For a stupid but blissfully simple punish combo into NeoMAX, you can bypass Mu Shiki to do stuff like:
close C, f+B xx qcf,qcf+B+C xx NeoMAX
close C, df+D (2 hits) xx qcf,qcf+B+C xx NeoMAX
Guaranteed 700 damage minimum for full Drive, 3 bars, 4 inputs and almost no conscious thought (beyond something appropriate to the situation, like "whiff whiff big whiff PUNISH"). Very worthwhile for choke artists like me IMO, who need stuff that's impossible to fuck up in the clutch.
Is there any trick to the (qcf+C, hcb+C, qcf+A) HD loop besides "do it fast"? I have about a 50% failure rate on getting the 2nd qcf+A rekka instead of a fresh qcf+C, so right now I just do the old retarded 2k2 loop of [qcf+C, qcf+A] into whatever. Doesn't seem too bad; I can get up to 783 for 3 bars now under ideal circumstances.