Back from my first day at work, and guess how I'm celebrating it? That's right; by compensating for my lack of homework by rewatching rubbish from 2006!
Actually, the fact that this episode actually features Takeshi doing something other than playing maid instantly makes it not rubbish. And if you're a Takeshi fan, chances are you really enjoyed this episode, especially combined with Usohachi evolving from its obnoxious crybaby self. As someone who could not care less for the rarely-seen fellow, however, parts of this episode bored me greatly. After all, it is in essence a standard hide-and-seek-from-TR episode that's only made more significant by the evolution. I've also never been that interested by the Shiftry family; I would have far preferred to see a newer breed of Pokemon.
That said, I do savor the moments Takeshi does get since they are so sparce. Usohachi's evolution method is a bit lame (Breaking a cage? Meh.), but Usokki actually gets some good development here with the whole water fear thing, especially since it's currently the dryest of his Pokemon personality-wise. I also felt the BGM in this episode was stellar. The plot sticks to a relatively basic pattern but does nothing that wrong. On the whole, non-Takeshi fans won't get the most out of this episode but will still find some enjoyment in it, even if it's not as good as the Ralts episode which had a similar plot.
B-