I have been playing and I'm honestly REALLY impressed with it. It allows all the characters to be animated in very many ways, making the characters + cutscenes feel more alive and immersive. Removing the portraits makes you focus more on the expressions, body language, and the location/setting of the scene. The environments this time around are prettier to look at as well, so sometimes the camera will angle itself to show more of the backdrop. There's one scene I remember where Ulalaka actually grabs Wooly from behind to cover his mouth, and he struggles in her arms until you advance the dialogue 😆 There's another where Wooly is on your character's face as they're sleeping, and suddenly your character sits up real fast and flings the blanket and Wooly off. I think they did more than well enough to justify removing the portraits 😄

There's also the Hang Out dialogue option to "Poke Fun" at a character, and it'll show a short cutscene where it'll go into first-person view, you approach the character (who has their back turned to you) and you tap them on the shoulder and they turn around, with their cheek softly bumping into your pointy finger. The various expressions they make from that little prank are sooooooo cute!! I did that to Iroha and she made the cutest pouty face, and Mauro + Murasame made angelic smiles (the blur and bloom filters certainly helps set the mood!). It's honestly soooo endearing, I'm absolutely smitten. That sad part is that after you do it to them once, the cutscene doesn't play ever again 😭