View source for Sonic Frontiers Prologue: Divergence

{{OtherPage|desc=the digital comic|page=Sonic Frontiers Prologue: Convergence}}{{VideoBob
| bobscreen=SonicFrontiersPrologueDivergence YouTube Thumbnail.png
| studio=[[sega:Powerhouse Animation Studios|Powerhouse Animation Studios]]
| publisher=[[Sega]]
| channel=[[wikipedia:YouTube|YouTube]]
| runtime=6 minutes and 9 seconds
| language=English, Japanese
| releases={{ReleasesDV
| yt_date_world=2022-11-01{{ref|https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/_gjszHTDjzo|2=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gjszHTDjzo}}
| yt_rrp_world=FREE{{ref|https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/_gjszHTDjzo|2=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gjszHTDjzo}}
}}
}}
'''''{{PAGENAME}}''''' (ソニックフロンティア プロローグ：Divergence（分岐）) is an animated short produced by [[sega:Powerhouse Animation Studios|Powerhouse Animation Studios]] and posted on official ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' social media channels by [[Sega]] to promote ''[[Sonic Frontiers]]''. It was first teased during the [[Sonic Central]] broadcast on June 7, 2022.

==Synopsis==
{{Quote|For as long as he can remember, Knuckles has preferred to operate on his own. As the guardian of the Master Emerald, he knows every corner of his island and every secret it holds…or so he thought. A sudden discovery is about to turn his world upside down.|YouTube description|ref={{ref|https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/_gjszHTDjzo|2=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gjszHTDjzo}}}}

==Plot summary==
The short opens with [[Knuckles the Echidna]] standing guard before the [[Master Emerald]] on [[Angel Island]] on a rainy day, the red echidna narrating about himself and the island. As the rain falls, Knuckles ponders how different things would be if he hadn't been given his duty, wondering if it is karma for the actions of his [[Knuckles Clan|ancestors]], recalling the tale of their downfall in ''[[Sonic Adventure]]''. Seeking answers as to who built the [[Emerald Shrine]] and where they went, Knuckles heads to [[Sky Sanctuary]] to investigate.

Arriving via [[Warp Point]], Knuckles uses his abilities to explore Sky Sanctuary, narrating how he has explored his home top to bottom and continues to find something new every day. As he climbs a wall, he notices a [[Chao]] struggling to pull a stone mask out from underneath thick rubble, and [[glide]]s down to help them. Using his strength, Knuckles smashes the rubble with a single punch, with debris accidentally hitting the Chao on the head. After calming the Chao and giving them the stone mask they wanted, Knuckles notices the mask was hiding an ancient gear, and stranger still is that the rubble was concealing a chamber he doesn't recognise, containing an ancient monolith older than the ruins. Finding a cavity in the monolith for the gear to fit, he curiously places the gear into the monolith, causing it to activate and making him vanish.

Knuckles finds himself teleported to a bizarre island whose landscape is nothing like Angel Island's, suspecting that this must be another one of [[Dr. Eggman]]'s tricks and demanding that he shows himself. Suddenly, [[Soldier|mysterious enemies]] materialise in front of Knuckles and proceed to attack him. Knuckles confidently and quickly defeats them all with his skills, even destroying part of the cliff to make the rest of them fall. After demanding the perpetrator to show themselves for a fight, Knuckles is beset by a [[Asura|colossal entity]], the last thing he sees before whiting out is a [[Sage|mysterious girl]] glaring at him.

When Knuckles comes to, he finds his digitised body trapped inside a spherical prison on a [[Ares Island|barren, desert-covered island]]. Completely helpless in his new situation, all he can do is scream into the sky with rage. The short concludes with a final narration from Knuckles that he prefers to do things on his own, but sometimes even he would need some help...

==Production credits==
{{multicol|
{{creditstable|
*'''Directed by:''' [[Tyson Hesse]]
*'''Supervising Producers:''' [[Yukio Kusumoto]], [[Ryan Hamlyn]]
*'''Producer:''' [[sega:Jasmin Hernandez|Jasmin Hernandez]]
*'''Written by:''' [[Ian Flynn]]
*'''Creative Consultant:''' [[Evan Stanley]]
*'''Special Thanks:''' [[Aaron Webber]], [[Justin Thormann]], [[Katie Chrzanowski]], [[Michael Cisneros]]
*'''Animation by:''' [[sega:Powerhouse Animation Studios|Powerhouse Animation Studios]]
*'''Executive Producer:''' Brad Graeber
*'''Studio Executive:''' Bruce Tinnin
*'''Supervising Producer:''' Shane Minshew
*'''Producer:''' Ryan Arrington, Rachel Citron
*'''Supervising Director:''' Kellan Stover
*'''Supervising Technical Director:''' Lindsey Chastain
*'''Background Director:''' Chris Beaver
*'''Outsource Coordinator:''' Mark-Ryan Magallanez
*'''Production Assistants:''' Sergio Diaz, Ember Schwager
*'''Supervising Pre-production Artist:''' Meg Kluck
*'''Pre-production Artists:''' Mikk Dado, Rebekah Jin, Tory Patterson, Savannah Ruddy
*'''Storyboard Artists:''' Rebekah Jin, Meg Kluck, Miguel Ángel Montañez Aragón, Kellan Stover
*'''Supervising Background/Layout Illustrator:''' Megan Redlich
*'''Background/Layout Illustrators:''' Chris Beaver, Caroline Born, Brett Carville, Maya Dumas, Ashley Lange, Dania Nava
*'''Supervising Animators:''' Tyler Richlen, Deanna Trudeau
*'''Animators:''' Tom De Vis, Jeff Freeman, Manuela Gonzalez, Miguel Ángel Montañez Aragón, Elena Suarez, Kellan Stover, India Swift, Ben Thomas, John Varvir
*'''Compositing Lead(s):''' Jennifer Fields, Sofia Puerto
*'''Compositors:''' Kevin Cavanagh, Lindsey Chastain, Steven Garcia, Nick Graves
{{creditsheader|HANHO Credits}}
*'''Model/Animation Checking:''' Hee Sun Kim
*'''Clean Up Animators:''' So Hee Yoon, Young Hwa Sa, Seung Yeal Oh
*'''Color:''' Sul Oh
*'''Production Manager:''' So Sang Yoon
*'''Supervisor:''' Seok Ki Kim

*'''Featuring the Voice of:''' [[Dave B. Mitchell]]
*'''Dialogue Recording Services:''' [[Studiopolis, Inc.]]
*'''Voice Director:''' Jack Fletcher
*'''Recording Engineer:''' David Walsh
*'''Dialogue Editor:''' Arnie Geher
*'''Dialogue Production Manager:''' Rachel Blumberg
*'''Sega SOE Team:''' [[sega:Miguel LermaGarcia|Miguel LermaGarcia]], [[sega:Grace Hsu|Grace Hsu]]
*'''Spanish Translator:''' [[sega:Luis J. Paredes|Luis J. Paredes]]
*'''German Translator:''' [[sega:Nicole Thomer|Nicole Thomer]]
*'''French Translator:''' [[sega:Gwladys Gaye-Williams|Gwladys Gaye-Williams]]
*'''Italian Translator:''' [[sega:Fabio Bortolotti|Fabio Bortolotti]]
*'''Russian Translator:''' [[sega:Maxim Onishchenko|Maxim Onishchenko]]
*'''Polish Translator:''' [[sega:Wojciech Brudziński|Wojciech Brudziński]]
*'''Proofreader:''' [[sega:Irina Nechaeva|Irina Nechaeva]], [[sega:Asia Mleczak|Asia Mleczak]]
*'''Brazilian Portuguese Translators:''' [[sega:Amanda do Prado|Amanda do Prado]], [[sega:Bruno Dias|Bruno Dias]]
*'''Original Music Composed by:''' [[Tee Lopes]]
*'''Sonic Frontiers Music:''' [[Tomoya Ohtani]], [[Kenichi Tokoi]], [[Takahito Eguchi]]
*'''Music Editor:''' [[Tomoya Ohtani]]
*'''Lead Sound Editor:''' [[Tomonori Sawada]]
*'''Additional Sound Editor:''' [[sega:Etsuko Shimada|Etsuko Shimada]]
{{creditsheader|End Credit Music - [[I'm Here]] (Instrumental)}}
*'''Composed & Arranged by:''' [[Tomoya Ohtani]]
*'''Strings Arranged by:''' [[Takahito Eguchi]]

*'''Executive Producers:''' [[Takashi Iizuka]], [[Kazuyuki Hoshino]], [[Hiroshi Nishiyama]]
*'''Co-Executive Producers:''' [[sega:Ian Curran|Ian Curran]], [[sega:Ivo Gersovich|Ivo Gersovich]], [[sega:Hitoshi Okuno|Hitoshi Okuno]]
*'''Special Thanks:''' [[sega:Ian Drazen|Ian Drazen]]
*'''Production Services:''' [[sega:Austin Keys|Austin Keys]], [[sega:Shotaro Kobayashi|Shotaro Kobayashi]], [[sega:Hannah Motegi|Hannah Motegi]], [[sega:Miki Takahashi (producer)|Miki Takahashi]], [[sega:Hiro Watanabe|Hiro Watanabe]], [[sega:Ayumi Tani|Ayumi Tani]]
*'''Marketing:''' [[sega:John Choon|John Choon]], [[sega:Matthew Allen|Matthew Allen]], [[sega:David Abramov|David Abramov]], [[sega:Reid Taguchi|Reid Taguchi]], [[sega:Ayumi Tanioka|Ayumi Tanioka]]
*'''PR:''' [[sega:Evan Bader|Evan Bader]], [[sega:Thalia Piedra|Thalia Piedra]]
*'''Social:''' [[sega:Katie Chrzanowski|Katie Chrzanowski]], [[sega:Justin Thormann|Justin Thormann]], [[sega:Kenneth Washington|Kenneth Washington]]
*'''Special Thanks:''' [[sega:Abraham Urias|Abraham Urias]], [[sega:Akiko Okihara|Akiko Okihara]], [[sega:Akiko Takahashi|Akiko Takahashi]], [[sega:Alex Gomez|Alex Gomez]], [[sega:Alex Killeen|Alex Killeen]], [[sega:Alex Lee|Alex Lee]], [[sega:Ben Kimler|Ben Kimler]], [[sega:Cheyenne Bosworth|Cheyenne Bosworth]], [[sega:Daniel Collins|Daniel Collins]], [[sega:Daisuke Miyawaki|Daisuke Miyawaki]], [[sega:Erendira Espinoza|Erendira Espinoza]], [[sega:Gordon Sung|Gordon Sung]], [[sega:Jeff Shieh|Jeff Shieh]], [[sega:Jenna Cowan|Jenna Cowan]], [[sega:Jennifer Hwang|Jennifer Hwang]], [[sega:Jeremy Swain|Jeremy Swain]], [[sega:Jessica Frausto|Jessica Frausto]], [[sega:Jimmy Lenoir|Jimmy Lenoir]], [[sega:Jonathan Ubovich|Jonathan Ubovich]], [[sega:Junko Nakamura|Junko Nakamura]], [[sega:Katherine Zhang|Katherine Zhang]], [[Mai Kiyotaki]], [[sega:Maida Chan|Maida Chan]], [[sega:Makiko Suda|Makiko Suda]], [[sega:Maria Eleni Pasia|Maria Eleni Pasia]], [[sega:Maria Romo|Maria Romo]], [[sega:Michael Morrison|Michael Morrison]], [[sega:Misaki Gertz|Misaki Gertz]], [[sega:Naoko Kogawa|Naoko Kogawa]], [[sega:Nicole Hall|Nicole Hall]], [[sega:Noriko Watanabe|Noriko Watanabe]], [[sega:Pamela Bingcang|Pamela Bingcang]], [[sega:Petia Koutzarova|Petia Koutzarova]], [[sega:Rena Sakai|Rena Sakai]], [[sega:Richard Adams|Richard Adams]], [[sega:Samantha Munoz|Samantha Munoz]], [[sega:Samantha Nasab|Samantha Nasab]], [[sega:Sandra Jo|Sandra Jo]], [[sega:Scott Murata|Scott Murata]], [[sega:Thomas Pietrzak|Thomas Pietrzak]], [[sega:Toru Nakahara|Toru Nakahara]], [[sega:Trever Finnigan|Trever Finnigan]], [[sega:Vivian Nguyen|Vivian Nguyen]], [[sega:Will Meek|Will Meek]], [[sega:Yuhei Okugawa|Yuhei Okugawa]], [[sega:Yuka Yoshida|Yuka Yoshida]], [[sega:Yusuke Sato|Yusuke Sato]]
:'''©[[SEGA]]
| console=film
| source=Ending credits
}}
}}

===Voice actors===
{| class="prettytable" style="width:auto;"
! Role
! English
! Japanese
|-
| [[Knuckles the Echidna]] 
| [[Dave B. Mitchell]]
| [[Nobutoshi Canna]]
|-
| [[Chao]]
|colspan="2"| [[Tomoko Sasaki]] <sub>(uncredited)</sub>
|}

==External links==
*''{{PAGENAME}}'' on YouTube: {{LinkYoutube|video=_gjszHTDjzo|title=English}}, {{LinkYoutube|video=C1Tys_vJROw|title=Japanese}}

==References==
<references/>

{{SonicFrontiersOmni|4}}
[[Category:Shorts]]