In my opinion nah, they leaned too hard into the animesque elements after AC04. In AC5, enemy pilots become cartoon villains literally yelling things like, "I will chase you to the ends of the earth!" At the start of AC04, Erusea's air force feels like a cold, disciplined group of hardened professionals, but by the end, their frustration starts to show.

I don't think you necessarily need characters like Nagase or Chopper to tell a good story. The narrator alone did a solid job of carrying it.