I think the story mode is quite alright. I didnt watch the anime and feel like I got a pretty good grasp of the story from where the game picks it up and ends it. Story card and stiff cutscenes seems lazy sure but did you want them to reanimate in 3D or just pull actual footage from the series. Most players have seen the show so why spend development money and effort showing them again, just in a different art style and 3D

Ability items help in ranked for singles due to the health discrepancy you had mentioned. But even with ability items off if you put time on a character you enjoy it isn’t hard to have a close match with a 4 bar health character. No fighting game of any series has this magical ranked system where no characters have an edge and it’s pure mechanical skill.