They also removed the villain group killing a load of racists and that being portrayed as a good thing.

Might have been for time as they really don't want to show the villains more than the bare minimum, but the cynic in me says that it was because nerds would have gotten mad if there even was an implication that racism exists and is a societal issue.

Not that the manga is great by any means, but they managed to butcher one of the few arcs that hasn't just been average shonen fare completely in the anime.