I’m going to sound like every Sonic fan ever here, but I didn’t like the first season of Sonic Prime. While it had some good elements, like its characterisation of Sonic and charming animation style that made the characters feel more alive than in the games, its focus on slightly-altered versions of events and characters we already know felt like a multiverse-spanning chore most of the time.
Sonic Prime’s biggest problem is that it wasted its strongest element - Shadow the Hedgehog. Everyone’s favourite edgelord was excellent in the show’s first episode, before being ripped away and left to pout in the void for the rest of the season. It may have only lasted five minutes, but the glimpses we saw of Shadow’s character and his relationship with Sonic hinted at a mature and faithful adaptation of the character.
Thankfully, Sonic Prime’s second season has righted the wrongs of the first and puts far more focus on Shadow, making him one of the show’s key characters from the very first episode. As the season begins, it’s confirmed that Shadow was trapped in a void between Shatterverses while Sonic was jumping between dimensions, following closely behind the blue blur but unable to go anywhere without Sonic’s knack for super speed.
After Sonic gets spat out of New Yoke City, Shadow finally catches up with him and gets some much-needed screentime. It’s here we see how brilliantly Prime understands Shadow’s character - he’s rightfully angry at Sonic for destroying the world and not listening to anyone else but himself, but also sympathetic to all that Sonic has lost and willing to work together with him to make things right.
Although Sonic and Shadow clearly aren’t best friends and spend a decent amount of the first episode beating the rings out of each other, there’s a clear level of respect between the two and an understanding of one another that makes Prime feel like a direct continuation of the Adventure games, rather than just making Shadow this angry dude obsessed with being the “ultimate lifeform”.
We even get to see Shadow joke around and smile a few times, something Sega hasn’t had the guts to do in a long time. He’s still the coolest character on the show and has some of the best action moments, while his characterisation is spot-on. Shadow feels like Shadow here, which is something that can’t be said for most of his appearances.
In most other recent Sonic media, Shadow is portrayed as an obsessive, vengeful, edgelord who only wants to take Sonic down. There’s no character there and he’s used so sparingly that it’s always felt like more of a cameo to keep fans happy. He’s treated as an afterthought in Sonic Generations, has 15 minutes of screentime in Frontiers in a prequel DLC that’s easily missed, and a gravel-voiced angry joke in Sonic Boom.
It’s not just Shadow doing the heavy lifting here. Sonic was given more depth than he usually receives in the first season of Prime, but he’s on another level here. Similar to how he was in the movies and a little bit of Frontiers, this take on Sonic is allowed to be sad, reflect on his mistakes, and grow as a hedgehog, making him so much more interesting than most of what we see in the mainline games.
He’s still the goofy Sonic that we know and love, but there’s an added depth that goes a long way to making Prime feel like more than just a trendy run through a bunch of alternate dimensions. Sonic Prime’s second season is a lot stronger than its first in a lot of ways, but it's still held up by its excellent portrayal of Sonic and having the best version of Shadow there’s ever been.