Alright, I finally checked everyone's distortion drives and all of them are good with the exception of Kuroko. It seems that causing her Steel Phalanx to chip kill the opponent on the first hit causes the finish animation background to be delayed as it appears before the final hit when she appears right behind the opponent. Guess making it not chip kill will prevent that like the other characters.
So while you were working hard on the updates, I was playing some BBTAG and found out that that specials and distortion drives do not chip kill. I don't like the idea of that change and felt like it was done by the developers intentionally to pander to the casual audience. Plus if you were to do that, it would cause a huge disadvantage against characters from other source games that can. So you're better off making them do but on certain exceptions where the finish animation background not working correctly or preventing bugs that Ragna, Terumi, Thief and Meta Knight originally had due to the opponent being on custom states.
I also found out that all command normals don't deal chip damage either. But I still prefer that specials used that way still deals them and Yu's 5AAAA can still chip kill since a projectile was thrown. Every fighting game I play that involves projectiles always does and it being a command normal is no exception to that.
And with that after 3 years of long feedback, this should cover everything of your style. Here is the finalized checklist I created:
Spoiler, click to toggle visibilty
-All attacks show the counter message while the opponent is attacking.
-All hitsparks, guard sparks, shockwaves and effects aren't misaligned.
-All specials, force breaks, both distortion drives and astral heat have the correct attribute flag and deals chip damage upon block.
-If a special is used as a command normal, the attribute flag is still V and deals chip damage, but doesn't chip kill.
-All ground reversals are unblockable in the air and have increased cornerpush on the last hit.
-All air reversals are blockable airborne and don't have increased cornerpush on the last hit.
-No effects continues playing and follows the character when rapid canceling.
-No effects shares the palfx nor have delay when using force breaks.
-All force breaks can be used 4 consecutive times with 0 meter remaining unless a special is required to perform it.
-All force breaks and distortion drives do not gain meter when it hits the opponent.
-Distortion drives chip kill on the first hit unless it puts them on a custom state to prevent the finish animation from being delayed or played multiple times.
-Distortion drive finish BGs are layered correctly so the Burst icon and Red Xs aren't present during them.
-Both characters and effects temporary freeze during the distortion drive finish BGs.
-The hitspark on the astral heat doesn't play when it hits if them and the opponent are placed on fixed positions.
-The guard spark on the astral heat when it's blocked is not misaligned and doesn't chip kill.
-All throw based astral heat startups are unblockable with certain exceptions.
-The amount of meter on the lifebar remains 0 during the astral heat winpose.
-The viginette animation is layered in front with envshake.
-Ultra Bursting resets the damage dampener.
-The Burst icon goes inactive and doesn't disappear when defeated while in Ultra Burst.
-Burst icons are layered correctly and can't be seen during anyone's astral heat (Layerno of -7, while Red Xs are -6).
-Have "This Is Me Compatibility" with OHMSBY's Faust.
Effect Specific:
Spoiler, click to toggle visibilty
-Dusts:
Small Sliding Dust (Used during certain running animations & run stop)
Large Sliding Dust (Used when forward dashing, attacks & running throw)
Dodge Dust (Used on dodges and has a different sound effect)
-Air Dash:
New (Used in the air)
Old (Used on the ground and for special attacks)
-Shockwaves:
Normal Ground Shockwave (Layered behind)
Strong Ground Shockwave (Layered in front)
Normal Wall Bounce (Layered behind)
Strong Wall Bounce (Layered in front with envshake)
-Palfx Colors:
Rapid Canceling (Blink White)
Dodge (Glow White)
Force Breaks (Flash)
Distortion Drive (Blink Blue)
-Attribute Flags:
Specials/Force Breaks (S)
Forward/Backwards/Running/Air Throws (Rope)
Distortion Drives/Astral Heat (H)
Feedback on future characters will be much smoother from here on out. Since you updated everyone, I no longer need to update that old post anymore. Any updates to them again is probably just adding intros with later characters and optional stuff.
Edit: Change to the checklist due to an error when giving feedback for others.