To this day, Ouki not chopping off Houken's head then and there continues to bug me. It feels so out of character for him, and all it does is leave Houken around to be a persistent nuisance throughout future arcs. Big mistakes were made.
I really appreciate how persistently the characters' appearances change depending on the crap they go through. Too many series let characters shrug that stuff off too easily. Sewage pals!
Can't relate to people who wanted the series to be longer. The story didn't overstay its welcome (rare in the industry), the characters pretty much all reached satisfying conclusions to their arcs, and there was no bullshit redemption arc for all the scumbags. Broken people broke everything, and...
Series has unfortunately been going downhill for a long time. I think it was always at its strongest when it was lighthearted school comedy with a food twist. Not an endless tournament arc with absurd stakes.
This is probably my favorite fight in the series, even if it's a brief one. Really captured each of the character's true selves while providing good action, and still managed to not overstay its welcome. Big F.