theres a bit of a tone shift from the start to the end, and the story feels a little half baked presumably due to serialization ending abruptly, but the series still manages to be great on the backs of its wonderful style and characters...
...so are we caught up with the main story again? i'd say that whole thing was pretty pointless, but i bet kayo and sakura will save the day in the end revealing that they're not really dead.