This episode lacks that certain je ne sais quoi. Takeda's by-the-numbers direction certainly doesn't help, but I think a big part of it is Shigeru's disappointing appearance. I think it would have been better if they'd focused a little more on him, actually - you know, maybe compare how he's been doing in Jouto so far compared to Satoshi. There's talk about how he's been catching a lot of Pokémon in the area, but wouldn't it be awesome if he hadn't caught anything in Jouto yet? I just have this idea for an underlying plot thread where Shigeru realizes his "catch first, ask questions later" method of training doesn't work, and he's got a whole team of underdeveloped Pokémon as a result of it, and he gradually becomes more and more jaded with the whole concept of training, which'd foreshadow his eventual hiatus at the end of Jouto...
But look at me, I'm rambling again.
Anyway, there are aspects to this episode that I like. Hoho liking Kasumi better than Satoshi is a nice twist. They do it so much, though, that it starts out funny, becomes unfunny, and then goes on so long that it becomes funny again. (It's humor through repetition, like "The Simpsons" and the rake scene.) Suzu-sama and Kane-sama are some of the better Jouto characters-of-the-day - their crabby voices help to make them memorable. I like the music in this one, too. There's a lot of weird melodies that I don't think I've heard before, like when Satoshi-tachi are chasing Hoho to the shrine in the first place.
And of course, Musashi and Kojirou are the highlight of the episode yet again. They're so delightfully random - locking Pikachu in a strongbox, swinging Satoshi against a tree and then capturing the imprint of his body on carbon paper, and then escaping in a rowboat strung between the trees...which immediately falls to the ground 'cause it's so cheaply made. And I can't help but giggle at how Kojirou gets eaten by Utsubot again, then spends a good minute conducting dialogue with the rest of the characters while still standing inside Utsubot's mouth. That's just a funny visual.
Probably my favorite moment in the episode is somewhat of a meta-joke - when Satoshi is dangling from the rope that's snared Pikachu, he hears Musashi and Kojirou laughing up above, then exasperatedly sighs and asks "What's that?" with no enthusiasm, just so he can set up the Rocket-dan motto. He knows who it is, and he knows what's going to happen, and he's just so tired of it - it's like the show is poking fun at its own formulaic properties. (There's a similar joke in an Orange Islands episode where Satoshi-tachi just stand around yawning and shuffling their feet while they wait for Musashi-tachi to finish their motto, and when it's done, they immediately snap back to defensive poses and shout "Rocket-dan!" Only two years in, they're already making fun of themselves!)