I got to punch a god in the face with the power of friendship / 5.
A very clever way to make a point about cooldowns. I think you defended your thesis adequately - not a home run, as the game doesn't hold up as well as re: Punch or RATD in terms of strategic depth, but the character variety was (mostly) a plus and there were still a lot of cool interactions.
Balance among characters was a spot that I felt could've used improvement, as well as conveying what certain things did a bit more clearly. For example, playing against Therese was a nightmare unless you'd used her beforehand, as it was unclear what triggered a very specific ability of hers. Oldhar felt amazingly OP as befit a "boss" character, but it at least felt earned, unlike the Reid exploit that was just game-breaking and unfortunately took away from otherwise clever design.
The music was great and I liked that most characters had unique themes.
RTP graphics felt OK but the missing animations took away a lot of the "impact" from battles IMO. I would have included them but set the defaults in YEP battle core (or whatever the MV equivalent is) to Fastest speed. Just my preference.
The interwoven story was one of the best parts. I almost didn't play the unlockable characters but felt obligated to see their story lines and am very glad I did. I don't think there was as much humor or heart as in your more traditional RPGs, but that felt partly due to the tournament format.
A few minor bugs: One of Harold's skills has a typo regarding the type of damage avoided, and there are some "phantom" character selections available from the player select screen.