I believe Xrd has the better stages overall, due to many of Strive's being a bit boring due to wallbreaks. Of course, Strive still has the best stage overall in Tír na nÓg III, but Xrd has more in the higher tiers.

TOP 5 :

Tír na nÓg III : (Copy pasting this because I have nothing new to add) I love Tír na nÓg so much. III in particular is just beautiful. Look at the colors. Look at the bookshelves. Look at the floating piano. Look at the planet and the stars. Breathtaking.

Edinburgh Magicapolis (Sign) : Still really good. Absolutely amazing colors. Very cool.

Nightmare Theater (Sign) : Bedman is great. Bedman is cool. This stage is also cool. Playing a video in the back on the screens is really cool, and fits the nightmare theater theme really well.

Edinburgh Magicapolis (Rev) : Different take on the stage. I like snow and ice. The witches are better. Not much else.

Tír na nÓg II : Good combination of space and nature. Very good.

BOTTOM 5 :

I see no reason to go over these. It is the same as Strive's list except I moved White House Reborn IV even lower.

Strive's stage goals are interesting. Due to the wallbreak mechanic, each stage has three or more sections to it, and therefore they can't all be winners. Squeezing multiple backgrounds out of just one area, while not impossible, does lead to some... less interesting places. Tell me with a straight face you want to fight in the back parking lot of the white house rather than literally anywhere else. Such as...

TOP 5 :

Tír na nÓg III : I love Tír na nÓg so much. III in particular is just beautiful. Look at the colors. Look at the bookshelves. Look at the floating piano. Look at the planet and the stars. Breathtaking.

Tír na nÓg II : Very cool. I generally enjoy the mixture of nature and futuristic elements, and this one does that really well and adds some space stuff. Cool!.

Fairy's Forest Factory I : I really like the colors here. Also as a sidenote, I feel like the series really lost the gear based architecture after Xrd, so it was nice to see it again here.

Lap of the Kami II : REALLY good view. The mountains, the trees, the clouds...

"A Happy Family" II : Combines the best elements from the other happy family areas into a really cool stage.

BOTTOM 5 :

White House Reborn V : Just not very visually interesting.

White House Reborn IV : Did I not already make a joke about no one wanting to fight here.

Original Times Square III : I think I ranked this one too low. It still isn't that good but definitely not the third worst one.

Ajatar Hunting Ground II : I see ajatar as a SIGNIFICANTLY worse version of the forest factory. This area is just moss and a statue. Boring.

White House Reborn III : White House Reborn is, in my opinion, the stage with the most missed potential. The white house as a massive airship SHOULD be really cool, but they never even show an angle where you can tell it is floating. This could just be the normal white house but with structural damage. What if we went on top of the white house? Or on one of the side thrusters? Or at the tower thing where the final fight in story mode was? Just disappointing overall.

Sign and Revelator had some really cool stages. After Rev remade all of them, some got better and some got worse. Overall I think they got a bit worse, but some did get better overall. Not a lot to say.

TOP 5 :

Edinburgh Magicapolis (Sign): REALLY COOL. I LOVE the colors here. Best stage in either game by far.

Nightmare Theater (Sign) : Ah, Bedman. Eternal hyperfixation. The endless screens are a REALLY cool concept. Lucy and Woof is an interesting mini-story shown on said screens, and is simple enough to serve as a really cool background piece. I also quite enjoy the chains everywhere.

Edinburgh Magicapolis (Rev) : A very different take on the stage. I like it for different reasons. Of course I REALLY REALLY like wsnow and ice, so that is always a good thing. Also, bonus points for the upgrades to the witches. I like them :).)

Nightmare Theater (Rev) : INCREDIBLY interesting evolution of the stage, especially considering the story events in this game. Is this what happens when Bedman changes the area, or is this due to his death?

Japan (Sign) : Very good colors. The giant hands are awesome.

BOTTOM 5 :

Zepp Central Arsenal (Sign) : Still not a bad stage, just one of the less interesting ones.

Arena (Sign) : Irrelevent to the story and lore, which brings it down a fair bit. Also just not too interesting.

Arena (Rev) : Same as above but less interesting visually.

Dragonica Falls (Sign) : BORING. BORING. BORING. FORESTS ARE BORING. There needs to be something in forests. A structure. A COOL structure.

Dragonica Falls (Rev) : Same as above. But with less color.