I was also one of those who railed against the art style of Wind Waker when it was announced, especially in the wake of the more realistic styling that Nintendo was experimenting with before this. In fact I sending Nintendo a stern letter saying I would have to seriously rethink my interest in buying a GameCube if they couldn't release more mature-minded games like the Resident Evil remake - as I was in my early 20s at the time. But I am also those who thinks of the art style of Wind Waker now, in retrospect, as nothing short of magical.

I would disagree with using this exact art style in the future though. I will still contend it is too cartoony. Less so in the world art and more in the character art. The world has far more detail and interest than the character models themselves and I would like to see the world art style used for the character models as well. Having that more detailed animated-looking style on a stylized but mostly properly proportioned characters might make the game style more like the hero shots in a well-crafted anime. And I think that would fit the world quite well. Something like BoTW or TotK in of model composition but WW in of more cell-shaded hand-painted art.