>When people compare the anime to this
Bruh, yall should be comparing to the novel instead. Source material, but...
I think this is the first obvious big change. Iirc, the anime followed the novel here (I might be wrong though as its been a long time since I read the first couple volumes) with the army waiting instead of the trash. This change was prob to make Kaori's conclusion of her feelings and whatnot feel more natural, as she was prob the weakest of the harem there. Not a bad change. Art seems to be dipping a bit in quality, though that could be me. Lost the dark grittiness and starting to look a bit more of a typical revenge isekai. Not a big fan of that change.
Edit: Looking back at the chapter, I think it was just all the blank and gradient backgrounds. They could've done a bit more to match the mood. ie. the panel of Hajime saying its normal to kill enemies while looking pissed/annoyed at Kouki. Hajime had that dark shadow, but then the bg is just a gradient. Kind of killed the mood. Some of the later ones are blank too but eh...