I found one of the discussions.
It’s not quite on point though.
But variants/multiple cards of the same character were featured throughout the Meiji sets to varying degrees.
For example, with the 1997 pikachu cards above (top row).
The first one came in the first box. The second one came out in the 3rd box. But these were counted as seperate and distinct cards.
But I haven’t seen the 1998 box. I can’t imagine the variants, being so similar, would count towards the total set count listed on the box.
48 cards (without counting variants) in the set seems to indicate one box release - that is if the 1997 cards set a precedent, as parts 2, 3, and 4 contained 48 cards (unlike what was recently reported in this embarrassing guide on PWCC, which contains a lot of misinformation and unfounded claims. But this isn’t the time or place to rant.).
All that to say, I imagine the spinning prisms and cracked holos were released at the same time and not in succession. I would love to see how it was presented on the box, and It would just be great to have some more reliable information.