>>283656201
to be entirely fair here, I think they really were gonna end the series here but it so narrowly avoided the axe that they scrapped it. Like this was some awkward section where otr overpowered a high ranking general, every support character showed up at complete random to join the fight, and we got introduced to a new final boss esque character.
I fully think kawaguchi was planning how to exit a U19 series and everything since has been him speedruning ideas he had for the overall series on borrowed time.