I actually ended up really liking the twist with Sylvasta because it brought an element of race/identity essentialism into the work that made everything Michiru and Nazuna learned retroactively much more meaningful. the fact that it was, for the villain, ALWAYS about the unattainable, intangible 'purity' of identity over the genuine, earnest lessons of lived experience honestly added a lot of extra dimensionality to the message.

to race and gender essentialists, being ANYTHING other than expected will be read as an affront, and it doesn't matter where you actually sit; they're going to treat you that way regardless. it spoke to me a lot as a mixed-race person, that feeling that SOMEONE always thinks you don't belong; Sylvasta is a monster not just because he's the final boss, but because he is the living specter of a communal hatred that has been with us since the ancient world.