History would have shined brighter upon this episode had the techniques introduced actually been used in the future. Since it has zero impact on the Yosuga Contest or any contest period, for that matter, the only real purpose this episode serves is to give Nozomi some more screentime. And on that note, I hate Nozomi in this episode. Up to this point, she had merely been stale, but at least her usage in the Buizel episode was alright. Here, we see her become more nosy as she dictates every move of Hikari's, which would only build up to the "What-I-say-goes" trade episode. Karanakushi is a cute Pokemon, but we don't see it do too much here.
The appeals practiced here are pretty cool, which only makes it even more of a shame that such things were never implemented. As a training episode, it's also a tad boring in parts, which is only enhanced by Nozomi's lack of distinguishable personality. Then there's the Marina cameo which exists only for the purpose of pointlessly hyping up some fans and annoying others through that pointless hype. I really don't want to scowl upon this episode for what failed to happen in the future, however. As it stands, it's a passable 22 minutes of entertainment.
C+