Sonic: Night of the WereHog

Published on SEGA's website in November of 2008, Sonic: Night of the Werehog is an ONA made to promote the release of Sonic World Adventure, also known as Sonic Unleashed in North America and Europe.

Sonic and Chip venture to an abandoned haunted house on a rainy night, soon to be caught up in the antics of two mischievous ghosts, who scare any of the house's visitors in order to take their picture and impress the ghost girl who lives there with them. Though they succeed in scaring Chip out of his wits, the two can't seem to make Sonic bat an eye at them. Furious, the two band together in order to get the best of Sonic; will he be able to put a stop to the duo with a little help from the full moon?

Sonic the Hedgehog Main

Seki, Tomokazu Japanese

Light Gaia Main

Shiraishi, Ryouko Japanese

Uh Supporting

Lah Supporting

Ishikawa, Momoko Japanese

Su Supporting

Drees, Ryan Japanese

Imamura, Masahito Producer

Itou, Takeshi Producer

Tanaka, Masayuki Director

Gurihiru Character Design

Reviews

Dec 3, 2008

Retro8bit

Recommended

Slipping under the radar of a lot of fans out their, "Sonic: Night of the WereHog" is basically a promotional video made for the newest video game, where Sonic changes into a werewolf at night by one glimpse of a full moon. And you know what? This thing has potential at being a great series someday!

Story: 6/10
Sadly this was the weakest part of the show. Basically we have two kids wandering into a haunted house, after which they are scared by two ghost who are taking pictures of any passers by who happen to come a callin. All the while making sure they get to ... capture them when they are in their most terrified look, only to take it for their female love interest ghost which seems to have a weird fetish for it. Sonic happens to make his way into the mysterious house later on, and it all plays out as them simply trying to take his picture while scared, which I must say just doesn't seem to be that interesting. We never even learn just why Sonic is even there to begin with, nor how he can even change into a werewolf. (unless you have played the game that is) What makes the story really bland is the fact that nobody on this title ever says one word, it would have been a bit more entertaining had they added some actual dialog to the mix. We do get some good action scenes when Sonic transforms into his werewolf stage though, the camera does these sorta slow motion effects once in a while when one of them lands a blow, which are pretty cool and stylized. The story is okay for the short 11 minutes, I just personally felt they could have done more with it.

Artwork: 10/10
Oh my gosh its just gorgeous, everything is pain stakingly detailed; from each floor board in the house, to Sonic's fur when he is in werewolf form, to the realistic rain in the background! The animation is also stunning, each character moves with great fluidity and make neat facial expressions, you can just tell that the animators went all out on this one. There were times that I actual paused the video, just to soak in all the wonderful art and detail that went into every CG pixel!

Soundtrack: 7/10
The background music (sorry, but there is no opening or closing theme) is just great, it really sets the spooky mood for the title. It ranges from these eerie style haunting drowns, to a pretty ear pleasing jazz style beat that has both a calm or fast pace beat to it, depending on what is going on. The thunder sound effects are also well done, and seem to strike at the appropriate time. There is one problem to the sound though as I mentioned earlier..........nobody talks!!! While I did hear Sonic say "Oops" once, other than that its just a bunch of mumbling by the characters. Which depending on your taste, you may find to be a killjoy. Though the antics of the characters are enough to where you don't feel lost at what they are trying to tell you. As they make more facial and hand movements to where you probably will get the general idea. Still, this title should have had dialog!

Characters: 7/10
Sadly the biggest problem with this is, we only get Sonic of the main characters. All the supporting cast are is ghosts and this funny little creature that follows Sonic around. I would love to have seen some of Sonic's pals from the video game go in with him. While Sonic doesn't really retain his sort of "attitude" that you get in other incarnations of this character, he does do well to retain his overall personality, at least as much as you can get from no verbal talking. The ghosts I found to be pretty funny and entertaining, most of the time they get these goofy looks on their faces whenever they don't succeed in capturing Sonic's image, or when they are scared themselves! Overall, the characters do come off as silly yet entertaining.

Bottom Line: 7/10
This title really does show great promise, while the overall concept of the story might fly over the heads of people who haven't had a chance to play the game yet, or perhaps the lack of conversation by the characters might bore some. Its an overall nicely made short, I feel that if Sega (the company that made Sonic) actually made a series out of this, it would grow to be quite popular with anime and non-anime fans alike. The Sonic fans will no doubt love this short, but I also recommend it to the casual viewers out there who might be wanting some silly spooky fun!

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jan 8, 2009

Ilyaoh

Recommended

Edit: I got several PMs, that I gave this ONA a TOO GOOD rating because I'm a Sega/Sonic fanboy. But let me say this: I. AM. NOT. A. FANBOY. I despise Sega and I don't like Sonic, so the good rating it actually... cause it's good.

the story isn't that much, everything else actually impressed me.

The story starts off with two kids going into a haunted mansion, when out of nowhere, two ghosts scare the shit out of them and take a photograph of their scared expressions, this to please a fellow female ghost who likes photographs of scared people/things. Quickly followed by Sonic and his ... pink little friend.

The art's good, a nice style which fits the kind of animation and short very nicely. The animation's very good, something I didn't expected, but in the fight and other scene's, it's truelly amazing.

The voice-actors didn't have to do much, just some laughing, yelling, coughing, grunting and some other sounds. The background music fits perfectly while other sounds being used, thunder, transformation sound etc. are also good. The characters are good to, I like the female ghosts, and the other two ghosts are maybe a bit stereotypical, but enjoyable. So are Sonic and his little friend. The two kids in the beginning were done greatly, while the kids that featured on other photographs look good too.

The only thing I didn't liked was the scene's where Sonic was "about to" transform. Out of nowhere, he gets "ill", drops down, and then suddenly yells out of pain, looking directly at the moon that JUST appeared after being hid behind some clouds.. They could've done something differently, better.

It's highly enjoyable for being a short, it's animated good, great sound, nice fight and some hilarious looks.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Dec 28, 2012

shudent

Mixed Feelings

sonic visits luigis mansion but the two ghosts from casper are there and taking pictures of children. sonic forgets that he is still a werehog and that it is a full moon so transforms inside luigis mansion which is now inhabited by the pokemon, gardevoir. he then proceeds to tear up the place.

the story wasn't that great but the animation was pretty amazing

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Wait, anime? Is that anime?

by RealCheeze

50 Entries · 3 Restacks

Sega Anime

by IdeDial

44 Entries · 20 Restacks

	Poll: Sonic: Night of the WereHog Episode 1 Discussion xanusuri - Jan 8, 2009	14 replies	by AfroWarrior27 »» Oct 31, 2023 2:32 PM
	Watch it here Ilyaoh - Jan 8, 2009	3 replies	by DeathHormone »» Sep 13, 2009 8:26 AM