Anyone else actually really like the lantern enemies?
They feel like a real Itagaki enemy.
It's like the 4 version of ghost fish.
I know 2 and 4 also have ghost fish, but they're nowhere near as dangerous as they are in 1. 1's ghost fish could really stump you until you figured out how to deal with them on your first playthrough.
The lanterns feel the same way. As soon as you understand to launch do some attacks and then swallow through them so you are away from them as they explode they become an interesting enemy to deal with when put together with other enemy types.