Heracross said:
The battle with Steelix was awesome, except it lasted way too long. It should have been down after the first couple hits, its special defense is horrible.
I thought it was a perfect length, maybe even a little too short. The game's Steelix may have weak Special Defense but Special Defense doesn't seem to exist in the anime, and in any event one of the main points of the Steelix's protrayel was that it was a very strong Steelix that had a resistance to Fire attacks. Even then it was only hit three times before going down, it blocked the other blows.
Yellow said:
I loved this episode. Ash got his 4th Pokemon finally!!
FYI, he has 5.
As for my views on the episode, let me first speak of the battle. It was one of the most exciting and well-animated battles they'd ever had in the series! Right up there with Pikachu vs. Raichu, Charizard vs. Magmar, Heracross vs. Scizor, etc. The Steelix was an incredible fighter (much funner to watch than Jasmine's one trick wonder Steelix), fast and mighty. It's entrance, surrounded by a whirlwind of Dragonbreath, was awe-inspiring, as was its incredible use of Dragonbreath, Sandstorm, and Iron Tail to block fire attacks. Torkoal's fighting was well done as well, the way portions of its shell glowed while charging up the Overheat was a nice touch.
*sigh* if only Torkoal was as fast in the games as it is in the anime.
It was quite sweet to watch as Ash asked it (without any prompting really), if it wanted to be part of the team and Torkoal jumped on him crying, but not the hyper cry it had been doing but rather a happy, cute cry while Ash hugged it. ^_^
The Steelix had a surprising amount of depth to it, for a one-episode Pokemon. The multiple gestures and calls it used to command the other Steel types, as well as its fury over Magneton (probably his second in command) being beaten were well done, and the storyline centering around Torkoal wanting to regain its pride as a Fire Pokemon was actually pretty believable. The whole issue of honor in battle was shown well when Steelix was beaten (for once no swirly eyes, yay!), but ordered the other Steel types to leave Torkoal be as it had proven itself.
Oh, and I for one had no problem with ANY of the voices. They all seemed quite fitting.
Anyway, I say it deserves a 9/10 for the animation and battle alone, while the interesting story and lack of useless characters of the day earns it an even 10 unless you want the scale to go higher. ^_^
Other things of note:
1. Skarmory and Steelix kept their Japanese voices.
2. This is the first time they've shown Sky Attack in the series (it was used by a Skarmory in the Raikou special as well), though the attack was not named when this episode's Skarmory used it, it was either that or Double-Edge.
3. Many were surprised when this episode first aired in Japan and showed Steelix using Dragonbreath, as at the time the only way for it to know that move was by TM from the GSC generation. Never mind that the anime is not the game, it still surprised people. Of course, when RS was released, Dragonbreath was a move Onix and Steelix could learn naturally. Regardless, it looks like people here still got confused when Steelix used Dragonbreath. I mean really, Zap Cannon? Sandstorm in a beam? (Sandstorm has a completely different color and was used by name by the same Steelix) Study up on attacks people! ^_^
