The final arc, and honestly one that belongs in the first half of the series for what it does - exciting battles fought by ordinary down to earth people.
Though, I don't think I'll ever agree with the shows assessment of the Heterodynes being the same as "natural disasters". We've seen numerous times that these things are like animals -unpredictable, hostile, able to learn and adapt to threatening forces and growing stronger and stronger until we have an alien Dai Guard.
And your last point is another reason I find Akagi to be a divisive character. One of the most dangerous heterodyne breathing down their back, Kokubogar K Oed, and yet he still manages to subdue it AND destroy the core. his teammates response? YOU IDIOT YOUR STUPID YOU DON'T THINK nevermindthatwedidntofferanysuggestion BUT THATS YOUR JOB DUMBASS. Of course, being the idiot hero, all he can say is "nuh-uh I do think and stuff"
To repeat what I said in a previous review, He's the only one that completely conforms to the hot blooded hero cliché. He is always treated as reckless and idiotic, with only his sense of justice, and if this was the real world with real world consequences and real-world fallibility, considering him to be as such would be normal. But nearly every time he acts, he saves the day. Yet for some reason, nobody (not even his own teammates) ever pick up on this. And keep in mind, the only time we see him interacting with others is at the office or in the robot, so all of those times we only see them insulting or accusing him of being stupid. I'll go ahead and say it now, I never once found the main trio to be anything resembling a true team, or at least people who understand each other. And its all for the sake of "Comedy", as these moments are supposed to be HAW HAW THEY BICKER CAUSE ITS FUNNY.
And just for the record, I did point out in my review that this series concept was worth the viewing. At the same time, I'm not going to pretend that it really accomplishes any of what it set out to do.
Oh, I forgot. Yes episode 23 is one the best (right next to episode 8).
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Final Arc: The end.
So this series has been pretty unconventional up till now. After all, a Monster of the Week show where the Monster is a side threat is... I think still unheard of (thus why this show reminds me of Dancougar, because even now no one has done a combining mecha who's pieces were credible threats). But some of the beasts have gotten to be pretty bad, and after Episode 23 (a great breather episode, and a nice character episode that lets you see what the cast feels like.), we ram straight into action. Well, the first battle is a major wash (about 3 steps and one attack, that's it.), but it's followed by a hypermassive Heterodyne. And our least favorite general manages to show up again (seriously, how was he not demoted or discharged) and... actually outlines a decent strategy (throw a fuckton of missiles at the Fractile Knot.) that fails because of some dimensional bullshit that this Heterodyne pulls, and then abuses to become massive (ok, so the robot follows the square/cube law, but the giant spindly legged creature doesn't?).
Thus follows probably my favorite things in the show (although Episode 23 was my favorite). Dai Guard and a rebuilt Kokuboga launch, with three hours on the timer until an OE bomb shows up that would destroy Tokyo (bad.) Against a threat that's actually strong, we see the debut of the Great Knot Punisher/Knot Punisher 2 in the dub (meh on the name change, don't really care either way.), and the fact that it basically combines everything Daiguard can do in one weapon - it's arm works like the drill, both arms have hands, and the Pile Bunker is still in there. Meanwhile, Kokuboga no longer has the old Knot Buster, but it does have a Gundam-style head Gatling and wrist rockets, as well as a generally stronger body that it maliciously abuses. The final fight is a nearly immobile Kokuboga (it got a spike in a leg joint), a mostly intact Dai Guard, and a evil... Black Dai Guard... thing... inside the Heterodyne - the heroes win, but Akagi nearly kills them all (although the ending moments pretty much say they aren't going to let him off the hook easily for that, which is nice.) Series ends with people finally in the right mindset and preparation to beat the Heterodynes, providing closure.
So, all in all? While not the best series, Dai Guard is at least worth a look into.