyped I’ve ever felt for a piece of Sonic Media.

I believe the glitch with GUN is probably Shadow is reliving the memories on ARK Also probably during the entire 3 episodes we are going to see the entirety of Project Shadow including Emerl so yeah Sonic Team is cooking something really spicy right now

0:00 WHAT????

I wonder if the prologue or Gerald’s journal will expand on the Gizoid lore, as well as touch on the Ifrit from Sonic Rivals 2 which Gerald also studied, even a small nod would be fine.

Im excited for what they have planned after all this, like we got THREE EPISODES of these animations. I hope this is them testing the reception twords this style and hopefully we get more in the future.

This prologue needs to be recommended even to general audiences who just watch the films.

CALL ME EMERL THE WAY I GIZOID! Dang Fadel, bringin' Emerl back and show what happened based on the Gerald's journal from Sonic Battle!? Now that's a deepest cut and is so amazing and terrifying seeing Emerl as the dangerous being it is (I still remember that crazy final boss haha)! It's definitely the highlight from the teaser for me but don't get it wrong, the whole dang was amazing and I'm looking so forward to it!

Fadel, u should have read the description. It reveals a lot about the Prologue Animation’s setting.

The Animation is a 2D-3D cell-shaded mix. The cellshading allows it to blend in with 2D drawn assets, which can save a lot of time and money. Also it allows for 2D effects Animation. There are also some moments where shadow or Maria are animated in 2D to allow for movements or shots not possible in 3D. Japan has been getting really good in blending 2D and 3D to get the best looking result.

I don't think the flashback is shadow seeing the future. My theory is just that shadow has come back in the past at the time where Maria and Gerald were still alive. Because, you know, Sonic generation plot. Time is fucked, time is mixed. We're seeing present Shadow revisiting his past as real as it can be.

I WANNA SEE MEPHILES IN ANIME FORM

I've always been a bigger fan of Gemerl than Emerl and I think that's mainly due to how raw he is in the IDW comics, so it's awesome to see them going back and giving Emerl that rawness he needs

It really reminds me of the great times of Sonic games, the early 2000s. They should really do ambitious storylines again. Shadow and his storyline are one of the greatest things that happened to the Sonic franchise. They started doing it again with Sonic Frontiers and I'd like them to continue with this more serious approach cause that's a big part of what made us care about these games back in the day.