Anton Veruca

This page is about a character in the Sonic the Hedgehog manga. For the Badnik in Sonic the Hedgehog CD, see Anton.

Anton Veruca (アントン・べルーカ, Anton Berūka^?) is the secondary antagonist in the Sonic the Hedgehog serialized manga published by Shogakukan. Anton describes himself as the Number One Hooligan in Hedgehog Town, who hangs around with a gang of lizard boys and his little brother Mad. He bullies Nicky and frequently tries to date Nicky's girlfriend, Amy. When he becomes particularly obnoxious, causing Nicky to wish he was stronger, Nicky transforms into Sonic the Hedgehog, who then beats up Anton.

Dr. Eggman, who wishes to find out more about the mysterious connection between Sonic and Nicky (which nobody fully understands), frequently uses Anton as a pawn in his schemes.

Appearance

Like Amy, Anton's appearance varies in each Shogakukan edition where the serialized stories are printed. In the Shogaku Ninensei stories, Anton is big, anthropomorphic lizard with sharp sunglasses and a yellow forward-curved haircut. His face is wrinkled and he has a long tail. For attire, he wears a light blue shirt, a red Letterman jacket with cream yellow sleeves. The jacket has AB-letters printed on right side and Skull and Crossbones silhouette on the black circle behind it. He also has jeans and pearly purple sneakers.

In the Bessatsu CoroCoro Comic Special stories, Anton is slightly more sturdy and has no hair. He wears a baseball cap backwards and a black sleeveless shirt with thunderbolt symbol on the front. Like the other characters, he also has white gloves with bracelets and shoes. His appearance in Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog illustrated text stories resembles closely the one in the Bessatsu CoroCoro Comic Specials, though his shirt lacks the thunderbolt symbol and he wears leather gloves.

Personality

Anton is an obnoxious bully and a good prankster. Whenever he appears, he always makes a grand entrance (whether it is starring in a band concert or driving through someone's house in a monster truck), and he is never afraid to pick on anybody.

Powers and abilities

Anton Veruca is shown to be very dangerous and has superhuman strength.^[1] In the Bessatsu CoroCoro Comic Special stories, he has his own trademark Furifuri Attack, using his powerful tail to wreck stuff.

Weapons

Anton carries many weapons in his pockets, such as a chain-whip,^[2] a spiked club,^[3] and even a flamethrower.^[3]

Name

Anton's surname, べルーカ (Berūka, べルーカ^?), has been difficult to translate into English. It is sometimes translated among fans as "Brooke", although the appropriate Japanese equivalent of the name Brooke or Brook is ブルック (Burukku, ブルック^?). Another translation used by fans is "Beluga"; however, this is still one letter off べルーガ (Berūga, べルーガ^?). Another possible translation is "Veruca", which may refer to a plantar wart. Some illustrations of Anton, particularly those by Kōichi Tanaka in Bessatsu CoroCoro Comic Special, depict Anton with round bumps on his face that could be either (non-plantar) warts or scales. This translation also has a drawback, as the April 1992 issue of Shogaku Ninensei (by Sango Morimoto) depicts Anton wearing a Letterman jacket with the initials 'AB' (however, Morimoto also has Anita wearing a shirt with a letter 'T' and Amy wearing a shirt with the letter 'E').

Gallery

Gallery
Concept Art by Sega Software R&D Dept. 8 Anton Veruca along with his brothers in Come On, Guys! Let's Daaance!! strip. Art by Kōichi Tanaka. Anton Veruca's car in Big Dreams Are My Energy! strip. Art by Kōichi Tanaka. Anton getting beaten by Sonic in Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog illustrated stories. Add a photo to this gallery

References