...ugggh. I didn't like this one at all. Seeing Articuno battle and under the command of a trainer just made the bird seem a whole lot less special than its supposed to be. I know its already been discussed to death, but after actually watching the episode, the feeling really hits you like a ton of bricks. Gah, I'm really sorry for whining about it so much, but I just despised the entire concept >_<;
And to add to that, I'm furious that they made Charizard's Overheat seem a hell of a lot more special than Torkoal's. It makes me sick the way Torkoal is constantly put down in this show.
Though there were a few parts that I enjoyed.
Articuno lashing out with a ferocious barrage of Ice Beams, hitting Charizard in the wing and forcing it to hit the floor and roll uncontrolably. And its clever combination of both Water Pulse and Ice Beam was pretty neat~
Having Ash take Charizard for an early morning warm-up routine provided a nice intro scene to the episode. Its good to see him actually testing out his pokémon's strength and abilities before plunging into battle. And I have to say, watching him flying around on Charizard's back really made me miss Pigeot~
....thats all I really liked about it. There was too much unnesessary explanations of the attacks, the Team Rocket scenes were just crap and snatched up too much battle time and overall, I didn't really enjoy the battle itself. I found it to be lackluster at best, and I'm not letting my bias get in the way of that either. Probably the first aerial battle that failed to impress me :/