Explicitly set lifetime to ensure empty drawables are cleaned up

osu.Game.Rulesets.Taiko/Skinning/TaikoLegacySkinTransformer.cs

@@ -116,8 +116,9 @@ public override Drawable GetDrawableComponent(ISkinComponent component)
 
                 case TaikoSkinComponents.TaikoExplosionKiai:
                     // suppress the default kiai explosion if the skin brings its own sprites.
+                    // the drawable needs to expire as soon as possible to avoid accumulating empty drawables on the playfield.
                     if (hasExplosion.Value)
-                        return Drawable.Empty();
+                        return KiaiHitExplosion.EmptyExplosion();
 
                     return null;
 

osu.Game.Rulesets.Taiko/UI/KiaiHitExplosion.cs

@@ -43,5 +43,11 @@ private void load()
         {
             Child = skinnable = new SkinnableDrawable(new TaikoSkinComponent(TaikoSkinComponents.TaikoExplosionKiai), _ => new DefaultKiaiHitExplosion(hitType));
         }
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Helper function to use when an explosion is not desired.
+        /// Lifetime is set to avoid accumulating empty drawables in the parent container.
+        /// </summary>
+        public static Drawable EmptyExplosion() => Empty().With(d => d.LifetimeEnd = double.MinValue);
     }
 }