Samurai Shodown 4's loads are not bad at all. Honest, there is only one semi-long load between rounds and that is about it.
I own The Last Blade on CD and actually those load times you gave are not accurate. It actually loads more than that.
It loads the start menu,
then the character select,
then the vs screen,
then the stage screen,
then a 50 second load,
then pre-fight posing,
then you get to play 2 to 5 rounds,
then it loads the after character saying,
then it starts all over.
Yet, keep in mind that there is a demo-cut feature in the game and an enormous amount of extras.
With the demo-cut on, there is only one 50 second load between rounds.
Plus, the system saves all of the story scenes so you can see them at any time. It also saves every characters ending. There are some other extras I have not discovered yet.
The fact that you can save the story and all the endings makes the CD worth buying.