I don't think there is really anything in your "etc. etc." I have never heard from any real user a complaint about animations stopping mid-flow. I think people

I don't think there is really anything in your "etc. etc." I have never heard from any real user a complaint about animations stopping mid-flow. I think people know how pages work, in that I think they expect clicking things to do something disruptive, altering, changing. It's only been the design astronauts that have argued these discontinuities are "confusing" to users. If anything, sometimes I think they make the transition too smooth, to the point that it can be possible to miss it. Sharp changes are generally easy to notice.