it's really, really not wrong though

I’m just happy to see Hibiki’s second half getting some love. :P
#SorryNotSorry

I can't remember which episodes of Hibiki are which off the top of my head but I'd assume the ones from the Not Actually Hibiki era are the episodes about Zanki and Todoroki? That was absolutely the highlight of that chunk of the show.

It was a huge mess. They were literally writing it while it was filming.

excuse me??? is that why there's the sudden twist villains at the end that never got brought up again??

Among other things, yes. There are reasons why I always tell people to stop watching Hibiki after episode 29.