Those are all good points and thoughts.

Having now seen the rest of the show I do feel it picks up in the second half, and the narrative becomes more cohesive, so my overall opinion of it is improved :)

When I suggested the show could lean harder into being retro, I didn't mean only the art style - it's good this is a close fit to the original - but also the production style and cinematography, which were all very different then than now.

What I'm saying is that I'd love to see what a faithful anime adaptation of the source material would have been like, if that adaptation was done in the 90s.

But in the end, we can't turn back time.