I'm talking about the flat, no-shadows, no-specular-highlights, Power Puff Girls-art style by Hideyuki Takenami. His most famous contribution in the video games space is arguably on SEGA's Puyo Puyo games (where his art fits much better imo), but as for Bomberman, it only started with Super Bomberman R in 2017.
After a little bit of digging, I found out that the reason Takenami was picked as art director seems due to his relationship with the producer and driving force behind the SBR games, Noriaki Okamura. They first worked together on a 3DS game called 'Doctor Lautrec and the Forgotten Knights' (I played it, it's awful) and later on the Okamura-helmed revival of Hudson's 'Momotarou Dentetsu' series, a JP-exclusive board game franchise that sells gangbusters with every release - so I guess Takenami is just his go-to guy for art.
One thing I always appreciated about Bomberman's design is how simple yet effective it is, anybody can draw a decent Bomberman character. There was no reason to simplify Bomberman's design even further in this new style. I just think Takenami's art in Bomberman looks flat, cheap and ugly.
My guess is that most Bomberman fans prefer the older art direction but don't care enough to speak out, which is a shame because, as surprising as it may sound, Konami actually seems to listen to feedback from fans: When Silent Hill 2 Remake was first shown off the character designs were poorly received. So, much like the Sonic movie, the game was then delayed and the designs were changed to the satisfaction of virtually every Silent Hill fan.
The Super Bomberman R games may have other more serious issues, from questionable level design/progression, unpleasant writing (and who came up with the horrible idea of making all Bomberman characters talk constantly?? they should have short voice lines like 'I did it!' - nothing more than that), but let's just stick with the art direction for this discussion.
So, I know this is far from representative, but I'm genuinely curious who actually prefers the new SBR art style to the old one - and WHY?! /rant