How the **** did Kishi let Ohnoki live? He had the most reason to die simply because of age. Just make him die trying to do good and fail.
He was hyper-relevant to Madara also. This was the resting place for him tbh, I also would've killed all of them to be perfectly honest. Maybe keeping Gaara alive? Maybe? We needed stakes and they all got savagely shook and added nothing to the battlefield when they rejoined it.
Forgot Neji's death. Random because he was irrelevant to the war and also because he died to such a lame jutsu.
I'm chill with the fact Obito and the 10 tails (a worthy opponent) was able to introduce some stakes. The sin for me is that they didn't keep up this escalation of casualties and as a result, Neji's demise DOES seem really random and forced, if it had been the first in a row of casual deaths then I don't think anyone would really have a problem with it but Hyuuga fans. Neji's shafting is a sin of all of Shippuden, not just the war.
Izanami was a deus ex Machina, agreed. Kishi should have used Kabuto more afterwards though.
Same page on this. I love his Gaiden send-off but he could've aided the Hokage in the fight against Edo Madara considering it was him who made him. Hell, give him a small fight scene VS Kinshiki or something to hype the Ootsutsuki's strength.