The best part about it is that you are totally free to use it or not - I don't 'cos it would ruin my game totally but for someone else it might enhance the game. We all have different visual preferences.
I know some people don't like the anime portraits, but the original portraits don't look like the Japanese for the people who can remark the difference between Japanese, Korean and Chinese faces, or for the people who are used to the graphics in the Nobunaga's ambition series.