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| Season | Pokémon: Advanced Battle (Season 8) · Back to Kanto: the Battle Frontier begins arc (AG132–AG136) |
| Episode | Season 8, episode 42 · English episode 407 · Japanese episode 411 · Bulbapedia code AG135 |
| English title | Numero Uno Articuno |
| Japanese title | 初陣！バトルファクトリー！！（前編） Uijin! Batoru Fakutorī!! (Zenpen) — “First Battle! Battle Factory!! (Part One)” |
| First aired (Japan) | 21 July 2005 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 22 April 2006 · Kids’ WB |
| Screenplay | Masashi Sogo |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Battle Frontier – Akina Takaya · Pokémon Kazoe Uta (Pokémon Counting Song) – Akiko Kanazawa |
| English opening | Unbeatable – David Rolfe |
| Pokémon Trainer’s Choice | Which is most effective against Machoke? (Sudowoodo / Gardevoir / Poochyena) → Gardevoir |
| Previous episode | A Real Cleffa-Hanger (AG134) |
| Next episode | The Symbol Life (AG136) |
Plot episodeBattle FactoryCharizard returns
Numero Uno Articuno is the 42nd episode of Pokémon: Advanced Battle, the eighth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 407th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 411, Bulbapedia code AG135). It first aired in Japan on 21 July 2005 and in the United States on 22 April 2006. It falls within the season’s Back to Kanto: the Battle Frontier begins stretch (EP132–EP136).
Synopsis
Lost on the way to the Battle Factory, the group make camp and see an Articuno flying alongside a small biplane before both appear to crash in the distance. Team Rocket see it too and plan to catch the Legendary, though James would settle for Pikachu and the Factory’s Pokémon. The next day Nurse Joy is about to give directions when Scott arrives and insists on driving them himself; May, Brock and Max meet him for the first time, and after a terrifying shortcut they reach the Factory just as a runaway vehicle crashes through its doors. Grovyle, Combusken and Mudkip bring it to a stop, and out climbs its inventor, a laid-back mechanic named Noland. His assistant Sergio reveals that Noland is the Factory Head, the first Frontier Brain, and Ash announces that he has come to take on the Battle Frontier.
At the Factory’s daily Pokéblock time, dozens of the facility’s Pokémon, from Venusaur and Machamp to Breloom, Manectric and Camerupt, gather to eat together. When Munchlax sneaks off with a whole bowl of its own, it finds the Articuno waiting quietly behind a crate. Noland explains that he once rescued Articuno when it was injured, and that the Legendary Pokémon has visited him ever since, though he has never caught it. He takes Max and Pikachu up in his biplane, and from the cockpit they watch Noland and Articuno perform daring aerial stunts side by side over the Factory, the same flight the group glimpsed the night before. Munchlax’s appetite has led it straight to the very Pokémon that Ash will soon be battling for his first Frontier Symbol.
Team Rocket then attack in a new mecha that James proudly names the GAGME, grabbing several of the Factory’s Pokémon and one of Ash’s Poké Balls. Noland rams the mecha with his plane to free the Pokémon, and Articuno seizes the machine, hurls it into the sky and finishes it with Ice Beam. That night Ash asks to battle Articuno one-on-one, and Articuno accepts. Ash has a surprise of his own: he phoned Liza earlier, and his Charizard has flown in from the Charicific Valley. Silhouetted against the moon, Charizard greets Ash with a Flamethrower to the face, and everyone looks forward to the battle. It is the first episode broadcast in Japan after the release of the eighth movie, and the first with the new Japanese opening and ending.
Major Events
- Battle Factory, part 1. Noland and Sergio debut
- Noland’s Articuno
- Ash’s Charizard returns from the Charicific Valley
- New Japanese opening Battle Frontier and ending Pokémon Counting Song
- First Japanese episode after the eighth movie
Trivia
- The English title plays on "numero uno", number one.
- The screenplay is by Masashi Sogo.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Hoenn storyline.
Changes in the English Dub
- Scott jokes that he “forgot to put on deodorant” (Japanese: he apologises for the shortcut)
- Max calls Articuno “the strongest catchable Pokémon”
- new Japanese opening Battle Frontier and ending Pokémon Counting Song
- Challenger!! plays during Max’s plane ride
Part of our Pokémon: Advanced Battle guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.