The Sonic Saga Series continues in this volume and we finally get to learn who this mysterious Anonymous character is. I wasn’t very trilled at his twist since it wasn’t really a twist in the end. (It was as simple as it appeared in the last volume and I thought that something else was going to happen) This volume isn’t quite as intense as the first one, but we still have a lot of interesting plot lines and Sonic gets some solid screen time.

The main plot features the big battle against Anonymous. Shadow and Tails are abducted by him so that their abilities will allow the evildoer to capture all of the Chaos Emeralds and use them for his nefarious purposes. It’s going to be up to Super Sonic to stop this guy once and for all!

Meanwhile, there are a few mini stories in the collection. Espio and his team head over to an enemy base to gather some intel and Amy gets trained by Julie Su in the art of hand to hand combat. The Amy one was decent since she’ll ideally be able to fight more in future issues and the Espio one gave that character some much needed screentime. They were decent interludes from the main plot. It can’t be forgotten that we get a minicomic where Sonic’s back in his big hair design and he lets Antoine know the bad news about his father. Will Antoine be able to get through this!?

After the big battle against Anonymous, Sonic decides to find out what’s up with Fiona. She keeps on disappearing and his friends seem to know something that he doesn’t. Tails and the others finally clue Sonic in on the truth after he witnesses Fiona doing battle with Amy. Scourge enters the fray and the bond between Fiona and Sonic may be shattered. Sonic’s going to have to take these guys down!

Finally, we also got a comic where Shadow finds out that Eggman has been hiding something from his past. Shadow doesn’t like this and he quickly steals the disc, but Snively goes after him. Knowing that not even the Ultimate Life Form can defeat such a bald fellow, Shadow goes to Sonic and the Freedom Fighters for help. Will they help him!? It’s time to find out!

Sonic is back to being the main star and that’s definitely a good thing! He makes the hard choices and he also wisely chooses to listen to his friends instead of Fiona. This leads to him connecting the dots and realizing that something’s up. I’m not really a fan of Sonic being so into romance all of the time as he certainly isn’t like that in the games. It’s really something that’s only present in the games and they didn’t need that extra bit of character development. At the very least, Sonic gets over it pretty quickly and he still has time to crush Scourge whenever they meet. I would have liked him to get a few more good shots in on Anonymous though.

Sonic basically has all of the traits that you need to be a solid character and that has been consistent throughout the franchise. He’s always immensely confident and he doesn’t mind helping out a rival or an enemy if he gets to tease them a little. I want to see Sonic get more speedfights in the future, but his battle against Scourge will do for now.

Tails doesn’t really get a great role this time. He gets kidnapped yet again and he’s forced to wait for Sonic to arrive before getting carried off. He does get to live out his prophecy yet again though and he uses his super powers to help bring harmony to the land. He continues to be a really smart fighter, but he’s also lost most of his combat readiness. Most of the villains have just surpassed him at this point and letting Fiona sucker slap him was going a little far. He needs another miniseries so that he can deal some damage again. I think I was just annoyed that he didn’t let Sonic know the truth about Fiona when it could have saved him some time.

Eggman is back as well and he gets a decent role. I am glad that he was the first to figure out who Anonymous was and that he took appropriate steps to stop him. After that, Eggman is the guy who quickly helped Shadow and Tails get back to fighting strength so that they could secure the win. He essentially vanishes after that, but it was a decent role. He’s definitely played a lot more serious in the comics than in the games or shows.

Anonymous is the big villain for the main plot of the graphic novel and he’s interesting. I liked him a lot more before he merged with Tommy and became a universal threat. As a computer, it was interesting to see him trick Eggman left and right while furthering his goals. Power seemed to make him into more of a generic fighter and he just wasn’t interesting anymore. Still, at least he was a threat even if Super Sonic should have had no problem with him. I wonder if he’ll ever appear again.

Knuckles doesn’t look too great as he’s pretty weak for a power hitter. Snively manages to defeat him and it’s rare that he defeats anyone. Knuckles still manages to talk tough until the end and I am always glad to see a familiar face in the comics. I haven’t seen him get a full fight yet so I’m still waiting for that. Hopefully he goes back to check on the Master Emerald soon since that island seems to be in a lot of danger.

Amy gets a small role in this comic. Unfortunately, her training with Julie Su comes too late after she is taken out by Fiona. She didn’t completely lose, but she was definitely losing that battle. Her hammer should have been enough to turn the tides. I am glad that she went to finish off Fiona herself though since it was basically the best hero move. After Fiona is in prison, then Amy can let Sonic in on how he was being played. It’s a win/win situation….if Amy had actually won the fight of course.

Fiona gets a bigger role in this volume and she actually gets to fight Amy. I was definitely rooting for Amy in that battle, but she was definitely on the losing side. It’s too bad since I would have figured that Amy could easily defeat Fiona. Fiona also lands a hit on Sonic, which was a little hard to believe and she was overhyped in terms of her power. Personality wise, Fiona isn’t really someone to root for either and she is constantly betraying everyone. That isn’t a bad thing for a villain, but her reasons seem pretty petty as these actions may be for emotional reasons. Hopefully the heroes stop her soon, but I guess she really isn’t much of a threat anymore.

Scourge is back in this volume, but he’s still not much of a threat. Sonic seriously stomps him back into the ground whenever they fight. His speed is pretty good, but he seems to lack Sonic’s fighting ability as he always relies on surprise hits. Personality wise, I can’t say that he’s the best as he also gets into the romance biz. He’s essentially forced to run away after Sonic knocks him around and I’m hoping that he gets a power up soon.

Shadow is still pretty emotional in this comic. He starts out all right except for the fact that he gets one shotted by Tommy/Anonymous. That was pretty humiliating and isn’t he supposed to be Sonic’s equal in power? He gets kidnapped and he only gets to help out a little in the climax while commenting on how hard it was. Next, he goes to find out the secrets of his past, but he has to ask Sonic for help against Snively. Unsuccessfully holding back his tears, Shadow uncovers the truth and comes to the realization that he is a hero. Luckily, this means no more being a pawn of Eggman’s for the hedgehog and maybe this is where he joined the government.

An emotional Shadow still isn’t a very good Shadow. I am still pretty skeptical on why he couldn’t just defeat Snively on his own. He shouldn’t need help to do such a thing. I’m waiting for Shadow to get back to his no nonsense personality. He’s awesome in the games and much less so in the comics. They should at least bring him back to Sonic’s level in power and then I would be satisfied. Anymore crying would just be sad.

The artwork seems to be slightly different from the first Saga volume as there are a lot more facial expressions similar to the Friendship is Magic comics. Besides that, I’m still a fan of the art and the battle scenes are very intense. The speed drawings help to show how fast they are going and Sonic especially looks sharp. I definitely don’t miss his huge hair days, but we get to see them in one of the mini comics.

There are definitely a lot of plots still playing out. Hopefully they will all come into play within the next two volumes since that will likely be where my fun marathon runs out. I have a feeling that Tails’ parents have been corrupted and the “ideas” that the father has won’t really be good ones. Maybe it will be time for Mobius to have a civil war and Sonic will need to pick a side. There is also some tension since Enerjak may be revived and I look forward to seeing where the plots lead. I do hope that Tails chooses Sonic if his parents decide to try and take him to the dark side.

Overall, This was another solid installment in the Sonic series. Once again, most of the portrayals were spot on except Shadow is still not acting like himself and I didn’t really like Tails’ role. Amy was particularly good as she went to fight Fiona on her own and I can’t wait to see Enerjak return to fight the heroes. I don’t think this volume was quite as good as the last one since the stakes seemed to go down rather than up. We still did get the decent action thanks to Scourge and the artwork is solid so this volume is still a good read. Watch closely for references since many comics are left out that take place between this one and the last volume. I highly recommend this graphic novel to Sonic fans and anyone who likes some action should enjoy it.

Overall 7/10